After a four year gap the 2018 final returned to the beautiful port of Cobh (pronounced Cove) in Cork harbour, the second largest natural harbour in the world, on the southern coast of Ireland. After such a prolonged period of dry calm weather, everyone was hopeful for the conditions to continue.

Fortunately the Gods smiled on us and after a hearty breakfast at The Commodore Hotel on the sea front, twenty-eight competitors made their way to the waiting boats with great expectation.

Lead boat was Deora De skippered by Jimmy ‘rude words’ Linehan who I have to thank immensely for all his help in arranging the event and so with three other boats we set off.

First stop was a chance to catch some fresh bait, but true to form the Mackerel were scarce and it took a while before the four boats set out to the first marks with three choosing to stay inshore whist the fourth clearly had other plans.

Fishing a dropping tide, anglers found fish hard to come by in the first hour. Though fish such as Plaice, that had been absent on the practice days, put in an appearance as well as Gurnard and Dabs. Pushing offshore to gain the first of the flood tide some of the boats made the most of rocky reefs to boost species with Pollack, Wrasse and Ling. Other boats had found numbers of both Ballan and Cuckoo Wrasse to keep the stewards busy, going for numbers whilst others targeted different species.

With a number of calls between the skippers it became clear it was a very close competition and certainly on Deora De it was going to come down to the last mark. A final move anchoring on ‘Harbour rock’ saw more Wrasse, together with some Pollack and mini species which were to make all the difference at the final count.

Back at the dock all the score sheets were collected and the Angling Committee went into isolation to check and recheck all the scores. This year it turned out to be more important than ever with three teams tying for 4th place

Out thanks to the Skippers, the hotel and Stena for making it a memorable event!