Shore marks come good again....

Shore marks have proved difficult to fish over the last week. The blustery conditions of last weekend and the earlier part of this week has resulted in a lot of fine weed in the water. This has proved frustrating but some of the more determined anglers have found clear patches. One of those was Cobh SAC angler, Pat O' Shea, who caught the above fish on a soft plastic on an outer harbour mark. The fish measured 75cm on the BASS tape.

Richie Ryan, who offers a salt water fly fishing guiding service, has also winkled out a few. Richie caught the fish below on a feed shallow from a sheltered harbour mark.

If you'd fancy a day out with Richie, on his purpose, built boat you can contact him through his website on http://www.corkbass.com/

Specimen Cuckoo Wrasse...

Its great to see specimen fish being caught on Cork Harbour marks and a few are turning up in the last few days. The pic above is of a lovely specimen cuckoo wrasse caught yesterday by Cobh SAC angler, Danny Kane. Danny has put in a lot of effort recently and has now been rewarded for his efforts. Well done Danny!!!

Danny was fishing onboard his own boat, 'Sandra Anne,' but is a participant member of the hub through Tradewinds Restaurant. Tradewinds comes highly recommended and if you are staying in the Cobh region its well worth a visit.

The lads from Kildare go after the cod...

John Geary, skipper of the Lee Star, recently had a group from Kildare anxious to target the cod. They weren't dissappointed as the cod shoals that have been ever present since the New Year are still there in numbers. A great day was had by all and plenty of fish were taken for the freezer. The lads stayed in the Commodore Hotel and their catch was frozen overnight while the boys partook of a few relaxing beverages in the hotel bar. Well deserved, apparently, after a hard day's work hauling in all those fish!

If you'd fancy a day out on the Lee Star you can contact John through his website at http://www.anglingcharters.eu/

The Commodore Hotel is also doing special accommodation packages for angling groups. Contact Mary on 021-4812167 for competitive rates or have a look at the hotel website at http://www.commodorehotel.ie/

A few big Bass turn up....

Cobh SAC angler and bass fanatic, Pat O' Shea, sent in this report..."Soft plastics that we picked up at the Nantes show earlier this year have been really working well for us with some excellent catches. Above is a superb specimen caught last Sunday. The fish measured 80cm and according to the UK Bass tape should weigh 11.5lbs. However, the fish was lean, with a girth of 40cm and when weighed on a certified scales came in at 10lb 2oz; still a superb fish, nonetheless.

This wasn't the only good fish as we have had other fish to 70cm, again mostly on soft plastics. The Bellavista fleet (http://www.bellavistahotel.ie/corkfishing.asp) also have had good success with some excellent catches being reported. Owner, Kevin Murphy, had a superb session with Jim Clohessey on Tuesday using some Hart plastics, kindly supplied by Henry's Tackle (http://www.henrystackleshop.com/index.php?cPath=131).


It's just as well that we've being fishing the harbour as the outer marks are choked with fine weed following the blustery conditions over the weekend. These venues would have proved difficult to fish. It just goes to show what a great venue the harbour is, allowing fishing in almost any conditions."

Pat O' Shea

http://www.commodorehotel.ie/

Plastics do the biz....

"The beauty of Cork Harbour is that you can fish it no matter what the weather. If the weather is inclement there is always some sheltered spot that you can pick that will produce. This proved to be the case in the early days of the bass season last weekend when the blustery winds made many a shore venue on the open sea difficult to say the least. Harbour marks still turned up the goods as these photos attest to. Above is a fine 66cm fish caught on a zonk gataride, provided by Cian O' Halloran of Absolute Fishing (http://absolutefishingireland.blogspot.com/)

However, the best of the fishing was with soft plastics. The pic over is an interesting one. This fish, caught on a soft plastic, regurgitated a small pollack. Are we matching the hatch? We probably are as many of the more successful SP's were paddle tails such as Delande GT Shads, Savage eels, Black Minnows, etc.,... These certainly resemble the small pollack in size and colouration. The bass itself was 64.5cm in length.

Not long after this bass of 66cm was caught on a white shad of similar size to the baitfish.

Other species are also taking a fancy to baits intended for bass. Pollack to 5lbs have been taken particularly on slug-go's.

Plastic lures picked up at the show in Nantes earlier in the year are proving especially effective...


...as are others that we now have a track record with for a few seasons.

So far the season is kicking off nicely....lets hope it stays that way."

Report by Pat O' Shea, Cobh SAC

Bass with a bang....

Well the ban is over, the season's off again, and...the bass are back with a bang. Soft plastic specialists were out in force in the harbour over the last few days and, despite the coloured waters, there were some great returns.

Cobh SAC anglers, Pat O' Shea and Danny Kane, were eager to try out some new French lures picked up at the Nantes show and a few sent over by La Peche du Carnaisser, and boy did they have great results!!! These new SP's certainly did the business and the boys had a great session with both having fish to 8lbs.

The pic above is of Danny Kane with his best at 8lbs. What a fine fish!

Jim Clohessy was also out and bagged up aswell on hart leech worms and homemade jigheads. Keep an eye on Irish Angler; hopefully, Jim may pen an article on his foray!