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!
No comments:
Post a Comment