Grauvell West Coast Shore League heats up

The 7^th leg of the Grauvell West Coast Shore League took place on Saturday 15^th September. Originally scheduled for Streedagh beach, it was moved to Mullaghmore beach due to weed on Streedagh. Conditions were pleasant with a southwest breeze and a mild, dry afternoon. Fishing was reasonably good for the first hour, with fish coming in all along the beach, but died off completely as the tide pushed in, with very few fish landed after that. Flounder and turbot were the main species, with sea trout (not counted in competitions) also freely taking bait.

The winner on the day was Frank Rixon (Newport SAC) with 9 fish for 321 points. The winner in Zone A was Shane Gilvarry (Newport SAC) with 4 fish for 121 points. Second was Stephen O’Sullivan (Galway Bay SAC) with 6 fish for 118 points, and third was Boris Siegel (Mullaghmore SAC) with 5 fish for 11 points.

Winner in Zone B was Ed Kilroy (Newport SAC) with 6 fish for 144 points. Second was Mike Varley (Belmullet SAC) with 3 fish for 83 points, just pipping Andrew McDermott (GBSAC) with 3 fish for 82 points.

The result leaves the league standings delicately poised going into the last leg, with just 4 points separating the top 3 anglers, and 2 more anglers just 5 points behind. Taking the best 5 out of 7 legs (each angler can drop their worst 2 scores), Stephen O’Sullivan leads on 488 points, with Ed Kilroy just 2 behind on 486, and Joe Birney Jr. on 484. Peter Atkins and Kevin Crowley make up the top 5 currently, both on 479, with James Devers on 478. With just the final leg on Enniscrone to come on October 14^th, its all to play for!

Next up is the Connacht Closed Gold Medal competition, fished over 3 legs on the weekend of the 29-30 September, based in Killala. Open to all club anglers in Connacht, this should provide stiff competition ad anglers battle to make the Connacht team for next year’s Inter-Provincial Competition, as well as the prestigious Gold Medal itself.

Galway Bay SAC are hosting the All-Ireland Open Shore (Jimmy Smith) competition on November 10^th, with fishing on Enniscrone beach from 3-8pm. This competition is pre-entry only, and entries can only be made through club secretaries, with the closing date for entries October 26^th. Anglers wishing to fish the competition should notify their club secretary as soon as possible.