An overcast but dry morning in Foxford. Yesterday was nice, mild, and dry. A good day for the start of the new trout season. The Moy is well up after all the rain we have been having, now at 1.5m at Ballylahan bridge and coloured. Walking along the river just above Foxford I have noticed quite a few Kelts splashing about and chatting to one of the water keepers from further upstream he told me they have been seeing good numbers moving down stream, a good sign.

We had our angling club AGM on Monday night and a few of those present were making plans to head out. I know that at least one of them manged to catch a trout. It was a nice day and i’m sure whether they caught fish or not they enjoyed the day. An interesting change to our usual AGM format this year was that we had invited a representative from IFI to attend. The reason this invitation was extended was that at a few recent club meetings it became apparent that there is a disconnect between anglers and IFI. Who is who and who does what, who do we contact and do they bite! Well, they do not bite and like you and I are normal guys doing a job as well as they can do it.

We were joined by two of the local IFI Ballina staff members, Barry Kelly who is the Moy Catchment Manager and Michael Wilson who is the assistant inspector. After siting patiently while we went about our club business, which included the presentation of our Angler of the year trophy which this year was won by Bryan Kennedy, well done Bryan, both men spoke to us about their respective roles within IFI. From rehabilitating streams and placing hundreds of tons of gravel which improve spawning, to night patrols and Jet skis, It was interesting. I think I can speak for everyone who was present when I say that we got a feeling that these men are passionate about the work they do and are very willing to work with anglers and angling clubs to protect, develop and enhance our waterways and fish stocks. They do not have bags of cash to throw away but will guide us toward funding sources for various projects and they do have expert knowledge. When it comes to protection, they are stretched to the limit but are now using modern technology to their advantage, “You do not always see us but it doesn’t mean we are not watching “or something to that effect was what we were told.

For both FAC and IFI it was a worthwhile exercise. I know that Foxford Angling Club will be working toward strengthening our ties with IFI in the future. Perhaps as an angler you should consider speaking with your club and see if you can organise something similar, by working together we could possibly achieve more. Incidentally, at the moment, IFI are advertising vacancies for seasonal staff. A nice job, if i wasn’t busy trying to earn a living from a tackle shop.

We had a few hours on the beach last Sunday. It was a beautiful day (between the showers) . We were fortunate, the showers passed well of shore and we were only getting light rain on the edges. We could watch them coming from a long way off and it was interesting to see how quickly the sea state changed as they passed. It would have been a lively day in a boat. In all we fished for about three hours and all we caught was one small flat fish. Who cares, It got us out of the house and doing something we enjoy in a beautiful place.