Day 2 of the 25th Irish Winter Shore Angling Festival got under way this morning in what was expected to be an even tougher days fishing than Day 1. The 60+ anglers from Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Scoland and Wales prepared for what promised to be a tough day on the Wicklow beaches. Day 1 finished well with some good catches but the overnight forecast promised nothing good for Day 2. The scheduled venue at Clones Strand was due to take the full force of galeforce winds which would have made the venue unfishable. A quick decision by the committee and the venue was switched to the north beach at Wicklow home of the monkey pole. This venue provided at least some shelter from the battering southerly gale force winds. The conditions meant that the water was well coloured and althought there was a good run on the tide, luckily enough there was no dirt or weed in suspension. Good fishing was still expected. The northern end of the beach was reporting better catches early on but it was nearly impossible to keep track of what was happening all along the beach owing to the atrocious conditions. Mid way through the afternoon it was a job in itself just to keep the bivvy in place. At around 2.30pm Joe Byrne had 10 fish, Paul Tyndal was reported to have around 15 fish including a dog. Alan Yates from the UK was reported to have 10 and Shay O’Neill had 12 fish. Other anglers near the northern end of the section were also well into double figures. Whiting made up the bulk of the fish but there were other species such as flounder, coalfish and rockling. Some anglers had catches into the mid twenties by the end of the session, a teriffic performance under the circumstances. Although the conditions were atrocious this did not deter the anglers fishing right to the “all out” at 5pm. The Day 2 results to hand are as follows
Longest Round Fish, Richard Burrow, England, Coalfish 39cm
Longest Flatfish, Michael Quinn, Ireland, Flounder 28cm
Zone Winners: Chris Clark, England, James Ryan Ireland, Gordon Thorns, Wales, Mick Mullane Ireland.
Chris Clark is leading on 30pts, Peadar Taite 2nd on 29pts and Paul Tyndall 3rd on 28pts.
