Wicklow Boat Charters hosted its annual Awards for customer competitions in the Bridge Tavern in Wicklow on 8th December. This is the fourth year that Kit Dunne, Chartered Boat Angler has hosted and sponsored this presentation to anglers who caught some outstanding fish during the year. Since its inception in 2013, Wicklow Boat Charters has firmly put Wicklow on the map as a high quality sea angling destination with 39 different fish species recorded in total and a record 419 specimen fish recorded.
Good boat fishing conditions and the warm summer of 2018 meant that many anglers went out to sea to try their hand at the great ‘animal fishing’ in Wicklow. It proved to be a great year for fishing in the Wicklow area with 289 tope caught which is a new record, 667 Smooth Hound, 23 Spurdog, 83 Blue Shark one at 1.9M to the fork and numerous specimen fish.
Some prizes were also sponsored by Inland Fisheries Ireland and they were awarded to anglers as follows: Gary Blake won the most species with 20 species recorded during the year which was fantastic. On the shark fishing front Daniel O’Kelly won the prize for the biggest Shark for his Specimen Blue Shark of 100lbs plus that was 1.9m long. There was much talk on the night about his great fishing day where there were 13 shark caught and released in one day! Shay McDonnell came 2nd with a blue shark of 100lbs plus and in 3rd place was Eric Brady with a great fish of 1.8m length.
On the specimen fishing front, John Mellerick won the most specimen fish award catching 3 smoothound and 2 tope to 50lbs in weight and was delighted to accept a prize. The best specimen fish went to Evan McGovern for a smoothound of 18.3lbs. Bert McGregor came 3rd catching a smoothound of 18lbs and receiving a nice Shimano reel.
On the junior angling front it was great to see 3 well deserved winners. John Patrick Chew (age 13) claimed a specimen smoothound and has claimed a specimen fish every year. Liam McDonnell (age 11) won a prize for a nice black bream he caught and he also came 4th out of 16 senior club competitors who were fishing. Killian McDonnelly (age 17), is relatively new to sea fishing and is getting some great results already. Some very useful tackle boxes and rods were presented to the juniors. A full listing of results is below.
Wicklow Boat Charters had a great year with a unique ‘animal fishing’ product that it offers. It not only attracts local anglers, many overseas anglers came from Germany, Holland and the UK during the year contributing hugely to the Wicklow economy and to the sea angling product in Ireland. The catch and release principle is very much a part of fishing on Wicklow Boat Charters in line with conservation of our marine fish species. In 2018 there were 289 tope which is a record number recorded. It proved a very productive year for smoothounds with 667 caught. Bull huss were slow to start however there were 101 recorded. There were 30 Ray recorded and 23 Spurdog and a phenomenal 83 blue shark caught which is an average of 7 per day. There were also 74 Gurnards caught and a black bream too! To book a day’s fishing see – www.wicklowboatcharters.ie or email: [email protected]
Full list of Winners:
Most Species
Gary Blake – 20 species including red mullet, hake, dragonet and many more
Biggest Shark
- 1st: Daniel O’Kelly, Specimen blue shark 100lb +
- 2nd: Shay McDonnell, Blue Shark 100lb +
- 3rd: Eric Brady, Blue Shark, 1.8m long
Best Specimen Fish
- 1st: Evan McGovern, Smoothound 18.3lbs
- 2nd Craig Murphy, Black Bream 2.2lbs
- 3rd Bert McGregor, Smoothound 18lbs
Most Specimen Fish
- 1st: John Mellerick, 3 Smoothound and 2 tope to 50lbs
- 2nd: Tom Lynch, 3 smoothound and 1 Spurdog
Best Juniors
Best Specimen: John Patrick Chew, Specimen smoothound 13lbs
Best Species: Liam McDonnell, Black bream
Most Species: Adrian Semar who is a regular visitor from Germany with 12 species in one day
Best Overseas Angler :
Denis Daudu, Specimen Tope 58lbs
Best Novice Angler:
Darren Kelly
