Duration: 2 sessions, friday and saturday
Tide: low water around 11 and 12 both days
Weather: windy at times, overcast and then sunny
Bait: wraps, rag and mack
Rigs: long light 3 hook flappers in all its different forms
Results: turbot, flounder and an all important gold medal
Report:
so there we where, 15 of the best anglers ireland could muster together for a weekend of fishing against the best of the other 4 nations. an early start had us in larne port for around 12 bells on wednesday morning. after a brief ferry ride a mamoth 6 hour plus drive was required to get to the championship hq in peterhead scotland. we eventually got there around 9 o'clock that night, wrecked from the trip we got a few sneaky pinteens and headed to bed.
friday- this was to be our practice day. after demolishing a top scotish breaky, we made our way into town to top up on some bait. the tackle shop was probably one of the worst tackle shops ive ever encountered. so we made it a brief visit. with some mackerel and frozen blacks we decided to fish frazerburgh beach. upon arrival the beach was pretty gorgeous to be honest, golden sand, light surf and gin clear waters. what more would an angler want? this was purely a visit to get the feel of the place. i was happy to go experimenting with a multitude of different rigs from worked out theories and an assortment of leads. some worked and some didnt but it was great to have a gameplan for saturday. the fishing was decent, and in an hour and a half or so i clocked up a few flats including this qaulity turbot.
warren brown led the way with a nice bag of 8 fish or so. it was now back to the hotel to discuss what worked and what didnt. after a good old rig tying session we retired to the bar for a few drinks.
friday- this was to be our first session. it was pegged on scotstown beach, which is one beach thats full of bloody features! banks and gully ran riot accross the beach, and for some they proved to be nightmaric! one anlger could be fishing into a gully with a decent depth of water and the adjacent angler would have to contend with a sandbank. the match kicked off at ten. i was pegged at peg A2. the peg was pretty crap but i had no choice than to fish it, with nothing but washed up weed laying infront of me i knew it would not be easy. after the first 4 or five casts everyone in my zone had fish bar myself. it was pretty worrying, i kept my cool and plugged away but try as i may no fish would materialize. after about two hours the english lad in my zone beached a fine double of flounder, both over 35cm, it was getting more and more demoralising. as the tide turnt and crept up went my chances of fishing as the flood had now handycaped me to fishing onto a bank not 1 foot deep, while the othe anlger had gulllies to play with. the scotsih lad eventually took the zone with 7 fish. although i had blanked, and the only one out of 60 anglers to do so we were still in with a chance given the good results of my team mates.
saturday- lying in second place, tied on points with scotland we still had a great chance of pulling gold so it was all too play for. the venue for today was the same place we had practiced on so we knew the score. conditions today were much better. a flat sea with barely a roll coming onto the beach made for a nice sight for sore eyes. i knew it would suit my way of fishing so confidence was running high. at ten we kicked off again. i opted to go with long fthree hook flapper, snoods were 1 metre constructed with .18 flouro and 30lb flouro was used for rig bodies. hooks where small size 8 and 6 aberdeens and worked in conjunction with a 2oz lead. from experience of fishing these coditions i knew movement was going to be crucial to inducing takes from flats. flounder would not be activley hunting but rather lying waiting to ambush baits. i had to bring the bait to them. twitching away by hand i recieved a great rattle on the first cast and low and behold a few minutes later i beached a brilliant looking flounder of 19cm. i kept plugging away with the tactics, and was catching steadily with only the scottish guy keeping up in the zone. news from the rest of the beach confirmed that warren and chris were busy demolishing their zones with ryan and paul fighting for first in theirs. we where firmly at the top. at lines up i was pleased with 11 flounders and taking my zone by a comfortable margain, and upon arrival at the car park it was now confirmed we had won gold. the juniors also took gold. it was a pretty amazing feat, and one il never forget about. lifting the trophy was the proudest achievement of my angling career by far. a weekend of highs and lows but well worth it! i would like to thank to management of eamon fogarty, phillip o'sullivan and peter flahive for their hard work relaying info to us and maing sure we kenw what was going on.
proud to be irish. heres the anglers from leinster from both the junior and youth teams and the youth manger eamon fogarty.
il pop a few more up later when i get the chance
You did us all proud guys! Well done Eric, I'm delighted for you all. Heard it from Alby first hand, we were out there in Roscarbery mullet fishing on Saturday evening, Boycie wanted a specimen. (don't ask) 
nice going boys a big well done 
