The state of Angling in Northern Ireland with Gary Houston Part 1

[@johnmcilrath3637]

An excellent video. The passion that you, Kirky and Gary all have for promoting and enhancing angling is unbelievable. I live in England and see the work the environment agency and angling trust do for angling. Where does the licence fee go in Northern Ireland? I don't see much promotion of coarse angling except for a few exceptions like the work done on the lower Bann and some work on lough Erne. The tourist board are sitting on a gold mine. Last summer lots of english anglers were unable to go to the south due to travel restrictions and loads of them wound up in Fermanagh compared to previous years. I met several of them when I was over. They all bemoaned the lack of access to waters and poor information about where to fish and what species are in the waters etc. A massive opportunity missed and I fear many will never go back. It really saddens me. Just over the border in Monaghan, Cavan and Leitrim there is abundant information on where to fish, there are proper car parks and even the more remote fisheries seems to have stands built on them and properly maintained. Look at the excellent work being done on Lough Muckno to promote it and to improve access. To be honest I take my hat off to the people down there for doing such a good job promoting the angling even though there is no licence fee to fund it! The government in NI has been aware of these issues since the 1990's and chosen to ignore angling in many cases. I shall still travel back to visit family in NI and fish the waters but the waters over the border currently have much more appeal to English and continental anglers despite being just as good as the waters in NI. As you can tell I feel passionately about this and look forward to part 2. By the way I too started fishing on the Quoile in the mid 1980s and take my kids there every summer.

[@danieloneill3398]

So what going to do about people on boats setting lines on the lakes, loughs and rivers who get away with it.

[@pikingadventures2872]

I’d say that’s the responsibility of whatever body governs that particular water, the UAF don’t police the public angling estate. If people who watch this channel want to see it I’ll interview anyone in any body on the island about other issues though. Thanks for watching.

[@danieloneill3398]

@@pikingadventures2872 fair enough. I’ve came across line’s set on the Erne and lately watched a video on KZbin of a guy on a boat lifting lines with pike and trout on the Erne. The title of the video was The state of angling in n.Ireland I’ve been fishing for 25 yrs & a lot has changed another 20 years and wild fish will be a luxury we won’t have.

[@pikingadventures2872]

@@danieloneill3398 nothing disgusts us more than people who abuse the waters and the fish. They give decent anglers a bad name and if I ever see any of that I’ll be reporting it. You can report illegal angling or pollution to DAERA on 0300 200 7860 or out of hours using the pollution hotline on 0800807060. For ROI Information may be passed directly to local Inland Fisheries Ireland staff or by phoning their confidential Hotline number on 1890 34 74 24 or 1890 FISH 24.