Big entry for World Cup

679 fish World Cup on Lough Mask

Neill O’Neill

THE fifty-first annual World Cup Trout Fly Angling Championship was held on Lough Mask last weekend, with 679 anglers converging on the Ballinrobe area, creating a boost to the local economy worth over half a million euro.
The person who will join the elite list of winners of the largest wet-fly angling competition on the planet was not known at the time of going to press yesterday (Monday), as the final day of the competition was still under way.
Each of the anglers fished one day between Thursday and Sunday, with the top quarter from each heat going through to the final. There were 102 boats on Lough Mask yesterday as anglers from Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, France, Germany and Ireland battled for the top prize of a boat, trailer, outboard engine and trophy – valued at over €10,000.
Boatmen, too, came from all over the country for the event, but there was plenty of Mayo interest in the final, with one father and daughter from the region and two brothers from Islandeady in the hunt for glory.
Angling was reported to be reasonably good in a year when fishing yields are not at a premium in Mayo, and the leader in the biggest fish competition had landed a 4lbs 6oz trout going into the penultimate hour of the tournament.