Ballybrannigan,Cork, Sept 8 sponsored by Henrys Tackle (MA)

People:(in order of pegging) seancelt, donal domeney, alby, croppyboy, stevecrow74, g.wyse, teacher, kstaff, POB, thescotsman, petekd and kraken

Duration:5 hours

Tide:rising high and falling

Weather:sun sun sun slight breeze.. hot hot hot

Bait:everything, but mackerel lug and maddies seemed to be the best on the day

Rigs:various

Results:
1st stevecrow74 (5 counters)
2nd G.wyse (3 counters)
3rd Petekd (2 counters)

Catch and Release:: Yes



Report:
we all met up at the petrol station just outside Midleton seeing as there was no where else there to meet up :shock: (why petekd bought a shop there the day before i dont know, a goldmine in the making i guess)
as numbers of people arrived the chatter began about tactics and what reels will be used.. especially memorable was croppyboy saying "you never get crackoff's with a fixed spool reels". so on the road to the venue all i can say is thank god for GPS or god only knows where we would have ended up. With a nice drive on the beach in pete's jeep the 'sandy fe' it was time to peg out the beach... i would have taken smaller paces if i had realised i would have to walk so far to me peg :twisted: , a nice south east facing beach with a small cliff face behind us was all well and good.. on the down side the sea was calm with a few close waves making the area look like it was going to be a challenge to pluck any fish out of the sea.
as everyone was getting ready with the odd wang here and there to level lines and get a feel for the beach there was an almighty crack as croppy(you never get crackoff's with a fixed spool reels)boy cracked off with style... very soon to be followed with another crack of by me :oops: (iknew i shouldnt have laughted so loud), plan b.. chucked on a 7HT and away we went..
Seancelt was the first to pull out a small turbot (one of many to show up through the day) and the tactics changed.. from chucking leads out it was time to scratch for flats, g.wyse was the second to pull out a flat.. that was it.. time to see where he was casting.. most fish were being brought in within 15yrds.. as soon as i hit the hot spot that was it.. turbot after turbot came in but all undersized and with the odd small flounder thrown in for good measure.. finally catching counting plaice and flounder saw me battling it out with g.wise for first place.. but as the tide was reaching high fishing went very slack and i managed to pull out a fourth fish securing first place for me, time to go for a flounder walk. Chatting to the lads as i passed it was noteable taht there were plenty of undersized turbot being caught with petekd catching something like 18 of the little buggers and only a couple of counters with the largest being a flounder of 27cm (pipped at the post with g.wyse's flounder of 28cm), i had a feeling that i might manage to pluck another counting flat on the ebb of the tide, but i knew it would take effort so back to the rod.
it was obvious that the heat of the day was getting to a few of us with bare chest's getting tanned and scaring the seagulls, i wasnt too embarrassed of my gut when i saw croppyboy bare all to see :shock: .
as the tide was heading out there were a few fish playing out in the suds.. could it be bass.. indeed it was. a shoal of schoolies were running up and down the beach about 10yrds from the shoreline, tactics were being changed to see if one of them could be tempted.. kstaff had a close call when his rod lifted in the tripod but alas nothing came of it.. after realising it was a fruitless operation to target schoolies it was back to scratching again.. and with a twitch twitch here and a scratch scratch there i felt the gentle tug of a flat... another undersized one... repeated the attempt and managed to pull out a nice counter, with only minutes left i could see a small crowd mingle around donal who managed to whittle out a turbot of 25cm.
by this time it was obvious who made the top three positions.

after the comp it was back to the cars and find out who was staying around to fish inch beach later that evening after a bite to eat.
as ways were parted the few of us left went into Whitegate to the local Chinese restaurant , it was a strangely civilised affair with starters and main dishes being ordered at the table, donal found out why the hotplate is called so..

back to inch beach (not the usual ending to a SAI comp) at try to see if a few more fish could be tempted out with baits..
With what sounded like a rave in the carpark and the smell of burning tyres, croppyboy managed to pull out a nice schoolie (i wanted one), pete pulled out a strap comger and a doggie and teacher i think pulled out something as well.. so with such a victorious win at the comp i was reduced back down to level with a blank at inch :oops:

With no one really knowing the directions to get back to civilisation the GPS was called into action once again...

it was a long day with some hard fishing during the competition, but at least a few of the lads managed to increase there species list and others managed to catch a new species for the first time too :D

i'm sure the rest who attended will fill out there account of the day..

roll on the next comp in Kerry :D :D

sounds like you had a good time lads, fairplay.

:lol: :lol: good report steve
have to say for the conditions the fishing was ok
i knew i was in trouble when i said that i was going to use fixed spool as ive never had a snap off with one famous last words but at least steve had one a few secs after


had 2 counters and 2 small turbot so i had my first turbot
small bass on inch was a nice way to finish the comp

got home at 4 am but realy enjoyed it had nightmare about steve going topless (never seen a beach emptying as fast) couldnt sleep untill 9 :lol:



fintan

teacher i think pulled out something as well..

That sounds bad. Just to clarify, I "pulled out" a small whiting.

This comp was good fun. The weather had everyone in good form.

I need to improve my scratching :oops: I haven't had much experience catching such small fish :P

Well done to everyone who made this one enjoyable session :D ...it had everything, fish(fairly important :lol: being that it was a comp.),picked up alot of useful tips ,great weather and great craic :lol:
Regards
G.

sounds like it was a good comp, did anyone blank, the turnout was small or did stevecrow74 miss anyone, see you all at the next one in Kerry

sounds like it was a good comp, did anyone blank, the turnout was small or did stevecrow74 miss anyone, see you all at the next one in Kerry

aye it was a small turn out, nearly every one caught *COUGH*kraken didnt *COUGH*

Steves my bitch, I told him to write the report for me.... :lol: Good report Steve and an enjoyable comp. Nice to fish on home turf for once, and it fished a whole lot better than I thought it would to be honest given the unpromising conditions. Bugger getting fish to size and although you won, I still caught more fish than you.....all weekend...:evil: :wink: Many thanks to diamond domeney for the crab and to Jonathan and Lee for the lug, much appreciated. The dozen and a half of crab I picked up earlier in the week are still in a bucket waiting to pop....

There were some real beauties on the beach that day alright.... Acres of pasty white flesh on display everywhere :D Ah the joys of an Irish summer. Our cause wasn't helped at our end by a rather large lady doing the backstroke once or twice. Still, well done to all who caught fish, it can be done on a flat calm sun splitting day.....

Ye all deserve a medal :wink: . Anyone who fishes there normally wouldn't be bothered under those conditions, as Donal will testify. Just shows you can still catch fish there when its flat calm & sunny (albeit small).

Well done to all you guys, Good fishing in very difficult conditions. Great Report Steve.

Roll on Kerry.

Kevin