Cork Harbour Light Line Competition No. 2 Sun 14th Feb

[Pat]

People:22 Anglers

Duration:9:30am - 2:30pm

Tide:LT 12:08pm

Weather:Glorious, blue skies with light NW breeze

Bait:All sorts

Rigs:All types

Results:Whiting, Dabs, Coalfish, Cod, Pouting, Poor Cod, Flounder (683 fish in total)

Report:What a fabulous day out ! Great weather , great craic , and great fishing !!!

It was absolutely freezing when we started off. 22 hardy souls gathered at the Pier Head in Cobh at 8:45am in the morning. The cold was bitter after a heavy nights frost. Cold hands and red ears were the order of the day but we were all well wrapped up. We all headed off in the three boats booked for the day (the John Boy, the Naomh Carta, and the Lee Star) and were soon at anchor on the edge of Curlane Bank behind Spike Island.

Straight away a steady stream of fish started to come over the gunwhales. The fish were small though with the codling averaging 30cm, with many below, and the whiting averaging 25cm. It was great to be out here, though, with flat calm seas and blue skies. As the morning progressed it got warmer aswell and pretty soon people were starting to strip off . Would you believe some people even got sunburnt. A gannet was spotted diving nearby....is this Feb ???? Then someone on the Lee Star started catching mackeral ! If you closed your eyes for a minute it could have been summer.

As the tide slackened towards low water, the fishing slowed down. The Naomh Carta moved off to another mark between the forts. Ourselves and the Lee Star persevered where we were. By low water things had become very quiet. We contemplated a move. Martin Perryman, on our boat, gave Anthony Austin on the Naomh Carta a bell. Seems they had run into fish and were pulling them in three at a time . Were they having us on? We decided to see for oursleves and headed out. Soon enough we were anchored about 50 yds downstream of them on the northern edge of the Turbot Bank as it drops into Deep Hole. Within minutes of anchoring we were into fish. Codling started coming aboard at a rate of 2 or 3 at a time. These were a better stamp of fish. The codling here were averaging 40cm with many going to 50cm. These were keepers and some of them were destined for the pot . Soon enough it was time to go as Donie called for lines up. There were smiles all round, though, as everyone on our boat had a fine bag of codling to take home.

On the way in we totted up the scorecards. Some of the lads onboard had some fine scores with many recording nearly 30 fish. I had topped the boat with 36 fish and 569 points . I was followed closely by Frankie Cronin, Cobh SAC, and Barry Murphy, who had travelled all the way up from Waterford.

Our scores were nothing compared to the lads on the Naomh Carta. Their early move had paid off. While we had struggled over low water they had ran into fish. They had at least one and half hours fishing before we moved out and joined them and boy did their scorecards reflect that. Steven O' Neill, Guileen SAC, had topped the boat and won the competition outright with 81 fish and 1208 points! That's 1208 points . That's Steven's 2cnd win in a row and shows you what a class angler Steven is . Steven was followed closely by Anthony Austin, Crosshaven SAC, with 67 fish and 1018 points. George Ruxton, Youghal also had a good score with 48 fish and 718 points, as did Frank Burke, Crosshaven, with 47 fish and 710 points. Eric O' Neill, Ballincolling also put in a good score. In all, the lads on the Naomh Carta had landed 359 fish. That was nearly as much as the other two boats put together .

On the Lee Star, Michael Quirke had topped the boat with 37 fish and 584 points, followed closely by Noel Carey with 34 fish and 501 points.

Well done to all the competitiors. I think I can safely say that they enjoyed their days fishing. Roll on Comp No. 3, which is on the 14th March .

I've attached an excel file which shows the final placings and the breakdown of fish caught. I'll add the pics later.

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Last edited by Pat on Tue Feb 16, 2010 11:47 am, edited 3 times in total.

Here are a few pics from the day:

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Some more:

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fantastic report pat, great fishing and some great scores well done to all

for a second when i seen the first picture i taught it was JACK HARGREAVES with the pipe

Glad you enjoyed the report John.....would it tempt you to try your hand for the next comp ?

Fantastic days fishing, report says it all. I never saw as many cod in a two and a half hour session as was caught on the Naomh Cartha. Superb day.
Rederic

Great Report Pat,

I'm sure you'll temp a few more down with fishing like that on offer. Can't believe you guys were getting Mackerel off the back of Spike... wow.... Hopefully It's won't be long before I venture down for a trip myself.

Kev

I was on the lee star fishing this comp on sunday. Beautiful day, calm seas, plenty of fish and a good craic to be had. I'd highly recomend fishing the next comp in march to anyone that likes having a bit of craic and catching a few fish. There were mackerel, codling, coalies, whiting, dab and flounder taken on the lee star. Mike Q had a whopper of a dab that was only 2 or 3 ounces short of specimen. We all had a nice mix of fish and a great day. Looking forward to the next one.

yeah lads great day out cant belive the weather even go a bit sun burnt .ishing was really good too esp on light line had one snood snaped could of been a good cod.surprized no dogs showed up there maybe at the next one be a bit later in the year.

On the rig construction side of things.... Is it light snoods with a heavier leader or is it light line all the way through?

Kev

have to agree with all said here great comp great rules great skippers and the fish played ball to hectic bit of fishing for a few hours on two consecutive drops barry lost all three snoods and never got to bottom for thirty seconds more without fish but a big thanks to pat and donie and mary and all from cobh who organised especially the sandwiches after that just kept coming not to mention the very impressive prizes a well organised day out

great report lads,sounds like yea all had good graic on the day with good fishing also,might be tempted my self to head that way on the 14th,regards,eddie..............

Have to agree with the lads it was a great day out there

fishing was great and the weather played ball also

now if only evan699 (the tangleking) would learn to use more than 1oz of lead we all could have caught more fish

I really enjoyed that comp, pity it didnt fish for us on the last two hours but sure what can ya do. On a different day we'd no sooner have up'd anchor than the fish would have come back in to the area. Still though, you cant fault 30 something fish in 2 hrs lol Count me in for the next one anyway, great group of ppl to fish with an I really enjoyed it. Lookin forward to giving Steven a proper run for his money the next time Thanks to Pat an Mary and all others involved in the running of it

Have to agree with the lads it was a great day out there

fishing was great and the weather played ball also

now if only evan699 (the tangleking) would learn to use more than 1oz of lead we all could have caught more fish

that's not fair now roadrunner. I was fishing with anchors as you pointed out so i think it must have been mikeQ that was causing all the problems and dragging me down with him. And before anyone else sees this post and tries to blacken my name. I did not scare all the fish away with my yellow mono. My ragworms were not so big that they were swimming about tangling lines and i didn't even eat one sandwich in the commodore hotel, but i still got the blame for emptying a few plates.

Take no notice Evan, Danny is the king of slaggin....besides we'll make sure there's a sambo left for ya the next time .

ill be stoping for some sambos myself next one wont have to rush off and maybe a pint to wash it down .

....that's not fair now roadrunner....

Here's one you can use the next time Evan. Roadrunner threw a bag of codling into the boot of his car after the comp on Sunday to pass onto a friend.....and FORGOT ABOUT THEM !!!

His car now smells worse than mine, after I left a box of squid in mine over Christmas .

Here are a few more pics, courtesy of Mick Lockyer:

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Great Report Pat,

I'm sure you'll temp a few more down with fishing like that on offer. Can't believe you guys were getting Mackerel off the back of Spike... wow.... Hopefully It's won't be long before I venture down for a trip myself.

Kev

I was on the lee star. i caught a joey mackerel on rag. just the one and i dont think anyone elst caught one that day. correct me on that if i'm wrong on that lads. so i wouldn't be headin out the harbour with a line of feathers just yet. heavy shoals of herring about though.