Ullcatch author tells us about the I.F.S.A. Shore Fish Offs 2013 :
That time of year again, late nights tying rigs, getting bait and the thought of 3 grueling competitions against the top 36 anglers in Ireland is a lot to take in. The World Team Qualifiers is the most prestigious competition any angler can fish. Thoughts of wearing the green blazer and representing Ireland in the World Championships is ever Irish match anglers dream.
Waterfoot beach, Glenariff in the beautiful glens of Antrim was the venue, for what was going to be a hard fought battle between the cream of Irish angling. Waterfoot beach is a mile long and all 3 competitions were being held on it, anglers knew it was going to be very hard to catch in all 3 comps.
The Ulster angling council were the hosts for the weekend and finally Mother Nature was on our side with lovely sunshine. With over 20 International anglers taking part in the this year’s fish offs the main goal was to stay in the Irish panel.
Spain of course was on the minds of all the anglers taking part in the competitions. With the bottom 16 anglers being dropped from the Irish panel there was a lot of pressure on the competitors. Since the new qualifying system for the Irish team was brought in 6 years ago, Ireland’s now recognized as one of the top teams in the world having won gold in South Africa 3 years ago and bronze last year in Holland.
Session 1 the competition was from 10 – 2pm on Saturday morning on the river end of Waterfoot beach. Sun shine greeted the anglers on the morning session and with no surf running we knew it was going to be very scratchy. 15 cm was the size limit along with 10 under size fish counting as 10 pts each. Mike Curtin from Galway was the first man to catch with a double flounder followed by myself with a cracking 33 cm flounder that took all 3 hooks (greedy bugger). There were fish being caught right from the start and things were looking positive for a good days fishing. 2 up 1 down flapper rigs were the most popular on the day, black rap, lug, rag, maddies, whites and mackerel were the most popular baits being used.
Anglers know fish can just turn off in an instant, and yes you guessed it the fish disappeared. Harry McKee Snr was giving all of us a lesson on how to catch small flounder landing 15 while other anglers couldn’t catch 1 fish. Local men William Weir and Nicholas Mc Neil were also showing that Ulster men were on fire catching good bags of flounder. Last year’s captain Martin Howlin was once again showing why he’s recognised as one of Ireland’s super stars winning his zone. At the end of the first and frustrating 4 hour comp there was 85 counters and 45 under size fish caught a total of 130 fish. With 36 of Irelands top anglers this was an average of 3.6 fish each, not a good start…..
Read the full article ‘here’
Compliments of:
Ullcatch
Martin McGowan 087 3152516 or Eugene Farrelly 0864044671
Email: martin@ullcatch.com
Web: http://www.facebook.com/www.ullcatch
