Sea Anglers land total of 176 fish

Cork Sea Anglers club, one of the county’s oldest clubs, held its AGM at the Blackrock GAA club last week.

The results from 14 shore angling competitions from Clonakilty in the west of the county to Monatrea in Waterford made for sombre reading. The total catch by keen anglers armed with the best of bait and the latest in angling tackle produced just 176 fish. The breakdown of the total catch was 16 cod, eight bass, five eels, 149 flounders, one rockling, 80 coal fish, 37 lesser spotted dogfish and one pollack.

One statistic that jumped out was how few bass were hooked, less than 10 in a whole season. Back in the 1960s and ’70s I often caught more in one angling trip. The poor catch of this wonderful sporting fish is now limited by law to two per angler per day, and clearly highlights why the commercial ban on the netting of Irish bass should not be lifted.