As the days are getting shorter and the salmon fishing season has now come to an end, let us reflect on and reminisce about the bygone season for a moment.
It can’t be denied that 2023 was a bit of a peculiar year.
As always, anglers being eternal optimists, every single one of us rejoiced in the beginning of a new season and the opportunity to partake in one of the most beautiful and fulfilling pastimes. Cold days in blistering wind become insignificant with a single purpose, one lingering thought in the back of your mind: ‘This could be the day when I hook one of those majestic silver spring salmon, a fish of a lifetime. Any second now’, as you patiently cast, wait and anticipate.
As the season progresses and nature around us has become fully alive and everything seems to be plentiful, on a mild summer evening, you’re eagerly awaiting the grilse run to begin. ‘Ah, c’mon, just for a couple of hours’, one might think. ‘I’m certainly going to meet a fish or maybe even two’.
This season, as so many others before it, had its glorious, almost magical moments for many an angler, but it also had a dark side of unmet expectations and frustration for many others.
I’d like to encourage all you anglers out there, young and old, not to lose hope or let go of our shared passion. The sun will shine again. It sometimes just takes a bit of tenacity to steer through the stormy weather ahead.
Tight lines for 2024 from the Moy Fishery Team. We’ll hopefully see you out there.
Ballina Salmon Anglers reported 30 salmon for the week.
Mount Falcon recorded 7 fish, 2 of which were released. The best fish weighed 5lbs.
Knockmore Salmon Anglers reported 8 salmon on spinner and worm, 4 of which were released.
Byrne’s Fishery recorded 2 salmon for the week.
Gannon’s Fishery reported 6 salmon, of which two were fresh fish. The biggest salmon weighed 8lbs.
The Foxford Fishery recorded 25 fish mainly caught on spinner, 21 of which were released. The best fish weighed 12lbs.
Foxford Salmon Anglers reported 34 salmon for the week, of which 27 were caught at Rinnaney and 7 at Baker’s.
Cloongee Fishery recorded 5 salmon, 1 of which was released. All of those fish were caught spinning. The best fish weighed 9lbs.
East Mayo Anglers reported 8 salmon for the week, 2 of which were released. All fish were caught on the spinner. Two fish were double figure salmon, weighing 10lbs and 12lbs respectively.
A total of 125 salmon were reported caught throughout the Moy catchment during the week.
A mixed season on Loughs Conn and Cullin has come to an end. The weather, more often than not, wasn’t in favour of the angling community and therefore angling pressure was much lower than would normally be the case. The persistent anglers, however, still enjoyed good sport and caught nice trout, which should be an encouragement for the anglers who didn’t venture out. Don’t miss out next season.
Castlebar Anglers Association were intending to re-run the ‘Jackson Cup’ on Lough Conn on Saturday 30th September, but the weather thwarted those intentions once again.
Foxford Angling Club re-fished their ‘Chris Downey Cup’ on Saturday 30th September.
1st place went to Brian Kennedy with one trout to measure.
Dominic McGowan boated 9 fish during the competition, but unfortunately none was above the limit of 13 inches.
Peter Roche fished Brackwansha, Victoria and Massbrook on Friday, catching 2 fish at Brackwansha on a Fiery Brown Dabbler.
The Eire Bass guide guide Richie Ryan sent us short a report on his season so far this year. The guide takes up the story:
“ My season as a guide in 2023 was a mixed bag. Clients looking for saltwater fly fishing were scarce enough but most who booked had a pleasant surprise at the numbers and quality of fish. July was one of the poorest months weather-wise that I can ever remember. We believe the bass went on the crab in August and were difficult to target. Pollack on the fly was excellent throughout the season as always. Again a great help here is the absence of gill nets due to seal predation. September brought the bass back feeding hard, but the amount of fresh water in Cork Harbour at the end of September really did us no favours.
Tyler John Fitzgerald from Canada with a cracker of a pollack
To those fishermen/women annoyed at the end of the game season, I can extend your angling experience for you. October can be an excellent month for bass, so why not try a cast on the deep blue for a change? You can put the awful salmon season behind you and actually catch fish. What have you got to lose, a bass maybe !
Crisp Autumnal Morning on the Laune. 21st September. There is water in the Laune but not a lot.
There was 1 salmon on Beat 2 of the river Laune caught spinning by a visiting angler, water levels high in the last week.
Prior to this angling on the Laune was slack for the best part with big floods and abysmal weather being the main culprits. When it did clear some grilse were met and landed in the lower sections of the River Laune.
Predator guide Tomi Kurman, an expert on fishing for ferox trout, gives us his rundown on the 2023 ferox season on Corrib.
2023 Trout Season in Ireland is now closed.
Time for a little summary….
Unfortunately this year I didn’t made my goal of landing 100 Ferox over 65cm in a season.
I would easily do it, but almost whole September was out of the cards. Few days at the start of the month resulted in some nice fish landed, then I took 2 weeks break from guiding to practice and take a part in the biggest tournament of the year. On top of that last week of the Season was a complete write off, with not even one day suitable to target those beautiful beasts….
Two years ago I ended up Season with 122 Ferox, last year 102, and this year “only” 94 .
I know 94 is still outstanding number, but if you set up your goal yourself it’s nice to actually achieve that… none the least I have no reasons to complain… some of my regular guests caught beautiful trout and some new faces smashed their records with me.
Highlight of the Season is definitely a day with 8(!) Ferox landed and three of them caught and landed at the same time!
Triplet of 78,78and 79cm were my first ever (only known to me too!!!) triple hook up. It’s a lottery win on its own, but 3 fish at this size is something else!
The biggest fish of the Season was caught by Guest from Germany- a true beast of 89.5cm (I know- not a Holly Grail of 90cm and just over 20lb in weight.
This trout season again didn’t see us much at brown trout fishing, but when we did it was outstanding with many beautiful trout caught casting and by light trolling from the hand…
Off to statistics now:
In total we have landed 94 Ferox over 65cm.
We have spend 49 days targeting Ferox, of which 8 days ended up with no fish caught (or fish smaller then 65cm were caught) which is a BLANK in my books. That gives avarage of 2.3 Ferox per day when we caught Ferox or 1.9 Ferox per day including blanks.
Off to next year now, and I can’t wait already. It will be fantastic I can promise you that!
Now enjoy a collection of some notable catches of this Season and if you want to be included in Next Seson COUNT just send me a message. Bookings for next season are open for all Season, but arround half Spring dates are gone already so be quick! Please note that ALL bookings for NEXT Season are subject to deposit payment and please inquire about new pricing and service terms. My service might be not too cheap, but as some say it’s well underpriced considering whats on offer!!! So get the calendar and think about Next Season! Also please inquire about my “catch guarantee” policy- I like a bit of a gamble too
Guides’ day out!
Go Fishing
Tomi Guided Fishing
To book a trip with Tomi Kurman, give him a call on 085 7318541 or check out his Facebook page here: Tomi Guidedfishing
For those of you forced to hang up the trout and salmon rods, you may be thinking of some pike on the fly action to keep you from the DTs and so for this week’s episode of Ireland on the Fly, Daire and Tom speak to pike on the fly guide, Stuart Wylie, to find out more and to help get you started as we head into the winter period.
Fishery manager David McEvoy updated us on the 2023 season this week. A good read as always from David. Read on…
Another Year Drifts By
It’s hard to believe that we’ve reached the end of another fishing season here at Delphi. In some ways the 1st of February seems like yesterday and in others it seems like aeons ago. We’ll all have plenty of tidying up to do on fishing gear and that, in the next week or so and before we know it, we’ll be dusting off the rods again in the hope of that elusive Springer.
It’s been just over a month since my last update and we were relatively quiet for the first two weeks of the month and we even managed to get 7 days in a row without any rain at all, the net result being that the river dropped to 1 on the Gauge for the first time since the 18th of June. It wasn’t ideal for salmon fishing as it often becomes increasingly frustrating, especially when one can easily see the fish. On Thursday the 7th the temperature actually reached 27.1 degrees at our automatic weather station at Doolough. As an aside if ever any of you are pining for Delphi weather, all you have to do is google wow.met.ie and you’ll basically get a map of Ireland, and you just enlarge the map and tap on Doolough and it gives you the weather data for the day since midnight. It updates every 30 minutes. As a result of this beautiful spell fishing was not terribly high on the agenda.
Many tried but salmon were playing hard to get, with sea trout being a lot more co-operative. We are often blessed with the customers we have, in that luckily “catching” is not the be all and end all. During the fine spell we had a wonderful group from the City Flickers club in London. This is basically a club set up by Lucy Mantle of young (20’s and 30’s) up and coming anglers who generally work in London, and when most of your customer base is now my age and older these are like a breath of fresh air and hopefully, they will all continue their piscatorial passion, well into the future.
Rainfall amounted to 271.8mms (10.7”). Our weather became more Autumnal from mid-September on and, as a result the salmon became a little more active. First of the month was landed by Constancio Merchante from Spain on the 16th. The fish was his first ever, weighing 4lbs15ozs from the Grilse Pool on a very lightly tied Willie Ginn single. Finlough is stuffed with fish, but they were very difficult to tempt. We had serious rainfall amounting to 113.8mms (4.48”) between the 23rd, 24th and 25th and the Gauge went to 110 on the afternoon of the 24th. Sean Kelly from the US had two that day, one from the Turn Pool of 4lbs14ozs and the second from the Middle River of approx. 5lbs. He had another the following day, again from the Middle River of 3lbs2ozs, all on a Delphi Collie. John Phelan also had one on the 25th from the Quarry of approx. 7lbs on a Willie Gunn. Richard Tattersall landed one on the 26th from the Goat of approx. 4lbs on a Delphi Collie. The dynamic duo of Liam Dunne and Paul Smyth had a fish each off Fin on the 28th of 6lbs3ozs and 4lbs1oz respectively on an Excutioner and Delphi Collie. The 30th finished up as usual with an open day and fish were more inclined to take, especially since many of the items being presented were unique to them! Total landed for the day was 23, with Eoin and Rory Smith, Vadim Baclanov and Svetoslav Nino all managing to land their first ever. Bradan Boland had the best of the day of approx. 14lbs. That brought our total for the month to 31 and for the season to 260. Having said that, I believe that there are definitely more fish in the system this year and Finlough in particular. Sea trout provided some good sport for those who targeted them, with 91 for the month and 261 in total for the year.
Thank You
Finally, I must thank all who helped and supported us throughout the year. Good customers make our job so much easier and often reminds us why we do what we do. Thank you all! D.McEvoy
Go fishing…
At Delphi Lodge, with many years of experience with the timing of the best runs of fish, we have in place a price system that offers both great value fishing and lets our anglers know when they have the best chance to catch a fresh run spring salmon or a summer grilse or Delphi sea trout.
Unlike our previous fixture, the weather didn’t work in our favour for the clubs’ latest fixture. The Longstrand was to be the original venue but it was unfishable so Broadstrand was used as the back up venue. Broadstrand is usually a comfortable sheltered venue but conditions on the night made it hard on all the anglers.
1 of 3
Jason Convery had a good first two hours putting dogfish on the card. A late burst from Mark O Sullivan would see him catch up with Jason but the night belonged to Barry O Rourke who had a good last two hours. Barry found dogfish at distance adding a conger in amongst them, then a bass of 51cm and finally the best fish on the night an 87cm bullhuss. Well done Barry.
1st- Barry O Rourke – 12 fish= 416pts
2nd- Mark O Sullivan – 7 fish = 270pts
3rd- Jason Convery -5 fish= 233pts
oin the Club
If you are interested in joining us, don’t hesitate to get in touch via our Facebook page. Until next time, tight lines to all..
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:https://www.facebook.com/pages/West-Cork-and-District-SAC/201776589958897
While the first week of September saw dry and very warm weather, the rest of the month featured more broken weather, with the last 10 days of the season particularly wet. There were 63 salmon landed for the month, a reasonable return after a difficult season.
Many thanks to Donavin Brinklow for his reporting through the season, and for this season update.
3 September
J. Stevenson landed a 4lbs salmon on Beat 9 Falls Pool using a Park Shrimp.
8 September
P. Gargan landed a 10lbs salmon on Beat 9 using a sunray. N. Lynch landed a 12lbs and a 6lbs salmon on Beat 9 on a Sunray.
10 September
P. Donegan landed a 5lbs salmon on Beat 9 using a Dunkeld.
13 September
P. Donegan landed a 6lbs salmon on Beat 9 Falls Pool on a Bann Special.
14 September
P. Donegan landed a 7lbs and a 3.5lbs salmon on Beat 3 on a vimen tube and a 4lbs and 5.5lbs salmon on Beat 9 Garden Pool on a Collie Dog. J.F. Calvar landed 1.5lbs and a 4lbs salmon and two 1.5lbs sea trout on Beat 5 Bridge Pool on a Black Pennel and a 4.5lbs salmon on Beat 6 Black Banks on a Black Pennel. A. Caffrey landed a 3.5lbs and a 6lbs salmon on Beat 9 Middle Garden Pool on a Willie Gunn and D. Chambers landed 3.5lbs salmon on Beat 9 Falls Pool.
15 September
J.F. Calvar landed two 1.5lbs salmon in the Garden Pool and two 1.5lbs sea trout and a 7lbs salmon in the Bridge Pool on Beat 9 using a Black Pennel.
16 September
P. Donegan landed 4.5lbs salmon on Beat 9 Falls Pool on a green butt Cascade.
20 September
J. Murry landed a 7lbs salmon on Beat 4 in Poleen Pool on a Bann Special.
21 September
O. Trill landed a 6lbs and a 5lbs salmon on Beat 3, and H. Arce landed a 5lbs salmon on Beat 3 on a red ally shrimp. P. Hunt landed a 3.5lbs, 4.5lbs and a 6lbs salmon on Beat 5. C. O’Leary landed a 11lbs salmon on Beat 4 Kelly’s run on a Cascade and a 3lbs and 6lbs salmon in poleen on Beat 4 using a Cascade. B. Miller landed a 1.5lbs sea trout and a 6lbs salmon on Beat 3 school house run on an orange shrimp and a 7lbs salmon on Beat 6 high bank. D. Convery landed a 3lbs salmon on Beat 9 Falls Pool.
22 September
B. Miller landed a 6lbs salmon on Beat 6 Black Banks on an orange shrimp and I. Ferris landed a 3.5lbs salmon on Beat 6 using a Cascade. P. Chew landed a 4.5lbs salmon on Beat 3 School House on a red shrimp.
23 September
I. Ferris landed two 3.5lbs and a 6.5lbs salmon on Beat 3 School House run using a Cascade.
27 September
A. Vonderhaar landed two 4lbs salmon on b6 on a Cascade and T. Neilenberg landed a 4lbs salmon on Beat 8.
28 September
D. Flynn landed a 11lbs and a 7.5lbs salmon on Beat 4. D. Edwards landed a 4lbs salmon on Beat 3 and a 7lbs salmon on Beat 7 Mickey’s Run.
29 September
D. Edwards landed a 11lbs, 5lbs and a 6lbs salmon on Beat 3 Gowlan Pool. B. White landed a 7lbs salmon on Beat 4 Kelly’s bend on a Garry Dog. M. Witort landed a 6.5lbs salmon on Beat 6 Willows on a Cascade. P. Errity landed a 4lbs salmon on Beat 3 Oaks and another 6lbs salmon on Beat 5 Broken Bridge on a Cascade. S. McManamon landed a 4lbs salmon on Beat 5 Broken Bridge on a Cascade. P. Hunt landed a 6lbs and a 2lbs salmon on Beat 3 School House.
30 September
M. Witort landed a 4lbs salmon on Beat 6 and S. Skinner landed his first ever salmon on Beat 9 weighing 5lbs on a Cascade. O’Leary landed a 4lbs and a 7lbs salmon on Beat 4 on a Cascade in Poleen. N. Wickham landed a 6lbs salmon on Beat 5 on a black shrimp pattern and K. Wickham landed a 4lbs salmon on Beat 5 on a Cascade.
2023 Summary
There were 203 wild salmon, 55 Ranched salmon and 30 sea trout caught this season.
2023 season was a tough angling season with a good number of salmon showing but not taking the fly due to the warm and humid weather. The water levels were also a little bit of a problem, but the anglers pushed through the conditions producing a good rod catch for the season which was higher than last year’s considering we were closed for most of June.
Development
New stiles and footBridges have continued to be replaced during the year where needed by IFI staff along with community scheme members.
Acknowledgements
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the IFI Ballinakill staff who assisted with the smooth running and protection of the fishery during the year. Also we would like to thank the land owners along the fishery as well as the Community Scheme staff for all their hard work with maintenance and angling access to the fishery during the year. Finally, the anglers who visited the fishery, thanks to all anglers following our catch and release program to ensure a healthier river for the coming years and look forward to seeing you all again in 2024.
The 2023 EFSA Boat & Line Class Championships got underway in Cobh on Saturday 16th of September. The event had originally been scheduled for 2020 but was postponed due to Covid & rescheduled for 2021 – which was also postponed for the same reason. The event was organised & run by EFSA Ireland in collaboration with Cobh Sea Angling Club.
Indicated numbers in 2020 were 80 to 100 competitors but with rising costs & a shortage of suitable accommodation due to the refugee crisis the entry number came down to 59 when the check in opened. 11 Sections had confirmed entries which were greatly appreciated.
The format for the event was ‘Line Class’ for the first 2 days & ‘All Tackle’ for the last 3 days. All 5 days results to count for the Boat Championship.
Sunday September 17th commenced with the mandatory Standing Committee meeting which was attended by delegates from 9 Sections. The Commodore Hotel was the venue for the Opening Ceremony at 16.00. A large attendance was addressed by EFSA Ireland Chairman George McCullough who welcomed all in attendance & thanked them for making the journey. He was followed by EFSA Ireland Hon. Secretary Warren Doyle who outlined the timelines & procedures for the week ahead.
EFSA President Marcus Wuest was then called upon to review the parade of National Flags after which he wished everyone well for the week’s fishing & then declared the Championships open.
Day 1 on Monday 18th September had the anglers assembled on Kennedy Pier in Cobh at 7.30am. The 9 chartered angling boats some of which travelled from Ports outside Cork Harbour – Youghal, Dungarvan, Kinsale & Union Hall – stood off while the crews were assembled. It had been intimated at the opening ceremony that fishing might possibly be confined to the large harbour for which Cork is famous. This was confirmed as conditions outside were deemed to be dangerous & would also be very uncomfortable. The area was being badly affected by the remnants of Atlantic Storm – Oliver.
Angling commenced at anchor at around 10.00am with a minimum size limit of 25 centimetres & mackerel not permitted. All anglers had to use the Tronix/HTO X8 20-pound (9kg) braid provided by the organisers. Bait supplied was mackerel & calamari squid. Bait fishing for fresh mackerel proved to be very hit & miss. As the day progressed many of the boats were seen moving around the harbour to find the fish.
Andy Smith
Lines up after 6 hours fishing saw the boats unloaded by 18.00. Bad news greeted the anglers on return to port. The Boat Commodore in consultation with the skippers deemed it too dangerous to put to sea on Tuesday. Storm force gales were forecast with a 100% likelihood of treacherous conditions on board. It was therefore announced that Day 1 result would be the result for the Line Class segment of the Championship.
The results’ committee (Christy Cloak, George McCullough, Tommy Squires, Warren Doyle) had the results calculated & posted at 20.30 in The Commodore Hotel.
1st. Marcus Wuest (GER) 380 points, 66 fish – Gold Pin.
3rd. Francis Couzinet (FRA) 238 points, 32 fish. Bronze Pin.
4th. Pat Condon (IRE) 205 points, 35 fish.
5th. Nico Opdebeeck (BEL) 174 points, 31 fish.
6th. Shay McDonnell (IRE) 164 points, 28 Fish.
7th. Paul Hart (ENG) 154 points, 24 fish.
8th. Didier Marest (FRA) 123 points, 18 fish.
9th. Wouter Van As (NED) 74 points, 11 fish. All 100%
10th Jim Presley (ENG) 159 points, 27 fish 84%.
Best Lady was Torunn Handeland (NOR).
Best Senior (over 65) was Pat Condon.
2 Person Team:
1st. Petter Skudal & Lars Hellum (NOR),
2nd. Nico Opdebeeck & Arjan Stelwage (NED),
3rd. Kevin Mackay (SCO) & Glynn Wright (SCO).
International Team:
1st. Ireland A – Pat Wright, Pat Condon, Shay McDonnell, Tommy Squires, Warren Doyle.
2nd. France A – Jean Pierre Coutauchaud, David Corday, Francis Couzinet, Simon Elgrishi, Didier Marest.
3rd. Norway A – Petter Skudal, Lars Hellum, Tor Arne Rygg, Torunn Handeland.
A total of 1,137 fish were recorded & returned alive on day 1.
Species recorded were: Lesser Spotted Dogfish, Bull Huss, Grey Gurnard, Thornback Ray, Whiting, Smoothound, Spurdog, Dab.
Longest fish was an 89-centimetre Thornback Ray for Christy Cloak (IRE).
Best Specimen was a 78-centimetre LSD for Warren Doyle (IRE)(105%)
Tuesday’s weather turned out exactly as predicted & totally unfishable.
Didier Marest
Day 3 had the anglers assembled on the pier at 8.00am. Weather conditions had not improved sufficiently to permit fishing outside the harbour, so we were once again confined. This was the start of the All-Tackle segment. The supplied bait was mackerel & ragworm. The size limit was reduced to 18 centimetres in the harbour.
Conditions were trying as the storm had not fully dissipated & the swell was variable throughout the day. At lines up many anglers were happy to be getting ashore.
Boat winners on Day 3 were: Torunn Handeland, Francis Couzinet, Shay McDonnell, Heiko Dreier (IRE), Lars Hellum, Pat Condon, Carl Julien (FRA), Petter Skudal, Simon Elgrishi (FRA).
There were 4 anglers on 200% after Day 3 (2): Petter Skudal, Francis Couzinet, Shay McDonnell, Pat Condon. Total number of fish caught & returned alive on fishing day 2 was 1,275.
Norway A had moved into pole position in the International Teams followed by Ireland & France.
Torunn Handeland was still best Lady, however, Shay McDonnel had risen to best Senior.
Day 4 (3) was delayed allowing the wind to dissipate further & to allow the boats to fish outside the harbour. The boats departed at 9.30 & fishing commenced at 11.00am at anchor.
Fishing was slow & the banker fish – wrasse, pollack & others did not show in their usual numbers. The storm had certainly disrupted the feeding pattern of fish in general. Fish numbers for boat winners were well down on anticipated figures.
Boat winners for Day 4 (3) were: Shay McDonnell, Jim Presley, Petter Skudal, Didier Marest, Piotrek Nowakowski (IRE), Warren Doyle, Heiko Dreier, Arjan Stelwage, Francis Couzinet.
3 anglers remained with maximum points – Petter Skudal, Francis Couzinet & Shay McDonnell.
Ladies, Seniors & International team positions remained the same as Day 3(2).
The number of fish caught & returned alive was 965.
Piotr Nowakowski 55cm Cod
The final day of competition saw the anglers looking forward to a better day’s fishing & boats departed at 8.30am. Supplied bait was boosted by the addition of the squid left over after Day 2 was aborted. The Atlantic swell was still forecast at over 4 metres, so the boats were anchored inshore.
At days end at 16.00 anglers were happy to be making it ashore as the wind was building for the anticipated storm due in over the weekend.
Boat winners on Day 5(4) were: Carl Julien, Didier Marest, Shay McDonnell, Simon Elgrishi, Lars Hellum, Petter Skudal, Tor Arne Rygg, Francis Couzinet, Torunn Handeland.
There were 911 fish caught & released on fishing day 4.
Additional species caught since day 1 were: Conger Eel, Red Gurnard, Tub Gurnard, 3 Bearded Rockling, Red Mullet, Ballan Wrasse, Cuckoo Wrasse, Pollack, Coalfish, Pouting, Mackerel, Scad, Cod, Ling, Bass, Poor Cod, Dragonet, Plaice.
Total number of fish caught was 4,288.
The final results were posted at 18.15 & queries were answered in time for the Gala Dinner.
Anglers & guests were seated at 8pm for a superb meal which was very professionally served & enjoyed by all in attendance.
The presentation of awards took place immediately after the meal.
First up were the Line Class awards as listed at day 1. It was followed by the affixing of the highly sought after Pins which were applied by EFSA President Marcus Wuest. EFSA Ireland Chairman George McCullough applied the Gold Pin for Marcus.
The Boat Championship awards were then presented by EFSA President Marcus Wuest & EFSA Pins awarded to the top 3 individuals.
1st. Shay McDonnell, 2nd. Jim Presley, 3rd. Torunn Handeland.
2 Person Open Team.
1st. Petter Skudal & Lars Hellum.
2nd. Didier Marest & Carl Julien.
3rd. Torunn Handeland & Heiko Dreier.
4 Person Open Team.
1st. Didier Marest, Carl Julien, Petter Skudal, Tor Arne Rygg.
2nd. Francis Couzinet, Simon Elgrishi, Pat Condon, Heiko Dreier.
3rd. Joel Luyts, Nico Opdebeeck, Piet Buijk (NED), Arjan Stelwage.
Executive Drawn Team of 4.
1st. Andy Smith (ENG), Mark Robertson (SCO), Marcus Wuest, Francis Couzinet.
2nd. Piotrek Nowakowski, Louis Theron (RSA), Carl Julien, Shay McDonnell.
3rd. Hans De Vries (NED), Lars Hellum, Warren Doyle, Petter Skudal.
International teams.
1st. Norway A – Petter Skudal, Lars Hellum, Torunn Handeland, Tor Arne Rygg.
2nd. France A – Francis Couzinet, Simon Elgrishi, David Corday, Jean Pierre Coutauchaud, Didier Marest.
3rd. Ireland A – Pat Wright, Pat Condon, Shay McDonnell, Tommy Squires, Warren Doyle.
Species Category Medals.
Longest Ling: 56cm – Pat Wright
Longest Cod: 60cm – Thorir Sveinsson (ICE)
Longest Pollack or Coalfish: 51cm – Richard Russell (ENG)
Longest Flatfish: 89cm Ray – Christy Cloak
Most Unusual Fish: Red Mullet – Marcel Van Kolfschoten (NED)
Most Fish: Petter Skudal (162)
Best Specimen (% of National Specimen):
78cm LSD – 105% – Warren Doyle
120cm Bull Huss – 104% – Denise Viviers
48cm Ballan Wrasse – 100% – Arjan Stelwage
Awards ceremony
1 of 3
Silverware
Shay McDonnell, Petter Skudal, Francis Coutizet
Petter Skudal
This was followed by the raffle. A very nice display of prizes was on display & all donors are sincerely thanked.
EFSA Chairman George McCullough then took the stage to bring proceedings to a close. He thanked everyone who had helped in any way to make the event the success that it was. He thanked the hotel staff for their hospitality during the week & the staff who had served the meal so professionally. He thanked the members of Cobh Sea Angling Club for their support & made special mention of Piotrek Nowakowski who organised the bait every day. He thanked the skippers & stewards for their professionalism during the event. He concluded by inviting a member of EFSA England to accept the Championship Flag for their running of the 2024 event at Weymouth. The flag was accepted by EFSA England representative Kim Bowden who proffered the invitation to all.
EFSA President Marcus Wuest was then called upon to bring proceedings to a close. He thanked EFSA Ireland & all competitors for making the event a memorable one. He concluded by wishing everyone safe travels home & looked forward to seeing everyone again in Weymouth in2024. He then declared the Championships closed.
The organisers wish to offer their appreciation to the anglers who supported the Championships.
They also wish to thank their sponsors & supporters without whose help the championships could not have taken place.
