People: Don, Dominator, David, Gar, Mick, Al, Seaniebo, Keith, Jayball, Gordy and JP.
Duration: 5 hours 17.00 to 22.00
Tide: High water 19.30
Weather: Cool south easterly wind. Dry
Bait: Various
Rigs: Various
Results:
1st, JP Molloy, 5 fish, peg 2, 172pts longest fish 42cm Bass
2nd, Sean Ivory, 5 fish, peg 5, 172pts longest fish 22cm coalie
3rd, Gordon Hardman, 4 fish, peg 1, 149pts
4th, Gar Flynn, 3 fish, peg 10, 91pts
5th, Keith Murphy, 2 fish, Peg 4, 81pts
6th, Al Mc’Grane, 2 fish, Peg 6, 67pts
7th, Jay Fowler, 1 fish, Peg 3, 42pts
8th, Donal Domeny, 1 fish, Peg 11, 36pts
9th, David Costello, 1 fish, Peg 7, 26pts
Donal O’Neill peg 9, no fish
Mick Flynn peg 8, no fish
Report:
We landed at ballyhealy to be greeted by a biting south easterly wind blowing in from the sea. There was a nice surf running with it and conditions looked pretty good with no real sign of weed in the water. However looks can be deceiving and aside from the first cast, the next 2.5 hours was a weed fest.
A lot of lads were losing gear in it. Al to my right went through a horrible hour where I think he lost 4 or 5 rigs in a row. The fishing wasnt exactly setting the world alight either and by 7 pm only gordy on peg 1 had a fish on the beach with a nice Bass in the fourties. At this stage the weed eased off somewhat and people started to pick up a few fish.
I got a coalie just before darkness set in and word up the beach was that gordy had two more Bass and jp beside him was hitting a few flounders. Jayball beside jp got a fine flounder too of 37cm to pretty much guarantee him the flat pool. The fishing was still quiet enough to be honest and it was hard to know what to try.
Just as I was contemplating putting Al out of his misery with a lethal injection, I noticed a sharp pull down on my rod tip followed by a slack liner. Reeled it in and was delighted to see a doggie had taken the top hook. Lug tipped with black wrap had done the trick! Looked to my left and keith was after getting one too on wrap maddies and mac. Didnt have a doggie trace baited up so I cast out three hooks of lug and maddies and went about getting some sandeels on hooks. Just as I finished baiting those up i noticed another slack liner and duely reeled in a double of a dog and a flounder on the lug and maddies.
I spent the next 45 minutes fishing for dogs “properly” with fish baits landing only one with this method. Should have stuck to the lug and maddies! By the time 10 o clock rolled around we were all delighted to be getting off the beach. It had been a tough night at the office. Chatting to the lads in the carpark it looked tight between myself and jp for top spot. We both had 5 fish and the same points with 172 each. in the end the winner was decided by longest individual fish, for which doggies dont count so jp who had a Bass won overall. I was second and gordy got third.
Longest round fish went to gordy with a Bass and jay got the longest flat pool.
As always the craic and banter was great with the lads. Have been out of action for too long and cant wait for the two day down in Kerry in the summer.
Sean Ivory
. Al had a double followed by a counting whiting. Second and third casts, still nothing for me. I went for a wee flounder walk, bumping into Joe Byrne on his own wee walk. Good to see him about, and some welcome advice for the conditions too.
