John is a student living in New Ross, Ireland, who spends the summer working at Oakland’s lake Fishery. Unusually for an Irish angler, John grew up commercial fishing as the family own one of the only and best ‘Commercial carp' venues in Ireland. This stunning Oakland's Lake Fishery has helped John master the art of commercials, and catching big bags of big fish comes easy to him. As he got older he wanted a bigger challenge, and now regularly fishes the wealth of natural venues around this beautiful country. Of course he still keeps his hand in on the commercials, and has been winning a lot of matches on all venues recently. He has already become an excellent all-rounder and faring well against many of his older angling friends too! His versatility has led to him representing Ireland at the World Championships for four consecutive years.
John is off to Slovenia in 2022 to represent Ireland in his 4th World Championships. That is some start for a young angler! He already has a string of successes to his name, and is set to be a star for the future. His wins so far include: -
- All Ireland Commercial Pairs winners
- U25 All Ireland Feeder Champion
- Inter provincial winners with Munster team 2021
- Many match wins on natural and commercial venues.
- Make sure to always have a plan B, plan A doesn't always work!
- If you’re going to a new venue always listen to local advice, whether you should ball in or cup it. If there's pike, will in need my feeder rods, whips etc. Plan ahead and you will be ready for everything.
- Always have more than one rig for each line. If your bagging and tangle a rig it might cost you a few fish or even the match.
- Always stay calm if you’re having a bad day losing fish, or getting flustered. Stop a minute to get yourself together. Don't give up, you could can put a big weight together in little time if you get those margin fish, it might save your match.