West Cork and District SAC fished a competition at Ballymona on Saturday…
On Saturday evening we held our latest competition. With strong winds and heavy weed making our original venue, Ardnahinch, unfishable, a late call was made to move across the stream to Ballymona in Ballycotton Bay. The move worked out well and gave us a fishable stretch of beach for the evening.
Match time was 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., and fish showed from the get-go. There was steady action early on, with bites coming right from the first few casts, setting the tone for an enjoyable and competitive session.
Richie Gormley got the evening off to a flyer on peg six, starting in fine style with a cracking 72cm thornback ray. Bradley Kirwin and Troy Francis soon followed with rays of their own, with Bradley landing a fine painted ray.
Some nice fish showed in the daylight hours early on. Bass were also present, along with flounder and dogfish, keeping rods busy and adding a nice mix of species to the cards.
Just before darkness set in, Colin O’Sullivan landed a fine 68cm conger eel, which would eventually go on to win the round fish pool. Well done, Colin.
As darkness set in, lads began to change tactics and started fishing in tight. This brought a burst of rockling all along the match stretch, followed by a few flounder. Notably, Erin Furlong landed a cracking 42cm flounder.
As the tide began to drop it produced the best hour of fishing of the match, with dogfish showing in numbers. Brendan Wall took full advantage, adding several dogfish to his card by the end of the evening, as did Barry O’Rourke who also made the most of the improving conditions.
Into the last hour and Troy Francis on peg three kept the dogfish coming while others began to slow up, which would eventually seal the match win for him. Troy also landed a cracking 77cm thornback ray to win the flatfish pool, rounding off a great night’s fishing. Well done, Troy.
The battle for second place was between Brendan and Barry, with both anglers finishing on 12 fish. It was a tight one, but Brendan eventually pipped Barry, finishing on 573 points to Barry’s 539. Well done, lads.
We’d also like to welcome our three new members — Brendan Wall, Bradley Kirwin and Erin Furlong. Great to have ye onboard.
A good night’s fishing all round for us on a new venue.
Up next for us is Leg Two of the Ultima Munster Shore League in Cheekpoint — always a great venue and one we’re really looking forward to.
Go fishing…
All about West Cork and District SAC…
The club was formed on march 19th 2009, in the small picturesque harbour town of Kinsale County Cork. We’re an inclusive club, this can be seen in our membership profile; from anglers who are new to match fishing all the way up to members of the Irish World Shore Team 2010, two of which are in the club! The club holds circa 10 competitions per year, members are encouraged to practice a catch and release policy in the interests of conservation. Anybody wishing to join our club is always welcome, just use the contact us page and we will give prospective members full details.
Web: http://westcorkanddistrict.webs.com/
Facebook: facebook.com/pages/West-Cork-and-District-SAC/
