24 Boats are fishing this year’s Cork Small Boat Festival and the results so far are impressive. At the end of Day 2 the small boat Beast Master is leading the field with 23 species followed closely by Screaming Reels on 22. Beast Master and Escapade were both on 11 species after the first day’s fishing and Screaming Reel finished the day with 9. But while Beast Master and Screaming reels continued to rack up the species on Day 2 Escapade only managed one more leaving it in 14th place. Conditions on Day 2 were blustery with winds from the NW. All boats were restricted to The Smiths until 1300 and then free to travel after that. Although most boats have been fishing closer to land.
With 2 more days to fish just about anything is possible. Last year the competition was won with 25 species by o2b@C and in 2010 a massive 31 species for Skua saw them take the honours in a year when the top 10 boats had 25 species or more. Those boats in the high teens and 20’s will have to work hard to find and catch each additional species while those boats farther back eat up their lead. This morning conditions are described as “nice” and no restrictions are in place.
