Maggot shortage leaves Fermoy struggling to hook tourists

THEY’RE small, wriggle a lot and come in different colours.

Insignificant in themselves, maggots, or rather the lack of them, could cost a local economy tens of thousands of euros.

One of Ireland’s premier coarse fishing towns is bereft of the bait since a local fishing tackle shop closed down.

A number of English fishermen arriving in Fermoy have discovered to their surprise that they have to travel kilometres away to get the little creatures. All along the River Blackwater, between Mallow and Cappoquin, Co Waterford there are no bait shops.

One group of anglers who had initially decided to fish in Fermoy turned tail when they discovered there was no bait there.

Instead they went to Cork city for bait, went fishing in Inniscarra and stayed in accommodation in that area.

One of the fishermen, Frank Bullman from Sheffield, said he couldn’t understand why no maggots were available in a town which not only boasted the River Blackwater, but the equally fine fishery, Knockannanig Reservoir.

The latter has been developed by Avondhu Tourism to attract in foreign anglers.

“We were very surprised that we couldn’t get maggots in Fermoy. We tried a tackle shop in Mallow but they were also out of them, albeit I think that was only temporarily. Otherwise we were told we could only get them in Cork,” Mr Bullman said.

Mary Bartley, who owns a B&B in Fermoy said finding maggots was proving a problem for anglers.

“We had three fishermen staying last week. We managed to get bait for them eventually, but it proved to be a bit of a struggle. We will try to get them in advance if we know people are coming to stay,” Ms Bartley said.

Christy Roche, a member of Avondhu Tourism, agreed that the lack of maggots could cost the local economy a great deal.

“Hopefully somebody will see the gap in the market. It’s a great opportunity,” Mr Roche said.

The situation was described as ludicrous by Gaye O’Doherty, secretary of Fermoy Coarse Angling Association. “We have 43 anglers from England coming over for a competition this weekend. They’ve been made aware of the situation and many of them will be bringing bait,” she said.

She calculated that the event was worth more than €80,000 to the town.

“They really do spend when they’re here. They’re out socialising every night,” Ms O’Doherty said.