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2021 Dunmore East Small Boats Festival

The 2020 Small Boats Festival had to be cancelled due to Covid. Rinnashark SAC were delighted to be able to hold the 4th annual Dunmore East Small Boats Festival.

The Festival took place on the 4th & 5TH September and the headquarters for the weekend was the Haven hotel.

The schedule for the weekend was:

Saturday:

Check In - 7.30am to 8am.

Boats to leave harbour - 9am and return by 6pm.

Sunday:

Check In - 8am.

Boats to leave Harbour - 9am and return by 5pm.

Prize giving at 8pm in the Haven hotel.

This provided all boats with 17 hours to catch as many species as they possible.

With a very short lead in time due to Covid the club was happy with the turnout of 14 boats.

It was great to see people from all over Ireland and Wales turn up for the weekend and we are grateful for their support.

The weather in the run up to the weekend was very mixed and forecasts changed hourly but in the end we were lucky with the outer zone fishable on both days, the worst of the weather was mid-afternoon on the Saturday for a few hours when it chopped up a little.

Fishing for the weekend was tough at times but in general the fishing was good with impressive score cards being returned by all boats.

Boats set off in all directions from the bay in Tramore, out to the reefs and up the estuary in search of the wide range of species on offer. It was clear from day one the crew of Shamrock Tackle boat skippered by Martin Kennedy were going to be hard to beat with an impressive total after day one of 26 species.

It was great to see some of the local boats who are relatively new to these competitions increase the number of species compared to the previous years. On Saturday evening Joint 2nd was Finchaser and TRS with 20 species followed closely in 3rd by Here Fishy Fishy with 18 species and joint 4th Katie and Seawitch with 17 species.

With high numbers after day one, day two was going to be hard to add extra species. With all boats in the water Sunday morning at 9am skippers headed in various directions looking to add to their total.

Throughout the day boats hopped from mark to mark to try add a few extra species to their tally, as 5pm neared a number of boats were fishing close to the pier to try for that last one species before the end.

Top boat on the day was Pisces skipped by Pa Hutchinson and adding 8 species to their total. A fantastic performance by the crew of Shamrock Tackle saw them add 6 species to their 26 the day before for a total of 32 species. Superb fishing for a two day competition and well deserved winners on the weekend.

Adding 7 species to take 2nd place was Team Rinnashark (TRS) with a total of 27 species, 3rd place adding 5 species to make a total of 25 was Finchaser.

Adding 2nd highest daily catch of 7 to finish in 4th was Seawitch, also on 24 and beaten on length in 5th place was Here Fishy Fishy.

On adding up the species caught over the weekend there were 39 species caught by 14 boats, it is great to see the area fishing so well and shows what the area has to offer.

The nominated species were:

Cod 52 cm - Kingfisher

Pollock 58.5cm - Shinawil

Flat 38cm Flounder - Rockling 2

Gurnard 41.5cm - Seawitch

The new category of combined Bull Huss and Smooth Hound was won by Ian Stubbs with a combined length of 193.5cm (BH=101.5cm & SH 92cm)

The committee would again like to thank all the anglers who made this weekend such a great success. To all the sponsors we would like to acknowledge their contribution, without them this competition would not be possible.

I would ask you have a look at our sponsor page and support the business who support us.

We are looking forward to the 2022 Festival which will revert back to May - a date will be announced shortly.

Results table and species list attached below.

Bass

Bull Huss

Ballon Wrasse

Blenny

Cod

Coalie

Cuckoo Wrasse

Conger

Dab