The second of this winter's light line competitions got under way this Sunday just gone, early in the morning. For this one twenty one anglers gathered at Kennedy Pier at Cobh at 9:30am. By 10am the two boats, the Lagosta II and the Wreckhunter, got underway. The weather for this one wasn't as kind as previous outings. We normally seem to be blessed with good weather but not on this occasion. Having said that it wasn't too bad either, but it was very much a mixed bag. All week the south coast had been plagued by winter storms. By Sunday the wind was still blustery and squally at times. Heavy showers occasionally drenched the anglers during the day but towards the evening it calmed down completely and it became almost balmy.
The weather obviously had an impact on the fishing, which was tough enough going at times. This was in complete contrast to the previous week when Crosshaven SAC had some great fishing in their own light line competition. Numbers caught in that comp were similar to the last light line comp in Nov (The calm before the storm).
In total 793 fish were caught, giving an average of 38 fish per angler. The one positive, though, was that the general size of fish was bigger. Codling also made a welcome appearance. The breakdown of fish caught was 405 whiting, 194 dab, 84 doggies, 2 coalfish, 38 codling, 30 pouting, and 40 poor cod. Indeed, many anglers managed to bag six different species.
On the Lagosta there was tremendous competition as no less than five current and ex-internationals fought it out. Nevertheless, all eyes were on Martin Perryman and John Dennehy who last year jointly topped the league only for Martin to win out on a fish count back. The eyes were on the wrong boat, though, as it was on the Wreckhunter that the better fishing was had. Here Irish Home Nation Team International, Pat Wright, topped the score; well done Pat!!!
The full results are as follows:
1. Pat Wright, 55 fish, 810 pts, 100%
2. Martin Kennedy, 49 fish, 739 pts, 100%
3. Pat O'Shea, 54 fish, 797 pts, 98.4%
4. Sandra O'Shea, 49 fish, 736 pts, 90.9%
5. Myles Howell, 43 fish, 649 pts, 87.8%
6. John Dennehy, 41 fish, 604 pts, 81.7%
7. Dave Ryland, 38 fish, 599 pts, 81.1%
8. Martin Perryman, 38 fish, 597 pts, 80.8%
9. John Fitz, 43 fish, 651 pts, 80.4%
10. Dave Jolly, 38 fish, 570 pts, 77.1%
11. Slywester Skowronski, 41 fish, 606 pts, 74.8%
12. Donnacha O'Connell, 38 fish, 576 pts, 71.1%
13. Tomasz Thrione, 40 fish, 572 pts, 70.6%
14. Dave Clancy, 35 fish, 543 pts, 67.0%
15. Pat Swan, 32 fish, 492 pts, 66.6%
16. Pio Enright, 30 fish, 476 pts, 64.4%
17. Danny Kane, 29 fish, 458 pts, 62.0%
18. Robert Fraczek, 33 fish, 496 pts, 61.2%
19. Cian Ryan, 28 fish, 423 pts, 52.2%
20. Martin O'Leary, 21 fish, 316 pts, 39.0%
21. Marcin Kavankozski, 18 fish, 281 pts, 34.7%
If you'd like to look at the detailed scoresheets have a look
here.
The Light Line league is now starting to take shape. As you'd probably guess, Martin Perryman and John Dennehy are up in the top spots....can they keep the momentum up? You can have a look at the league table
here.
The next Light Line Competition is on Sunday 13th January. If you'd fancy fishing this then contact Danny Kane on 086-8161946 or Mary Geary on 021-4812167.
The next big competition in the Harbour is the fundraiser for the Irish Boat team. This competition is on next Saturday week 29th December. To enter contact Pat Condon on 086-3622044, Myles Howell on 087-2525162, or Padraic Clear on 087-9807685.
