The last leg of the Cobh SAC Light Lines Competition was held on Sunday in Cork Harbour. Here’s their report on this popular competition…
Thirty-one anglers competed from 4 boats in calm and sunny conditions. Fishing on the day proved to be very poor with low number’s of fish recorded.
Tim O’Herlihy fishing on the Lagosta was best in the boat with 14 fish. John Angles also won his boat Deora de with 19 fish as did Paul O Callaghan on Camden Mist with 21 fish.
The top angler on the day was Dave Jolly with 61 fish fishing from the Osprey that encountered a lot of fish in the last hour of the competition.
But the day itself belonged to Stephen Hurley his 6th place was enough to crown him as overall champion of the League, winning it three years in succession. That’s some feat well done to Stephen.
A close second was Tomasz Kujawa, just 1 point behind and followed by Dave Jolly 3rd with Dan Lynch 4th.
Sarah Lynch, 6th placed overall, captured the under21 trophy with Jack Walsh 8th overall and Bradley Kirwan 12th overall in 2nd and 3rd place.
The presentation of prizes took place at the Commodore Hotel. Sean Og McShane club Secretary presented the prizes to the top 25 anglers in the league table in addition there were 3 loyalty prizes to the best three scoring anglers that fished all of the competitions and that were outside the top prizes these were as follows Mick O Callaghan, Padraic Mullaney and Bob Creber.
The Longest Fish prizes went to Tom Johnson 45 cm Whiting, Conor Purcell 72 cm Ray, and Stephen Hurley and Graham Walsh 30 cm Dab.
On behalf of Cobh S.A.C, we would like to thank all the anglers that competed and especially those who had travelled long distances. We had anglers that travelled from Wicklow, Dublin, Waterford Mayo, Kilkenny and Castletownbere.
We would like to thank again our excellent boat skippers.
And finally we would like to thank our Main Sponsors Tackle Direct/ Halfway Angling and also the Commodore Hotel for their continued sponsorship of the club.
That it for this year hope to see everyone again for the 2025/2026 Light Lines League.
Go fishing…
Cobh SAC is a very active club with a great series of competitions across the year.
The club is very welcoming to new members.
If you are interested in joining the club or fishing any of their competitions contact them via Facebook.
Offshore 105. 380 HP Iveco Skipper: Alan Kennedy Licence: 713 Base: Crosshaven/Cobh Operational Area:
40 Miles out of Cork Harbour, Ballycotton, Kinsale.
Notes: Lagosta II has a complete inventory of electronic and safety equipment. Fishing in the rich offshore waters of south-west Ireland, Alan specialises in wreck, reef and shark angling. Even in the worst of weather, anglers can fish for rays, flatfish and conger in the extensive and sheltered waters of Cobh harbour.
Pro Fisherman 33 Skipper: Pat Condon Licence: 1350 Base: Crosshaven and Cobh Operational area: 30 miles from Crosshaven, Kinsale, Cobh, Monkstown and Ballycotton.
Notes: With more than 30 years Sea angling experience in hand and having won several national & international sea angling competitions, Pat Condon offers his clients the wealth of his angling skills as part of their experience.
Anglers can fish many reefs near the Cork harbour for ling, cod, conger eel, pollack and coalfish. Shark fishing off Cork Harbour is from mid june to september.
Even if the weather is poor you can fish within Cork harbour for species such as bass, blonde ray and thornback ray, plaice and dabs.
35′ Offshore 105. 400 HP Iveco Skipper: Jim Linehan Licence: 147 Base: Cobh Operational area: 30 nautical
miles of Ballycotton – Cork Harbour – Kinsale.
Notes: Deora Dé is a fast modern charter boat,
built to the skipper’s own specifications and exceeding the current
safety standards. Species of fish caught include: Blue Shark, Mackerel, Pollack, Cod, Whiting, Conger Eel, Ling, Wrasse, Gurnard, Garfish, Dogfish, Coalfish and many more!Full rod & tackle hire available with free tuition given. Free tea & coffee onboard.
Skipper: Anthony Lane. Licence No.: 1401 P5 30miles. Base: Crosshaven Operational area: Ballycotton to Kinsale
Notes: Cork Harbour offers a wide variety of fish including ling, cod, pollock, whiting, wrasse, ray, conger eel, bullhuss and many more. The harbour can be fished in most weather conditions offering a wide variety of sheltered locations for both the experienced and novice angler. The boat comes fully equipped with all modern navigational aids. Full safety equipment as per licence. Rod and tackle hire are available on board and all assistance will be given to the novice angler. Full galley and toilet facilities on board
The New Ross & District SAC held their second club competition of the year at a very muddy Barrow Bridge over the weekend. They began fishing the dropping tide, with fish coming in quickly enough, including a nice early double for James Ryan.
As the tide bottomed out, so too did the bites, and anglers had to wait till the flood got going again before the fish came back on. James Ryan’s early double kept his nose ahead of the chasing pack to seal the win for him on the day.
There was plenty of quality fishing at Portumna over the weekend as the Portumna Coarse Angling Club held a match at the town and stic ups. There were numerous 20lb+ bags and even a couple of 30lb+, the best of which went to Bruce Pennell as his 34lb 11oz bag saw him win out by a couple of pounds over second-placed Sean Brereton.
Well known angler & YouTuber Senan Stanley joins his fishing buddy Paul Bourke for a predator session on Lough Derg where they boat some fine fish and share a few tips on setups and methods.
The Munster Coarse Anglers held a two-day competition on Lough Doon over the bank holiday weekend. The fishing was pretty steady, with plenty of small silvers and the odd perch making up the numbers, but one angler outshone the rest by some margin, as Morgan Lewis blitzed the field to take his first competitive win with a combined total of 38lb 12oz.
Carrowmore Lake is off the mark for 2025, and it’s that man again, Brian Hope who landed the first fish of the year. Brian was fishing on Sunday, when he hooked a fine, sparkling silver fresh springer. The fish took the fly pictured below, which looks new to us but we may have to tie a few up!
After a quick photo, the fish was released again to continue its journey and hopefully spawn successfully later in the year. Well done Brian, a cracking fish to start the season!
Brian with his beautiful spring salmon
Go Fishing
Please note that Carrowmore Lake is a Brown Tag Fishery!
For fishing on Carrowmore Lake contact Seamus Henry on +353 (0)97 83487 or visit www.bangorerrisangling.com.
This week Tom & Daire are joined by Evo Smyth, originally from Latvia, but living and fly fishing in the Irish midlands for the last twenty years.
Although only taking up fly tying ten years ago, Evo quickly made a name for himself as a fly tyer of some skill and his flies have been in demand around the country.
Evo tells Tom & Daire about his fly fishing and fly tying journey and has some really helpful and insightful advice for anyone looking to improve their own fly tying skills.
The Fiona Tee enjoyed a lovely spring outing last weekend, on what was described as a glorious day on Donegal Bay. Fishing was very good for the first half, but slackened a bit in the afternoon once the tide turned. Plebty of good sized pollack were recorded, with the first codling of the year, and a few other species too. Mackerel were still [plentiful in the harbour too.
Rinnashark SAC recenty held their first juvenile competition of the year in Woodstown, on a beautiful Spring day.
“The sun was out and it was great to get the young anglers back on the beach. Great also to see some new faces. A good spread of fish showed up to keep the young anglers busy mostly made up of flounder.”
We love to feature young anglers getting into the sport, and it is great to see clubs like Rinnashark getting so many young people out fishing. Well done to all!
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Go Fishing
To find more about Rinnashark Sea Angling Club see their website and forum at www.rinnasharksac.net
When the 14 Ulster Kraken SAC club members made their way to their pegs on Waterfoot Beach, they were full of anticipation for the night ahead. Sea conditions looked enticing, with calm seas, which is usually a good sign for a bit of ‘doggie bashing’. But as is often the case with fishing, the best made plans didn’t quite come together, as the expected influx of doggies never materialised and anglers were left to pick off flatties with an odd bonus sea trout to make up the numbers. At lines in, it was Stephen Kinning who fished steadily throughout the session to take the win with 19 fish for 443 points. For a full report, see the Ulster Krakens Facebook Page.
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Full results as follows:
1st Stephen Kinning with 19 for 443 points
2nd Craig Henderson with 15 fish and 2 unders for 381 points
3rd Marc Wilson with 15 fish for 375 points
4th David Rainey 14 fish and 1 under for 349 points
5th Andrew mc callion 13 fish and 2 unders for 323 points
Cobh SAC is a very active club with a great series of competitions across the year.
Osprey
Camden Mist
Sea Otter is a safe and fast 30′ Evolution boat with a 420hp engine that can fish 8 anglers or can take 11 people out for scenic trips.
