Big win for Bray club at Wexford fishing festival
BRAY Head Fishing and Social Club brought home a prize from Rosslare Small Boats Festival in Wexford last week.
The heaviest fish was caught by Jonathan Davis on board the boat ‘2JDs’ from Bray, with a bull huss of 5.48kg. They received a cash prize and a trophy sponsored by Inland Fisheries Ireland.
The winning crew of the ‘Screaming Reels’ from Rescue R117 Waterford Angling Club caught 28 species of fish for 122.17 kilos.
Sponsored by Inland Fisheries Ireland, Garmin, DAIWA and Saltwater Boat magazine, the 33rd festival attracted more than 112 anglers from Scotland, Wales, Isle of Wight, Ireland and across England. The competition continues to attract the best boat anglers in Great Britain and Ireland in what is now regarded as the most species rich fishing in the Irish Atlantic.
Weather conditions were challenging early on with strong southerly winds delaying the start of the competition. Thanks to local expertise, the festival committee enabled anglers to get afloat during short windows of weather. On one of the days the boats were launched from Rosslare safe harbour with the assistance of the local community. Conditions then improved enabling fishing to continue off Kilmore Quay on the other three days.
The anglers fished hard and the fishing was tough, however this did not deter the competitors and the competition was neck and neck right until the end with three boats on the same number of species, with only small weights dividing them. In the end, Screaming Reels got to the finishing line catching 28 species beating the other two boats on the same number of species with a weight of 12.17kg.
Many successful conservation initiatives for our marine species have been introduced in the last number of years and these were extended further this year with the vast majority of fish now being caught, photographed and released. This proved to be very successful with many fish including species such as smoothound, black bream, conger, dab, gurnards, mackerel, mullet, pouting, ray and many mini species such as dragonet and gobies being measured on Inland Fisheries Ireland mats, photographed and returned alive. This also enabled anglers to target species such as bass and tope for the first time.
There were 44 different species caught including a topknot which was recorded for the first time in the history of the competition by the Irish boat ‘Fin Chaser’. Other unusual species recorded include black bream, garfish and streaked gurnard. Anglers fishing the festival have provided a historical map of the movement of our marine species over a 33 year period.