Bite on the line leaves Cork man convicted of stroke-hauling for salmon in River Lee

The judge imposed fines totalling €600 or 10 days in prison in default of payment

Stroke-hauling involves using a large gaffing hook attached to a fishing line which is whipped through a shoal of fish in order to snag the side of the salmon, rather than luring the fish with bait as done in traditional angling. File picture

A bite on the line by a man ‘stroke-hauling’ for salmon resulted in him being prosecuted by Inland Fisheries Ireland for this and a series of related offences.

Solicitor Kevin Quirke described the background to the fisheries offences committed by 40-year-old Paul Russell of 9 Presentation Close, Gurranabraher, who came to the attention of fisheries officers on June 21, 2025, at Farranmacteigh, which is across the weir on the River Lee from the Kingsley Hotel.