The Winter Shore Angling Festival 2016, sponsored by Tronixpro, Vercelli and Cinnetic got under way today Thursday 28th January at Balinoulart beach in east Co Wexford. This year has seen the biggest field for many years with a total of 107 anglers from England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Iceland all competing to take down what is considered to be one of the most prestigious titles on the Irish sea angling calendar. All of the hard work by the committee has certainly paid off and the loyalty and dedication of anglers participating in this great event is second to none. The event is going from strength to strength each year and it is great to see new faces accompanying those who have been attending this event for years.
Registration and peg draw took place at Sean Ogs in Kilmuckridge between 8.30am and 9.30am this morning and after receiving all relevant information, anglers headed off to their pegs to set up and await the all in which was called at 12 noon. Strong winds and driving sands were more reminiscent of a saharan sandstorm on occasions than what you would expect on an east Wexford beach. Unfortunately, the very strong SW winds did not abate for the day but thankfully the heavy persistent rain did stay away for most of the day. It was obvious from the start that fishing would be tough and that anglers would have to dig deep to ensure that no opportunity was missed under the very tough conditions.
As the competition got underway at 12 noon the tide was ebbing well and running hard. Fishing took place over the next five hours with anglers experiencing varying degrees of success in each of their respective zones, but no one angler building any kind of a sizeable lead and best catches being evenly distributed along all of the sections. David O’Sullivan on the northern most end peg found some good fishing straight away but every fish taken was really hard work due to the bad weather and heavy seas. At the end of the first two hours of fishing anglers had recorded catches up to 7 fish including bass, flounder and cod.
The level of catches remained fairly consistent throughout the day and the size of the best fish taken was similar to last years catches.
Longest round fish of the day was taken by Harry McKee Senior with a nice codling of 31cm with M.Flynn having another nice codling of 28cm. Honours for the longest flat fish was shared by Eugene Andrews and M. White each with a nice flounder measuring 33cms.
With Very strong winds forecast overnight tomorrow looks like another difficult day but winds are forecast to ease off from mid morning and hopefully they will.
Results and Current Standings after Day 1 of the Winter Shore Angling Festival 2016 can be found below
In the Individual Event
1st David O’Sulllivan, 2nd Thomas Hughes, 3rd Karl Whelan, 4th Chris Read, 5th Harry McKee Jr, 6th Bill Lindfield.
In the 2 Man Team Event
1st H.McKee Sr & H.McKee, 2nd Saul Page & Richard Yates, 3rd Matt Brook & Darren Newland
In the 4 Man Team
1st Andrew Hutchings, Chris Read, Gordon Thornes and Bill Lindfield 2nd H.McKee Sr, H.McKee Jr, Eugene Andrews and Ryan Blair, 3rd Chris Isaac, Mike Hughes, Thomas Hughes and Gary Woods.
Longest Flat
E. Andrews 33 cm Flounder, M. White 33cm Flounder
Longest Round
H.McKee Sr 31cm Codling, M. Flynn 28cm Codling
In the Super Pool
1st C O’Sullivan, 2nd T. Hughes 3rd H.McKee Jr
