#Angling - Irish boat Screaming Reels has won the Rosslare Small Boats festival for the third year in a row.
In a fantastic finale, the boat from Rosie’s Sea Angling Club in Cork won the competition with 27 different species of fish, beating 25 other boats from Britain and Ireland.
Screaming Reels are a mighty force to be reckoned with in the small boat sea angling scene in Ireland and Britain, having won this competition five out of the last six years.
Sponsored by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI), Fáilte Ireland, DAIWA Sports UK and Sea Angler magazine, the event – now in its 28th year – attracted more than 70 anglers from the Isle of Wight, Southport, Liverpool, Wales and Ireland.
Weather conditions proved to be challenging for the competition with blustery winds making boat fishing difficult. However, as the week wore on, conditions improved and competitors managed to fish the full four-day competition by launching their boats twice from Kilrane in Rosslare and twice from Kilmore Quay.
The competition ended on a high note with the final day’s fishing taking place from Kilmore Quay, where anglers could target all species, making it a very exciting finish.
Organisers went out of their way to facilitate boats getting the full four day’s fishing in by organising early morning launches which proved to be a big hit with competitors.
This fantastic finale brought great excitement to the competition. The overall results demonstrated this with first place going to Screaming Reels (Martyn Rayner, Seirt Shults, Neville Murphy from Rosie’s Sea Angling Club in Cork) with 27 species for 22.86kg.
They were followed closely in second place by Jay Jay (Andrew Jones, David Jones and Steve Jones from Newport in Wales) with 26 species for 18kg. In third place was Shy Torque (Kevin Martland, Kenny Carr and Gavin Parker from Liverpool) with 25 species for 21.24kg.
A great variety of fish were recorded during the week, with 37 different types of species including coalfish, dogfish, dab, flounder, pollack, bull huss and some unusual species such as black goby, shanny, black bream and painted ray.
A specimen garfish, which was close to the Irish record weighing 0.92kg was caught by Steve Jones from Newport in Wales. A shore rockling of 0.66kg caught by Mark Rogan of Rogie’s Girl from Liverpool was a near specimen (pending verifiication by the Irish Specimen Fish Committee).
The heaviest round fish was a conger of 7.46kg caught by Ian Jenkins of Sandstorm from Wales, who was also awarded a perpetual trophy sponsored by Inland Fisheries Ireland for the biggest fish caught of the week. The heaviest flat fish was a flounder of 0.58kg caught by Richie Stead from Nirvana.
This year there were two juniors in the competition: 16-year-old Lewis Radcliffe from Wigan, aboard the boat Cod n Bass, who had 18 species for 15.08kg; and James Cherry (16) from Dunshaughlin, Co Meath aboard the Irish boat Fin Chaser, a newcomer to the competition who had 17 species for 13.88kg.
Redmond’s The Bay in Rosslare Strand hosted the prizegiving ceremony, and IFI cited the hospitality of John Redmond and his staff as "outstanding". Other sponsors included Widgeon’s Rest Tackle shop in Rosslare Strand; Shamrock Tackle; Kilmore Quay Harbour office; and the Small Boat Owners Association at Rosslare Safe.
The total prize fund for the competition was €10,000 including fishing equipment and substantial monetary prizes and engraved trophies. The prizes were presented by Fergus O’Dowd, Minister of State at Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, and Orla Woods, angling product manager at Fáilte Ireland.
Minister O’Dowd said: "I am delighted to be at this fantastic fishing festival and to see so many of you here from all over Britain and Ireland. I know that many of you are very loyal visitors to Ireland, coming here to fish year after year.
"The festival is very important not only to promote the great sea fishing we have on the East Coast, and in particular, the variety of species available but also the investment it brings to the local businesses in the area each year. I would like to congratulate all competitors for their participation in this competition and encourage you to spread the word to your friends about fishing in Ireland."
Next year’s event will take place from 6-13 September 2014, and IFI invites all small boat anglers to take part. Further information is available from Josie Mahon at IFI who can be contacted at 01 278 7022 or [email protected].
