screeming reels Rosslare and cork comps report 2009

People:Seirt, Nevskibb, myself

Duration:2 weeks

Tide:lots

Weather:mostly great

Bait:everything that a fish likes to eat

Rigs:all

Results:35 species for the 2 weeks, 5 non counters due to size limits

Report:
Hi,
Well, that was the two weeks comp that was; we managed to retain our title in rosslare, and managed a 2nd place in cork the following week, very happy with the results, though completely knackered to say the least.
Rosslare 2009.
Arrived in the knowledge that the previous multiple winners Nirvana were back at the comp after an absence last year, and with confidence oozing from the rosslare forum that we were lucky winners last year, and that they only had to turn up, got the competitive juices flowing.
As we know the weather this year has been s...t to say the least so we had very little practice,(like none,) in the area adjacent to the comp.Likewise our third team member Neville, had only been to sea once this year !!! (New baby!!), so we were under no illusions that it was going to be tough.
Day one arrived and off we set, a nagging north east wind was to effect the first few days of the comp, but surprisingly it did not affect the fishing too much, and we managed to bag 16 species on the first day, Though mackerel were very hard to find, with us only managing to bag one with 30 mins left, but a good solid start.
Day two, a bit of a frustrating day as there is always one waiting for you, and we only managed to add 3 more species, but one of these was a real bonus ball a nice red mullet.
The next two days were called off as the forecast was not good with a fresh north east wind, but we were allowed to go and practise, so on Tuesday we did, 40 miles later, and only 2, yes 2 fish on the boat we decided to call it a day and head for home, drunk off and a bit down as to what to do for the next two days!!
Wednesday we decided to hit wexford tackle shops, and have a rest, and we needed it.
Day three off the comp arrived and the weather improved and off we went with a good plan to add at least three more species, well the day went very well, and we managed to add 5 species , and at the end of the day we were sitting second on 24, but the leader had 25. All to go for.
Day four dawned and we had looked at the results and we knew we had a chance as the leader had got most of the “easy “ ones, and would have to work hard to improve, but there was at least 6 boats all within striking distance, we set are aim at adding three , a bass, Garfish and launch, we had a cracking start, and added the launce and bass in 20 mins, so off we set to get the garfish, this we achieved after a wait of 1.30 mins, and by goodness it was a good one, just 2oz shy of a specimen, this left us with a good 4 hours to try and add either a scad, of dragonet, but as it goes we could not get either. On the way in we wondered if we had done enough, and at the weigh in it became apparent that we had done well, with Nirvana only coming in with 24, and other rivals shandy bass, only hitting 26, we started to get excited, but when we heard that Sonic blue had equalled the tally of 27 we knew it was down to weight again, well after a nervous call to the skipper of sonic blue, we found out he had only added minis, and that our weight was better, we had done it again!!!! A bunch of very happy campers.
Many people had said it was a lucky win last year, but to do the double was the highlight of my fishing lifetime, we have a great trio of anglers in seirt, neville and me, and one thing about these comps is, you have to get on with one another! the pressure ( I know it sounds daft) is very intense to hit the right marks at the right time etc, and on many occasions a long debate ensued as to where we should go and what should we target etc !
Each day had a “Plan” but that often changed as soon as we left the harbour!!
To summarise, a great week, of intense fishing, and with a fantastic result at the end of it, looking forward to next year, and to giving the treble a shot, though it will be very tough to do.
Cork Small Boats 2009
Well a day’s break on Saturday saw us reposition to cork, Neville had jumped ship to fish with his buddies on Katie, leaving seirt and myself to try and get the illusive double, of Rosslare and Cork.
The weather gods were smiling on us and it looked good for the first day on Sunday.
Day one was the first day of the species hunt, with a fine day we headed offshore, with one intention of bagging as many of the offshore species as we could.
We had a great day, and matched our rosslare start with 16 species including a nice megrim, and a nice haddock of 4.5lbs. That evening we saw that the boat Wimps had got 17 on the day and that we were tied on third place with 16, a good start.
We had another blow off day on Monday but the weather was looking good for the rest of the week.
Tuesday was still breezy so the Specimen hunt was the comp of the day. 6 species are nominated, (Cod, Ling, Plaice, Pollock, Whiting and bass).and you have to try and get the biggest, and as many of the 6 as you can. We had an average day, with the bass and plaice eluding us, but we managed 4, so happy enough, and as we found it was enough to win a prize of free accommodation for next year’s comp! Happy days.
Wednesday saw day two of the species hunt, with a lovely day, and light breezes, so off we went with the intention of targeting 5 species, this we managed to do, and it left us in top spot on 21 species at the end of the day.
Now it was getting tough, we knew that the weather was good, and that we had to at least top 26 to try and win the comp, but we could only think of 4 species that we had a chance of getting, and with the chance of a lucky one thrown in! Seirt was a bit depressed that we still had not bagged a bass, and a bit of team morale boosting was required!!
This happened on the first drop of the day, hunting for plaice, seirt called fish on, funny looking plaice I thought waiting with the net, PANIC, it was a John Dory, and a good one!!!, when the fish was safely in the net, the whoops of delight were heard by many a boat!!! A great start to the day.
The plaice was soon onboard, and we started our attack for the bass, and is was not long before we had one in the hold, things were going well, we then bagged a Huss, and after a short spell and a couple of undersized dragonets we got one in size. 26 species with 1.30 left, well we tried everything to add a tub gurnard and a thornback but to no avail, and we had a suspicion that 26 would not be enough, and sure enough when we hit the weigh in we heard that Quattro had added 7 species, to sit on 28, a cracking total for the week.
A little deflated, but still happy that we had done the best that we could, we found out that evening we had come second, just piping Wimps, on weight.
Another great week with some great company, it’s great to see so many volunteers at the slip in the evening, especially when it was sloppy on a couple of evenings. Very much appreciated by all competitors
To summarise both weeks, I am now totally knackered, my rig wallets emptied, but full of self satisfaction that we had put up a great showing against the best boat small boat anglers in Ireland and the uk.
We ended up with a total of 30 in size species, and 5 non counters due to size, some fishing in two weeks
Not many pictures i’am afraid, but a couple of the John Dory, and the first for me, the red mullet.
Both events were very well run and a credit to the organizers
Looking forward to next year
Regards
screeming

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congratulations on what is a fantastic acheivement in both comps well done lads delighted for all concerned

thats brilliant fishing lads,30 different species in two weeks! thats my years target and im still a far way off it,congratulations on the second win in a row,think that puts paid to the"lucky winners"title and on the second place too.

well done on the win , great amount of spieces

Well done to all. I'd say you must have been absolutely knackered after one comp let alone two!

Congratulations Martyn, thats a serious amount of fishing to squeeze into 2 weeks at the best of times never mind the added pressure of competition. I bet you slept well at the weekend

HI,
THANKS FOR THE COMMENTS , and yes, i did sleep very well all weekend, really glad i let pete kd sub me at MA, he did a lot better than i would have!!!
regards

really glad i let pete kd sub me at MA

Not half as glad as I was mate.... I owe you a beer or two for that, thanks again.