Well the March competition wasn’t actually held in March….it was held in April!!!

For one of the first times ever, a light lines competition was cancelled because of the weather. ‘I thought Cork Harbour was an all-weather venue?’ I hear you say. Well it is….but the worst gales to affect the harbour are those from the east or southeast quadrant….and so it was on the week ending the 24th March we had a humdinger from the south east. In fact, the wind had been blowing hard from the east for weeks and on the Friday of that weekend a storm passed through that dumped one month’s worth of rain within a 24 hour period in the region. This was the same storm that, as it tracked northwards, dumped a couple of feet of snow in Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, north Wales, and the north west of England. Strong enough as the winds were the boats may have still got out but with that volume of fresh water in the system the fishing was bound to be crap….and so the decision was, regrettably, taken to cancel.

The rescheduled competition was earmarked for Sunday 7th April. Conditions leading upto the day had improved dramatically….but then it all went downhill. That morning a gale kicked up and again from the southeast. At least there had been no rain leading up to the day and it was decided to carry on with the event.

Boy the wind was strong….and as the 16 anglers headed out on the John Boy and the Naomh Cartha they were dramatically buffeted. However, once at anchor at ‘Deep Hole’ the boats settled down quickly and there was no discomfort, as such. At this spot, just between the forts, there is no noticeable swell compared to the storm tossed seas outside. Nevertheless, the conditions did make for tough angling as, with the strength of the wind, many anglers complained that they could barely feel the ‘bites,’ if at all….and this was reflected in the fishing with numbers of fish caught well down on previous competitions. But you know what they say ‘….when the going gets tough, the tough get going.’

A total of 282 fish were caught with the breakdown being as follows: 236 whiting, 41 dab, 4 cod, and 1 plaice. Most successful baits were again mackeral and lug.

The final results were:

1. John Dennehy,           40 fish,   558 pts, 100.0%
2. Pat O’Shea,               32 fish,   457 pts, 100.0%
3. Pat Wright,                27 fish,   406 pts,   88.8%
4. Martin Perryman,       26 fish,   376 pts,   67.4%
5. John Fitz,                   21 fish,   301 pts,   65.9%
6. Donnacha O’Connell, 26 fish,   362 pts,   64.9%
7. Pat Condon,              18 fish,   273 pts,   59.7%
8. Shane Gilvarry,          17 fish,   249 pts,   54.5%
9. Roy Kearney,            21 fish,   299 pts,   53.6%
10. Josie Barrett,             20 fish,   288 pts,   51.6%
11. Robert Fraczek,        12 fish,   180 pts,   39.4%
12. Danny Kane,             12 fish,   188 pts,   33.7%
13. Tomasz Kyowe,          5 fish,     76 pts,   13.6%
14. Dermot O’Brien,          3 fish,     50 pts,   10.9%
15. Danny Kilcannon,        2 fish,     37 pts,     8.1%
16. Sandra O’Shea,           0 fish,       0 pts,     0.0%

This sets the league table up nicely for the last event which takes place on Sunday 21st April. The top 10 places now are:

1. Pat O’Shea,                  14pts
2. Pat Wright,                   18 pts
3. John Dennehy,              18 pts
4. Martin Perryman,          24 pts
5. Danny Kane,                33 pts
6. Sandra O’Shea,            35 pts
7. Martin Kennedy,           38 pts
8. Donnacha O’Connell,    44 pts
9. John Fitz,                      44 pts
10. Sylwester Skowronski, 46 pts

If you’d like to fish the last Light Lines competition of the season on Sunday 21st April contact Danny Kane on 086 – 8161946 or Mary Geary on 021 – 4812167.

Courtesy of Cork Harbour Angling Hub