Tue May 15, 2007 8:00 am
Present were, in no particular order, SteveCrow, Alby, JP, Paul O’Callaghan, Colin Keogh, Donal Domeney, Myself, Mickthepainter, Fishaholic, Nige, Pete.
So, back to the Northwest it was for the travel hardened SAI faithful with a slightly smaller gathering of members assembling in the picturesque village of Mullaghmore deep in Yeats country, Co. Sligo. There was nothing poetic about the language that greeted the sight of mirror like seas promising, once again, another exciting day of scratching around! :x
Peg draw was handled and Pete and JP headed off to peg the beach whilst the rest of us performed some quality control on the coffee and food available. (someone had to!) With plenty of time to spare we headed for the beach and began tackling up. With a complete lack of surf and very little tidal movement, it was hard to know what way to approach the beach to be honest. The sun beating down for most of the day aside from the odd shower wasn’t going to do us any favours either to be honest. This was going to be a tough day!
I had prepared well for this comp, I had sat up tying rigs until after midnight the night before, the day before that I had spent a couple of hours digging and had a range of Corks finest Maddies, White Rag, Ragworm, and Lugworm which following a lot of TLC had survived the couple of days and the journey in tip top condition. Along with those, I brought some mackerel and sandeel for tipping off with. I had a range of rigs tied up, mostly flappers onto size 4s with the largest hook size being 2s on 2 hook clipdowns in case of a blast out for doggies or whatever.
We set up and on the dot of 1 pm, lines went out, for the most part, more in hope than expectation. It had the feeling of going to be one of them days. There were however, just 20 minutes or so on the board before the first fish of the day showed. Alby fishing down near the breakwater with his feeder rod had the first undersize flat of the day. Fishaholic struck into a fairly savage bite and the fish skipping and hopping across the surface before coming off certainly signalled the presence of the expected sea trout. It was an hour or so in before the first counter of the day hit the stick, Mickthepainter had a counting flounder of 20cm beside me. Alby, fishing very light very close was seriously concerning those close to him with a steady stream of undersize flats. He was fishing his ass off but unfortunately not one was making the stick. Colin had to suffer the pain of catching a beauty of a sea trout which unfortunately didn’t count, Paul O’Callaghan was to pull in a similar one himself later.
It was probably 90 mins or so after the first counter for Mick before the second of the day hit the sand. It fell to me and after having experimented around with baits at different ranges had picked him up inside 20 yards on a flapper baited with lug and a few maddies. 20 cm it was and it was with some relief, given that all that was going to be required for some decent MA points was a counter, that I handed my card to Mick for signing. :D
More time passed, 3 prizes, 2 counters and nothing happening on the beach had all sorts of ideas about how to dispose of 3rd prize…. Casting competitions, draws…. They were all discussed in the ample time we had…… with maybe 90 minutes or so to go, I opted, to fish the beginning of the ebb with just a one oz bomb, size 4s and 3 foot snoods of 8lb flouro on a 3 hook flapper. This was tossed no more than 15 yards out so as, in case it did swing around, it wasn’t going to interfere with anyone else. I baited with a single small lug up the hook and tipped off with 2 small white rag. Granted, there were lots of undersize fish around but I was going to take my chances and hope that somewhere along the way there would be another counter or too. I headed up and had a chat with some of the lads, on yet another “flounder walk”. I tell you, there were some miles covered on that beach that day by various lads all employing that approach! A strange football and stone throwing game between Paul and Donal also developed at one stage too…..! On my return, when I picked up the rod, considerable weight signalled something other than a 1 oz bomb and you would have heard my roar in Mayo as I lifted a treble shot of flats onto the beach! Only one was to count but fortune had smiled and sandwiched between 2 small flounder was a 21cm plaice. With 20 points per species it was invaluable. I hadn’t my fish back in the water before, glancing to my left, JP was lifting a treble shot himself onto the sand, once again, only one was to make the stick.
An odd fish or too making size also appeared down the beach with Steve and Alby getting in on the act at the other end. JP had another counter himself to keep the pressure on. Steve followed up with another too, a nice fish and the biggest on the day of 24cm. The clock was ticking down and with a steady stream of undersize fish coming to both mine and JPs rods it was going to be a tough last few minutes. With 15 minutes to go I went for another wander for 5 minutes before my last cast. It was with some joy that on my return, a juddering rod tip signalled a decent enough fish and my 3rd counter ended up on the stick, another flounder of 20cms. A minute or two before the end, I could see another counter being pulled in.
With time up, the results were calculated, Alby had mounted a late charge with a double shot of counters on his last cast to make it 3 for himself, Steve and JP had finished with 2 each, Mick who had led for the majority of the comp and Nige finished with one fish apiece. I had 3 counters, with the exact same cms as Alby but species points made the difference and it was with considerable delight that I took top spot for my first shore comp win of the season. It had indeed been a tough day with 5 blank cards returned. Final results were as follows.
1st Pete Davis (Petekd)
2nd Albert Allen (Alby)
3rd Steven Turner (SteveCrow74)
4th J.P. Molloy (Rampant Wreckfish)
5th Mick Keogh and Nige
Tough on the rest of the bunch it has to be said with lots of undersized fish coming in, I think JP had 9, I had 6, Alby had 6 or 7 too. All that said, it was an enjoyable comp to fish in comfortable conditions with the slow fishing allowing for much craic and slagging throughout with people tramping up and down for a chat or to hurl abuse in equal measure throughout. I love those kind of comps, that result in a tight finish with things able to change in a single cast. It will no doubt lead to some debate about whether or not to allow some form of points to be allowed for undersize fish but I think its fair to say that the majority of undersized fish caught fell to those who figured at the end. Well done to all who made the trip by the way, some commitment there, especially from those fishing the Leinster league the following day.
Many thanks to Henry’s tackle for sponsoring our comp once again, I, having far too many rods opted for the very useful Scierra backpack. Alby took the rod who, wait for this, had prior to the comp promised it to a friend….theres confidence for you!! Its Waterford next up in a months time, hopefully the craic will be as good and the fishing somewhat better. Ill see you all there.
As its already raised some interest elsewhere, in the absence of Seaniebo and JP, and with the rest of the boat crew fishing the 2nd MA comp on the Swilly opting for sensible nights (DD excluded!) it was left to myself and a buddy to fly the flag in Letterkenny. To hell with the hangovers, you will have to take my word that we didn’t let you down as we blazed a trail through Letterkennys finest nightspots. :wink:
Tue May 15, 2007 10:13 am
great report petekd as always, sorry i was unable to fish and had to pull out at the last minute, congratulations to all the winners as it sounded like a tough match.
Tue May 15, 2007 11:07 am
Sounds like a tough day, well done to all.
Did you catch anything in Letterkenny ?? :wink:
Tue May 15, 2007 1:25 pm
Another fine report pete, sounded tough but still sorry I missed it and the after compo refreshments!