Cobh Sea Angling Club

2011 IFSA Boat Fish-Off's....

2011-11-04T03:36:00.000-07:00

Well for the third year on the trot the club has hosted the IFSA National Boat Fish-Off's. These were held over the two days of the recent October bank holiday weekend. Thankfully, we acquitted ourselves well again and the event ran smoothly and without a hitch. Well done and thanks to our own Martin O' Leary, & Sean Og McShane, and also to Pat Wright of Angelsea SAC who did a great job of stewarding the event over the two days. Well done also to the background team of Mary Geary, John O' Reilly, and Tracy Fortune who did trojan work in running the event and also assisted John Martin IFSA in accumulating the scores. Also, we musn't forget the skippers, Donie Geary of the John Boy, Gerry Keohane of the Naomh Cartha, John Geary of the Lee Star, and Alan Kennedy of the Lagosta II, who kept the competitors on fish despite very trying conditions.

Well what are the National Fish-Offs all about? The whole purpose of the event is to select the Irish team to participate in the World Championships of the following year. In 2012 the Worlds will be held in South Africa. The top five competitors over the two days qualify for the team aswell as the winner of the National Boat Master Angler who qualifies as captain of the team. The top 20 finishers automatically qualify for the Fish-Offs of the following year. They are joined by the top 12 finishers of the Boat Master Angler competition, so that in all 32 anglers are competing in the event. The purpose of this format is to raise the standard of angling at the top level and minimise the role that luck might play.

The anglers compete over the two days in 4 three hour sessions. Each boat is considered a separate zone and the winner of each boat in each session receives either 1, 2, 3, or 4 points all depending on the points on his scorecard. The angler with the most points will get a score of 1, and so on. The second placed anglers on the boats are then allocated points between

5 and 8 and so on down the line. The angler with the least amount of points wins the competition outright. This year the angler with the least number of points was Kit Dunne of Wicklow Bay SAC. Kit came first with 13 points having topped his boat over three sessions and coming second on a fourth session. On one of those sessions that he topped his boat he had the best scorecard amongst the 32 competitors and, thus, received the coveted 1 point. The other anglers in the top five, in order of merit, were Michael Barry of the Eastern Command SAC, Gordon Darker of Stella Maris SAC, David Jolly of Caherciveen SAC, and Tony Santry of Bishopstown SAC. Well done lads!!! They join Myles Howell of Wicklow Bay SAC, who having won the National Boat Masters competition in Sept, now captains the Irish team. Full results can be see on the IFSA website here.

Our own Danny Kane acquitted himself well. However, as he finished outside the top 20 he does not qualify to stay in the pool for next year's fish offs. Danny will have to try and qualify through the Masters once more. Well done in any case Danny, you put in a good showing for your first time!!!

The fishing itself was tough on the first day. There was a howling gale, driving rain and rough seas. With a strong ebb tide and southerly winds there was a big sea running....even between the forts. All the boats elected at the start to fish the western edge of the channel dropping into 'Deep Hole.' Before low water Donie onboard the John Boy switched over to the eastern side just below Carlisle. It was then that we got a fair idea of the sea running as the John Boy completely disappeared between the swells with only her mast showing. For the first session the fishing was slow. Dabs, small whiting, poor cod, pouting and codling did show. However, for the second session all boats switched over to Dognose to catch the start of the flood and hopefully the whiting shoals. They never materialised. Still by the end of the day most anglers had averaged between 20 and 40 fish. That's not too bad when you consider the conditions. This highlights the uniqueness of Cork Harbour; where else would you have caught fish on a day like that. In fact, in most other venues you just would not have got out.

On Day 2 the weather was much improved and with it the fishing improved dramatically as well. All boats decided to stay put on the western side and it was a wise decision. Most anglers recorded an average of 80 fish with good dabs and whiting amongst them. In fact a fair few dabs were close to specimen size. What a difference a day makes!

...and so the fish-offs concluded for one more year; we wish the new Irish team the best of luck in South Africa and, hopefully, Cobh SAC may be asked again to host the Fish-Offs someday again in the future.

2011 Festival

2011-09-12T08:04:00.000-07:00

Well its all over for another year and what a week it was! The competition went right down to the wire, but in the end Danny Kane prevailed! Yes, he's done it again! Danny Kane is champion for the second year on the trot!

Fair play to Danny! This comes two weeks after his great result in the national boat masters. You can't say he's fluky anymore. Mind you, there are those that say that he definitely does have lady lucky smiling on him. On the final day Danny was in the top ten but a specimen conger of 19kg in the last few hours of the competition lifted him above the rest. This gave him 195 points and lifted him up the table. In the end his winning margin over the runner-up was a mere 55 points.

You'd have to feel sorry for young Cian Ryan, though. Cian was juvenile munster champion a mere few years ago and certainly has the credentials to give Danny a run for his money. Coming into the final day Cian was leading the table. It did look like it was going to be Cian's year. However, a number of seasoned anglers, Danny included, pulled out all the stops on the Friday and pushed Cian down to 5th place. Unlucky Cian; maybe next year. At least, the experience will stand to you.

It was a tough week, though. At times the fishing was tough. This was mainly down

to the weak tides as we fished neaps all week. However, this was further compounded by the weather which was crap. A series of gales hit the fishing grounds over the week and the anglers took a battering. Although, most anglers struggled everyday there was, at least, one boat everyday that did bring in good results; so it wasn't all bad.

On the opening day of the Festival, 52 anglers gathered early on the pier and boarded the waiting charter boats promptly. Six boats of the Cork Harbour

Angling Hub charter boat fleet were used and were well equipped to deal with the inclement weather. Although, Monday started off okay the forecast wasn't great and it was decided to make the most of initial conditions and get outside the Harbour. The Smiths reef were declared the fishing grounds for the day and it was hoped that this would allow for some quality fishing on at least one day in the event of the boats

being confined to the Harbour for the remainder.

Although, all boats managed to stay on the Smiths reef, some 7kms off Roches Point, conditions during the day deteriorated dramatically. By evening a full blown gale had developed and sea conditions were building with wave heights in excess of 3 metres. Four of the six boats struggled with poor fishing. However, two boats hit a bit of a gold vein with plenty of individual scores in excess of 500 points. 1st place for the day went to Richie Fortune of Cobh SAC with 535 points; 2nd went to Steve Williams of Wales with 520 pts; and 3rd went to Tom Johnson of Ireland with

510 pts. Tom Johnson also recorded the heaviest fish of the day with a 11.5kg conger.

It was with great relief that many of the anglers greeted the call for lines up and when we retired to Tradewinds Restaurant for the evening there was many a body that was black and blue from trying to counter the motion of the sea. What harm; the craic and banter that was had in Tradewinds certainly made up for the hardships of the day and, as the band played on into the evening, most anglers unwound with a few pints of well earned Guinness and stories of the one that got away!

Day 2 and remnants of the overnight gale certainly blew the cobwebs away for most. An attempt was made to make it to the offshore marks but, with a heavy sea running and the boats taking a battering on the outward trek, a decision was

made to turn back to more sheltered waters. The fishing grounds were to be the Harbour mouth and the coastal reefs of Guileen and Trabolgan. Again, the pattern of the day before was repeated; some boats struggled but one or two had good fishing. Having said that there were more zero scores today. Seasoned angler, Pat O' Shea of Cobh SAC, was to get a duck-egg; the first of his career! Chairman of the club, John O'Reilly, was to have a cracker of a day. John came first with 415 points and

also had the heaviest fish, a 15kg conger. 2nd was Ruud Boelhouwer of Holland with 395 pts, and

3rd was Bobby Crebor of Carrigaline SAC with 330 pts.

With gale force winds, squally conditions, and heavy downpours the anglers were certainly battered once more. However, spirits were lifted when all gathered at the post match venue of Ryan's bar. Again the craic and banter was superb. With 'Buster' entertaining with his vast repetoire of songs, sea shanties, and ballads into the wee hours, all thoughts of a tough day were soon forgotten about.
The following day, Wednesday, was a rest day. That night all anglers gathered in O'Sheas Bar at the Commodore Hotel for Trad night. Traditional Irish band, Something Simple, gave rousing renditions of 'auldies' and Irish. This talented trio were superb! As the anglers got stuck into the traditional fare of 'crubeens,' conversation drifted towards the anticipated remaining two days. Frank Burke's crubeens had hair on it! That's the second year on the trot!!! (...if you pardon the pun). Was it to be an omen...it certainly was, as on the next day Frank put in one of his

best career performances in these Internationals to date!

Day 3, Thursday and not a bad day weather wise, or so it was forecast. It started off okay and this allowed the boats to get out to the outer reefs. The fishing grounds were decided as the Pollack Rock reef, a reef system that extends east of Power Head towards Ballycotton. The fishing was quite good with plenty of pollack, ling, conger, and cod showing. However, as the day progressed the winds started to build; as did the sea-state. By lines up, the anglers were once again glad to be homeward bound. Cian Ryan, fishing onboard the Lee Star, had a cracker of a day landing pollack one after the other to end up with 450 points. This put him in pole position going into the final day. Frankie Burke also had a great day. It must have been the 'crubeen.' Frank had landed eight fine congers to give him 435 points and second place. Third place went to veteran Fred Vickery from Crosshaven SAC. Mike Hade landed the heaviest fish of the day, a fine 13kg conger. On shore everyone headed to Kelly's bar where once again a great evening was had by all. With an earlier start to the last day most headed home that bit earlier than usual; all except Danny and the Welsh lads.

On the final day, the forecast put paid to any thoughts of making the better marks offshore. Stiffs winds from

the south east forced a decision to limit fishing to the harbour area and marks within 1 mile of Roches Point. With such restrictions it was initially thought that Cian Ryan was safe on the top spot; nobody could chalk up enough points to knock him off his pedestal...or so it seemed. It wasn't to be, though; Danny Kane had a storming day, topped off by catching a specimen conger (not an easy specimen to catch and the first specimen conger in the Festival in many years). Most of the boats fished the Harbour Rock initially, but

Danny was on

board the Wreck Hunter. Skipper Joe Lynch opted instead to fish one of his marks close to Trabolgan. By lunchtime this didn't seem so good as there was only one fish onboard but all of a sudden the conger came on the feed. A steady flow of fish came onboard for the afternoon topped off by that monster conger.

That fish alone was worth 195 points for Danny and helped him to leapfrog over half a dozen anglers to put him in top spot overall. Top spot earns Danny €1,000!!! On the day Danny came in second spot with 450 points, with Milo Burke first with 475 points, and Con Cronin in third with 390 points. All three

anglers were on the one boat. Heaviest fish was, of course, Danny's conger.

So concluded a week of extraordinary fishing and the final results were as follows:

1st Danny Kane, Cobh SAC, 1270 pts

2nd Steve Williams, Wales, 1215 pts

3rd Tom Johnson, Ireland, 1140 pts

4th Paul Tennant, Cobh SAC, 1100 pts

5th Cian Ryan, Cobh SAC, 1075 pts

6th Fred Vickery, Crosshaven SAC, 1055 pts

7th Milo Burke, Cobh SAC, 1005 pts

8th Pat O' Shea, Cobh SAC, 875 pts

9th John Slynne, Carrigaline SAC, 860 pts

10th Bob Crebor, Carrigaline SAC, 820 pts

11th Sean Og McShane, Cobh SAC, 810 pts

12th Richie Fortune, Cobh SAC, 800 pts

13th Con Cronin, Cobh SAC, 800 pts

14th John O' Reilly, Cobh SAC, 780 pts

15th Frank Burke, Cobh SAC, 775 pts

Best Pollack, 3.0kg, Bob Crebor, Ire

Best Ling, 4.5kg, Tony Maguire, Ire

Most No. of Conger, Tom Johnson, Ire, 19 conger

Best Edible Bag, 52kg, Pat O' Shea, Ire

Most Species, Andrew Tucker, Wales, 8 Species

Best Cod, 4.0kg, Bob Crebor, Ire

Best No. of Fish, Pat O' Shea, Ire, 48 fish

Best 'Out of State' angler, Steve Williams, Wales, 1215 pts

Best Lady, Tina Kneeshaw, Ire, 685 pts

Best Junior, Ml. Lane, Ire, 650 pts

Heaviest fish of the week, 19.0kg conger, Danny Kane

Best Skipper, Alan Kennedy, Lagosta II

Plans are already afoot in organising next years event. Next year the tides will be springs so the fishing should be much better and the scoring should be much higher. If you'd fancy entering why not contact our club secretary. Mary Geary, at 00-353-21-4812167. C'mon, you know it's good for you!!!

A big thanks to Martin O' Leary who, once again, did all the photography for the week. Aswell as the photos here Martin has uploaded more than 175 pics of the week on our facebook page (Cobh Sac).

Well done Danny...3rd in the Masters!

2011-09-03T14:10:00.000-07:00

Well done to clubman Danny Kane, who came 3rd in the National Boat Angling Masters!!! Danny and Sandra O' Shea were representing Cobh SAC at this years masters held two weeks ago in Killybegs. The fishing was very competitive with the best of the country's anglers slogging it out against each other over two days.

Danny did exceptionally well to finish in third spot. Its Danny's first time fishing the masters and, apparently, this is the highest finish by a first time competitor. Sandra did well aswell, finishing in 42nd spot out of 60 anglers, and the best anglers in the country at that. Myles Howell of Bray finished in first spot and Stven O' Neill of Guileen (who is a regular entrant in our light line competitions) finished in 2nd.

Danny now progresses onto the National Fish Offs on the October weekend where he competes in a two day competition to determine the Irish Boat team for South Africa in 2012. Danny couldn't have a better chance of making the national team as Cobh SAC is hosting this event and it is once more fished in Cork Harbour. Danny's experience of fishing the light line competitions over the last three seasons should stand to him as the fishing for the National fish offs is very similar. Go on Danny, you can do it!!!

Festival 2011 - 4 weeks to go!

2011-08-08T06:19:00.000-07:00

Are you booked in? Only 4 weeks to go....give Mary a bell on 021-4812167.

Cobh Fishing Tackle - new shop

2011-07-31T09:22:00.000-07:00

Cobh Fishing Tackle have opened a new branch right next door to the Commodore Hotel in the old Seashell's Shop. This is a handy spot if you're heading out fishing for the day and need to top up on tackle; just a short distance away from the pier. Everything you need is there, including fresh bait. The bait freezer and fridge are well stocked up.

Best of luck to Mary & Donie, we hope this new venture is a roaring success!!!

Summer Light Lines Comp No.3

2011-07-31T09:08:00.000-07:00

Last Monday evening we held the third in our series of summer light line comps. Everyone gathered at Kennedy Pier for 6pm and loaded aboard the Naomh Cartha. Fishing was alright.

Its amazing the difference between the seasons as regards numbers and species of fish. The main species caught on Monday night were dabs and doggies. In the winter its cod and whiting.

On the night, Danny Kane just pipped Sandra O' Shea for top spot. Danny had a total of 19 fish but so had Sandra; the difference between the two a mere 6 points. Well done to all who participated, the fishing wasn't great but the banter was mighty as usual.

Our next competition is the Festival. That's only 5 weeks away. If you haven't got your entry in yet give Mary a buzz on 021-4812167!!!!

Cork Harbour Championships

2011-07-31T08:46:00.000-07:00

Well we had a good turnout for the Harbour Championships recently. Eleven anglers from the club fished and we were able to field three teams.

Fishing was a bit patchy, though. Danny Kane reports that he, Sandra and two others fishing onboard 'Sandra Anne,' struggled outside until they came in and fished the 'Quarry' in Whitebay and picked up a few congers.

At the end of the day Passage were the winning team, with Michael Geary from Monkstown SAC, the overall winner. Well done Michael!

We were also running one of our own Master Boat competitions as part of this comp and our overall winner was Frank Cronin. Well done Frank! Frank did well fishing for dabs on Curlane Bank and certainly raked up the points. Cian Ryan came third, with Danny Kane coming in fourth spot.

The race for the overall Masters spot for the year is hotting up but it looks like Frank and Danny will be slugging it out together.

Do remember, though, that we have a few places on the Masters this year due to the number of registered members so they'll still be places up for grabs.

All hell broke loose in the Kitchen.....

2011-07-30T16:16:00.000-07:00

All hell broke loose in the Kitchen recently....literally. In a fund-raiser for Cobh SAC two teams of amateur chefs were pitted against each other to serve 70 paying patrons! Oh, the pressure was on. On one side were Pat O'Shea and Ger Richardson of Cobh SAC, and on the other Aidan Kneeshaw and John O'Reilly, also of Cobh SAC. Between the four of them....they couldn't boil an egg!!!

However, ably guided by Richie Fortune and Sandra O' Shea they muddled their way through it....and surprisingly, there were no complaints. Wow!

A great night was had by all, which was rounded off nicely by a great performance on the musical front by Dr. Pender and his band.

Many thanks to Sandra and Danny of Tradewinds Restaurant for use of their facilities, to Ger Keohane who provided the venison, to Donie Geary who supplied the cod, and to all those patrons who supported Cobh SAC on the night. Well done!!!

...and by the way, well done to Pat & Ger, who won on the night!!!

Cobh SAC Inter-pub Competition

2011-07-29T17:48:00.001-07:00

The first Cobh inter-pub angling competition was a great success. Sponsored by the Mauretania Bar and organised by Cobh SAC, there was a great turn out. Over 60 anglers, representing 6 pubs, congregated early on Saturday morning, 9th July, on Kennedy Pier and boarded 7 angling charter boats provided by the Cork Harbour Angling Hub. Fishing for the day was mostly at the Smith's, just a few miles off Roches Point.

The fishing itself started off slow, but as the day wore on it picked up dramatically. All manner of species were swung onboard with ling, cod, pollack and whiting figuring strongly.

Overall winner was Milo Burke, Cobh SAC, representing Tradewinds Restaurant. In second place was Sandra O' Shea, Cobh SAC, also representing Tradewinds. In third was Ger Brady, Cobh SAC, representing the Maurentania Bar and in fourth was Pat O' Shea, representing the Commodore Hotel. Martin O' Leary, our ever present photographer, came in a well deserved fifth place. Well done Martin! Martin is shown in one of the pics above, holding a conger aloft.

The prize-giving was held in Tradewinds that evening, followed by a session from local band, the 'Urge.' What a great night!

Summer Light Lines....

2011-06-24T18:43:00.001-07:00

On Monday evening last we held the second of our summer series of light line comps. To be honest you'd have been forgiven for thinking that it wasn't summer. Monday was more like winter with lashing rain, mist, fod, & wind. Mind you by the time we got the comp under way the weather had cleared somewhat.

Seven anglers were able to make it and were full of enthusiasm when Donie Geary picked them up on the John Boy from Kennedy Pier. First stop was our usual spot in 'Deep Hole.' However, the tide was just too strong and Donie suggested a move. Next stop was just off the channel close to Camden and here the tidal run was more bearable.

All sorts of rigs and all sorts of bait went over the side and soon enough a steady stream of fish came onboard. Dabs were the most plentiful of the fish and most were of a good size. By the end of the comp 54 dabs had been caught out of a total of 102 fish. That gave an average of 15 fish per angler.

Sandra O' Shea came out tops, but was ran close to the line by Ger Brady. Only 20 points separated them; effectively one fish. Sandra had 28 fish for a total of 449 points, whereas Ger had 26 fish for 429 points. In third place was Mick Bennett, with Rob Kelly in fourth. Once again a great craic was had by all.

Our next comp is a Masters Boat competition and this is on Sunday 17th July. This is followed by our third summer light line comp on Monday 25th July. Pencil those into your diary and don't forget to book yourself in with Mary on 021-4812167 well beforehand.

Well done Danny....

2011-06-24T08:01:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Danny Kane who landed his first specimen fish. Danny caught this beautiful specimen cuckoo wrasse yesterday onboard his own boat, 'Sandra Anne.' This fish is well deserved as Danny has put in a lot of effort targeting new marks and trying out new tactics. Mind you he wouldn't divulge where he caught this beauty!

This is the fourth specimen fish caught by a club member this year. Looks like the car will be full going to next Febuary's Specimen Fish Awards!

1st Masters comp of the year...

2011-06-18T13:27:00.001-07:00

Well after last month's masters comp got blown out, last Sunday's masters comp turned out to be the first of the year. Not that conditions had improved much; it turned out to be quite dirty as one or two of the fishing party will readily attest to. Having said that the fishing was not too bad, with 9 species landed.

Ian O' Shea, skippering the John Boy in Donie's absence, brought the nine anglers, who checked in, to the Smiths. Fresh bait was extremely scarce but that didn't put the congers off which readily took the frozen variety. The pic above and over shows Martin O' Leary and Ger Brady get to grips with the slimey buggers.

Plenty of pollack and cod were also caught. The pic below is of Noel Kavanagh with a medium sized pollack. Danny Kane is also holding up the best cod of the day.

Results went Danny's way as he had the best bag of the day. Danny had 29 fish for a points total of 419; almost twice his nearest rival. Noel Kavanagh came second with 15 fish and 217 points. Ger Brady came third, with Martin O' Leary in fourth place.

A total of 85 fish were caught, which included: 37 pollack, 12 ling, 11 coalfish, 1 cod, 5 conger, 1 lsd, 10 pouting, 2 poor cod, and 6 cuckoo wrasse.

Our next outing is a light lines competition on Monday evening, the 20th June. Fishing is from 6pm to 9:30pm, so book yourself in with Mary on 021-4812167; come on, you know its good for ya!

Competition cancelled...

2011-05-07T05:20:00.000-07:00

Due to high winds and heavy seas, this Sunday's competition has been cancelled. This will now be deferred to an alternative date. As soon as this is known, the date will be posted here.

Competitions for 2011

2011-05-05T15:30:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Frankie Cronin who was recently presented with the Master Angler trophy for 2010. Mistakenly we had earlier reported that Danny Kane had won the title, but when the final scores had been totted up Frankie pipped him for the position. This is Frankie's second year in the row winning the Master Angler title.

Here are the list of the Club competitions for 2011:

1. Sunday 8th May 10am - 6pm Open Boat (Master Angler)

2. Monday 16th May 6pm - 9:30pm Evening Boat Comp

3. Sunday 12th June 10am - 6pm Open Boat (Master Angler)

4. Monday 20th June 6pm - 9:30pm Evening Boat Comp

5. Sunday 17th July 10am - 6pm Open Boat (Master Angler)

6. Monday 25th July 6pm - 9:30pm Evening Boat Comp

7. Monday 5th Sept - Friday 9th Sept 45th International Sea Angling Festival

Book them into your diary now. Entries for the club competitions must be in with Mary at 021 - 4812167 for the Thurs before the date so that boats can be organised.

Other dates you may want to make a note of are:

1. May 29th - Munster Open Boat Championships Dunmore East (entries to Mary by May 5th)

2. June 11th - Munster Closed Boat Championships Valentia (entries to Mary by May 16th)

3. August 6th - Munster Juvenile Boat Championships (Crosshaven ) 12 - 4pm.

4. Sept 24/25th - All Ireland Findlater-Shalimar Caherciveen

April Light Lines Competition....

2011-04-22T08:43:00.000-07:00

Well the last of this season's light line competitions got underway last Sunday, 17th April, and once again, as has been the case with all the comps in the series, we were blessed with great weather. In fact by the time we got back in many were sporting a nice shade of lobster pink, such was the strength of the sun.

There was a great turn out with 17 anglers competing. We all boarded the John Boy and Noamh Cartha early in the morning and opted once more to fish the prolific grounds of 'Deep Hole' between the Forts. By 9:30 both boats were at anchor. We were fishing big tides and, boy, was the tide run strong at the start! With 10oz leads it was even a struggle to hold bottom. However, as the tide slackened a steady stream of fish came onboard. The usual species showed in number; codling, whiting, dabs, etc.,... A surprising number of doggies showed. This was a welcome surprise as in previous competitions these have been noted for their absence. One or two mackeral also showed as was the case in the March comp.

From the oft, Cobh SAC vice-chairman, Danny Kane, piled the pressure on and seemed to put himself in an unasailable lead. However, he put himself under pressure and was soon reeled in, if you pardon the pun, by some of the Club's more seasoned anglers....upstart!!! By the end of the day a total of 759 fish had been landed; this made it an average of 45 fish per angler. The species count was 415 whiting, 126 poor cod, 93 cod, 73 dab, 48 doggies, a coalfish, a pouting, a flounder, and a scorpion fish.

Soon enough we were back in and retiring to Tradewinds Restaurant for much needed refreshments. After being well watered and well fed it was time to give out the prizes. Vice-chair, Danny Kane, got proceedings underway and presented first prize to Anthony Austin, of Crosshaven SAC, who had 87 fish for a total of 1,216 points. Second was club treasurer, Pat O' Shea, with 60 fish for 889 points, and third was Martin Perryman with 63 fish for 888 points. Wow, one point between second and third!!!

Well done to our latest club member, Evan McGovern, who came in a creditable 5th place. Club treasurer, Pat O' Shea, also had the most species of fish with 7 species.

As these comps have proven so popular, vice-chair, Danny Kane, announced that a summer evening series will be run. These comps will be run from 6pm to 10pm in the evenings in June, July, and August. Watch this space for these dates and more details!!!

March Light Line Competition

2011-03-30T14:34:00.000-07:00

On Sunday just gone, the 27th March, Cobh SAC held their third light line competition of 2011. As has been the case in every competition since this series started, the weather was ideal. All week the weather was more like early summer rather than spring and Sunday was no exception, albeit a bit hazy. Having said that it was chilly as the anglers gathered on the pier at 8:30am. However, as the clocks had changed the night before, it was really 7:30, so the early morning cold was to be expected.

Twelve anglers signed in and promptly boarded the two boats: the John Boy and the Naomh Cartha. Within twenty minutes of departure the boats were at the first designated fishing area between the forts in deep hole. Everyone was keen to get a good start and those aboard the John Boy, skippered by Donie Geary, weren't disappointed. Baits had hardly touched bottom when the first fish started coming onboard and Donie was soon kept busy marking scorecards as a steady stream of fish came over the gunwhales.

The competition was soon intense as Martin Perryman, Sandra O' Shea, and club treasurer, Pat O' Shea, led the way, with not much between them. Plenty of codling were showing and to a good size too, along with whiting, dabs, scorpion fish, lsd's, and coalfish.

The Noamh Cartha wasn't faring out aswell and made several moves to get amongst the fish. Nevertheless, good efforts were being made by Anthony Austin, James Brandon and Evan McGovern who put a bit of distance between themselves and the rest.

During the afternoon, on the top of the tide, many anglers were getting a few knocks on the way down. It was thought that there might be a big shoal of whiting at mid-water. Curiosity got the better of the club treasurer who left his baits at that depth. He was soon into fish, but not the expected quarry. A brace of mackeral were soon swung onboard.....the mackeral are in!!! The mackeral appeared plentiful and even at one stage were breaking at the aft of the boat. They didn't escape the attention of the resident pod of dolphins who were soon spotted coraling some of the bait fish for too far away.

All too soon it was time to head in. Once ashore we all headed for Tradewinds Restaurant, who had sponsored the day and prizes. A fine spread was laid on with some welcome soup, sandwiches, and goujons of freshly caught cod. With that vital refreshments under our belt, the prize giving could get under way. Newly elected vice-chairman, Danny Kane, did his bit as master of ceremonies. First up was the overall winner, Martin Perryman. Martin had caught 121 fish for an overall points total of 1729. 2cnd was Ozzy Austin, who had won his boat onboard the Naomh Cartha. Ozzy had 50 fish for a total of 745 points.

Third was Evan McGovern, also onboard the Naomh Cartha, with 45 fish and 696 points.

The fishing had been exceptional. There were 670 fish caught, making it an average of 56 fish per angler. A total of 283 cod were caught, along with 243 whiting, 131 dabs, 9 lsd, 1 coalfish, 2 scorpion fish, and 1 herring. Club treasurer had to console himself that at least he had caught the most cod with 70 codling.

Roll on the next light lines comp on Sunday 17th April....make sure you're there!

Specimen Ling....

2011-01-28T15:55:00.000-08:00

Members of Cobh SAC took advantage of the recent settled weather and what a day they had!!! Skipper, Donie Geary, takes up the story....'on Friday last, a group of local anglers hired the John-Boy to fish an offshore wreck. The weather had been settled for the best part of a week and the tides were suitable with a midday low water. We left Cobh at 9:30am with 7 very eager anglers, to fish a wreck about 20 miles from Roches Point. We started our first drift in 250 feet of water shortly after 11 o'clock. Things were very slow at first, only picking up several cod, but to 6lb nonetheless. We also had some fine whiting and a couple of nice ling in the first half dozen drifts. As the tide turned I decided to anchor in the hope of better fishing. Almost immediately, Ruud Boulhower (our local Dutchman) struck into a fine fish. However, he also got caught on the dreaded net that has been lost on the wreck. After about 10 minutes trying to coax it clear, the net eventually won and Ruud lost everything. Almost at the same time, Tony Maguire struck and landed a fine ling to 17lb despite having a major struggle with his reel. Tony also landed the next two ling of about 12lb. However, at that stage his reel had had enough. Fishing was steady with everyone landing some nice ling, conger and whiting. Gerard Richardson had at this stage the best with a hefty ling of 20lb. Ruud, though, wasn't to be outdone and struck into a good fish. We first thought it was a conger. Ruud had to gingerally reel the fish in as he was wary that the relatively light line on his hokkai rig would part. Eventually, he landed a fine ling weighing in at 25lb 2oz....a specimen, and Ruud's first at that!!! This is also the first specimen aboard John-Boy for 2011. Well done Ruud! We left for home at 4:30pm, with everyone in good form after an enjoyable day's fishing. With 10 miles left for port, Martin Perryman called out that he had seen a spout of water about 50 yards astern. I immediately swung around and headed for the disturbance on the surface. As I did this giant of a fin whale breached the surface 20 meters away. From the boat everybody just looked on in amazement at this monster, estimated at about 60 feet. It was the size of a small island and just as quick as it appeared it disappeared under the water again. We waited with cameras at the ready but that was the last we saw of him. On arrival back at Cobh and with Ruud's specimen ling confirmed, all the talk was about our encounter with this monster. How lucky we were to have the pleasure of being so close to such a creature as he swam in the open sea. In nearly 50 years of charter angling, I have never, or doubt I will ever again, witness such a fantastic sight.'

Light Line Comp Part Deux....Dab hunt.

2011-01-05T14:48:00.000-08:00

After such a good day on Monday, and with the weather staying relatively calm, a plan was hatched to have a follow up. This time, though, the light line comp was to be a dab hunt.

Two boats headed out this time. First out was Dasher Doyle with Martin Perryman, Arthur Kavanagh, and George Stockley onboard, followed later by Sandra Anne with Danny Kane, Pat O' Shea, & Sandra Murphy onboard.

The plan was to target the numerous dabs that have shown up over the last few months. There have been many quality dabs showing up of late and it was hoped that we might be lucky and get a specimen.

Danny wasn't sticking to the plan, though. He wanted another cut off Ger Keohane's ling mark for just one hour! One hour turned into three. However, we couldn't complain as the fishing was alright. We had ling to 7lbs, cod to 5lbs, whiting to 3lbs, pouting to 2lbs, and numerous cuckoo wrasse. With an hour and a half of light remaining we headed back into a harbour mark.

Dasher Doyle had a great lead on us at this stage. They had fished Deep Hole at the start and then moved to mark outside the Harbour Rock. This proved fruitful with plenty of dabs, whiting to 2lbs, small codling (with a solitary 5lber), poor cod, and lsd's. Not to be outdone we headed to Deep Hole and in the last hour managed 32 whiting, 7 dabs, 7 codling, 7 poor cod, & 7 lsd.

Again, not a bad return for a couple of hours fishing in January!

Impromptu light line comp....

2011-01-05T11:11:00.000-08:00

Over the New Year weekend a plan was hatched to have an impromptu Light Line Comp....and so, on the first Monday of January 2011, eleven brave souls from both Cobh SAC and Crosshaven SAC departed early in the morning (....well, actually not so early after all).

Three boats set off from East Ferry Marina; Dasher Doyle, Sandra Anne, and Eva. Sandra Anne, with Cobh SAC Master Angler, Danny Kane, Club Treasurer, Pat O' Shea, and Ger Keohane headed straight for the Ling Rocks. The other two boats, Dasher Doyle and Eva, with Martin Perryman, Frank Burke, Martin's brother, Arthur Kavanagh, Ruud Boelhouwer, Gerard Richardson, Greg Manning, and Tony Maguire, opted for the Smiths instead. It was bittingly cold with temperatures hardly getting above 4 degrees, but with very little wind it didn't feel that bad at all. In fact it was almost calm, which made the trip out to the Lings fairly comfortable compared to normal.

As our expected quarry was expected to be bigger than the normal stamp of fish encountered in the light lines a concession was made; main line was to be no more than 15lb but rigs and snoods could be heavier. On our boat, Sandra Anne, Ger Keohane got off to a great start. On a cliff-face mark north of the Lings themselves Ger started clocking up the species, bringing in pollack, whiting, and pouting in quick order. To put a stop to his gallop we moved onto the Lings proper!!!

Here we were into a better stamp of fish; Ger and Danny fishing bottom rigs started bringing in ling. Both landed fish to 9lbs. Pat stuck at the gilling alternating between shads and jellyworms. On both set-ups he was landing pollack on every second or third drop. The better fish seemed to fall for shads, though, and most were around the 6lb mark. To try for variety (and clock up species points) Danny dropped his hook and bait size. Soon enough, a number of ballan wrasse and cuckoo's were swung onboard.

With the number of ling coming onboard Ger Keohane was convinced that a mark of his, east of the Smiths, would produce bigger fish. With an hour of daylight left we decided to give it a shot. It produced bigger fish alright, but not the expected ling; Pat managed a fine pollack of 9 1/2lbs...the biggest fish of the day. A few ling were landed, but they were smaller than outside. We also had whiting, cod, haddock and lsd's. One of the haddock, a nice fish of 3 1/2lbs, had savage bites taken out of it....probably an attack from a big ling. Maybe there are big ling on Ger's mark after all! Pat really did well on this spot. This didn't go down well with Ger who soon took a knife to his line. Too late Ger, it was lines up anyway! A call to the other boats soon confirmed that they had had similar fishing with plenty of whiting and haddock in particular. Many of the whiting were upto 3lbs with Frank Burke managed a fine one of specimen size. Heaviest fish between the other two boats was a fine 8lb cod for Arthur Kavanagh.

What a great day, especially for January. Between the three boats we had managed to catch lsd's, pollack, cod, ling, haddock, ballan wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, whiting, and pouting; a total of 9 species. We had been restricted to mackeral and squid for bait; if we had rag and crab maybe we'd have had more. What harm it was great fishing anyway!

Cobh SAC Boat Master Angler

2010-12-22T01:24:00.000-08:00

The fourth and last competition in this year's series to decide Cobh SAC's master angler was held on the last Sunday in November. This was the weekend that the first of this Winter's cold snaps blew in and boy was it cold! The heavy frost that morning prevented many from turning up but despite the conditions six hardy anglers braved the elements and boarded the John Boy at Kennedy Pier.

Skipper for the day was Mark O' Reilly as Donie had prior engagements. Mark brought the crew to one of Donie's marks on the Smiths to start with. Fishing was slow, but having said that the quality of fish brought to the net was quite good. In total there was 71 fish caught, the vast majority codling and whiting. Having said that most of the cod were from 5lbs and up.

Although, conditions were good to start with, a freezing NE blew up. With that extra chill the anglers had no option but to head back to a more sheltered harbour mark. Everyone was well wrapped up, as can be seen from the photo above of that international man of mystery. They seek him here...they seek him there...but here's a Christmas quiz for all; can you identify that well known club member.

When everyone got back to base at the Commodore Hotel they were glad of that hot bowl of soup. The scores were totted up and the outright winner on the day was Danny Kane with 15 fish and 278 points. Well done Danny!!! Second on the day was Sandra O' Shea, also with 15 fish, and 229 points. Third was Noel Carey with 16 fish and 225 points.

What a year Danny Kane has had; Winner of the Cobh International Deep Sea Angling Festival and....cover of Irish Angler!!!!

World Sea Fishing winner!!!

2010-12-16T05:07:00.000-08:00

Well done to Club Treasurer, Pat O' Shea, who was joint winner of the World Sea Fishing Lure Challenge for 2010.

Pat topped the competition with this fabulous bass of 71cm caught on a sub-surface lure in August. The competition ran all year upto the 10th December and was for the longest lure caught bass from the shore. Pat had stiff competition as he was up against lure anglers from Germany, the Channel Islands, England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Many were well known lure specialists, including TV personality, Henry Gilbey, and Graham Hill.

Well done Pat!!!!

More details can be seen here http://www.worldseafishing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=237916

Danny is on top of the World.....

2010-12-16T04:52:00.000-08:00

Fair play to Danny Kane, he's having a good year. Not only did he win the International Festival but he is also the Club's master angler for 2010. Danny recently finished 3rd in the last of the series of our master angler comps. This gave him enough points to pip veteran, Frankie Cronin. (A report on that comp will follow shortly).

Here's Danny also, appearing on the cover of the Christmas edition of Irish Angler. When you're having a good year, you're having a good year; well done Danny!!!

The calm before the storm....

2010-11-09T12:08:00.000-08:00

Hurricane Thomas was due to lash the south coast last Sunday but forecasters were confident that it wouldn't come in until after dark. They were spot on! In fact the weather for our first light line competition of the Winter series was positively glorious....a true calm before the storm!
Eight competitors gathered on the pier early Sunday morning and were soon under way on the John Boy. By 9:30am Donie had the anchor down and positioned the boat on the northern edge of deep hole in line with No. 5. This spot had fished very well in the National fish-offs over the Oct long weekend and Donie was hopeful that similar fishing could be had this Sunday. How right he was!!! Over 600 fish were caught by the 8 anglers over the 5 hours of the competition. Wow, now that's good fishing.

Whiting dominated the catch with many of a good size; averaging between 2-3lbs. The final tally was 454 whiting, 101 dabs, 4 doggies, 8 codling, 45 poor cod, and 1 scad. That's an average of 77 fish per angler. That's a great start to the light line series!

Many of the dabs were a 1lb in weight, coming close to the new specimen size. Surprisingly there were very few cod, but the trawlers have been hammering them for weeks now! There were also plenty of mackeral about, keeping everyone's bait supplies topped up.

Winner of the competition was Sandra O' Shea, pictured above, who had an impressive haul of 112 fish. In second place was Anthony Austin, Crosshaven SAC, who had 109 fish, and in third was Sylvester Skowronski with 89 fish. Roll on the next light lines comp, which is on Sunday 5th December. If you want to fish this comp give Mary Geary a bell on 087-4812167 or drop her a line on seaangling@esatclear.ie .

Autumn Seatrout

2010-11-08T16:47:00.001-08:00

What about this for a fine seatrout!!! This superb fish was caught recently by Cobh SAC member, Cmdr. Richie Ryan. This fish was picked up on a secret mark in the upper reaches of Cork Harbour. What makes it extra special was that it was a salt water fly caught fish. Well done Richie!!!

Richie wasn't the only one bagging the seatrout. Fellow Cobh SAC member, Tom Hoynes, picked up a few towards the back end of the season, again, at an upper harbour mark. These fish were caught on a Viva Maria Parade.

2010 Festival.....

2010-09-19T15:20:00.000-07:00

Well it's all over for another year and what a great week we had!!! Everyone had been a bit apprehensive about the weather, especially as on the Sunday night, as we all registered, it was lashing rain and windy outside. We needn't have worried so much as it turned out mostly fine. In fact sunburn turned out to be more of an issue, especially on the first two days. Monday and Tuesday followed on the same as Sunday night with downpours....but that was over land. Out at sea there was nothing but clear blue skies. Looking back to land we could see the dark clouds hugging the coastline. However, as we gathered on the pier on Monday morning we weren't to know that as the forecast was for heavy showers and most people were kitted out in their all-weathers.

The anticipation was palpable as all 50 anglers (from over 6 nations) collected their scorecards and made their way towards their designated boat. On each boat one of the angling party was designated boat captain, to be responsible for collating the scores at the end of the day. That would be a relatively easy task as each charter boat skipper was well organised and had a steward to assist. The picture over is of Donie Geary, of the John Boy, giving boat skippers and stewards last minute instructions. By 9:45am all anglers were onboard and each boat slowly made their way from the quay and idled in the channel waiting for the go-ahead. Once it came, all five boats motored on their way together in a small floatilla. What a sight!

The designated fishing area for the day was to be the Smith's Reef, some number of miles south of Roches Point, and West. After a stop off for mackeral on the way, all boats were there well in advance of lines down time of 11am. This was to be the moment of truth. For all the anglers the level of anticipation (and probably nervousness) had been building to this point from the day before. There was no more rig tying; there was no more preparation; this was it! For some, things were going to work out; for others....oh, well.

As it turned out the fishing was a bit of a struggle....for every body. We were onboard the John Boy, skippered by Donie Geary. We had a mixture of conger to 7kg, ling, pollack, coalfish, pouting, cuckoo wrasse, and grey gurnard. Pictured over is Scottish angler, Dave Nielson, with one of those cuckoo's. Best onboard our boat was Cobh SAC angler, Pat O' Shea, with one conger and 13 pollack for a total of 245 points. He was followed by another Cobh SAC angler, Paul Tennant, with four conger and a pouting for 220 points.

The other boats more or less fared out the same, except for Sea Breeze. There's was the only boat to take the westerely option. Crosshaven SAC angler, Ger Richardson, had put them on one of his Daunt Rock marks and it paid off! Particularly for Ger, who had a great day. Ger had three conger to 9kg and 9 pollack to give him 350 points and put him into the overall lead after Day 1. He was closely followed by Dublin angler, Damien Wall, who had 18 pollack for 310 points. Here's Damien with a rockfish....one of the oddities he caught later in the week!

After that in auspicious start we all retired to Tradweinds Restaurant for a few pints of the black stuff and to chew the cud. Although, a few anglers were down in the mouth that was soon forgotten about. Sandra and Danny had booked a trad band and they soon got under way. As the craic and banter gathered pace, the spirits were certainly enlivened!

Tuesday morning heralded a fresh start....mind you a few of the anglers looked far from fresh as they made their way down to the pier. Nevertheless, all cobwebs were blown away as we motored out to "today's" fishing grounds. Fishing was to be from Power Head east. Most boats took the option of fishing the area close to the Pollack Rock buoy. We were onboard the Wreckhunter. Skipper Joe Lynch took us futher east than the rest. Joe was anxious to fish a favourite mark of his, an isolated seamount that rises 17 metres from the ocean floor. It certainly looked dramatic on Joe's onboard computer screen, which gave a 3D graphical depiction of the sea bed.

The fishing also got off to a dramatic start with Tom Johnson landing a fine ling of 5.5kg. This was followed by more ling and plenty of pouting; a sure sign that we were in good conger country. Indeed, Joe was hoping that we might get a conger over the 20kg mark as he has had them here before. At the start, though, it was all pouting and some were quite large. Phil Blakey, originally from the UK, had two around the 3lb mark. One of them, later weighed ashore, qualified as a specimen. Well done Phil!

With the turn of the tide the conger soon came on the feed. Joe had his hands full as he was running from port side to starboard to aft in between netting the congers as they came onboard at a fast and furious pace. All too soon it was all over and in that hectic spell we landed over 40 conger, many of good size. The biggest of the day fell to Cobh SAC angler, Paul Tennant, at 12.5kg. Indeed, Paul had a great day with the best score of 745 points. Making up Paul's tally were eleven conger, one pollack, and three ling. Three other anglers had scores of over 500 points; that's great crackin'.

Feeling somewhat confident that we had had an exceptional day our bubble was somewhat burst when on the journey in we heard over the blower that Danny Kane had knocked up a great score in excess of 800 points. Donegal Danny, as he's otherwise known, was catching everything in sight! Danny was onboard the John Boy and they had had great fishing. Indeed, no less than five anglers onboard that boat had in excess of 500 points. Wow!!! In fact they had over 60 conger landed, many of which were approaching 10kg in weight. That's some fishing!

As it turned out the fishing on Tuesday was excellent all-round with 11 anglers returning a score in excess of 500 points. Bobby Crebor from Cork had a mighty fish in a 17kg conger; probably the biggest fish in a couple of years and not far off specimen. As we retired to Ryan's bar that evening the general consensus was that Tuesday was a good day. Everyone was in better spirits and it didn't take long for the craic and banter to start. Landlord, Paul O' Halloran, admonished Frank Burke for scoring more points than Martin Perryman. Now that's a first!

Wednesday was a rest day, so we were all eager to get going again Thursday morning. The previous night there had been yet another Trad session in the Commodore Hotel. What a night! Copious amounts of porter and crubeens. How does Frank Burke do it; but do it, he does and is the freshest one on the pier the following morning. Topic of discussion on the pier was that there was pigs' hair on the crubeens. All the better, reckons Frank!!! Well, anyway, off we went to Power Head, with the Pollack Rock and east being our destination. The fishing today wasn't as good as Tuesday. Yet Danny Kane had a great day! You couldn't stop that man; he was on fire. Danny was with us on the Lee Star and he was fishing well. It was all down to his lucky yellow pirk he reckoned. He had actually lost it twice on Tuesday only for it to be retrieved twice by another angler. Well if that's not luck what is! Danny ended up with 545 points, only 10 points behind the joint winners of the day, Richie Fortune, Cobh SAC, and Steve Williams, Wales. There were also some great fish caught. Hans Vermelis of Holland had a 16kg conger. Sandra O' Shea of Cobh SAC had one of 14kg. Two great fish!!

When we got back in the evening we all retired to Kelly's Bar, the sponsors of day 3. It was now clear that the top spot was gravitating towards a number of anglers and the topic of discussion was who was going to come out on top the following day. Danny Kane was in front but hot on his heels were Paul Tennant, a previous winner, Richie Fortune, and Frank Cronin, also a previous winner. Who would win out? The conversation was certainly lively and the slagging something else! However, as the night wore on we could see the weather deteriorating outside and soon enough the rain was dancing off the main window of Kelly's. Friday was going to be a tough one.

Arriving on the pier on Friday morning we were pleasantly surprised; the wind had abated and it was no longer raining. Better news was to follow; we had all expected to be confined to the harbour but it was decided that we could fish from Roches Point west to the Daunt. The journey out, though, was a bit hairy. Today's tide was one of the biggest of the year and as we approached Roches Point the ebb tide was at its height, pushing hard against the breeze that was left; it was quite dirty to say the least. The Lee Star took a wave that frightened the bejaysus out of everyone onboard. Aiden Kneeshaw, skippering for the day, reckoned the boat nearly submarined!!! All he could see as the boat dived into the trough, was green water; how the windscreen held he still doesn't know! Once all boats cleared the harbour mouth, though, it was fine and the sea soon levelled off. We were on the Cuan Ban, skippered by John Barry. John is one of the longest serving charter skippers in the harbour and he was taking us to one of his secret marks on the Daunt. The pressure was on though, as we had Danny Kane onboard.

The fishing for us kicked off fairly well. From the oft Pollack were coming onboard and a better stamp of fish than was apparent all week. A number of nice cod showed aswell, but then as the tide dropped to low the fishing tailed off. At this stage, everyone had a number of fish....except Danny!!! Was the pressure getting to him? The pressure soon mounted as news came in from the Lee Star that Paul Tennant had got off to a great start and had now chalked up over 200 points putting him now in overall lead.

Coming upto the changeover, skipper John Barry suggested a change to a mark closer to the Cork buoy. Here the fishing remained slow as the tide slackened but we managed a few bullhuss. Still Danny remained fishless. He was pulling his hair out at this stage. Then at last, Danny caught a fish....a doggie. Did he have his mojo back? This was to prove just the case as with the turn of the tide Danny started to pick up a few conger. However, he had only an hour left. Was it going to be enough?

In that last hour the pace of the fishing picked up. Richie Fortune, Cobh SAC, and Steve Williams of Wales, both pegged at the aft position really did well. By lines up we hadn't done too bad at all, with over 30 conger, numerous pollack, cod, ling, grey gurnard, bullhuss and lsd's. Fishing in the other boats had picked up aswell with most anglers returning a decent score. As we made our way in, we wondered had Danny done enough to secure victory.

Later that evening we all gathered in the Nightclub in the Commodore Hotel for the prize giving presentation. As per usual, the spread of prizes, trophies, and crystal was indeed impressive. Once all the necessary speeches were over prizes were given out in order of merit from 15th place up....and soon enough it became clear; Danny Kane had indeed won the Festival outright. Well done Danny!!! Along with the main trophy Danny won €1000 in cash. In second place was Paul Tennant who won €400, and in a very creditable third place was Richie Fortune, who won €200. The Ireland B team won the team event and collected a cheque for €400. The team was made up of Danny Kane, Milo Burke, Frank Cronin, and Sandra O' Shea.

The full results are as follows:

1st Danny Kane, Cobh SAC, 1820 pts
2cnd Paul Tennant, Cobh SAC, 1735 pts
3rd Richie Fortune, Cobh SAC, 1480 pts
4th Frank Cronin, Cobh SAC, 1385 pts

5th Pat O' Shea, Cobh SAC, 1300 pts
6th Mick Hade, Ireland, 1245 pts
7th Milo Burke, Cobh SAC, 1150 pts
8th Paul Evans, Wales, 1115 pts
9th Gerard Richardson, Crosshaven SAC, 1065 pts
10th Steve Williams, Wales, 1045 pts
11th Gerard Gersjes, Holland, 995 pts
12th Damien Wall, Dublin, 990 pts
13th Mike Stelling, Wales, 980 pts
14th Tom Johnson, Cork, 965 pts
15th Steve Tyler, Wales, 910 pts

Best Lady Angler: Tina Kneeshaw, Crosshaven SAC, 815 pts

Best Out of State Angler (with free entry to next year's Festival): Paul Evans, Wales, 1115 pts

Heaviest Fish of the Week: 17kg Conger, Bob Crebor, Cork

Heaviest Cod of the Week: 3.5kg, Steve Williams, Wales

Heaviest Conger of the Week: 17kg, Bob Crebor, Cork

Heaviest Ling of the Week: 5.5kg, Tom Johnson, Cork

Heaviest Pollack of the Week: 4.0kg, Sandra O' Shea, Cobh SAC

Most Fish of the Week: 55 Fish, Pat O' Shea, Cobh SAC

Most Species of the Week: 9 Species, Pat O' Shea, Cobh SAC

Winner Monday: Gerard Richardson, Crosshaven SAC, 350 pts
Second Monday: Ruud Boelhouwer, Cobh SAC, 310 pts

Third Monday: Damien Wall, Dublin, 255 pts

Heaviest Fish Monday: 9kg Conger, Gerard Richardson

Winner Tuesday: Danny Kane, Cobh SAC, 835 pts

Second Tuesday: Frank Cronin, Cobh SAC, 800 pts
Third Tuesday: Paul Tennant, Cobh SAC, 745 pts
Heaviest Fish Tuesday: 17kg Conger, Bob Crebor

Winner Thursday: Steve Williams, Wales, 555 pts
Second Thursday: Richie Fortune, Cobh SAC, 555 pts
Third Thursday: Danny Kane, Cobh SAC, 545 pts
Heaviest Fish Thursday: 16kg Conger, Hans Vermelis, Holland

Winner Friday: Paul Tennant, Cobh SAC, 335 pts
Second Friday: Paul Evans, Wales, 330 pts
Third Friday: Pat O' Shea, Cobh SAC, 295 pts
Heaviest Fish Friday: 12.5kg Conger, Mick Hade, Ireland

All in all it was a great week, with great weather, great craic, and above all, great fishing. There were over 1000 fish caught and the breakdown is as follows:

468 Conger
312 Pollack
76 Lesser spotted dogfish
51 Ling
46 Pouting
35 Cod
22 Grey Gurnard
11 Cuckoo Wrasse

6 Coalfish
3 Bullhuss
1 Garfish

Next year's Festival (2011) will be a bit special as it will the 45th year of running the event. It will be run from Monday 5th September to Friday 9th September. Again there will be a cash element to the prizes with €1000 for 1st place, €400 for 2cnd, and €200 for 3rd. The winning team of four will also win €400. If you would like to enter, contact Club Secretary, Mary Geary on 00 353 21 412167 or by email on seaangling@esatclear.ie

Many thanks to club member, Martin O' Leary, for the photography.

Mackeral for the Festival.....

2010-09-02T04:47:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday a group were dispatched with instructions to catch enough mackeral for bait for the upcoming Deep Sea Angling Festival (http://cobhsac.blogspot.com/2010/07/less-than-2-months-to-go.html). An order was given for 1,000 mackeral!!! That would give each competing angler a bag of 5 mackeral for each day's fishing.

However, Cobh SAC member, Timmy Leahy, just wasn't paying heed to the task at hand. He just kept catching cod....and good ones at that!

All joking aside, cod turned up in great numbers. All were of the stamp shown in the photo. As you can see from Timmy' smile, he wasn't complaining.

There was as many cod caught as there were mackeral and, although, our quota wasn't reached there were a couple of fine boxes of fish allround. We can always top up on mackeral the next day!

US Outing

2010-09-02T04:29:00.000-07:00

Richie Ryan does it again. Last week Richie had a group from the USA out. They were under a tight schedule as they had to be back for midday. Nevertheless, Richie made sure thay had fish.

Fishing at first at the Harbour mouth, the group had plenty of mackeral and codling. The Yanks would have been content at that but Richie brought them to one his favourite bass marks and despite the neap tides and less than favourable conditions he managed to winkle out a nice plump 3lber for one of the group.

Later during the week, Richie came up trumps again. This time he had renowned bass angling guru, Jim Hendrick, and French bass specialist, Jean Louis Max, in his company. Details of the catch, methods, and marks have been kept secret. There may be an angling magazine article to come from this one? Well done, Richie!

If you'd fancy a trip out with Richie, why not contact him through his website at http://www.corkbass.com/

2010 Master Angler - Competition No. 2

2010-08-19T15:12:00.000-07:00

Well we held the second of our master angler series on Sunday 25th July in conjunction with the Harbour Championships held out of Crosshaven and hosted by Monkstown SAC. Thirteen Cobh SAC club members entered and fished aboard the John Boy and the Naomh Cartha.

Conditions on the day were superb. Some great scores were handed in aswell. In the overall competition 66 anglers fished. There were over 1,121 fish caught with 14 species landed. That gave an average of 17 fish per angler. Cobh SAC member Ruud Boelhouwer came 2cnd but was representing Crosshaven SAC on the day and wasn't part of our competition.

As regards our own competition Milo Burke was outright winner with 37 fish and 525 points. Milo had a nice selection of fish with 8 species, including haddock! In second place was Frank Cronin with 19 fish for 373 points and third was Danny Kane also with 19 fish and 280 points. This now puts Frankie in the lead in the overall masters series. Well done Frankie!!!

Our next competition in the Master Angler series is on Sunday 22cnd August. Please book your place now with Mary on 021 - 4812167.

Don't forget the Festival aswell. That's starting on Monday 6th September. Mary is still taking entries; give her a buzz on 021 - 4812167. For more information, look here http://cobhsac.blogspot.com/2010/07/less-than-2-months-to-go.html.

There is a full report on the Harbour Championships on our sister blog. Have a gander here http://corkharbouranglinghub.blogspot.com/2010/08/cork-harbour-deep-sea-angling.html

Richie Ryan bags some big Bass....

2010-08-15T12:15:00.000-07:00

Club member, Richie Ryan, has been getting some superb bass lately. Across is a picture of a magnificent 12lb bass caught on an angel kiss plug recently. Unfortunately, Richie did not have a certified scales with him at the time so he will not be claiming an official specimen fish as he was anxious to return the fish as quickly as possible. Well done Richie!

Cian Ryan, Richie's son, is one of the people who is benefiting from Richie's expert tuition. Cian is no mean angler himself having clinched the Munster Juvenile Deep Sea Angling Championship in 2009. However, this was a milestone for Cian as it was his first salt water fly caught fish. Hence, the broad grin.

Another group of anglers who benefited from Richie's guiding and fly fishing expertise were from Sky Sports Italy. They were recently filming a clip to be aired on Sky Sports on fly fishing within Cork Harbour. Richie brought them to one of his favourite marks that produces excellent pollack fishing on the fly. In Richie's own words they 'murdered' the fish. I'm sure it will make for interesting TV viewing when we get to see it!!!

A few good fish caught in the last few weeks

2010-08-13T03:26:00.000-07:00

Here's a few photos of some good fish caught over the last few weeks on lures. The pic on the left is of a 69cm bass caught on a gataride from the shore.

To the right, a 69cm fish on a gunfish, again from the shore.

Here's a boat caught fish of 68cm caught on a soft plastic.....

....and last but not least, a 71cm shore caught beauty on a tide minnow....

So far its been a great season, and I hope it continues along the same lines!!!

World Shore Team Fundraiser

2010-07-16T05:46:00.000-07:00

For those of you who like your shore fishing, there's an interesting competition coming up next month. The team members of the National Shore Team are organising a fund raising competition on Youghal beach on Saturday 7th August. Fishing is from 9pm to 1am in the morning. The fishing should be very interesting as plenty of small eyed ray would be expected at this time of year. Bass should also make an appearance, and recent reports suggest that they are still catching codling off the beach. There will be 2 to 3 zones, depending on the number of entries, with optional pairs and optional pools. The match will be pre-entry and will carry penn points (Sea Angler). If you are interested in fishing this you can contact the captain of the Irish shore team, J. P. Molloy, on 087 - 7946518.

Less than 2 months to go.....

2010-07-10T06:35:00.000-07:00

Yes, there's less than 2 months to go to this year's Festival. The Festival is starting on Monday 6th September. Have you got your entry in? If you haven't give Mary a bell on 021 4812167 or download the entry form from http://www.flickr.com/photos/cobhsac/?saved=1.

As you all know this year things are a bit more interesting. We've up the prize fund to €7,500, of which €2,000 is in cash. The breakdown of this cash prize is as follows: First prize €1,000; second prize €400; third prize €200; and best team of four €400. This is on top of all the great prizes of crystal that are there every year. Here's a pic of last year's winner, Frankie Cronin, with his fine cache of prizes:

Frankie came from way down the field on the last day of last year's competition to win it outright. Milo Burke came a close second with Paul Parker coming in third place. The best 'out of state angler' was Sjef van der Brand, from Holland, who came in 5th place and in 7th place was best lady angler, Sandra O' Shea, who is pictured above with a nice codling.

Although, the weather was mixed the fishing was quite good. There was nearly a thousand fish caught over the 4 days, with good hefty congers making up a significant proportion of the catch. Having said that there were also good quality cod, pollack, and ling. Frankie also won the best fish of the week with a 15kg conger. He had this fish on the first day, but would you believe he had one of the exactly the same size on the Friday. Every angler fared out well, though, with each angler in the competition averaging 5 good, quality fish every day. Once more the craic was mighty and as everyone retired to the nominated watering hole from the pier the banter between the various nationalities was mighty!!!

So come on get your skates on and sign up! If your not in, you can't win!

To give you a better idea of how last year went have a look at the links below:

Day 1: http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/bulletin%20board/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=23410

Day 2: http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/bulletin%20board/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=23497

Day 3: http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/bulletin%20board/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=23498

Day 4: http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/bulletin%20board/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=25034

Richie does the business....

2010-07-10T06:10:00.001-07:00

Richie Ryan has got his new business off to a flying start. Just weeks after getting the Country's first licensed salt water fly fishing boat, Richie has been getting in amongst the bass in the Harbour. In the picture, above, Richie is with South African, Daryn McArthur. This was Daryn's first saltwater bass! What's more he caught it on a surface lure. Not an easy task on your first outing after bass, but under Richie's expert tuition he managed four that day. Richie had hoped to bring them fly fishing but it was just too windy. Instead, Richie went to one of his backup marks that gave plenty of shelter. Once in position they had great crack with all fish falling to surface lures. Well done Richie, keep it up and keep those reports coming!

If you fancy a day out with Richie on the 'Seahawk' you can contact him through his website here http://www.corkbass.com/ or give him a buzz on 086 - 1940744.

2010 Master Boat Angler Competition Series

2010-06-30T13:20:00.001-07:00

On last Saturday (26th June) we held the first of this years Master Boat Angler competitions. Eight anglers participated and were down at Kennedy Pier bright and early on what turned out to be a fine summer's day. All boarded the Naomh Cartha at 10am sharp and skipper, Ger Keohane, was soon steering a course for a favourite mark. Ger opted to fish down east. On the way out the obligatory stop for mackeral was made. These proved somewhat elusive and just barely enough to get going were swung onboard. Nevertheless, the gang ploughed on and Ger soon had them on his mark on the edge of the Pollack Rock reef.

The fishing was steady all day with a good mixture of species landed. These included cod, ling, conger, pollack, coalfish, haddock, grey gurnard, tub gurnard, ballan wrasse, and pouting. Veteran, Frankie Cronin, was soon leading the way with a constant stream of good conger. Its reckoned that Frankie would catch conger in a puddle. Frank didn't have it all his own way, though. Sandra O' Shea brought onboard what surely must rank as the catch of the day; a fine specimen coalfish of 18.5lbs. In fact when they first weighed the fish it registered at 20lbs on the scales. This must surely put Sandra in the running for fish of the year!

At the end of the competition Frankie was outright winner with 338 points. In second place was Noel Carey with 266 points and running a close third, Danny Kane, with 253 points. All agreed they had a great day with the beautiful sunny weather a real bonus. Don't forget our next Master Angler comp. This will be fished as part of the Harbour Championships and is on Sunday 25th July. Don't also forget this year's festival. Mary Geary is currently taking entries, and can be contacted on 021 - 4812167. Remember this year's prize fund had been increased to €7,500, including €2,000 in cash. If you're not in, you can't win!

Getting in amongst the blues....

2010-06-30T12:31:00.001-07:00

Cobh SAC member, Danny Kane, was out on a sharking trip during the week. The weather has been so settled and good of late that a trip to target the blues has been on the cards for some time. Danny and three others set off for the grounds south of the Ling Rocks, stopping off on the way out for bait. Would you believe, within 20 minutes of setting up the rubby dubby bags they had their first run. They had set up five rods, Danny putting two rods out himself, and the first run did come to Danny. Danny was later to regret putting two rods out as he had a double hook up. However, being quite used to juggling, Danny managed to actually land both fish!!!

Sport for the afternoon was hectic. In all they had 14 runs and managed to land 10 blues. The smallest of the shark was about 50lbs with the biggest going to 100lbs. What an afternoon's fishing, and would you believe this all happened within the space of 3 hours. One of the lads had to go to work so they couldn't stay out any longer. Imagine the fishing if they could have stayed!

Colin Downey targeting a prize again this year

2010-06-23T12:05:00.000-07:00

Winner of last year's best boat caught fish Colin Downey is out to make his mark this year again. On a trip out this week Colin had this fine bass while lure fishing. The fish weighed in at 7lb 12oz & measured 71cms on the BASS tape. This certainly puts Colin in contention for the best lure caught fish of 2010. A confident Colin reckons he might just better this again with a bit of luck as it is early yet. Watch this space!!!

Ireland's first licensed fly fishing boat

2010-06-23T11:45:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to club member Richie Ryan who has just received his P2 licence. Richie's boat Seahawk is now the first and only licensed saltwater fly fishing boat in Ireland. Following his retirement as Comander in the Navy, Richie is now concentrating his efforts in providing a guiding service from Cork Harbour. Richie will be concentrating on his first love, fly fishing, but will also be lure fishing in general. Obviously, bass will be the main target but also in his sights are thick lipped mullet, golden grey mullet, gilthead bream, seatrout, pollack, and many more species. Richie brings a wealth of knowledge to play having developed his skills from an early age targeting salmon on the river Barrow. However, don't let his expertise intimidate you as he will be welcoming clients of all skill levels from the complete novice angler to the more experienced. If you fancy a day out with Richie contact him through his website at http://www.corkbass.com/

Good cod showing up at the Kelp Beds

2010-06-22T16:12:00.000-07:00

Frank Burke was out recently with Martin Perryman in Martin's boat Dasher Doyle. Also out were Ger Richardson, Tony and John Cahill on Ruud's boat.

Although, they didn't have many fish they did have a great day out as the weather was excellent, as can be seen from the above photo. Nevertheless, the quality of the fish caught was superb. The best of the day was this belter of a red cod, caught by Martin, which the lads reckoned at between 12lbs and 14lbs. However, all the lads managed to catch good size kelp cod or tambling, as they are better known, and each had at least one for the table!

Golden Grey Magic....

2010-05-29T04:28:00.000-07:00

An early start was rewarded yesterday with blue skies and flat calm water within the harbour.... just the conditions that turn the golden grey on. Although, I was heading out in hope rather than certainty as my last two outings were fruitless. Today my luck was in. I could see plenty of activity on the surface, but that could have been normal mullet. However, as I cast my float rig baited with ragworm over the side, my expectations were heightened.

Within minutes my float shot under the surface and I had a fish on. The fight, though, wasn't as aggressive as a mullet's and I instinctively knew I had another species on. Shortly later I was netting a baby bass of 33cm. These certainly weren't the target species, especially as there is currently a ban against bass fishing in place upto and including the 15th of June. I quickly returned him and got back fishing. The next two casts resulted in yet two more bass. Bloody hell, I'm going to get in trouble here if I don't watch it! I decided to put a bit of bling on. This most likely would put off the bass, but golden greys are a bit partial to this. Besides I could see plenty of fish jumping clear of the surface and they most definitely weren't bass. My persistance was rewarded as when my float zinged off the next time I knew I had a different fish...and so it was, my first golden grey of the year. These are feisty buggers when they are hooked and I even knew before I saw him that he was a golden grey. Sure enough, as he came into view, that distinct golden spot on its cheek was instantly recognisable. Fabulous!

I was lucky enough to catch another but did catch a few 'normal' mullet in between. I have a sneaking suspicion that these are actually thin-lipped mullet rather than thick lipped mullet. I'll have to refer to the 'experts.' All in all it was a great morning's fishing. I'll have to get out again shortly and give it another go before I revert to the bass fishing with a vengence!

The Bass are back....

2010-05-24T15:36:00.000-07:00

The bass are back in the Harbour at last. On the last day before the season closed the Treasurer tried his hand at a bit of lure fishing in the Harbour and struck gold; three fine fish over a short session.

Here's a report back directly from the man himself; "I find normally that just before the bass ban kicks in I just try and squeeze in as many sessions as possible...and so it was the case again this year. On Wednesday and Thursday morning a 3am start saw me down at a favoured mark by 4am. Both were bait sessions, though, and in the two short two hour sessions I managed one fish of 65cm. I was determined to fit in a few lure sessions. Mind you lure sessions haven't been fruitful so far; I have only one fish to show for over two dozen outings.

So, another early morning on the 14th of May saw me once again at my favourite shore mark. In the pre-dawn light I was fishing upto high tide and this state of tide on this mark normally dictates that plugs are the weapon of choice. Two hours of flogging the sea to a foam over a 1/4 mile stretch of shoreline with a variety of baby feed shallows, maria chases, thundersticks and, eventually, out of desparation, a toby, saw once again a nil return. Back again I returned at low water; this time armed with a battery of soft plastics. Again, another blank. Mind you I did see fish. I had been fishing a rocky ledge, a considerable distance back from the edge. As the tide flooded over it a fish passed right in front of me only 10ft away, as casual as you like; the bugger! The water at this stage was only above my ankles.

Two hours into the flood I headed off and opted instead to try a boat outing. For the afternoon I ventured out into Cork Harbour in my boat. Again I headed to a favoured mark, and again I armed myself with a few SP's. First drift, and as my plastic sank to the bottom it was snaffled. I'd forgotten what it was like to fight a feisty bass on light gear and, oh it was a joy. A nice sized bass was soon netted and onboard for a few obligatory pics.

This was a great start but as is always the case with great starts, it was a false dawn. I persisted for another hour but that was it. Was it a solitary first fish into the harbour? A move was in order and so as the tide slowed I covered new ground. I was rewarded; shortly after I landed a better fish of 61cms.

Now the auld confidence was up; could I squeeze a third one out in what little was left of the tide? I did!!! Within a few minutes of returning the previous fish I was into another. This bugger was really feisty and he was the smaller of the three!

Now, completely on a high, I ignored my usual wisdom and carried on. Experience has taught me that on these marks slack water doesn't fish. What the hell, I was fired up, and so I carried on for another, fruitless, hour. What harm; I can retire the rods for the month now less anxious. Roll on the 16th!!!'

Danny can catch them....

2010-05-24T14:18:00.000-07:00

Well here is proof in the pudding that Danny can catch them. Next time make sure it is fish you catch Danny. Joking aside Danny, Sandra, and Pete Davis headed out for a spot of fishing on the last day in April. They borrowed a boat from the Bellavista fleet and, as Pete is a journalist from Irish Angler, Kevin gave them the Irish Angler boat to try out. This is a new addition to Kevin's fleet after Kevin successfully convinced the IA team's that it would be better off having the boat operate out of Cork Harbour for the season rather than lying idle elsewhere. Well done Kevin.

Once Danny became aware of the availability of this boat he had Kevin badgered to give him a shot with it. Poor Kevin finally relented and handed over the keys of the Warrior 170. Having collected his crew Danny was soon putting the boat through its paces. Danny reports back that she is a fine vessel and the fishing was very comfortable with the three of them in it. As for the fishing....well that's a different story.

Well actually it wasn't too bad. Danny had a fine seagul!!! He did have a few fish, though. They started off on the Daunt Rock, where they picked up some fine pollack. They then worked the ground between the Daunt Buoy and the Cork Buoy where they had a mixed bag of codling, small ling, ballan and cuckoo wrasse, whiting and more pollack. For the afternoon they headed into the Harbour Mouth where they picked some more codling, with some fine fish around 4lbs coming aboard. Here's Sandra with a fine ballan wrasse around the 4lb mark. All in all they had a good day's fishing. Danny is itching to get the IA boat again soon, so Kevin be warned!

The Treasurer is at it again....

2010-05-24T13:53:00.000-07:00

The Treasurer reports that bass fishing finally kicked off in April, much later than normal due to the cold weather and temperatures. Towards the end of April he had a number of really great sessions. Most were from secret rock marks using crab baits. Two or three bass were caught per outing but all were of a good size. The best of these was this 76cm beauty. This weighed just over 9lbs. There is no doubt that if this fish had been caught at the back end of the year it would have been a double. Indeed, the B.A.S.S. tape shows that a 76cm fish should normally weigh about 10lbs. What harm...the fish was quickly returned and will no doubt put on weight over the coming months.

Here's a pic of a another good bass, this time caught on a night time beach session. This fish fell to lug and measured 67cm. If you look carefully you'll see a flounder on the right hand side of the pic, which was part of a double shot landed at the same time.

Cork Harbour Cod Feist - Part Deux!

2010-04-26T04:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we fished the last in our current series of light line competitions. This one was the fourth one this year and, similar to the last one in March, the cod were about in abundance. Unfortunately, we didn't have as large a turnout as in previous outings but we still had 9 anglers turning out bright and early at the pier bursting with enthusiasm. All that were due to fish were present and on time. Now that was a first as in all other comps we were kept waiting by Danny and Sandra who are always leggedy last. Fair play to the two of them this time. The only trouble was there was no sign of the 'John Boy.' A quick call and we soon established that Donie couldn't start the engine this morning; the battery was flat. However, Johnny Geary soon sorted him out with a new battery. Within no time at all he was under steam again and on his way to the pier head.

We were soon on our way and the boat draw was made. Starting on the starboard side with position number 1 and working all the way around the boat to position 9 on the opposite side, while placing angler no. 5 in the middle of the stern, we had Martin O' Leary, Eric O' Neill, Piotr Nowakowski, Danny Kane, Sandra O' Shea, Sylwester Skowronski, Denis Murphy, Noel Carey, and Frank Burke. We steamed directly for the Harbour mouth. Rather than fish 'Deep Hole' as we had done the last day, we decided to fish a different spot. Donie had heard that the ground around the dividing buoy was fishing well. However, I convinced him to try and old mark just at the harbour mouth. We could always work our way back in.

We anchored just off the southern edge of the harbour rock where the rock gives way to sand and mixed ground. This had always been good codling ground in the past. It was a bit dirty here as the last of the ebb was still pushing against the SSW breeze. No place for those with weak stomachs but we knew we had a hardened crew of veteran anglers onboard. In any case the oncoming flood would flatten it out.

We hadn't settled in at anchor long when the first of the fish came aboard; beautiful golden codling. The ones close to the rock here have a very vivid colouration on their flanks. Within short order everyone started catching. Nothing like the numbers apparent in the last competition but everyone was landing a few! Martin O' Leary joked that he had never had more than two fish in a competition before. That record was soon broken!!! He was so taken by the fish that he had 'a Rex Hunt' moment. He should just be fishing with Cobh SAC more often!

As the tide turned and started to flood the quality of the fish started to improve, with some of the codling nudging the 4lb mark. The variety of the species also started to increase with pollack, pouting, poor cod, and dabs coming onboard. Denis Murphy picked up a 'Johnny Cobbler' or scorpion fish; that was unusual in a competition. Sylwester let his lead go way in with the flooding tide and as his gear was now closer to the rock itself he managed to winkle out one of the resident ballan wrasse. It was a beautiful coloured fish aswell but before I could take a snap, Sylwester had already returned him to the deep.

We were sooned joined by the resident pod of dolphins, who looked as if they were hearding a shoal of fish into a baitball. More than likely herring, as several dense shoals had shown up on the fishfinder on the way out. They came very close to the boat aswell and as I had the camera out I tried to get a picture. Unfortunately, they were just too fast for me.

As we neared the third hour of the flood Donie reckoned a move was in order. Although, we were picking up fish it wasn't as prolific as the fishing in at Deep Hole the last day. So off to Deep Hole we went. Here the tide was running at a fierce pace. Nevertheless, everyone was into fish within short order. The fish, though, were smaller here. Frank even managed a few herring. We weren't here long when the heavens opened. It was typical of these heavy April showers...although, it lasted longer than a shower! Donie and myself retreated to the shelter of the cabin to leave the competitors to brave the elements. Funny enough, the showers seemed to be coming in a line across our position. Outside the Harbour, where we had been, was bathed in sunshine. Inside the Harbour, inside us, was also bathed in sunshine, and here we were drenched by a constant procession of showers. Weird! It did seem to dampen the spirits somewhat for only Sandra, Danny, Denis, and Noel seemed to be still catching. Danny and Sandra in particular seemed to motor ahead.

For the final hour Donie suggested another move. This time we anchored up channel side of No. 8. This had also produced during our series of light line comps. Unfortunately, this time it didn't. Sandra did manage a stonker of a dab here, though. It measured 37cm. Surely, it must have been nudging the specimen weight. Denis Murphy was the only one here that was steadily catching away. He still had some lug left and this seemed to be doing the trick. The others were using crab and this was just not getting any interest at this spot. Strange, as it was working at the other two marks. That's fishing for you!

At 3pm Donie called lines up and it was time to tally up the scores. It was going to be a close run thing. Danny Kane and Denis Murphy were leading the field with 41 fish each. However, by virtue of the fact that he had more species, Denis was the outright winner. Only 14 points separated the top two. Its just aswell Danny didn't win, as we'd have never heard the end of it. In third spot was Sandra O' Shea with 37 fish and in fourth was Noel Carey with 34 fish. In all 248 fish were landed which made it an average of 28 fish per angler. Of these there were 207 codling making it another Cork Harbour cod feist.

Once again the slagging back at the prize giving was rife. Many thanks to Colin Downey of Barry & Fitzwilliam who sponsored the prizes. Colin has been threatening to fish the light line comps for awhile but couldn't make any so far. May be next winter Colin!

That now concludes the light line competition series until next winter. Overall winner of the series was Steven O' Neill of Guileen SAC, who, despite not being able to make Sunday's competition, won with 26 points. In second place with 27 points, and overall winner of the best placed Cobh SAC angler prize, was Noel Carey. Both anglers won prizes of fishing reels sponsored by Jim Clohessy of Cork Small Boats Festival and Irish Angler. Well done to both!!!

The series will kick off again next October and go right through the winter until the following April. Your best six scores out of seven competitions will be taken for the final shake-up, so watch this space!!!

Dasher Doyle avails of the good weather

2010-04-23T01:11:00.000-07:00

Cobh SAC Club members Martin Perryman, George Stockley, Sandra O' Shea and Danny Kane availed of this lovely weather we're having of late and headed out in Martin's boat, 'Dasher Doyle,' last Sunday. They tried several of George's secret marks first, south of Guileen, before concentrating on a mark of Martin's on the eastern side of the Smith's reef. Fishing was on the drift all day and they varied their tactics between baited hokkai's, sabiki's, mini shrimp rigs and gilling. George is fond of gilling and stuck to this for most of the day. Indeed George is one of the few people with a large stock of the auld original redgills in his tackle box. A favourite of his is a yellow one with a blueish head and this seemed to work well on the day. Overall they had great fishing with ling to 10lb, pollack to 6lb, cod to 8lb, and a mixed bag of other fish. George tells me that Sandra and himself did particularly well on one drift with over 20 ling between the two of them, putting real pressure on the other two lads!!! Not to be outdone, Martin bounced back with an impressive run of fish on the very next drift. How did Danny do I hear you ask....well that's a different story; maybe for another day! Here's a pic of Danny....doing his best.