Here is a comprehensive report from Carrick Beach & Rockers SAC about the opening leg of their master angler competition. Check it out below…
Bay of plenty….or not!
Yesterday seen the opening leg of the master angler competition to be held at Redbay as a rover match.
Conditions looked comparatively calm as opposed to the preceding 24 hours. 17 seniors and 1 junior angler braved the cold and unfortunately, were not rewarded for their efforts.
Low water was at around 2pm and the match kicked off at 1pm. Hopes were not high amongst many anglers as a few club members had fished this mark the previous week during daytime conditions and the fishing was, il keep it polite, really, really poor.
1pm arrived and baits were sent seaward with a few anglers getting bites from the off with nothing much materialising from them. A few small dabs were landed alongside undersized whiting. Muttely picked up a bass of 32cm during daylight and Karl landed a 29cm flounder and undersized dab double shot. George who was beside him then lifted into a good fish but had been casting out over a submerged rock line and as the fish dived for cover on the retrieve, it snagged him up and a bit of over enthusiasm on Georgeβs part led to that dreaded **CRACK** a slack lineβ¦
Approaching darkness and signs were poor all across the bay as no reports of counting fish were posted to the WhatsApp group, darkness should be the make-or-break time in the match with the fish expected to turn on under the cover of darkness. Having only around 1 hour of darkness it was going to be important to make the most of it but the fishing gods had other ideas. Just as the bites started coming on it seemed like storm Γowyn had done an about turn and breezed back to the bay, the wind picked up, the swells picked up and there was a real healthy chop on the water. The bites were there still for anyone looking closely enough at their rod tips but again very few hook ups (from my personal experience) we were later to find out there were plenty of small whiting about and these little guys are like piranha, nipping and tearing baits off the hook. Karl had another coalie during darkness and losing another good fish which felt like another coalie on the very last cast. There were a number of fish caught but the vast majority were undersized which is unusual for this area.
18 anglers fished with 10 blank score cards returned and only 7 anglers with fish!
1st place with 4 fish was Brian Taylor
2nd with 3 fish was Chris Pritchard
3rs with 2 fish Karl McCullough
4th with 2 fish was Bobby Laughlin
5th with 2 fish David Douglas
6th with 1 fish was Alan Nelson
7th with 1 fish Matt McMurtry
Longest fish went to Brian Taylor for his 32cm bass.
