Golden Grey action...

Cobh SAC members have been getting some golden grey mullet over the weekend. These are some of the more exoctic fish species that can be found in the Harbour over the summer months. Others include gilthead bream and trigger fish. They also speculate that they managed to hook up some thin-lipped mullet. Here's a pic to let you decide. For a more detailed report have a look here http://cobhsac.blogspot.com/2010/05/golden-grey-magic.html

Deora De's season is about to kick off

Jim Linehane aboard

'Deora De' is looking forward to the season ahead. If its anything like last season he will have his hands full. Jim has deservedly developed a reputation for chasing down the big blues that frequent the offshore waters over the summer months. He has some track record. He has recorded blue shark on almost every trip that they have targeted them. Wow!

Last summer was exceptional though. In August he had Scottish couple, Linda and Davy Holt out. Davy is well renowned as a common skate specialist and is used to catching leviathans on his own patch. However, nothing prepared him for the leviathan that Linda hooked into on this trip. This beast, pictured here, nearly dragged Linda over the side. Poor Linda held on and stayed attached for well over an hour. Time and time again the female blue was brought to the boat only to head off on searing runs again, but in this battle of the fair sexes Linda won out. What a fish! It took three of them to hold it. Measurements taken conservatively estimate the fish at 225lbs. That's far in excess of the current Irish record which has been suspended for some years now. Here's another pic of a fine blue. Captor this time is Cobh SAC club member, Sandra O' Shea.

Knowing that all this hectic action is more than likely ahead of them Jim and Susan availed of the good weather last weekend and did some 'relaxing' fishing instead. Here's Susan with one of the many codling they had around the Harbour mouth. Me thinks they were stocking up on bait, though, for the big 'uns.

If you'd be interested in booking a trip with Jim aboard Deora De have a look at his website here http://www.charterangling.com/

The Sarah Marie gears up for the season ahead

Skipper, Colm Sliney, of the Sarah Marie is gearing up for this year's season which looks to be quite a busy one. Colm is based in Ballycotton on the eastern edge of the angling hub. As such not only can he fish the same grounds as the Cork Harbour skippers, such as the Smiths and the Pollack Rock reef, but has easy access to those eastern marks, such as Knockadoon and Cable Island, that the others can't reach. Colm also fishs many of the wrecks which proliferate the grounds off Ballycotton Bay. Indeed, one of the advantages of Ballycotton is that within minutes of the quayside you are into deep water and some serious fishing marks. Here are some of the pictures from the 2009 season which will give you an idea of the quality of fishing on offer. If you fancy a day out on the Sarah Marie why not contact Colm here at http://www.ballycottonangling.com/

Army Master Angler Championships

The Eastern Command SAC recently held their two day Master Angler competition out of Cobh last weekend. 14 anglers left Kennedy Pier at 10am on Saturday morning in blazing sunshine and flat calm conditions onboard the John-Boy, skippered by Donie Geary, and Lagosta II, skippered by Alan Kennedy.

As the main points were for species, the skippers decided to fish the Smiths, just a few miles outside the Harbour mouth. There was to be a flood tide for the earlier part of the day, so it was decided that drift fishing would be the better option.

Twenty minutes was spent feathering and jigging for mackeral. However, with no luck, lines down was called for 11am. Fishing was slow for the first hour but then things began to pick up. A lot of ling started showing with good pouting, pollack, cuckoo wrasse, ballen wrasse, cod, grey and red gurnard, coalfish and 4 octopus. One angler also had a very nice haddock of about 3lbs.

Lines up was called for 5pm. As the boats steamed for home many of the anglers spent the time filleting the best of the 40+ ling and some of the good cod.

On Sunday both boats headed back to the same grounds. Again the weather conditions were idyllic and the fishing was just as it was on Saturday!!! In fact there was a steady flow of fish throughout the day.

Both boats returned to the pier at 6pm with 14 very happy, well tanned anglers. 564 fish were recorded in total. For a full report see here http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/bulletin%20board/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=28229.It looks like cod and ling will be on the dinner menu for these lads for some weeks to come!

Paul Robinson and the gang from Shamrock Tackle (http://www.shamrocktackle.com/index.html) sponsored the event. In fairness Paul and his gang do an awful lot for fishing in this country. Fair play to you lads!

If you fancy a day out fishing on the John Boy or the Lagosta II why not contact Donie by clicking here http://www.sea-fishing-ireland.com/ Alan Kennedy can be contacted by email at the following address alank167@gmail.com

The Bellavista fleet report great fishing....

Mike Quirke has been guiding lately on the Bellavista boats and has been getting some good results, but he'll be hard pushed to beat this one! On the 15th May he landed this beauty...a fine specimen pollack of 12.5lbs. Now you don't see too many of these nowadays. Well done Mike.

Mike picks up the story himself "...we had two of the Bellavista boats out that day; I was guiding Martin Fellows and his son Rob. On the other boat Jim Clohessy was guiding a few Dutch lads. We had decided to fish together for the day and see how we got on. Jim led the way and to start off the fishing was patchy enough. We had decided to fish the Ling rocks but on one of Jim's marks that are not fished that often. We had a few small pollack but nothing decent. A few moves around the edges of the pinnacles and we started getting one or two decent fish on our boat. The Dutch lads seemed to be having a hard time of it. The weather was fantastic so the lads were enjoying themselves anyway.

We kept on fishing away with my crew getting pollack upto 6 to 7lbs regularly. About halfway through the morning I dropped down with a black and red eddystone worm. I was reeling it up nice and slow when I felt a fish take it. I kept reeling slowly till I felt the weight of the fish and then lifted into him. I wasn't sure what I had to begin with. It wasn't the usual pollack scrap with them tearing off straight for the bottom. He kinda hung there, shook his head a bit and then swam up a little with me. All of a sudden he must have realised he was hooked; he took off, dragging yards of line from the reel. I was fishing a Saltist 30h with a 20-30lb ugly stik, 30lb power pro braid and 30lb amnesia to the hook. The drag was set fairly tight but it didn't stop this fish. He made several powerful lunges but he was well hooked and I eventually got him up. What a sight. As it lay there on the surface I instinctively knew he was a specimen.

We weighed him onboard on a very accurate scales and he came in at 14lbs. Despite several efforts at returning the fish he was gone beyond it; after such a powerful fight he didn't really have much more to give. The bubbles in his eyes were a dead giveaway that it was all over for him unfortunately. I knew he would lose a bit of weight over the day but had my fingers crossed that he would still make specimen. He was such a fine fish it would have been a shame if he didn't. I needn't have worried; I weighed him at Jim's house that evening and he registered 12.5lbs on a certified scales. That was nearly 4 hours after capture and on a hot day at that. What harm! I'm delighted to have such a fine fish as my personal best, especially given how hard they are to get at specimen size. What a great day and to top it all we came across several whales and a basking shark that cruised right under our boat. Its gotta be one of the best jobs going."

If you'd fancy taking one of the Bellavista boats out fishing and if you'd like to book Mike as your guide, contact Kevin at http://www.bassfishingireland.com/

The Bass are back...

Reports of bass have been few and far between, especially within the harbour itself. No doubt this is due to the effects of the long hard winter as water temperatures are well below normal. Those that have been caught have been winkled out with either crab or worm baits fished hard on the bottom. Well on the last day before the bass ban kicked in the Treasurer of Cobh SAC got lucky. Using lures he managed to bag three beauties. For a full report have a look here http://www.cobhsac.blogspot.com/

Cobh SAC try out a new addition to the Bellavista fleet...

Cobh SAC members Sandra O' Shea and Danny Kane got the opportunity to try out the Irish Angler boat recently. The warrior 170 is on loan to the Bellavista fleet for the Summer months. They were accompanied by Irish Angler journalist, Pete Davis. For the full report have a look here http://www.cobhsac.blogspot.com/

Great start to May for Noamh Cartha....

Mick Lockyer and the lads aboard Noamh Cartha started off May exactly where they had left off in April...with good fishing!!! On the first day of the month they once again headed off to the outer reefs that have fished so well of late. This time, aswell as frozen mackeral and squid, they were able to stock up on a plentiful supply of fresh mackeral. Right from the start fishing was good with each drift turning up a steady supply of ling and pouting. The ling were of a nice size too being up around the 10lb mark. On the second drift Mick hooked into something a bit better and after a spirited fight he landed a fine cod. This beauty weighed in at 15lbs. As you can see Mick is beaming from ear to ear. No wonder he would as this beats his previous personal best. Well done Mick...keep up the good fishing.

If you fancy a day's fishing with the gang on the Noamh Cartha click here http://www.corkanglingcharters.com/