WATERWAYS IRELAND ERNE WORLD OPEN PIKE FISHING CLASSIC 2009

The 2009 Waterways Ireland Erne World Open Pike Fishing Classic took place over the weekend 16 - 18 October on Lough Erne. The three day event consisting of one day bank-fishing competition, a boat fly-fishing competition and a two day boat-fishing competition.

389, a record number of entries were received from 17 different counties in Ireland, and anglers from England, France, Belgium and a competitor from the USA taking part. This is the fourth year of the event, which has been supported throughout by Waterway's Ireland as its main sponsor.

Competitors caught a total of 224 Pike during the event with individual fish of over 20lbs winning all three events. All fish were weighed and released unharmed.

The weekend started with the Bank and Fly Boat Events on Friday in excellent weather conditions on the River Erne around Enniskillen. Stephen Martin from Omagh, Co Tyrone took the £300 first prize in the boat fly fishing event with an outstanding fish of 20lbs 04ozs.
The Bank event, with 87 anglers took place on the river sections of Upper Lough Erne mainly in the town of Enniskillen. Local lad Dwayne Taylor from Ballinamallard Co Fermanagh, took top prize in the event of £800 with a fish of 20lbs 10ozs from the Round O Jetty section which he caught on dead bait Roach. Local angler Nick Seddon from Derrygonnelly Co Fermanagh won the cumulative prize of £600 with a 4 fish catch totalling 45lbs 2ozs from the Derrychara section

Day one of the Boat event produced two 19lbs fish with Local Lad Glen Hall from Maguiresbridge Co Fermanagh taking top spot and £600 with a fish of 19lbs 13ozs caught on dead bait Smelt, closely followed by Tony Callan from Co Louth, who won £400 for his 19lbs 5ozs fish.
Day two saw another three big fish landed. George Hunter, Irvinestown Co Fermanagh took a fish of 19lbs 6ozs (£400) and Chris Lonsdale from Norfolk landing a fish of 17lbs 12ozs (£300).

But the best was still to come, as the event drew to a close local angler Donal Maguire from Enniskillen was fishing near Enniskillen Castle in the last hour of the event, when he hooked into the fish that would win him the coveted World Pike fishing title. Donal fittingly caught the biggest Pike of the weekend of 20lbs 11ozs to pick up the winning cheque for £3,600.

In the overall standings Glen Hall's fish from Saturday earned him an additional £1,000 for second overall and George Hunter gained an additional £750 for his Sunday fish in third.

Chris Lonsdale and Carl Reilly from Norfolk won the cumulative Boat prize (£600) with a catch of 4 fish for 42lbs 13ozs, with two Fermanagh boats of John Brazil and Barry Cornyn second (£400) with 8 fish for 41lbs 7ozs and Glen Hall and Jonny Fallis third (£200) with 4 fish for 40lbs 6ozs.

This year for the first time the organisers had introduced a 4 man Inter County/ International team event with £1,000 going to the winning team. As this was the first year that County Fermanagh anglers had featured so prominently in the main prize list it was highly appropriate that the local team from Enniskillen consisting of John Brazil, Dwayne Taylor, George Hunter and Barry Cornyn would take the prize with a 10 fish total of 66lbs 10ozs.

The weekend concluded with a prize giving in the Killyhevlin Hotel where Erne Anglers club Secretary Jack Tisdall thanked all the main sponsors Waterway's Ireland for their support. He also thanked Fermanagh District Council and DCAL (Fishery owners) for their continued help in the organisation of the event including the stewarding.

Jack commented "the Waterways Ireland Erne World Pike Classic is without doubt the premier Pike Angling event in the world, with a total of £14,600 in cash prize money as well as Crystal and tackle prizes."

Martin Dennany, Director of Marketing and Communications at Waterways Ireland was on hand to give out the prizes and commented... "Waterways Ireland is very proud to be associated with this prestigious competition and congratulations to all the Anglers who participated in both the on-shore and the boat fishing events. Waterways Ireland is particularly pleased that this year's event has grown so much in popularity, bringing competitors from both sides of the border as well as from much further afield. We are delighted that so many, old friends and new, have experienced the outstanding fishing that the Erne has to offer.
While the largest fish caught this weekend have been impressive enough at 20lbs, we look forward to welcoming many anglers back next year to catch the even bigger pike we know are out there".

Councillor Bertie Kerr Chairman of Fermanagh District Council said "the Council prides itself in developing events in the county and it is pleasing that our natural resources are being used in a sympathetic way to further develop our tourist product. This is the fourth time this event has been held in Fermanagh and I understand there is record entry with anglers from mainland UK and Europe participating. I believe the competition is one of the most prestigious pike angling events in the world and we hope that the standards set by the Erne event will be a benchmark for others".

Keith Collen, Recreation Officer for Fermanagh District Council went on to say "the response to the Erne competition has been outstanding , the anglers really enjoyed the 2009 event, although there are always a few things which we would reassess for future events we believe that the competition has a good foundation for development."

The event was enjoyed by all competitors and all fish we successfully returned alive and unharmed to the Erne. The organisers ensured that fish welfare was paramount during the competition and best practice was employed when handling the fish under the supervision of stewards, including DCAL staff.

The event was sponsored by Waterways Ireland and organised by the Erne Anglers Angling Club, Fermanagh District Council and the Department of Culture Arts and Leisure, Inland Fisheries Division.