Light Line Series concludes.....

Donnacha O'Connell, Cobh SAC, with an early catch

The last of this winter's season's Light Line competitions was held recently. This was the one to decide the winner of the overall series and was eagerly awaited. Three anglers were in contention for the top spot and the competition between them was intense. John Dennehy, captain of the 2012 Irish Home Nation's Team, Pat Wright, a member of the 2013 Irish Home Nations Team, and Pat O'Shea, a well known local bass angler, were all vying for the coveted title of Light Lines Champion.....and so, on the second last Sunday in April, battle commenced. 

Sixteen anglers participated in this one and all met bright and early at Kennedy Pier in Cobh. By 10am all were onboard either the John Boy and Naomh Cartha and were soon on their way to the nearby fishing grounds. As has been the case with all the comps, fishing took place in Deep Hole; the deep trough near the mouth of the harbour, between the forts, where depths can vary between 80 - 110 feet. There was a relatively slack tide all day, which was to be expected with a 3.5 metre tide. With low tide at 9:47am the anglers were to be fishing a flood tide all day. This was unusual as in most of the light line comps it has been the other way around with the fishing being mostly on the ebb. Nevertheless, the skippers opted to fish the western side of the channel, as in most other previous comps, as this has been most productive. This was to prove the case once again. From the oft fish were coming onboard at a steady pace. 

All sorts of rigs were flung uptide, downtide, across tide, and straight down. Of course, almost all anglers have now nearly succumbed totally to the continental style and boast some sort of Tubertini or other similar match rod. Its probably a reflection of how far things have come in this competition or even how far advanced the skill levels of the participating anglers have risen.

By the time lines up had been called a total of 856 fish had been landed between the 16 anglers. That makes it an average of 54 fish per angler. The breakdown of the catch was as follows: 725 whiting, 108 dab, 18 LSD, 1 pouting, 3 poor cod, and 1 flounder.

John Dennehy had fared extremely well and had won his boat (Naomh Cartha) giving him a score of 100%. With a superior points score John also won this competition. However, it wasn't enough to clinch the title as Pat O'Shea had won the other boat (John Boy) giving him outright victory and crowning him the Light Lines Champion 2012/13. Hard luck John, and also hard luck to Pat Wright who wasn't far behind. This is John's second year being just pipped to the top spot - maybe next year John! Well done to Pat O'Shea who once he got his nose ahead back in January kept it there right upto the end!!!

Many thanks to Ger Keohane, skipper of the Naomh Cartha, who sponsored the perpetual trophy for the Light Line series (Cork Harbour Angling Charters).

Also, many thanks to all 51 anglers who participated over the six months of the series; you helped to make this the great competition that it is. We hope to see you all again next winter when the competition starts up again in Nov 2013.

Full results of the April Light Line comp are as follows:

  1. John Dennehy,         109 fish,   1501 pts,  100.0%

  2. Pat O'Shea,                 73 fish,  1 002 pts, 100.0%

  3. Shane Gilvarry,           62 fish,    879 pts,   87.7%

  4. Martin Perryman,        61 fish,    848 pts,   84.6%

  5. Pat Wright,                  52 fish,    723 pts,   72.2%

  6. Josie Barrett,               76 fish,  1044 pts,   69.6%

  7. Roy Kearney,             68 fish,    933 pts,   62.2%

  8. Robert Fraczek,          37 fish,    518 pts,   51.7%

  9. Tomasz Kujawa,        54 fish,    747 pts,   49.8%

10. Michael Bennett,        35 fish,    483 pts,   48.2%

11. Sandra O'Shea,           48 fish,   663 pts,   44.2%

12. John Fitz,                    31 fish,   429 pts,   42.8%

13. Donnacha O'Connell, 45 fish,   641 pts,   42.7%

14. Danny Kane,              46 fish,   628 pts,   41.8%

15. Ger Brady,                 38 fish,    531 pts,  35.4%

16. Krzysztof Makuca,     21 fish,   295 pts,  29.4%

The top ten positions in the final Light Line League Table are as follows:

  1. Pat O'Shea,                 16 pts

  2. John Dennehy,            19 pts 

  3. Pat Wright,                  23 pts

  4. Martin Perryman,        28 pts

  5. Sandra O'Shea,           46 pts

  6. Danny Kane,              47 pts

  7. John Fitz,                    56 pts

  8. Donnacha O'Connell, 57 pts

  9. Robert Fraczek,          62 pts

10. Martin Kennedy,        65 pts

Skipper Ger Keohane, of the Naomh Cartha, presenting the Cork Harbour Angling Charters perpetual Light Lines Championships Trophy to overall winner, Pat O'Shea