The National Boat Fish Offs - the results

What a weekend of fishing! Over 11,300 fish caught between 31 anglers over the two days!! Just phenomenal!!!

Fair play to the stewards for keeping up, most who would be forgiven for suffering post traumatic stress disorder after exposure to such multitude of numbers of whiting and dabs!!! Its hard to keep tabs when eight anglers are calling in 3 fish each all at the same time...everytime. Phew!!!

....but most of all, well done to the anglers, whose exceptional angling skills accounted for such dizzying numbers of fish. Especially.....well done to the top five anglers, Padraig Clear, Heiko Dreier, Myles Howell, Michael Barry, and Joseph Gough who now join this year's Master Angler, Pat Condon, on the National Boat Angling Team to represent Ireland at next year's World Boat Angling Championships in Portugal.

As the anglers gathered on the main pier in Cobh early on Saturday morning expectations were high that good numbers of fish would be recorded. This is the fourth year in succession that Cobh SAC has hosted such a prestigious competition and previous results gave good grounds for this optimism. During the 2010 event over 6,000 fish were recorded. However, this year was to be even more bountiful for on the first day alone some 5,983 fish were caught. Already, the make-up of the 2013 Irish team was taking shape; Heiko Dreier, Myles Howell, & Padraig Clear had one hand on a team place. For the remaining two places it was all still to play for, with 10 anglers in contention.

Weatherwise Sunday was a different day with a fresh & brisky south east breeze. That didn't affect the fishing, though, as it was just as hectic as the day before. Again, dabs and whiting were the mainstay of the catches. Some of the dabs landed were of a fine size, almost touching on specimen size. By day's end the make up of the 2013 team was clear. The top rods had all caught more than 400 fish each. Wow!!!

Well done lads and the best of luck in Portugal next year!!!

For the full results the final scorecard is reproduced below.

Many thanks to the skippers from the Cork Harbour Angling Hub who always ensure that their guests stay on the fish. This weekend they included Mark O'Reilly of the John Boy, John Geary of the Lee Star, Ger Keohane of the Naomh Cartha, and Alan Kennedy of the Lagosta II. Also many thanks to the stewards from Cobh SAC who had a busy weekend measuring fish and recorded them. They included Dave Drohan, Martin O'Leary, yours truly, and Sean Og McShane. Thanks also to Geary Angling Services who organised the boats, bait & stewards and without whom this event would not run so smoothly.

The next series of events to look forward to are the Light Line competitions. This is the 4th year that these competitions have been held by Cobh SAC in Cork Harbour. They almost replicate the type and style of fishing in the Fish-Offs and almost the same quantity and type of fishing can be expected. If you fancy a crack off these contact Mary Geary on 021-4812167 or Danny Kane on 086-8161946. The first competition is on in the middle of November.