This report from the organisers of this year’s Kerry Pairs:
The Third Annual Kerry Pairs was held last weekend on scenic Cappaclough. Thirty-eight pairs entered this year’s event, and it was an impressive sight seeing all 76 anglers lining up along the foreshore at the start of the match.
The peg draw for this event was held on Friday night by Chris O’Sullivan Fishing on his YouTube channel @Inshore_angler. This definitely added to the excitement and planning for the following day’s fishing.
The western entrance to this venue is known as Delis and features a lot more reef than the eastern end, Cappaclough, which has more sand and patches of reef. The last two Kerry Pairs winners came from the Cappa end: Troy Francis / Mike Fox in 2023, and Sean Ivory / Kevin Barber in 2024.
Sean and Kevin drew peg box 35 on Friday night, and the bookies had them down as red-hot favourites to defend their title.
The beauty of pairs fishing is that both anglers work together, trying different tactics until they find one that works. Another bonus of this style of fishing is that friends, partners, brothers, sisters, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, and husbands and wives can all fish together.
Lines were out at 11 a.m., and not long afterwards, anglers were moving about getting match cards signed. Team Ryano—Darren and Evan Ryan—were the early leaders in Zone F, bringing in a steady stream of flounder and wrasse for the first two hours.
Martin McGowan, on peg box 37, put himself and Leonard Foley in with a shout for the pools on his second cast when he landed a fine bullhuss of 84cm. However, the pools winners were soon decided within the first hour, when the father-and-son pair of Jim Melis / Jim Melis Snr landed a bullhuss of 81cm and a conger of 71cm—giving them a total of 152cm and earning them 1st place in the pools, worth €300. Well done, lads!
In the second half of the match, the competition favourites started to find their rhythm. Sean pulled out the bass/wrasse rig and landed a pair of those species—then followed it up with another pair a few casts later. In the middle of that, he also caught a garfish while Kevin landed a nice stingray, putting the lads right in the mix.
A total of 11 stingrays were caught during the match. It was great to see Vladimirs Nosovs and Mark O’Sullivan both catch their first stingray — Mark used a pop-up rig to target his one.
Pools winners Jim / Jim Melis Snr continued to find fish after securing the pools. The lads would eventually end up with 15 fish, keeping them well in contention. But it was newcomers to the Kerry Pairs, Paul Tindle / Stephen Glynn (peg box 6), who were crowned this year’s winners. The lads combined for a total of 20 fish on a tricky day to take the title — impressive fishing from a pair who have been consistent on the Irish match fishing scene for years.
The winning card included a mixture of wrasse, stingrays (×3), bullhuss, and flounder—excellent stuff, lads, and well deserved.
A total of 16 species were caught on the day.
We now look forward to the 2026 Pairs. There’ll be a transfer season in January and February next year for any pair who’s looking to trade their partner.
Finally, thanks to our sponsors: Cars Credit Union, The Meadowlands Hotel, The Angling Hub, and Stephen Glynn for sponsoring prizes for this event. Thanks also to the members of Tralee Bay Sea Angling Club and West Cork and District SAC , who combine efforts to run this event and make it a success — you know who you are, lads.
South West Sea Angling – Dingle Peninsula (Derrymore Point – Castlemaine)
