REBEL COUNTY SAC fished their 3rd match of 2025 at the weekend in Cobh. Shane Olden reports…
The 3rd comp of the new year and the REBEL’S ventured to COBH. It turned out to be a pleasant day with no rain and a light to moderate wind. COBH was once again kind to the REBEL COUNTY SEA ANGLERS and a lot of fish were produced with at least the equivalent to be caught in undersize fish.
Though a few club members were struck with the flu and others couldn’t make it we still managed an eager turn out of 25 members. The fishing started off great with Vlad getting in on the fish straight away with a brace of flounder. He was followed by myself with a pair of whiting and all fish making the minimum size of 18cm. George O’Hara was next with a whiting followed by more lads across the line. Baits were only touching the bottom and bites were to be had straight away. As the excitement and the match mans gallop could be seen across the line it was looking good for a competitive and fruitful match.
Whiting were coming in one’s and two’s though most were under sized fish. Unfortunately the wind veered from a southerly to an easterly in no time and damped the fish activity. Fish went few and far between with a lot of fruitless bites as the fish stopped committing themselves fully to the REBEL anglers baits. Bob Godfrey decided to change tactics and chase conger eel. With his first cast he dropped one on the way in. Next cast, and with more determination this conger was never getting away and managed to get him up the wall and a counting fish on his card. Next on the conger was RAD with a nice strap to add to the dogfish from his previous cast. A further attempt for RAD at the conger resulted in a much bigger eel well over a meter long but at a guess as his line snapped trying to bring him up the wall!
Heads down and hard at it were the other competitiors as there were still fish coming in along the line of anglers but again most were undersize. As the seemingly better section in the middle started to quieten down the lads at the far end from peg 12 to 25 opened up and the better activity for the rest of the day was for them.
The juveniles on that end as well were starting to produce with Callum Looney, Adam Leary and Eoin Murphy battling it out.
The seniors were ploughing away also with the conger fetish catching onto some anglers. John McSweeny was on his second conger, Colin Dineen had a strap conger and Jeffrey olden lost 2 on the way in. Back to the whiting and the odd dab for the lads as the battles continued. A nice strong bite for myself produced a double shot of whiting with one of the whiting near halved from a conger which gave the stronger indication on the rod.
On the busier end it was taking off at good pace for NOAH TAHRAN, KIERAN RYAN, JACOB MURPHY, SEAN O’SULLIVAN and JOHN MC SWEENY for top spot on the day.
On the lighter side of things our Dublin angler CHRIS GREENE got a surprise visit from an otter that was only to happy to take the bits of fish being offered by the lads.
As the match was coming to an end the lads were only to happy to get out of the bitter easterly wind after a hard slog with the odd tea and coffee to keep them warm. 10 minutes to go and scores were high considering the easterly wind with some lads high in the teens count. A lot had either side of 10 fish and all anglers taking fish on the day. The final whistle was blown and it was time to down tools.
THE RESULT SENIOR’S TOP 10 :
1ST PLACE NOAH TAHRAN 18 FISH 475 points
2ND PLACE KIERAN RYAN 17FISH 455 POINTS
3RD PLACE SEAN O SULLIVAN 17FISH 431 POINTS
4TH PLACE JACOB MURPHY 14 FISH 403 POINTS
5TH PLACE JOHN MCSWEENY 12FISH 359 POINTS
6TH PLACE VLAD 11 FISH 310 POINTS
7TH PLACE JOHN O MAHONY 10 FISH 260 POINTS
8TH PLACE COLIN DINEEN 9 FISH 276 POINTS
9TH PLACE GEORGE O HARA 10 FISH 260 POINTS
10TH PLACE JIM COTTER 8 FISH 227 POINTsS
JUVENILE SECTION :
1ST PLACE CALLUM LOONEY 9 FISH 259 points
2ND PLACE ADAM O LEARY 4 fish 107 points
FISH COUNT THE SIZE :
WHITING 158
DAB 8
CONGER EEL 7
FLOUNDER 2
DOGFISH 2
THORNBACK RAY 1
ROCKKING 1
BAITS USED ON THE DAY: SANDEEL , MACKEREL , HERRING , BLUEY , FRESH BLACK LUG , RAZOR CLAM , CRAB , AND KING RAG.
The end of another well ran comp and closer to home for a lot of the REBEL’S. A lot was learned by the lads newer to match fishing and they can’t wait to put the new tactics to use on their next competition.
Our next competition is on the front strand in Youghal and we hope to bring you another fruitful report.
Once again we are always taking names of people who wish to join our club though our list is growing considerably.
We can be contacted on what’s app , messenger, Instagram and fbook !!
Thanks to all who attended , our sponsors and followers also , CATCH YOU ON THE NEXT ONE, UP THE REBELS!
Join the club
Rebels SAC are based in Cork and are are always happy to welcome new members.
The REBEL COUNTY SEA ANGLERS will be open for membership through out the year and we can be contacted on mobile 083 0198017, what’s app, messenger, facebook and Instagram. Catch you on the next one ……… UP THE REBELS
Get in touch via their Facebook page at
https://www.facebook.com/rebelcountyseaanglingclub/
Tom and Daire spoke to Barry about his incredible fly tying career, his hugely successful YouTube channel and his unusual introduction to learning to tie flies.
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, 
