It was Saturday 14th May 2016 and the final day of the EFSA European Shore Angling Championship had arrived. The venue chosen for Day 3 of the event was Ballinesker beach south of Kilmuckridge, Co. Wexford. Anglers general expectation following the first two challenging days was that the final day would be similar and it turned out exactly like that. Competitors were again greeted by bright sunshine and a stronger wind than expected, with some east in it. There was colour in the water which looked like it would help anglers fishing the gullies in close. The final day fishing took place earlier than the previous two days over a five hour session from 11.00 to 16.00. The final day’s bait allocation consisted of 1 pack of mackerel, 1 pack of lug wraps, 100 maddies if available otherwise 20 king rag.
It was evident from the start that fishing was going to be tough with anglers working hard to grind out a few fish however most anglers were experiencing tough conditions. As the day progressed the pressure increased on anglers and teams who did well on Day 2. The German A team looked to be fishing well and hoped to hold on to their lead position but the Italian B were working hard to maintain their silver medal place in the tough conditions. The Irish A team were also very focused on the job at hand hoping to hold on to their bronze medal position. The catches today consisted mainly of dabs, flounder and whiting with some other species such as bass and turbot making an occasional appearance.
In the individual competition German, Italian, Welsh and Irish anglers all featured and in the ladies competition Germany and Holland were looking good. When the competition ended it was back to Kilmuckridge to crunch the numbers and make the presentations to the European Champion following the Gala Dinner at the Upton Court Hotel.
