A major success story of Coosan and District anglers association is our youth development programme. One of the founder members George Behan has been involved with teaching young people how to fish for over 40 years. Indeed many of the current adult committee members learned some of their skills from George. Many years ago when the Bream, Roach and other species of coarse fish were plentiful in the meadows area of the Shannon near Athlone, George spent a lot of time teaching youngsters how to catch fish. George has advanced his own skill and knowledge over the years and was appointed national youth officer for the Irish Trout Fly Fishing Association during 2009.

The current youth officer of the club is Frank Dempsey who is ably assisted by George. Both George and Frank have attended child protection courses. The club hold regular outings for junior anglers which include tuition in fly casting and fly tying. Our young anglers are always encouraged to care for the environment and they are actively involved in the clubs annual clean up days on Lough Ree. This is run along with the “National Spring Clean” which is an An Taisce programme and is currently in it’s 11^th year. Rubbish is collected from the islands and foreshores of Lough Ree and taken to the local land fill site or recycling centre. Safety is always high on the agenda at all our events and the young anglers learn about wearing of life jackets, boat safety, weather awareness as well as personal safety which includes the wearing of safety/sunglasses and hats when fly fishing.

Coosan Anglers have been fortunate to have some very skilful and dedicated junior anglers who have excelled in the sport over the last few years. Their success is testament to the dedication and skills of our senior members who have encouraged these youngsters and passed very valuable knowledge and skills on to them. The following is a brief account of the success of our youths:

2010

Coosan Youths display their skills at Galway Fly Fair

Sean & Fergal at the Fly Fair

Fergal McKiernan and Sean Dempsey were invited by the organisers of the Irish Fly Fair which took place in Galway on November 13th and 14th to demonstrate their fly tying skills. They were accompanied Sean Cassidy and other youths on the ITFFA stand where George was on duty to oversee the proceedings. (see photo's on right)

Great day out at Lough Ashling for junior anglers. (Oct 2010)

The overall winner Jack receives the John O'Meara trophy

On Sunday October 10 2010 a group of 26 junior anglers from the club travelled to Lough Aishling and had a great day fly-fishing. Club Chairman Padraig McKiernan did a great job measuring the fish and presenting the prizes, while several other committee members helped the inexperienced juniors to cast and land fish. Youth Internationals Fergal and Sean were also on hand to show the younger ones how to handle the fly rod. The overall winner of the John O'Meara trophy was Jack Connaughton with a total of 5 trout. Well done Jack. (see photo's on right)

Successful ladies and Kids fishing competition/Barbie (Sept 2010)

James Connaughton collects his prize

On Sunday September 5th the club held a Ladies & Kids fishing competition which was followed by a barbecue at Killinure Chalets. A good day was had by all who participated. Special thanks to the chefs on the day Michael & James. Thanks also to Manfred and Geraldine (Killinure Chalets) who sponsored the ladies competition and also provided the venue for the barbecue, for their hospitality. The club would also like to thank John Kelly of Ballykeeran Caravan Park for sponsoring the children's competition. Congratulations to Margret Connaughton winner of the ladies competition. Well done to Jack Connaughton who caught the biggest fish on the day.

Youths perform well at TAFI Interprovincial (august 2010)

The winning Leinster team 2010

Three youths from Coosan Anglers represented Leinster in both the river and lake inter provincial competitions which were held on Saturday August 14th and Sunday August 15th. John Naughton, Fergal McKiernan, and Sean Dempsey fished the river competition on the river Fane near Dundalk on Saturday and then travelled to Lough Eskragh near Dungannon on Sunday. Both teams won their events making it the first time that Leinster won the double. They also won the Fly tying competition earlier this year making it a clean sweep for Leinster for 2010. All three of the above lads were on that fly tying team as well as Martin Costello. Martin had also qualified for the Lake team but was unable to attend as he was sick. See youth section for more...

Fergal and Sean represent Ireland at youth International in England (July 2010)

Two of our junior anglers represented Ireland for the second year in a row at the end of July. Fergal McKiernan and Sean Dempsey performed well on the competition day and Ireland came in a very respectable second place. The two lads have already qualified for next years Irish team and will travel to Scotland for the international youth competition. Fergal will be the captain of next years team and Sean will be vice captain. For more information and photos check out the youth section.

Youths Qualify for Leinster Lake team (June 2010)

2010 TAFI Leinster youth Lake team Sean is presented first prize

The team from Coosan travelled to Stradbally again on Saturday June 26th to compete in the TAFI qualifier for the Leinster youth lake team. It was another successful day out with all four anglers qualifying for the team. Sean Dempsey was the overall winner on the day and John Naughton was 3rd. Fergal McKiernan and Martin Costello also qualified.

Youths qualify for Leinster river team again (May 10 2010)

2010 Leinster TAFI youth river team Sean accepts 2nd Prize

On Saturday May 8th 2010 four young anglers from the Coosan club travelled to Stradbally to compete in the TAFI qualifier for the Leinster youth river fly-fishing team. The competition was contested on the Stradbally river which holds a good stock of brown trout. The overall winner of the competition was David Armstrong from Wicklow. Three of the Coosan lads qualified for the Leinster team including; Sean Dempsey (2nd place) Fergal McKiernan (5th) and John Naughton (9th). Connor Lane who also participated did not qualify for the team. Congratulations to the lads, another great effort.

TAFI Leinster youth lake qualifier

TAFI Leinster Lake Team 2010

TAFI Leinster youth river qualifier

TAFI Leinster River Youth Team 2010

On Saturday May 8th 2010 four young anglers from the Coosan club travelled to Stradbally to compete in the TAFI qualifier for the Leinster youth river fly-fishing team. The competition was contested on the Stradbally river which holds a good stock of brown trout. The overall winner of the competition was David Armstrong from Wicklow. Three of the Coosan lads qualified for the Leinster team including; Sean Dempsey (2nd place) Fergal McKiernan (5th) and John Naughton (9th). Connor Lane who also participated did not qualify for the team. Congratulations to the lads, another great effort.

Coosan Youths successful in ITFFA Qualifier (April 11 2010)

On Saturday April 10th four of our junior anglers competed in the ITFFA qualifier for the Irish international youth fly fishing team. The qualifier was held on Lough Lene near Collinstown Co. Westmeath. Anglers from all over the country competed in this event. The four Coosan lads; Fergal McKiernan, Martin Costello, Sean Dempsey, and Connor Lane were well prepared for this event having done two practice days on the lake earlier in the week. Several other anglers from around the country also spent time on the lake during the week prior to the event. The top ten anglers qualified for the 2011 Irish team and will compete in Scotland. Two of our anglers qualified on the day, Sean Dempsey and Fergal McKiernan. Unfortunately, Martin Costello and Connor Lane were outside of the top ten.

This is Fergal and Sean's third year in a row to represent Ireland having competed in Wales in 2009, they will compete in England in July 2010. All of the four anglers as well John Naughton who was also on the 2009 Irish team will compete in the TAFI youth river Leinster competition which will be held in Stradbally Co. Laois on May 8th. The top anglers from this competition will represent Leinster in the youth interprovincial competition later this year. The club wishes them the best of luck on May 8th.

Good day for Coosan youths in Connaught (Feb 2010)

Four young Coosan Anglers competed in the all Ireland youth fly tying finals in Cornamona in Galway on Saturday Feb 20th. The Leinster team which includes our lads won the interprovincial event for the first time. In fact Connaught had won this event every year since the competition started 8 years ago. However, this year Leinster came out well on top. The overall winner and all Ireland champion was Sean Cassidy from Dundalk winning the event for the second time in a row. In close second place was Sean Dempsey from Coosan Anglers with Fergal McKiernan only one point behind in third place. Martin Costello and John Naughton were also part of the winning Leinster team.

The successful Leinster team L - R: Sean Cassidy; David Armstrong; Mark Driver (back); Fergal McKiernan; John Naughton; Michael Conroy (back) Sean Dempsey; Martin Costello

2009

Three youths from Coosan Anglers represented Ireland at the Four Nations International youth fly fishing competition which was held at Llandegfedd in Wales on August 7th 2009.

John, Fergal and Sean

The three lads qualified for the Irish International youth team back in April 2008 when they took part in the international youth qualifier on Lough Bane. This competition was for rainbow trout and Coosan Anglers entered a team of five youths. This was the third year that our club entered this competition. This is an all-Ireland competition which includes competitors from all 32 counties. The overall winner of the competition was Sean Dempsey. Fergal and John also qualified, while and Martin Costello and Philip Lennon narrowly missed out.

Youth Development Page

Great Day at Lough Aishling

2010

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