Dunmore East Small Boats Festival 2017

Sat 27th and Sun 28th May we held the 1st Dunmore East Small Boats Festival, and  we were happy with the entry of 11 boats,  unfortunately one had to drop out. Boats traveled from all over Ireland as well as visitors from Wales. As this was a new venture for the club and the area, the committee were delighted that all these boats made a huge effort to travel and support our first small boats festival. The event was run in conjunction with The Three Sisters Inn in Dunmore East who very generously put together a lot of sponsorship,  as well as the club members, local businesses and competing anglers who also gave sponsorship in various forms.
The weather for the weekend was mixed, but was just good enough to allow for unrestricted fishing. Saturday was a wash out with rain, it started flat calm but increased to around 20 knots from the westduring the day. Sunday was dryer and again started flat calm but picked up a bit mid morning,  but not as bad as the previous day. The fishing was mixed with mackerel almost non existent, with only one landed over the two days. Fish numbers in general were also on the reefs. The competition was run as a species hunt with the greatest number of species to be the winner, and there was also a list of 7 nominated species of which there were prizes for the heaviest fish in each species.
The competition began on Saturday after a briefing for all anglers in The Three Sisters Inn at 8 am,  boats were in the water and ready for the off at 9 am and boats returned to the dock for 6pm. After a wet day and only a bit of late sun in the evening to dry the anglers off, the scores were done at the check in on the pier, wher fish were weighed and photos checked. After Day 1 the leading boat was 'Screaming Reels' with 15 species which was great fishing in such miserable conditions. Next was a three way tie of 12 fish.
Day 2 started dry, bright and flat calm, and all boats were ready for the off at 9 am, with a return to the Dock for 5 pm. With a lot of the handier species caught,  day two was going to be more difficult for everyone.  'Screaming Reels' wasnt going to make it easy for anyone to catch them and added 7 more species, to bring their total to 22 species, The Welsh boat 'Sea Witch' made a big drive for the lead and added 8 species to finish second on 20. In 3rd place the lads on Fin Chaser were close behind on 19 species, these were impressive results for traveling boats new to the area. 4th place was Barry Murphys & Stuart Power's boat with 17 followed closely by Predator 2 on 16 and Shockwaves on 15. In total 30 species of fish were landed over the two days, which is impressive, since this is new ground to this type of fishing.  This should be improved upon next year as more marks are found. Next years competition will also be held on the last weekend in May,  and we hope to see all this years boats back and hopefully a few extra including some more local boats.
The Rinnashark SAC committee would like to thank all our sponsors and all the people that helped in the organising, and especially all the anglers who fished.  Good craic was had over the two days with old friends,  and new friends were also made. We look forward to 2018 and another week end of Small Boats angling.

day one results

Day 2 Results

1 Fin Chaser 11 Species
2 Sea Witch 9
3 Screamin Reels 7
4 Shockwaves 7
5 Here Fishee Fishee 7
6 PEB 6
7 Barrys Boat 6
8 Predator 2 4
9 Christine 3
10 Katie 1


Overall after 2 Days

1st Screamin Reels 22
2nd Sea Witch 20
3rd Fin Chaser 19
4th Barrys Boat 17
5th Predator 2 16
6th Shockwaves 15
7th Katie 13
8th Here Fishee Fishee 13
9th PEB 8
10th Christine 5

Sponsors List

The club would like to thank all the sponsors for providing €2000 worth of prizes for the week end.

The Three Sisters Inn, Dunmore East
The Adventure Centre, Dunmore East
O'Neill & Cunningham Builders, Dunmore East.
Pierce Hire, Waterford.
Purcell Properties, High St, Waterford
Morris's Builders Providers, Waterford.
Boots Chemist, Waterford.
David Hehir, Boat Charters, Dungarvan.
John O'Brien, Angling & Outdoor Centre, Waterford.
Shamroch Tackle, Martin Kennedy, Dublin
Centra Supermarket, Dunmore East.
Bobby's Angling Supplies, Tramore.
O'Shea's Chipper, Dunmore East.
Spar Supermarket, Dunmore East.