#ANGLING - Two Newtownabbey anglers are part of a six-man Northern Ireland team competing at the 2012 Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships, which started yesterday in Tasmania.

The Newtonabbey Times reports that Kenny Ferguson and team captain Alan R McDade set out for the Australian island last Wednesday for the competition that runs till 19 February.

They join Campbell Baird and Harvey Hutchinson from Carrickfergus, Banbridge angler Neil Cardwell and Harry McAteer Jr from Belfast for the week-long contest.

The six - who qualified from contests held throughout Ireland organised by the Trout Anglers Federation of Ireland - also comprise the first full team that Northern Ireland has entered in the competition.

#ANGLING - Junior Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Mr. Fergus O'Dowd T.D. will be arriving at the The Ireland Angling Show 2012 this Saturday (11th of February at 2pm). At 2.30pm the Minister will officially launch two new publications 'A Guide to Sea Angling on the East Coast' and 'Guide to Coarse Angling in The Erne and South Donegal' at the Dublin Angling Initiative Stand exhibiting at the event.

There will be a free copy for all in attendance at the launch.

New to the 2012 event is special guest, John Wilson, from Norfolk who will be in attendance all day on Saturday & Sunday 11th & 12th of February. He has fished in over 60 countries and filmed for television in over 30 of them. Making a total of 150 half hour angling programmes, including no less than 17 consecutive yearly series for Anglia Television. Two years ago he was awarded an MBE for his broadcasting and writing by Prince Charles.

Familiar angling personalities such as Charles Jardine, Hywel Morgan , Stevie Munn, Julian Chidgey (Fox Int.), Mary Gavin Hughes (European Sea Angling Champion 2011), Jim Clohessy (Sea Angling), Norman Dunlop and a host of other experts from the angling fraternity will also be in attendance

The Ireland Angling Show, organised by Donegal based Mara Media covers all aspects of Sea Angling, Game and Coarse fishing with activities and demonstrations to suit both expert and novice anglers alike. A great day out for all the family there will be a "Meet & Greet" area where visitors can seek advice and chat with their favourite celebrities, a selection of top fly tying experts from across Europe will showcase their skills, and a designated area hosted by the Dublin Angling Initiative aimed at encouraging youngsters to pick up a rod.

#ANGLING - The National Disabled Angling Facility at Aughrim in Co Wicklow is to remain open following an 11th-hour agreement last month, The Irish Times reports.

A deal reached between Fás, Siptu and the centre's staff will retain all 23 jobs with a 25% pay cut and see the premises stay open until a "review" is published in March.

Opened by then President Mary Robinson in 1996, the facility is operated as a Community Employment Fás scheme and has been an invaluable amenity for disabled anglers nationwide.

#ANGLING - Ciaran Reilly was awarded the title of best all-round fly-dresser for 2012 at the Connacht Youth Fly-Tying Championships in Loughrea, Co Galway recently, The Irish Times reports.

The 12-year-old from Loughrea is now set to captain the Connacht team in the national championships later this year. Runners-up were Conor Cunningham from Loughrea and Ryan Binley from Foxford.

“It was delightful to see so much enthusiasm among the youngsters, all eager to secure a place on the Connacht team,” said judge and former fisheries inspector Danny Goldrick.

The event on 21 January was run by the Western Lakes’ Angling School on behalf of Connacht Angling Council.

#ANGLING - Top angling photographer and TV presenter Harry Gibney will be among the guests at the first Ballybunion Angling and Marine Show from 23-25 March.

According to The Kerryman, the show is the brainchild of local angler Mike Enright who has planned a mixture of competition and presentations from some of Europe's best known angling experts in the Co Kerry seaside town.

Among the events, Gibney will be sharing some of his top photography tips, while former long-distance fly champion Glenda Powell will present a fly fishing workshop. Other special guests include five-time world fly tying champion Gavin Hughes and celebrity chef Bryce Collins.

But the focus of the weekend is definitely on angling, with the Brian Martin Memrorial Cup set to be decided.

"Kerry has some of the finest angling facilities in the country yet it has never been promoted so we're hoping to change that," said Enright.

The Kerryman has more on the story HERE.

#ANGLING - Ireland's south coast will play host to the first Irish Bass Festival this July.

Created and organised by Absolute Fishing, the lure angling event is open to all shore anglers at various venues between Tramore and Dungarvan in Co Waterford, which provide some of the best bass fishing in Europe.

The Irish Bass Festival will operate on catch-and-release rules, with anglers having to photograph their fish, using their own measuring board combined with a unique ID card provided by the organisers.

Competing anglers are also free to roam and fish anywhere along the coastline from Wexford to Cork - provided they're back in time to register their fish!

Details on requirements, reception and fishing times are available on the Irish Bass Festival website HERE.

#ANGLING - Enniscorthy anglers have secured the support of the board of Inland Fisheries Ireland in their call to lift the ban on using shrimp as bait.

As the Enniscorthy Guardian reports, members of the Enniscorthy Local Anglers group argue that shrimp is ideal bait for catching salmon downstream, and are "baffled" by the ban on its use by IFI officials.

In a letter to the IFI they wrote: "'We see this ban as putting a direct stop to salmon fishing for 99% of our towns' salmon anglers as this is the only safe method of fishing that suits the stretch of river available to the people of Enniscorthy."

MInister of State Fergus O'Dowd is set to decide on the matter shortly, and anglers hope he will find in their favour in time for the opening of the River Slaney on St Patrick's Day.

The Enniscorthy Guardian has more on the story HERE.

#WATERFRONT PROPERTY - The Irish Times features a selection of serene lakeside properties to suit a variety of tastes and budgets.

Urrahill in Ballycommon, Nenagh, Co Tipperary is a detached home overlooking Luska Bay and Lough Derg and comprising three levels.

The upper level features living rooms and a kitchen with large windows and stunning views. The middle level has four bedrooms, with the main en-suite on the lowest floor with sliding doors to a private terrace.

Colliers International is asking €1.5 million for this ultra-modern property.

Meanwhile in Kerry, a four-bed country house on 1.5 acres is less than a mile from Waterville yet features its own pier with boathouse on Lough Currane, known for its salmon and trout angling.

The house has central heating throughout, oak flooring, a lounge with its own wood-burning stove, a fully fitted kitchen, car garage and utility shed. Kerry Property Services is asking €580,000.

Last but not least, those looking to renovate would surely be attracted to Eden Point in Rossinver, Co Leitrim, a two-bed, two-bathroom detached home on the shores of Lough Melvin.

Eden Point boasts "hundreds of metres" of foreshore, as well as a boat house and quay, and included in the sale is a share in the Rossinver Fishery Sundicate (worth €5,000) which allows free use of the Rossinver Fishery. Fermanagh Lakeland Properties is asking €250,000.

#ANGLING - The Irish Specimen Fish Committee's annual report for 2011 features catch details for 587 specimen fish as well as four new records, according to The Irish Times.

The report comes ahead of the committee's annual awards event at the Red Cow Moran Hotel in Dublin on Saturday 3 March, recogising those anglers who work hard to catch and record the biggest fish of each of Ireland's species.

Those in line for awards include Terry Jackson, who caught a 2.1kh roach/rudd hybrid in the River Lagan; Dutchman Jan Vrieswijk who landed a 1.33kh blackmouth dogfish in Red Bay, Co Antrim; and Noel Lane for his 2.83kg thin-lipped mullet from Cork Harbour.

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

#ANGLING - Northern Ireland's taxpayers could be left with a bill for millions in EU fines if action isn't taken to reverse the decline of salmon stocks, the News Letter reports.

Ulster Unionist MLA Robin Swann said he believes that voluntary measures to help protect the North's Altantic salmon will not remove the threat of "fines which would likely run into millions which [the people of NI] will end up paying".

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, NI's Fisheries Minister Carál Ní Chuilín called on offshore anglers and commercial fishermen to forego applying for 2012 salmon licences.

Annual monitoring of the North's salmon rivers has shown a failure to reach targets most years since 2002, with the survival rate of salmon in the marine phases in some cases dropping to as little as 5%.

Coastal drift nets and bag nets off the north Antrim coast - which contravene EU directives - have been blamed for intercepting salmon stocks before they reach the rivers, and anglers and conservation groups have already called for a ban.

But Swann says that Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL) does not yet have the legislative power to stop them.

The News Letter has more on the story HERE.