Duration:4.30-9.30
Tide:LW 8pmish
Weather:Dry mostly, breezy
Bait:All sorts
Rigs:All sorts
Results:Whiting, Flounder, Doggies
Report:
Final day of the SAI season brought 14 hardened members (ooer) all the way to Youghal for what was expected to be a thrilling conclusion to the MA series. The homework had been done and following a couple of midweek sorties by Donal, Lee and myself, the decision had been taken to move it from a hungry Garryvoe to Youghal which was throwing up good numbers of fish. With the top 2 places already settled for MA places and with Dennis not fishing giving JP the MA title regardless as to that evenings results all attention and focus was on the final 2 berths for next years IFSA MA in Cork. 5 anglers, myself, Marco, Alby, Boycie and Keith were all in the hunt and in with a shout on the final day. It was coming down to the wire and it was anybodys guess as to how things were going to go.
No pressure then.....
We met up and made our way onto a flat calm Youghal beach and tackled up ready for the off. There was no discernible surf at all really, flat calm, dropping tide.... were all those reports of midweek fish going to come back and bite us? With the clock hitting 4.30, a barrage of lead and various baits were unleashed, it was game on....!For my own part, not expecting too much early on with the bit of daylight still around, I hedged my bets. I belted out a 2 hook clip down and clipped on a flier baited with whites and a sliver of mack which fished in inches of water about 10 yards out. Surprisingly a tiny little tap after 10-15 minutes or so materialised into a handy flounder of 26 cm, caught on the flier. 2nd cast had a tiny whiting on the flier before I turned to the 3 hook flappers at about 40-50 yards in earnest in pursuit of the bait robbing pests.
We hit an absolutely manic period with fish on every cast, shouts could be heard up and down the beach as fish after fish made their way onto the sand. Very small for the most part, I was lucky to keep poking out the odd one in 3 or so that made the 20 cms. Time passed and the flood of tiny fellas eased as tide approached LW. With some reports coming down of Boycie doing a good impression of a trawler on his end peg apparently flying along with a treble of dogs, it was time to leave the pursuit of little fellas and go after something a little more substantial. 3 hooks clipped with sandeel winged their way out, a few knocks and 15 minutes later a doubler of 30+ whiting hit the sand. Lee and JP had been doing well down the bottom end with a mix of fish and with 90 minutes or so to go it was time for a status check.
I was on about 5/6 counters myself and numerous US with Alby, after a dire start beginning to make headway himself, Boycie was ciontinuing on his merry way on the end peg with Marco struggling to get fish to size. Keith, after a slow start had got well and truly back in the game with 4 or 5 counters on his card. Very level pegging indeed and the next 90 minutes were going to be crucial.
When it came down to crunch period in the match, for me, distance was key. Belting out double lug and mack baits or sandeel was producing a counter a cast. Alby, fighting hard to keep off Keiths challenge was pulling in fish to beat the band. There was little time to be concerned now as to how anyone else was doing btu odd snippets of gossip were still making there way down the line. With 15 minutes to go we had Alby on ten counting fish, Boycie on 11 and myself on 9 with Keith and Marcos status unknown. JP was leading the field with 12/13. It was still in the mix, and anyones guess as to how it would pan out. 10 minutes on the clock and a twitch on the rod had me reeling in like a demon to slide another fat whiting up the sand. 5 minutes to go had another coming in before time was finally called. Was it going to be enough? At the time I didnt care, sat down, surrounded by the carnage of a manic session with rigs everywhere, bait everywhere and the prospect of a marathon card counting session ahead....
Cards were counted and it was JP who took top honours once again with his 4th win in a row cementing his place as indeed the rightful owner of the SAI MA title for 2008. Boycie who had fished his socks off all year for scant reward on occasion was in a very creditable 2nd place. Myself in 3rd and Alby in 4th, it was enough it would seem to see off the challenge from the rest of the chasing pack. Scotsman, finished a very creditable 5th after a great start which had him leading the field for quite some length of time.
With all cards in, the final results are as follows:
1) JP 547pts
2) Boycie 493pts
3) PeteKD 457pts
4) Alby 439pts
5) Scotsman 370pts
6) Donal 363pts
7) MC 248pts
Keith Murphy 227pts9) Paul Doyle 218pts
10) Kstaff 187pts
11) GWyse 151pts
12) SteveCrow 133pts
13) Marco 126pts
14) Ferg 62pts
Top 4 TBC to represent the club in 2009 are:
1) JP Molloy
2) Dennis Brock
3) Pete Davis
4) Alby Allen
Well done to all who fished and made this our hardest fought series to date and for the 3rd year running bringing qualification not just down to the final day but to the final few minutes of our series. There are anglers within our club worthy of mention who have made major strides this year, Fintan, Marco, Boycie and Paul Doyle with new members such as Dennis and Keith coming along to stir things up. Well done one and all, you lads are what this club is all about, commiserations to the lads who didnt make the cut at the final hurdle. You lads fished very well all year and deserved to be in with a shout on the final day, well done, there is always next year. Congratulations once again to JP on his first title with SAI. We'll be back in January to go at it all again..... Can't wait....
Many thanks again to Henry Lynam from Henrys Tackle for his much appreciated and needed sponsorship over the past few years.
) only to find at the prize giving my arch nemesis Mr Davis had got one a cm or so bigger (that news not having reached my peg during the comp 
- should have remembered that I wouldn't stand a chance against him where a flounder was concerned). Happy with my fifth place anyway, put me above Eric in the overall standings which was my aim for the day.
), great to catch up with ye all again...
t'was hard work.. especially when wearing waders and bustin for a P....
