Cork Harbour Angling Hub

Xmas Light Line Comp - the result!

2011-12-15T08:43:00.001-08:00

Well done to Sylvester Skowronski, Cobh SAC who won the first of this winter's light line competitions. Sylvester is pictured over with one of the many trebles he landed during the day's fishing.

Fishing was excellent with over a 1000 fish landed between the 15 anglers, making it an average of 70 fish per angler. The main species caught were whiting and dab with a good percentage of whiting over the 2lb mark and a good proportion of dabs over the 1lb mark, with one or two touching specimen.

Winter light line series....

2011-11-03T02:55:00.001-07:00

Cobh SAC has successfully run light line competitions in Cork Harbour over the last two Winter seasons. Once again Cobh SAC will be running a series of these competitions over the next few Winter months. The first of these will be on next Sunday week, the 13th of November.

These competitions are open to all comers and are not restricted to just Cobh SAC members, nor do you have to be a member of another club. They are intended to be fun competitions and

appeal to all levels of anglers, whether you are a novice or a seasoned campaigner. Indeed, there has been a diverse mix of experience between the anglers who have fished these comps so far and all have had good fishing. The average number of fish caught per angler per day over the 12 competitions so far has been 38 fish. Now that's a good return and ensures that even the raw beginners have something to shout about!!!

In a few of the comps some of the anglers have had over 120 fish...that's some fishing! Species to expect within the Harbour over these months would include Cod, Whiting, Dabs, Lsd's, Poor Cod, Pouting, Coalfish, Flounder, & Plaice. At the moment Dabs will feature highly and some of these will be to specimen size. As the Winter progresses Cod will feature more and more in the catches. In previous March and April comps it wasn't unusual for anglers to average over 50+ codling in their catch. To give you some idea of the fishing have a look at some of the reports of previous events here, here, and here. Best baits to use in the comps will be crab, lug, mack, and rag.

The scorecard used for the competitions is the same as that used for the National Fish-Offs. Indeed, the set-up of the comp is identical almost to the National Fish-Offs competition. As a result the light lines are ideal events for the more seasoned anglers to get in practice for these

comps. For the less seasoned angler it's a chance to see how they measure up to the high standards of the top anglers in the country. In any event there is a lot that all anglers can learn.

To make the light lines easier this season there has been a slight change of rule. Instead, of all lines (ie. mainline, rig bodies, & snood) meeting the 15lb b.s. or lower criteria the only stipulation now is that the mainline should be 15lb b.s. or less. This means that you can use a shockleader of any strength and your rig bodies and snoods can also be of any strength.

The competitions will be run on the following dates over the Winter months:

Sunday 13th November 2011

Sunday 11th December 2011

Sunday 22nd January 2012

Sunday 19th Febuary 2012

Sunday 25th March 2012

Sunday 22th April 2012

Fishing will be from 9:30am till 2:30pm each day with boats departing from Kennedy Pier, Cobh at 9am. Boats used will be from the Cork Harbour Angling Hub charter fleet. The cost of entry is €40 per angler. Now that's great value!!!

To book your place for Sunday 13th November contact Cobh SAC club secretary, Mary Geary, on 021-4812167 or by email on seaangling@esatclear.ie. Come on now....you know its good for ya!!!

Ps. To add an extra element this year, we are accumulating the results over the series of comps on a league basis, similar to a master angler series. So who's going to be the top light line angler in Cork Harbour for 2011/12? Will it be you?

Also, for those anglers travelling, we've negotiated a special deal with the Commodore Hotel if overnight accommodation is required (Oct - March). Bed & breakfast will be available at €29 per person!!!

2011 IFSA Boat Fish-Offs

2011-11-02T13:31:00.000-07:00

Cobh SAC hosted the IFSA Boat Fish-Offs over the October bank holiday weekend. The best anglers in the country were pitting their wits against each other in an attempt to make the national team for the World Championships in South Africa in 2012.

This year, the competing 32 anglers sure had their work cut out for them. The weather on Saturday, the first day, was appalling with gale force winds, driving rain, and heavy seas making for very difficult conditions. The fishing as you would expect was very slow. This was further compounded by the storm of the previous Sunday which not only dumped a lot of rain on the South coast, but also kicked up a considerable swell, which hadn't abated by the time the competition started. As a result the water was extremely coloured and there was a lot of 'fresh' coming down the river. This was reflected in the fishing on Saturday which was slow. Despite this anglers averaged approx 40 fish per man over the two sessions. That's the beauty of Cork Harbour...despite nearly storm conditions it is still fishable, and fish will be caught!!!

On Sunday conditions were much improved and with it the fishing improved dramatically also. Most anglers averaged 60 - 80 fish, with the top rods recording over 100 fish. The four charter boats from the Cork Harbour Angling Hub fleet this time stayed put on the western edges of the channel dropping into 'deep hole.' The day before most had started here but opted to anchor on the eastern side for the flood to target the hordes of whiting, which didn't materialise. Nobody was going to take the chance on the Sunday. Despite this whiting did feature in the catches and some fine sized fish amongst them. Dabs were also plentiful with many touching specimen size. Other fish to feature included lsd's, codling, pouting, poor cod, and plaice. By competition's end over 2000 fish had been recorded.

Congratulations to the top five finishers; Kit Dunne, Mick Barry, Gordon Darker, Dave Jolly, and Tony Santry who join Captain Myles Howell, who had qualified from the Masters, on the Irish Team. For the full results have a look here.

Many thanks to the skippers Donie Geary (John Boy), Gerry Keohane (Naomh Cartha), John Geary (Lee Star), and Alan Kennedy (Lagosta II) who, despite the conditions, kept the lads on the fish!

Winter Cod fishing....

2011-10-21T09:13:00.000-07:00

The winter cod season has kicked off in earnest here in Cork Harbour with some encouraging reports of good cod catches at some of the Harbour's prolific inner marks such as De Wall at Monkstown, the Station Master's hole and the Halfpenny hole at Cobh.

Donie Geary, skipper of the John Boy, is targeting these winter cod and is offering special discounted rates this Winter for groups of anglers keen to get in on the cod action. Geary Angling Services, in conjunction with the Commodore Hotel, are offering a special rate of €69 to cover one days fishing onboard the John Boy plus one night's bed & breakfast at the Commodore Hotel. You can further upgrade that package to include an evening meal of Haddock in batter and chips and a pint of Guinness (or a beer/lager of your choice), all for the sum of €85 in total. Now that's great value!!! This offer is valid for winter cod fishing trips from Oct 2011 thru to March 2012 and is limited to groups of eight or more.

If the last two winter seasons are anything to go by then the cod fishing should get hectic. Cobh Sea Angling Club have held light line competitions during this winter period and in many cases anglers were catching 50+ codling a trip. Have a look at these reports to give you an idea: March 2011 Light Lines April 2010 Light Lines

Admittedly, many of the codling have been in the 1 - 2lb range. However, a good proportion of the catch have also been in the 3-4lb range. This year we expect many of the fish to be bigger again as there has been superb fishing on the offshore reefs for large cod over the summer. In fact, if weather permits Donie may opt to try the outer reefs for larger fish. However, the beauty of Cork Harbour is that it can be fished in all weathers and many of the marks that have been producing over the last two winters have been in the Harbour itself.

Best baits for the fishing is undoubtedly peeler crab and lugworm. Mussel can also be effective. If the outer reefs are fished then mackeral baited hokkai's are the best option.

If you and your group would be interested in targeting the cod then Mary Geary of Geary Angling Services would only be too happy to give you as much information as possible. Give Mary a buzz on 021 - 4812167 or email on

seaanglingclear@esat.ie, or alternatively you can contact Mary O' Mahony at reservations at the Commodore Hotel on 021-4811277 or by email on commodorehotel@eircom.net. Don't delay, book today!!!

Cork Small Boats Festival - Results

2011-10-06T09:01:00.001-07:00

Well the results are out and you can view them here. Well done to Festival newcomers O2B@C from Wales who were outright winners! O2B@C leapfrogged the hardy annuals like team Skua, team Screeming Reels, and others on the last day in what had been a very close competition all week.

Despite the inclement weather over 30 species of fish were recorded. Indeed, the winners had 25 species themselves but were followed by a number of boats on 24. The beauty of hosting this event in Cork Harbour is that no matter what mother nature may throw at the competitors the confines of the Harbour itself allows shelter from nasty weather and still access to good fishing!

Autumn Bass to top-water lures....

2011-10-06T08:21:00.000-07:00

Members of French club Liberty Peche recently had a 6 day lure fishing holiday out of Cork Harbour. Using the newest addition to the Bellavista small boat fleet the lads spent a number of days targeting the resident population of bass with surface lures and were amply rewarded for their efforts.

Despite, the dank and dreary conditions many fish were caught off the top with some fine specimens amongst them.

Here are a sample of pics of some of the better fish.

If you'd fancy a days bassing in Cork Harbour why not try out Bellavista's new Raider 18. More information and contact details can be found here.

Fish fantastique....

2011-10-06T07:47:00.000-07:00

The run of jumbo cod continues...and long may it do so!!!

This time the lucky angler was fishing directly out of Cork Harbour. French angler, Arnaud Briere landed this fabulous fish weighing just over 20lbs while fishing onboard the lastest addition to the Bellavista self-drive fleet, a brand new Raider 18 boat. Arnaud was fishing out of Cobh with his colleagues from the Liberty Peche Club from France.

In true French style they concentrated on lure fishing for the entire 6 days of their trip. Soft plastics and jigheads were the order of the day and accounted for some fabulous fish. Plenty of cod, pollack and bass gave the French lads top notch sport for the week. In true sporting fashion all fish caught were returned alive. Well done lads!!!

If you'd fancy hiring this latest addition to the Bellavista fleet why not contact owner Kevin Murphy

on 00-353-86-6029168 or for more information have a look at the Bellavista

website here.

Ooh la la.....

2011-10-06T07:29:00.000-07:00

French angler Jean Luc Alzaz persisted in his quest for a fly caught bass despite the inclement and breezy weather of late. Jean was rewarded for his persistence. In fact, Jean had 5 bass on the fly in one session and, remarkably, caught 3 in 3 casts!!!

Of course assisting him on his mission was top salt water bass guide Richie Ryan who had put him on a spot he knew could produce with the right approach. Richie sure is your man if salt water fly fishing is your bent; his record speaks for itself and is the one person will get you that fly caught fish, Richie will!!!

If you'd fancy a session out with Richie have a look at his website here for contact details.

...and more from Ballycotton

2011-10-06T06:50:00.001-07:00

Wow, what a cod!!! This fine specimen weighed in at 11kg and was caught by one of the anglers who was with Colm Sliney onboard the Sarah Marie out of Ballycotton last weekend. This is truly standing out as one of the best seasons for cod in living memory. All skippers, from Kinsale, Cork Harbour, and Ballycotton are reporting a great year for cod with not only numbers way up but so is the quality of fish.

Colm reports that this beauty was caught on simple old fashioned cod feathers. It just shows you do not disregard the tried and tested methods of yesteryear.

If you'd fancy a trip out with Colm to target those jumbo cod have a look at his website here for contact details.

Ballycotton update....

2011-09-30T08:37:00.000-07:00

Colm Sliney, skipper of the Sarah Marie, reports on a good day recently. Colm had a gang out who wanted to target pollack. Dropping anchor on a peak that's less than 30 minutes from Ballycotton Pier, Colm had his client's on one of his favourite hotspsots. The lads soon got cracking and lashed out the gilling gear. Within minutes they were all into fish and a steady stream of fish came onboard all day. A good portion of the fish were touching double figures which was great to see. The lads stuck at it all day and even while releasing many fish still had quite a sizeable box of fish by the end of the day.

If you'd fancy a day out with Colm have a look at his website here for contact details. Colm operates on the eastern end of the Angling Hub and fishes the waters off Ballycotton Island and east towards Cable Island.

Summer action onboard the Wreckhunter

2011-09-16T15:53:00.000-07:00

Joe Lynch, skipper of the Wreckhunter, is reporting on a great season so far. The Wreckhunter is the biggest boat in the Harbour Charter fleet. Its a fine catamaran with ample deck space. The wheelhouse boasts state of the art electronics with pride of place going to the 3D depth sounder which gives a graphic illustration of the ocean floor.

Joe gives us this report '...Wreckhunter's season so far has been dominated by the very uncertain supply of mackeral all season, as has been the case for all other skippers aswell. Cod have figured highly, on occasions catching them like mackeral; sometimes not much bigger. On one memorable evening we had 150 cod in 45 minutes, right at the end of the session. Best cod so far was a lovely 17lber (pictured above) caught by James O' Callaghan on the Ling Rocks. Pollack have been relatively scarce and noticeably smaller than usual; are cod out-competing them for the food supply?

In the Cobh International we had the biggest conger on 3 of the 4 days; 15kg, 13kg, and Danny Kane's 19kg specimen on the last day. Conditions were tough this year and there were very few fresh mackeral. We are looking forward to catching some fine cod this Autumn in the predicted first cold snaps of the winter. The boat will be staying in the water this year, where hopefully it will be safe from the fingers of Jack Frost and ready for some BIG cod action!!!'

If you'd fancy a day's fishing out on the Wreckhunter contact Joe directly. Contact details can be found on the Wreckhunter website here.

2011 International Festival...the results

2011-09-13T03:31:00.000-07:00

Danny Kane, Cobh SAC, has won the Cobh International Deep Sea Angling Festival, held in Cork Harbour last week. This is Danny's second year in a row winning this event and comes just two week's after finishing third in the National Boat Masters. Well done Danny!!!

Danny, didn't have it easy, though, and was lying in 6th position coming into the final day. He beat off stiff competition to reach the top spot, narrowly squeezing past Steve Williams of Wales by only 55 points!

This year's competition was a superb event with numbers up on last year. 52 anglers from 6 nations participated with a few new faces amongst the hardy annuals. Some of the international anglers have now been participating year on year. In fact one group of Dutch lads have now fished the Festival 36 years on the trot! That's dedication for you but is also a testament to what a great event this Festival is.

As is the case every year, the boats used were from the Cork Harbour Angling Hub fleet. This year the following boats were used; the John Boy, the Lee Star, the Naomh Cartha, the Cuan Ban, the Wreck Hunter, and the Lagosta II. Many thanks to the skippers whose facilities and expertise were second to none. Indeed, with the tough conditions that prevailed their expertise was

called upon. Weather conditions for the week were extremely tough with frequent gale force winds, intermittant squalls, and sea-states at times exceeding three to four metres. Despite this the skippers did put the anglers on fish.

On two of the days the boats were able to get out to the outer reefs; the Smiths reef on one day and the Pollack Rock reef on another. On the other two days the boats were confined to the Harbour mouth and within 1 mile of Roches Point. Fishing as a result was tough. Nevertheless, a good mixture of fish were landed with good numbers of pollack, cod, ling, and conger, along with whiting, grey gurnard, red gurnard, cuckoo wrasse, ballan wrasse, whiting, dabs, huss, and dogs. Good quality conger were landed every day with many conger up around the
15kg mark. Fish of the week, though, was a superb specimen conger of 19.0kg landed on the final day by Danny Kane.

In winning the event Danny collected a cheque for €1,000 aswell as an array of crystal and trophies. Steve Williams of Wales, as runner-up, collected a cheque for €400, and Tom Johnson, Ireland, in third place won €200. The winning two-man team of Steve Williams and Paul Tennant collected a cheque for €400. Most species went to Andrew Tucker of Wales with 8 species and most number of fish went to Pat O' Shea, Cobh SAC, with 48 fish. On the ladies side two old salts, Sandra O' Shea and Tina Kneeshaw slugged it out for pole position. This year was to be Tina's year; well done Tina! For a more detailed report and results have a look here.

Once again the social side of this event was memorable. Many thanks to the pubs and restaurants that sponsored each night's entertainment where the craic, banter and slagging went on till the wee hours. The one that got away certainly seemed bigger after a few pints of the dark stuff!

Work is already under way in organising and planning next year's event. The fishing should be very good next year as the event coincides with the first set of springs in September. If you would like to fish next year's event or would like more information why not contact Cobh SAC club secretary, Mary Geary, on 00-353-21-812167 or by email on seaangling@esatclear.ie.

Cork Small Boats Festival 2011

2011-09-03T13:19:00.000-07:00

With less than three weeks to go to this year's Cork Small Boats Festival there is a heightened anticipation amongst the participating small boat anglers. Although, the closing date for entry is not yet upon us, Fetsival organiser, Jim Clohessy, is confident that all entries are now in and he's glad to report that this year's entry has matched previous years.

Now the real work starts for the anglers as they countdown the days to the start day. All will be busy collecting the required bait. Local anglers will be seen putting the hours in on the harbour lug beds, rag beds, razor beds, etc.,... Back breaking work but it needs to be done to make sure a sufficient supply of fresh bait is available.

It will be all worth it in the end, though, as the well prepared anglers chalk up the species count. Indeed, upto nearly 50 species of fish have been caught in previous years. To get into the top three positions teams will need to record over 25 species to be in with a chance.

Have a look at the Small Boats Festival website here for a look at previous years results. The site also features articles on the Festival from the 'Irish Angler' magazine. Its a treasure trove of information for the angler interested in species hunting and highlights the strengths of Cork Harbour as a host venue with its varied habitats both inside and outside the harbour. However, why don't you call down to the weigh-in every evening, have a look at the varied species being recorded and get the chance to talk to those participating. I'm sure they wouldn't mind sharing a secret or two!

The 2011 Cork Small Boats Festival starts on the 23rd September and ends on the 30th September.

Fishing so far on the John Boy....

2011-09-03T12:03:00.000-07:00

Donie Geary, skipper of the John Boy, has reported that he has had a great season so far. According to Donie '....I've just come to the end of two hectic months, with July and August being the busiest for years.'

'It was good to see my annual groups from Wales, Holland, and England, and not forgetting the boys from Dublin, who I reckon will be having cod for dinner twice a week for the next 12 months. It was also good to see Tommy and the boys from Cavan who enjoyed excellent fishing in glorious sunshine last weekend.'

'Cod fishing has been at an all time high with double figure fish being caught regularly. In fact we've targeted cod fishing so much that I've hardly dropped anchor in about 3 weeks.'

'Last Saturday, after landing a good box of cod, I decided to give the boys from Cavan a taste of conger fishing. I dropped anchor just at the start of the flood and over the course of the incoming tide we landed 20 conger and a few nice ling.'

'On Sunday the boys wanted to go back on the conger and after a very slow start we finished up with about 30 conger, many over 20lbs, and a few ling. One of these was a fine fish of over 15lbs, which, when it comes to reef fishing, is not that common.'

All have re-booked for 2012, which is the best compliment a skipper can get I reckon.'

If you'd fancy a day out fishing on the John Boy have a look at Donie's website here for contact details and more information.

Cod feist continues...onboard Lee Star

2011-09-01T08:09:00.000-07:00

Veteran skipper and angler, Johnny Geary, is one of the many Cork Harbour skippers who have been getting his clients on the cod this Summer. John has put his boat, the Lee Star, over some of the reliable cod marks of old and they have come up trumps.

John has sent us on some of the photographs from a group he had out last weekend. As you can see a good stamp of cod was caught by all.

If you'd like a day out on the Lee Star with Johnny why not contact him through his website here.

Bass 'n Blues

2011-09-01T07:37:00.001-07:00

Charlie Hendron from Belfast and his buddy Marc from Zambia were on a mission - catch Charlie his first bass!!! Both lads opted to try Cork Harbour as recent reports were quite encouraging.

While they were coming down they decided to squeeze in a few varied fishing adventures to spice things up. A three day sojourn was organised using the Commodore Hotel in Cobh as a base. On day 1 they were to go shark hunting with Jim Linehan onboard Deora De; on day 2 they were taking a Warrior 175 from the Bellavista fleet to target the reefs and chalk up as many species as possible; and on day 3 they were going to devote the day to targeting that elusive bass.

Well how did the lads get on, I hear you say. Let's just say Mission Accomplished!!! Charlie did manage to get that first bass of his. Mind you he went one better and managed to get a beauty, weighing in at 8lb 6oz. Well done Charlie!!!

Marc also got in on the action and also bagged a few bass.

The previous two days the lads had exhausting but rewarding fishing. On Monday they bagged a fine blue of over 80lbs in weight, and had another who resisted the bait but played water polo with the floats. On Tuesday the species hunt went to plan but best of all Wednesday's bass brought a smile to everyone's face.

If you'd fancy a day targeting the blues onboard Deora De see here for Jim Linehan's contact details.

The Commodore Hotel are doing attractive accommodation rates for visiting anglers. Contact Mary at reservations at 00-353-21-4811277 or by email on commodorehotel@eircom.net. Alternatively have a look at the hotel's website here.

If you'd fancy booking one of the Bellavista self-drive boats for the day have a look here.

Five places up for grabs....

2011-08-18T07:55:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's right...we have five places left up for grabs in this year's Cobh SAC International Deep Sea Angling Festival. This four day competition starts on Monday 5th September with a superb prize fund worth €7,500, of which €2,000 is in cash.

So far we have 47 anglers competing in this year's event and on the strength of that we've booked another boat from the Cork Harbour Angling Hub charter fleet, giving us room for 5 more anglers. If you're interested in fishing, contact our club secretary, Mary Geary, on 021-4812167. Here's a look at last year's event to whet your appetite http://cobhsac.blogspot.com/2010/09/2010-festival.html.

Come on!!! You know its good for you!!!

Summer Fishing onboard Naomh Cartha....

2011-08-12T09:06:00.001-07:00

Skipper of the 'Naomh Cartha,' Gerry Keohane, reports that they are having a superb season. Like all boats operating out of Cork Harbour this year, the Naomh Cartha has a had some great days cod fishing in particular. Gerry reports that have had many fine fish to double figures, some of which are shown on the pics here.

Gerry has some secret spots, though, that are also throwing up some good ling. By his own reckoning, other skippers have yet to find these marks. So far he's getting the best out of them.

If you'd fancy booking a day out with Gerry on the 'Naomh Cartha' contact details are available on his website here.

Welsh return....

2011-08-12T08:33:00.000-07:00

This time last year Donie Geary, skipper of the John Boy, had a group of Welsh lads out targeting the cod. They had some fine cod with the biggest going to 12lb and 18lb respectively. Well the lads came back and last week Donie had them out again. Here is his report '...apologies for the lack of reports of late, I got my knuckles rapped recently by my two greatest fans, Jason and Glen Grace...so here it is boys:'

'...the fishing from Cork Harbour has been exceptional in recent weeks with an abundance of fine cod from the kelp beds at Power Head. I had a group of seven anglers from Wales, the same group that landed two tagged cod of 12lb and 18lb last year. These fish earned the boys a reward of €100 from the Inland Fisheries...we had few drinks on the Thursday night on the strength of it. Well anyway, on Monday and Tuesday we went cod hunting to Power Head. Immediately, we were in business; landing some fine fish to 9lb. There were quite a few pairs and threes at times. Everything under 3lb was returned.

On Wednesday morning the weather was bright and calm, so I decided to try our luck at a bit of wrecking. We headed for the 'Sub,' a German U-boat from the first World War, which was about 12 miles south east of Roches Point. Catching bait was a bit of a struggle; we eventually caught enough mackeral after about three stops. When we reached the wreck everything was perfect; there were no nets and conditions were excellent. However, after about two hours of drifting every inch of the wreck, and with only about a dozen pollack to 2lbs and a few small ling to show for it, it was obvious that the wreck had been netted recently. We were only getting the fish that got through the mesh. With a very disappointed crew we fished closer to land to end the day landing only a few more fish.

On Thursday I decided to give the Ling Rocks a go. When we were over half way there a fellow skipper phoned me to say that the fishing on the rocks had been very bad the previous day. This was very discouraging. I decided, though, to persevere. We first tried a drift on the sand which produced a few whiting, gurnards, pollack, and ling. Then I indicated to the gang to rig their gilling tackle for the main peaks. Here we landed quite a few tidy pollack, with some nice ling and cod falling to baited hokkai's. In mid-afternoon I decided to give the northern peaks a go; this proved to be a good move. Here we landed pollack of a far better size, along with some fine ling.

Overall, the day's fishing turned out to be excellent. Over a few pints later I told the lads about the telephone conversation of earlier. It just shows, in fishing there are no two days the same.'
If you'd fancy a day out with Donie on the 'John Boy' contact details are available on his website here.

A bit of a 'Ball' hop onboard Deora De...

2011-08-12T05:53:00.000-07:00

The Alan Ball or 'Baller' group were recently out with skipper, Jim Linehan, on Deora De.

Over the course of
two days, the group had over 15 species of fish.

Highlight of the trip, though, was when the group encountered the cod shoals. There was an excellent run of cod. At times cod were coming up three at a time...for some anglers this resulted in a complete mess!!! Some of the cod were of a good size with fish in the 10 - 11lb range.

Although, many of the fish were returned, a good bag was retained. On the return journey the lads busied themselves cleaning and filleting the fish which were stored in the freezers back in the hotel. The lads were staying in the Commodore Hotel, which served as an ideal base to explore the pubs and restaurants of Cobh, once the lads had a days fishing done....party time!!!

After a cracking weekend the lads reluctantly headed home but not before collecting their box of fish from the hotel freezer. I'm sure once the home freezers are empty the lads will be back again!

If you'd fancy a trip out with Jim Linehan onboard Deora De, check out his website here for contact details.

The Commodore Hotel is also doing special accommodation rates for Anglers and Angling Groups. Contact Mary O' Mahony at reservations on 021-4811277 for more details (www.commodorehotel@eircom.net).

50 year bass wait is over....

2011-08-12T05:36:00.000-07:00

All bass dreams are possible...so says Cork Harbour bass guide, Richie Ryan. Yes, Richie can put you on the bass, as his latest report proves '...it's been 50 years since Nils Roring last caught a bass. His son decided to treat his Dad and booked a bass session with me. A few minutes into the session and Nils was into a fine fish of about 5lbs....and more bass followed on what was a good session onboard Seahawk.'

50 years is a long time to wait for a bass but the Roring's won't be waiting too long for the next time as they've already booked Richie for the next session!

If you'd fancy a day out bass fishing with one of the Harbour's top guides, we not get in contact with Richie. Richie's contact details can be found here.

Superb Summer fishing for Cork Harbour Boats....

2011-08-12T05:02:00.000-07:00

What a great season Cork Harbour Boats are having! Great cod fishing, good shark fishing, unusual species, specimen fish, etc.,... Skippers John, Finbar and Eoin Barry have had several Dutch parties and many local groups out on the 'Cuan Ban' and 'The Castlemaiden' over the last few weeks and on each trip there have been several highlights.

Skipper Eoin Barry reports '....in that period we've had cod to 10, 11, and 12lbs, pollack to 8lbs, and a fine specimen conger over the 40lb mark that was returned alive. On one trip we had a surprise monkfish. What was most surprising was that the monk was caught on a jellyworm whilst spinning for pollack. On a few trips we've targeted blue shark and have had many shark to the boat...probably the best sharking season in a number of years....'

Undoubtedly, the Barry's will have

many more great days as the best of the season is yet to come. August and September are usually the best months.

If you'd fancy a day out on either the 'Cuan Ban' or 'Castlemaiden' why not give the lads a shout! For contact details click here.

2011 Deep Sea Angling Festival...only 4 weeks to go!!!

2011-08-08T06:00:00.001-07:00

Only 4 weeks to go to this year's Festival and the anticipation is building! What a great competition; 4 days fishing onboard one of the charter boats of the hub's fleet and a chance to win numerous prizes. With a prize fund worth over €7,500, there are prizes there for everyone almost! Best pollack, most pollack, best cod, best conger, most conger, most fish, most species, best placed each day, top twenty anglers at the end of the week, best team...I could go on! Upto €2,000 of these prizes are in cash, with €1,000 going to the overall winner!!!

You can still book a place in this year's Festival. Just give Mary, Cobh SAC's scretary, a ring on 021-4812167.

To give you an idea of the quality of the fishing have a look at last year's report on the Festival. Click here to view.

What sets this event apart though is the craic and banter. This carries on back to the various watering holes that become bases for the week. Friends made here are for life and indeed many of the anglers from abroad having being coming back year after year. Why don't you give it a shot this year!

Staying with soft plastics....

2011-08-05T18:56:00.001-07:00

A run of 9lbers....

2011-07-30T08:52:00.001-07:00

Cobh SAC angler, Pat O' Shea, recently hit a goldstreak or a bit of a purple patch, if you will. Over the course of three sessions, in one week, he landed no less than three 9lbers. The bugger!!!

Pat takes up the story '....on my first session I was doing a bit of soft plastic fishing from the boat. Conditions were far from perfect. I was using a vertical jigging technique but the drift was probably too fast. The strong tide was compounded by a fresh following wind that was pushing me along at 4knots. Too fast! Despite that I did manage a 5lber. I moved further upriver to escape the breeze and as the tide eased I struck lucky. As I drifted over a reef, my softie was hit by a good fish and after a lively struggle a fine 73cm fish was onboard.'

'...two days later and with weather conditions much improved I was able to fish an outer harbour mark. Over a shallow kelpy bed, while casting a slug set up weedless style, I had a subtle take that felt like a weed frond hitting the braid...always a possible sign of a good fish...and so it was this time. At first there was little resistance as the fish didn't realise it was hooked and then all hell broke loose. After another hectic encounter, another great fish was swung onboard....this beauty came in at 72cms.'

'...day three and with conditions so settled I opted to fish a beach mark outside the harbour. As the tide ebbed, with virtually no swell, I had plenty of follows on surface lures, but no takers. Two hours without fish and my

confidence was waning...I was headed for a dreaded blank. As it got dark I opted for a soft plastic technique, which turned out to be a wise move. I set up a sluggo with an articulated jig head that I picked up in Nantes and using a technique shown to me by an old Frenchman I was into fish immediately. First cast and as the SP dropped through the water column I felt a bang. First lift, another bang, and then the fish was on. What a tussle! After a number of spirited runs the prize was mine...a beauty of a fish coming in at 75cm. I followed this up on successive casts with two more fish, the best going 7lbs. Cigar time!!!'

'...what a great three days. It'll be hard to beat that, but I'll try.'

Pat O' Shea

Cobh SAC

Commodore Hotel

Young guns at it again....

2011-07-30T08:41:00.000-07:00

Following our recent story of young Howard Murphy upstaging his Dad with a 67cm bass, another young gun has gone and done the same thing. Liam Cabral, aged 10, had this fine bass of over 6lbs. It was the biggest of the day, and Liam's first sea bass. After that catch Liam matched his Dad bass for bass and, eventually, passed him out. Well done Liam!!!

Liam and his Dad are from Canada and are on holidays here. They took the chance to book Richie Ryan for a harbour bass session and were glad they did. You too could have a session like this. Why not give Richie and buzz; for more details click here.

Seahawk goes deep....

2011-07-30T08:19:00.001-07:00

Cian Ryan reports of a good day out recently on the 'Seahawk.' They fished the Ling Rocks first but found the fishing poor with only one pollack to 7lbs and two small ling. Each time they brought the ling up about halfway something big made a go for them. The rods doubled over momentarily but whatever it was let go. The fish came up worse for wear, though, with massive teeth marks on their flanks. What was it? Certainly the case of the one that got away!!!

After that they moved to the Smiths where they had great fishing with cod to 6lbs on ragworm. They also had ling, huge whiting, haddock, cuckoo wrasse, and a megrim; all on the drift. Just a small few fish were kept for the table, but that'll keep the wife happy!

A day out on Seahawk will certainly keep you going. For more details contact Richie Ryan here.

22 species in one day....

2011-07-30T08:02:00.001-07:00

Jim Linehan, skipper of Deora De, recently had an unusual request. One of his clients was anxious to scatter the ashes of his recently deceased dog at sea. The dog, a four and a half year old female boxer, had a serious heart condition and had to be put to sleep. Jim thought the most appropriate location on the way out to sea would be dognose, a favourite harbour fishing mark. Good thinking Jim!

Back to the fishing. Jim and his party had a cracker of a weekend. On the Saturday they recorded 18 species, but bettered that on the Sunday with 22 species of fish!

The species count was as follows: mackeral, launce, plaice, dab, megrim (now that's a good one to get), conger eel (on the drift would you believe), dogfish, poor cod, pouting, garfish, grey gurnard, red gurnard, tub gurnard, whiting, haddock, ling, cod, pollack, coalfish, cuckoo wrasse, scad, bull huss....whew!!!

While the fishing is this good, it would be worth booking a trip on the Deora De. Contact Jim here.

Upstaged by a young gun....

2011-07-30T07:03:00.000-07:00

Well those soft plastic supremo's don't have it all their own way. Here's young Howard Murphy of Bellavista with a fine 67cm bass on a soft plastic. Well done Howard!

Howard was out with his Dad on one of those fine Warrior 175's from the Bellavista fleet. If you'd fancy a day out on Cork Harbour targeting bass why not give Kevin a bell. These Warrior's are for hire at very competitive rates. For more details click here.

Soft Plastic Supremo's.....

2011-07-30T06:20:00.000-07:00

Jim Clohessy heads a cadre of local Cork Harbour anglers who have spearheaded soft plastics fishing to new heights. Jim and fellow anglers, Kevin Murphy of the Bellavista small boat fleet, Pat O' Shea, Cobh SAC, and local guides, James McSweeney and Richie Ryan have been specialising in soft plastics fishing for bass for over three seasons now and have perfected numerous techniques such as drop-shotting, touch-legering, vertical-jigging, texas-rigged, weedless, weightless...you name it, these lads have now done it and have a proven record of success!!!

Rumour has it that these lads are ready to take on the professional French anglers at their own game. Will we see these lads compete in the French bass leagues next year? Who knows?

The pictures above show the lads in action with some recent catches.

Jim will be busy shortly organising the Cork Small Boats Festival. Incidentally, if you are interested in entering this year's event there are still some places left. You can contact Jim on his website here.

With regard to the Bellavista small boat fleet, these Warrior 175 boats are ideal for targeting the bass within the confines of Cork Harbour. For more details contact Kevin here.

James MacSweeney offers a superb guiding service specialising in bass angling. You can contact James for more details here.

Richie Ryan offers the first specialised boat guiding service targeting bass through fly fishing techniques. Richie is also adept at other methods of lure fishing, including soft plastics. For more information click here.

Cobh SAC Inter-pub Competition

2011-07-29T18:12:00.001-07:00

Cobh SAC recently hosted the inagural Cobh Inter-Pub Angling Competition. It is hoped that this will be an annual event and was sponsored by local bar, The Maurentania.

There was a great turnover, with over 60 anglers fishing, representing local pubs, restaurants, and hotels. Seven charter boats of the Cork Harbour Angling Hub charter fleet were used for the day.

Weather-wise it was a great day. The fishing wasn't bad either but it was slow to start off with. However, as the day went on the pace of fishing picked up. Plenty of pollack, cod, ling, and whiting were caught. More colourful species like red gurnard, grey gurnard, ballan wrasse, and cuckoo wrasse were also landed, aswell as the usual suspects such as conger, doggies, haddock, coalfish, etc.,...

The competition was tough with some of the top Cobh SAC anglers competing. Tradewinds Restaurant were overall winners. In the individual category, Milo Burke, Cobh SAC, came out on top with Sandra O' Shea, Cobh SAC,

second, Ger Brady, Cobh SAC, third, Pat O' Shea, Cobh SAC, fourth, and Martin O' Leary, also Cobh SAC, in fifth place.

All anglers retired to Tradewinds Restaurant for the prizegiving and what a great night was had by all! Local band 'The Urge' entertained everyone for the night and it was the wee hours of the morning before everyone eventually made it home!

Fly Fish Ireland

2011-07-23T14:37:00.001-07:00

New recruits to the Cork Harbour Angling Hub are Fly Fish Ireland. Fly Fish Ireland specialise in fly fishing, both salt water and fresh water. Their saltwater base is Cork Harbour, and guides, Mark Houlihan and William Kavanagh, with many years experience between them, can help you target bass, pollack, seatrout, golden grey mullet, grey mullet, and many other species, on the fly.

Cobh SAC angler, Pat O' Shea, was lucky to get out with Mark Houlihan on a recent balmy summer's evening and gives us this report '....although I'm not a fly fisherman myself, I was looking forward to my outing with saltwater fly fishing guide, Mark Houlihan. Mark brought us to one of his secret Cork Harbour shore spots and, although, conditions would be tough, given the settled conditions and superb clarity of the water, Mark was confident that we would winkle out a fish or two. We started at low water and were going to fish the rise into darkness. Mark stuck to the fly and put on a popper. I stayed with the lures and with the settled conditions opted for surface lures. It was a good choice, as after a bit of roaming and rock hopping, I connected with a half decent bass on a 'sammy.' After a brief struggle the fish managed to throw the hooks, wh

ich so often happens with surface caught fish. Following that we had no more shows until after dark, when I connected with a fish close in on a holographic lure. This fish wasn't getting away! With very shallow water covering the reef the fish had nowhere to run but out to sea and what a spirited fight it gave! In fact, the fish was punching above its weight as I was surprised when we landed it that it was 4.5lbs...I did think it was bigger. A good fish all the same and what a

great way to wrap up the session. Thanks Mark!!!'

If you'd fancy a guided session with Mark give him a bell; his contact details are here.

2011 Deep Sea Angling Festival

2011-07-03T07:35:00.000-07:00

Entries are now being taken for this years fishing festival. The 45th Cobh International Deep Sea Angling Festival is taking place this year from Monday 5th September through to Friday 9th September 2011. The cost of entry has been kept the same as for 2010 and at €325 for seniors is great value. This includes entry into the competition, 4 days fishing onboard one of the boats from the Cork Harbour Angling Hub charter fleet, and ticket for the gala dinner and prize giving on the Friday night. The range of prizes is superb with the prize fund valued at €7,500 of which €2,000 is in cash. There is a chance for everyone to get in amongst the prizes with prizes for everyday, prizes for the best fish everyday over several species categories, aswell as overall competition prizes.

First prize includes €1,000 in cash. Here's a pic of last year's winner, Danny Kane, with the 'dosh.' Second prize includes €400, 3rd pize €200, and €400 for the best team of four.

This event is now going a long time with many competitiors from Wales, Holland, the UK, Germany, etc.,... returning on a yearly basis. Not only is the fishing good, but the craic is mighty. The banter and fun carries on from the boats upto the various watering holes that beckon after each day's fishing. In fact there are events held in various of the pubs and restuarants on a nightly basis, including bands, music, and traditional nights that keep all anglers well entertained.

The fishing too has been excellent over the years. The beauty of Cork Harbour is that no matter what the weather there are always excellent marks that can be fished in comfort. To give you an idea of the fishing here's a report from last year: http://cobhsac.blogspot.com/2010/09/2010-festival.html

If you or your friends would like to participate in this year's festival, or would like more information, please contact Cobh SAC's club secretary, Mary Geary, on 00-353-21-4812167 or by email on seaangling@esatclear.ie.

Martin O' Brien Small Boat Festival

2011-07-01T16:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a competition, coming up shortly, that you can look forward to. This is a two day small boat festival that will be fished over the last weekend in July (Sat 30th July & Sun 31st July). Fishing will be from 9:30am to 5:30pm each day and is organised by Rosies Sea Angling Club of Lower Aghada, Midleton, Cork.

This comp is effectively a species hunt with a estimated prize fund of €1,500. Maximum boat size is 26ft. For further details and information contact Tony Tait on 087 - 2723856 or by email at tony.tait@live.co.uk.

For those of you thinking of fishing the Cork Small Boats Festival this is an excellent warm up and catches of over 20 species will be well within the reach of everyone participating.

Shore marks come good again....

2011-06-24T18:59:00.001-07:00

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...

2011-06-24T07:46:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-06-24T07:29:00.001-07:00

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....

2011-06-24T04:55:00.000-07:00

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....

2011-06-23T04:26:00.001-07:00

"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....

2011-06-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

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!

Bass Ban - last dash before the curtain call....

2011-05-18T08:51:00.001-07:00

The Bass ban kicked in on midnight Saturday 14th May and with that the harbour bass anglers now have an enforced lay off on their hands....a chance, maybe, to target other species. In the lead up, however, activity was hectic. Conditions were challenging as the wind remained strong for the earlier part of the week. However, towards the end some marks did clear allowing some return on those hell bent on lure fishing.

Best catch of the week must surely go to Jim Clohessey, organiser of the Cork Small Boats Festival (http://www.skuaangling.net/). Jim landed this fine bass, pictured above, which measured 71cm and weighed in at 8lbs. The fish was caught on a soft plastic fished on an articulated jig-head and was one of a number of fish caught that day. Jim, and a number of other local anglers, have been pioneering the use of soft plastics over the last number of years and have had tremendous success. This months Irish Angler features an excellent article, penned by Jim, on the use of soft plastics and is well worth the read !

Midleton angler, Frank Murphy, stuck to bait for most of the week and was rewarded with some fish to lug. Cobh SAC angler, Pat O'Shea had better luck towards the end of the week on lures, although he reports the size of fish was generally smaller than of late.

The season re-opens again on the 16th June and gives everyone the chance to replace those trebles, sharpen the hooks, and other housekeeping tasks that the frenetic pace of angling recently hasn't allowed. Roll on the 16th!!!

Fly fishing for bass....

2011-05-11T07:09:00.000-07:00

Fly fishing expert, Richie Ryan, reports great fishing upto last weekend. Richie operates the first licensed salt water fly fishing boat in the country and can take upto three anglers at a time. Although, he first preference is fly fishing, all forms of angling are catered for. Above is a picture of a fine 5lb bass caught last week on a clouser fly.

This time last year bass were very scarce in the harbour, but there has been a big improvement in numbers caught by various methods this year. Richie has had exceptional lure fishing so far, especially on a lure supplied by his good Welsh friend and mentor, Andrew Davies - a Megabass x140 , traded for a carton of fags no less!

Prospects for bass fishing in the harbour look very promising. If you'd fancy a day out with Richie aboard the Seahawk contact him through his website at http://www.corkbass.com/. Richie's rates are very reasonable and supplies tackle aswell.

Wild weather bassing....

2011-05-09T15:24:00.000-07:00

Weather conditions were testing all week. Winds had been quite strong, mainly from a south east and southerly directions. By the weekend, a full blown gale had developed. Conditions for bass fishing just got tougher and tougher. A consistent and building surf led to extremely coloured water and widespread floating weed. Nevertheless, some hardy and experienced anglers managed to winkle out some numbers of bass.

Crab fished baits proved most effective earlier in the week, but towards the back end, with continuing stormy conditions, razor baits came into their own. Above is a fine razor caught fish of 61cm, landed by Cobh SAC angler, Pat O' Shea (http://www.commodorehotel.ie/)

With the bass ban kicking in at the end of the coming week, most bass anglers will be anxious to increase their tally before the enforced lay off. Sticking to bait will bring the most success! Mind you a few of the soft plastics specialists should score aswell.

May Weekend bass...

2011-05-05T01:10:00.000-07:00

The fine weather persisted until Saturday and with it the lure fishing for bass in the area remained excellent. Frank Murphy, of Midleton, landed this fine bass above, measuring 79cm and weighing 8.5lb. If this fish was caught later in the season it would no doubt have been a double.

Cobh SAC angler, Pat O' Shea also had a fine fish in this 7.5lber, caught on a shallow diver.

Unfortunately, the weather broke on Sunday and with it the lure fishing deteriorated. Back to bait fishing as water clarity disimproved dramatically. However, catches remained high with many fine bass being caught on crab baits. The pic over shows one such bass caught on a large fresh peeler bait. Anglers using soft plastics were also still picking up their fair share of catches. However, as the short term forecast is for strong winds, bait fishing will be the preferred option.

...and more cod for the Cuckoo's Nest

2011-05-04T15:45:00.000-07:00

Donal Geary, skipper of the John-Boy, sent in this report '....Saturday gone, the last day of April, proved to be a fantastic day's fishing aboard the John-Boy. With a group of 9 anglers from the Cuckoo's Nest bar in Dublin, some who travelled down on the Friday and stayed at the Commodore Hotel; more travelled down on the morning. We set out from Cobh at 10am. We weren't too optimistic about our chances as there was a force 3 to 4 easterly and the forecast was for it to increase to force 6. We were greeted at the entrance to the harbour by a large pod of dolphins who put on a great show as we passed Roches Point. We had our first stop about 2 miles south east of the point, where we had been getting some fine cod of late. To our surprise we immediately started catching mackeral, three at a time. The mackeral were so plentiful we couldn't, even with bait, get to the bottom for the cod. When we had a box of bait we went about a mile further south. Unfortunately, some of our crew were now turning a bit pale. We hit the cod straight away with many upto 5lb. However, the wind was freshening all the time, resulting in a very fast drift and a lot of snags and tangles. At about 1:30pm I noticed there were only 3 or 4 anglers still fishing, the rest were in sick bay. I decided to get back to the shelter of the harbour and dropped anchor in the shelter of White Bay where we could have a mug of coffee. While having lunch we boated a thornback ray of 10lb. We also had a few small cod and a few doggies. We then went to the harbour rock and landed 8 conger to 16lb. While this was going on, a box and a half of fine cod were filleted, which would be frozen down by the Commodore Hotel ready for transport back to Dublin in cooler boxes. On our way back to Cobh we saw a small basking shark close to Spike Island...a very unusual sight for April indeed.'

If you'd fancy a day out on the John-Boy, you can contact Donie at http://www.sea-fishing-ireland.com/

Kelpy Cod...

2011-05-04T15:19:00.000-07:00

Saltwater fly-fishing guide, Richie Ryan, has been putting his clients onto quality harbour cod lately. Using soft plastics and a vertical jigging technique his clients have been getting some great catches. The picture above is of Dubliner, Paul Carroll, with a cod typical of the stamp that's being caught.

If you'd like a day out with Richie onboard the the Seahawk you can contact Richie through his website here http://www.corkbass.com/. The Seahawk was one of the first licensed salt water fly fishing boats in the country. Richie also specialises in other lure techniques such as plugging and the use of soft plastics.

Updates from Ballycotton....

2011-05-04T15:11:00.001-07:00

Colm Sliney, skipper of Sarah-Marie, reports that they have had similar quality cod fishing off Ballycotton as has been experienced closer to Cork Harbour. Colm has had several parties out lately and all have had great cod fishing with good numbers and a good stamp of fish.

Colm also reports that the mackeral have appeared in good numbers. Last Saturday they ran into several large shoals.

If you'd fancy a day out on the Sarah-Marie you can contact Colm through his website at http://www.ballycottonangling.com/

Bass catches increase dramatically....

2011-04-23T06:33:00.000-07:00

Local Bass angling fanatic, Pat O' Shea, has reported dramatic increases in bass catches in the last two weeks. It has been a great season for bass so far with bass ever present throughout the Winter. Bass have been caught on the beaches of the outer harbour in January, February, and March. However, bass have shown to lures since Paddy's weekend and in recent weeks the numbers falling to lures have surpassed numbers of bait caught fish. The last two weeks have been superb with fish now being caught on surface lures. That's a great sign so early and bodes well for the season ahead. The picture above shows a recent catch measuring 62cm. A fine well conditioned fish.

If you are planning a holiday in the area and need upto date information regarding bass catches you can contact Pat through http://www.commodorehotel.ie/

Local salt water fly fishing expert, Richie Ryan, has also being getting in on the act. Richie has also picked up a few fish on lures but has concentrated his efforts recently in fly fishing for mullet with some great results. Below is a pic of a 5lb 8oz fish which took 20 minutes to land. Richie reports that fishing a falling tide with shrimp patterns he has even managed fish in bright conditions.

If you'd fancy booking Richie for some guiding in the local area you can contact him through http://www.corkbass.com/

Cod catches continue....

2011-04-23T06:22:00.000-07:00

All skippers have been reporting great catches of cod over the last few weeks. Significant numbers of fish upto 10lb have been reported. Skipper Jim Linehan of Deora De had a party out on Easter Friday and has given us the following report: '....some Good Friday cod. I had a group of 9 local guys out. The 7 that weren't sick had two boxes of cod to around 7-8lbs in about an hour. They soon got bored with the cod as they were then releasing them, so we moved away from them!!! We also ran into a few big mackeral shoals a few miles off with lots of gannets working them. I hope they stick around!'

If you'd like to book the Deora De for a day's charter you can contact skipper, Jim Linehan, through his website at http://www.charterangling.com/

April Light Line Comp 2011

2011-04-23T05:57:00.000-07:00

Cobh SAC recently held the last of their winter series of light line competitions. However, you'd be forgiven for thinking twice about the title 'winter' series as the competition was held under blazing sunshine and unseasonally warm conditions. That didn't affect the 'winter' species though as plenty of whiting and codling were caught.

This was the sixth competition in this season's series which began last November and the weather has been superb for everyone of them. As one of the elder lemons of the club quipped '...if you wanted to book a holiday organise it the same weekend as a light line comp as you will be almost guaranteed the weather.'

17 anglers participated and used two of the hub's charter boats; the John Boy, and the Naomh Cartha. The fishing area was once more in 'Deep Hole' between the forts at the mouth of Cork Harbour, as this has proved so prolific over the course of all the light line comps to date. This was to prove no different on this day with over 759 fish caught between the party giving an average of 45 fish per angler. For a more detailed report have a look here http://cobhsac.blogspot.com/2011/04/april-light-lines-competition.html

Fishing for cod inside and outside the harbour has been exceptionally good over the last number of weeks. Indeed, many skippers are reporting significant catches of cod upto 10lbs within 2 miles of the harbour mouth. Long may it continue!

If you'd like to book the John Boy for a day's charter, contact skipper Donie Geary through his website at http://www.sea-fishing-ireland.com/

Alternatively, you could book the Naomh Cartha. Contact skipper Ger Keohane at http://www.corkanglingcharters.com/

March Light Line Comp 2011

2011-04-04T14:46:00.000-07:00

Cobh SAC had a great day recently for their March competition of their light line series. On Sunday 27th March Cobh SAC booked two of the hub's charter boats: the 'John Boy' and the 'Naomh Cartha.'

The weather was good but even more importantly the fishing was very good. Skippers Donie Geary and Ger Keohane brought the group to 'deep hole' between the forts where the fishing was in 80ft of water. Using a good selection of baits ranging from crab, to lug, rag, razor, mussel and mack a good variety of species of fish were landed. In total the anglers had 283 cod, 243 whiting, 131 dab and a number of coalfish, lsd's, and scorpion fish. The total number of fish landed were 670 between 12 anglers. That's an average of 56 fish per angler, which over 5 hours fishing is a great return.

Of great interest, though, was the show of mackeral. Mackeral were encountered in mid water and in good numbers. That's a great sign this early.

For a full report have a look at this http://cobhsac.blogspot.com/2011/03/march-light-line-competition.html

If you would like to book the John Boy for a day's fishing you can contact Donie Geary through his website at http://www.sea-fishing-ireland.com/

Alternatively, if you would like to book the Naomh Cartha you can contact Ger keohane at http://www.corkanglingcharters.com/

Off to Nantes

2011-02-15T07:55:00.000-08:00

Cork Harbour Angling Hub. Centre of Angling Excellence. Ireland. Excellent Deep Sea Fishing, Shore Fishing, & Bass Fishing. Fish in the second largest harbour in the world. Only 20 minutes from Cork International Airport. For Accommodation & Angling Packages contact Kevin @ + 353-21-4812450 Mary @ + 353-21-4811277 (Prices start from €695pps for 5 days fishing and 7 nights accommodation of €345pps for small boat fishing for 5 days and 7 nights accommodation). See our website for more details: or email on. bass

Specimen Whiting....

2011-01-26T12:59:00.001-08:00

Well done to Frank Burke of Cobh SAC who caught this fine specimen whiting while fishing with Colin Barnes on the Holly Jo out of Union Hall this Monday. Frank was fishing with a group of anglers from East Cork clubs, Guileen SAC, Aghada SAC, Cloyne SAC & Cobh SAC. The group were to fish the offshore wrecks but Colin advised that they had fished poorly - eventhough, one of his party did have a 16lb specimen pollack over the weekend. Instead, Colin brought the group to a favourite haddock mark of his. Frank was delighted he did!!! Frank's fine fish weighed in at 3.05lbs and measured 54cm in length....that's some whiting!

Cork Harbour - first light lines comp of 2011

2011-01-26T12:20:00.001-08:00

Cobh SAC held the first of this year's light line competitions in Cork Harbour last Sunday. As has been typical of the series of these light line comps, the weather was glorious. Nevertheless, the competition was confined to the harbour, to target the numerous codling, whiting & other species that can be found within its sheltered waters.

Two of the Cork Harbour Angling Hub's charter boats were used for the day; the John Boy & the Noamh Cartha. All 13 anglers were up bright and early and boarded the boats at Cobh's Kennedy pier by 9am. Within twenty minutes they were anchored at the productive grounds between Spike Island and the Forts. Fishing kicked off in earnest and from the oft a steady stream of fish were landed.

Over the course of five hours over 870 fish were caught, giving an average of 67 fish per angler. That's some crackin'!!! In total there were 542 whiting to 2lbs caught, 243 dabs, with some close to specimen size, 20 cod to 5lbs, and 65 poor cod. A variety of baits were used, but the humble mackeral, albeit frozen, accounted for the majority of fish.

Cobh SAC will be holding their second light line comp on Sunday 20th February. If you'd fancy a go give Club Secretary Mary Geary a buzz on 021 - 4812167 or on email at seaangling@esatclear.ie .

Specimen Ling....

2011-01-25T15:25:00.000-08:00

Members of Cobh SAC took advantage of the recent settled spell to target the offshore wrecks and what a day they had!!! Ling to double figures landed by all in the party and one cracker over the magical 25lb mark for Ruud Boulhouwer. Well done Ruud! This is Ruud's first specimen and what a beauty to break his duck.

Specimen ling are definitely not as plentiful as they used to be, but skipper Donie Geary had a secret wreck mark that he knew could produce. It was with that knowledge that the Cobh SAC lads were itching to book a day afloat onboard the John Boy. Its at this time of year that the ling are in peak condition pre-spawning and chances of bagging a specimen are at their best.

Ruud wasn't the only one with big fish; Tony Maguire also bagged a 20lber, while the rest of the lads managed ling upto 18lbs. It wasn't all hectic action, though; the crew got off to a great start, but then things slowed down, before picking up again in the afternoon. That can very well be the pattern while wreck fishing. The lads were well satisfied, though, as they had a good haul with cod and whiting also coming onboard.

The waters off Cork Harbour abound with wrecks, particularly from the first world war and Donie knows them all. Despite that a new one is discovered every so often, the latest a WWI U-Boat (see http://www.independent.ie/national-news/watery-grave-found-after-a-century-2509043.html?start=2). If you'd fancy a crack at the Cork wrecks, then Donie Geary's your man. You can contact Donie on 021-4812167 or by email on seaangling@esatclear.ie. Donie's website is http://www.sea-fishing-ireland.com/

Light Line Fishing and a bit of Dab hunting....

2011-01-10T06:59:00.001-08:00

With the 2011 series of light line competitions coming up shortly, Cobh SAC anglers got out on the water for a bit of practice recently. With cold and calm conditions the first foray out was on the January New Year bank holiday Monday. Three boats ventured forth, with 11 anglers onboard. For the time of year the fishing was superb. The boats sampled the Ling Rocks and the Smiths. Over 9 species of fish were recorded, with the best fish being a 9.5 lb pollack. How bad, for January. For a full report have a look here http://cobhsac.blogspot.com/2011/01/impromptu-light-line-comp.html

On the strength of such a good day, another session was organised for midweek. As most people were back at work only two boats with 6 anglers managed to get out. This was to be a dab hunt and confined to the harbour. However, Danny Kane, onboard Sandra Anne, couldn't resist trying for some sizeable ling on the Smiths. When they did get back into the harbour there were plenty of whiting, codling, dabs, poor cod, and pouting. For a full report have a look here http://cobhsac.blogspot.com/2011/01/light-line-comp-part-deuxdab-hunt.html

It just shows you, if the weather is settled at this time of year, just get out and try it! The fishing may surprise you!!!

Italy beckons....

2011-01-10T06:26:00.001-08:00

On Tuesday 28th Dec, Cork Harbour Angling Hub hosted a fundraising competition in aid of the Irish Boat Team for Italy 2011. As the organising committee had flagged, it was a chance to get out of the house for those anglers brim to the gills with turkey and suffering severe bouts of cabin fever. 59 anglers responded to the call.

Fishing on the day was tough; the previous day there had been over 2" of rain and even on the day there was a fair bit of wind with a southerly blowing at over 20 knots. The decision was taken to confine the event to the harbour and even then it was lumpy, with a strong ebbing pushing against the breeze all day.

Despite this, there was still over 477 fish caught and 9 species recorded; that's an average of 8 fish per angler. That's great going given the conditions. Species caught included cod, conger, dogfish, poor cod, plaice, coalfish, and flounder, with dabs and whiting predominating. The longest fish prizes went to the following fish:

Conger 130cm

Dogfish 71cm

Cod 59cm

Dab 32cm

Whiting 41cm

Coalfish 31cm

Flounder 23cm

Poor cod 21cm

Overall winner with the heaviest fish was Dan Lynch of Halfway Tackle. Dan, pictured above, won a beautiful crystal trophy plus €200 in cash. Overall Lady angler was Sandra O' Shea of Cobh SAC, with Luke Hegarty of Monkstown best Junior. Other prizes included best edible for Cormac Gannon, and Ken Hegarty with most species with five.

The following boats from Cork Harbour Angling Hub, were used on the day:

John Boy, skippered by Donie Geary http://www.sea-fishing-ireland.com/

Naomh Cartha, skippered by Ger Keohane http://www.corkanglingcharters.com/

Deora De, skippered by Jim Linehan http://www.charterangling.com/

Lee Star, skippered by John Geary http://www.anglingcharters.eu/

Osprey, skippered by Pat Condon http://www.atlantic-charters.net/

Lagosta II, skippered by Alan Kennedy

Winter chill fails to deter light line anglers....

2010-12-21T16:28:00.000-08:00

On Sunday 5th December Cobh SAC held its second light line competition of the Winter season. Despite the absolute freezing conditions, 7 anglers were brave enough to venture out on the John Boy, skippered by Donie Geary.

These light line competitions have been blessed with good fishing and this one was to be no different. Over the 5 hours fishing 217 fish were landed giving each angler an average of over 30 fish. The mainstay of the catch were codling and they were of a good stamp too with many averaging 3 to 5lbs.

There were also plenty of whiting with many fish going to 2.5lbs and plenty of dabs also with fish going close to specimen size. Anthony Austin from Crosshaven SAC came in for a fierce slagging as he managed a conger on lugworm of all things!

Winner of the competition was Martin Perryman of both Cobh SAC & Crosshaven SAC. However, Sandra O' Shea of Cobh SAC ran him a close second, with Danny Kane coming in in third spot. All competitiors were glad of the soup when they got back to the Commodore Hotel. Mind you the constant action made sure that anglers didn't have a chance to get cold. Roll on the next light line comp in January!!!!

Cobh SAC Boat Master Angler

2010-12-21T13:16:00.000-08:00

The fourth and last competition in this year's series to decide Cobh SAC's master angler was held on the last Sunday of November. This was the weekend that the first of this Winter's cold snaps blew in and boy was it cold! The heavy frost that morning prevented many from turning up but despite the conditions six hardy anglers braved the elements and boarded the John Boy at Kennedy Pier.

Skipper for the day was Mark O' Reilly as Donie had prior engagements. Mark brought the crew to one of Donie's marks on the Smiths to start with. Fishing was slow, but having said that the quality of fish brought to the net was good. In total there was 71 fish caught, the vast majority codling and whiting. Having said that most of the cod were from 5lbs up.

Although, conditions were good to start with, a freezing NE breeze blew up. With that extra wind chill the anglers had to no option but to head back to a more sheltered harbour mark. Everyone was well wrapped up, as can be seen from the photo above of that international man of mystery. They seek him here...they seek him there...but here's a Christmas quiz for all; can you identify that well known club member?

When everyone got back to base at the Commodore Hotel they were glad of that hot bowl of soup. The scores were totted up and the outright winner on the day was Danny Kane with 15 fish and 278 points. This was enough to secure the Master Angler title for the year. Well done Danny!!! Danny just managed to pip veteran Frankie Cronin at the last hurdle. Second on the day was Sandra O' Shea, also with 15 fish, and 229 points. Third was Noel Carey with 16 fish and 225 points.

What a year Danny Kane has had; Cobh SAC Boat Master Angler, winner of the Cobh International Deep Sea Angling Festival and......cover of Irish Angler!!!!!!

The calm before the storm....

2010-11-09T04:51:00.000-08:00

Hurricane Thomas was due to lash the south coast last Sunday but forecasters were confident that it wouldn't come in until after dark. They were spot on!! In fact the weather for Cobh SAC's first light line competition of the Winter season was positively glorious....a true calm before the storm!

The competitors were hoping to avail of a similar stamp of fishing to that that was experienced in the National Fish Offs over the Oct Bank Holiday Weekend. The inner harbour can certainly produce over the Winter months with vast shoals of whiting and codling in particular....and this competition didn't disappoint. Over 600 fish were caught by the 8 anglers over the 5 hours of the competition. Wow! Whiting dominated the catch with many of a good size, averaging between 2-3lbs. The breakdown of fish caught was as follows: 454 whiting, 101 dab, 4 doggies, 8 codling, 45 poor cod, and 1 scad. That's an average of 77 fish per competitor. That's a great start to the light line series!

Many of the dabs were over a 1lb in weight, coming close to the new specimen size. Surprisingly there were very few codling caught, but that may be because everyone switched to mackeral bait once the whiting turned up. There was also plenty of mackeral about, which kept everyone in fresh bait and a bit more.

Winner of the competition was Sandra O' Shea of Cobh SAC, pictured above, who had an impressive 112 fish. Second was Anthony Austin of Crosshaven SAC with 109 fish, and third, Sylvester Skowronski with 89 fish. Roll on the next light lines comp, which is being held on Sunday 5th December. If you would like to fish this event contact Cobh SAC secretary, Mary Geary on 021-4812167, or email seaangling@esatclear.ie

Another similar competition is being held on the 28th December to help raise money for the National Boat Team. If you are interested in fishing this event contact Dave Jolly on 086-2536389 or by email at davejol@eircom.net . This is being assisted by the Cork Harbour Angling Hub and the Hub's accommodation providers are offering a special accommodation package of one night bed, breakfast and evening meal for €50 per person. Now that's great value!!! If you want to avail of these deals you can make direct contact through one of the following email addresses (don't forget to quote the Irish Angling Team Fundraiser):

ardeenbandb@hotmail.com

info@bellavistahotel.ie

commodorehotel@eircom.net

Its a wrap.....

2010-11-08T17:22:00.000-08:00

Cork Harbour Boats have been winding up their season over the last few weeks. Still they have been having some superb fishing. Eoin Barry reports: "The last Dutch group of the season was The JP Team. Their team leader, Joep Pinxteren, landed a fine specimen Pollack while shadding. This superb fish weighed in at 5.7Kg. Joep also picked up this fine cod of 4.6Kg. Eventhough, the lads encountered some poor weather during their week's fishing, they had some decent ling and conger when they did get the opportunity to fish outside the harbour. The group were joined by Michael Hennessey of the South Western Fisheries Board on their last day. Mike showed his expertise by landing two fine blonde rays of 10Kg and 8 Kg respectively. The best of these fish is pictured here."

Well done Eoin, we look forward to some more fine reports next season. Incidentally, that specimen pollack is the fourth one from Cork Harbour this year. Not a bad return at all!!!

If you'd fancy fishing on either one of the two boats of the Cork Harbour Boats Fleet, the Cuan Ban and the Castlemaiden, contact Eoin through their website at http://www.corkharbourboats.com/

Autumn Seatrout

2010-11-08T16:57:00.001-08:00

Now that we are at the back end of the season, saltwater fly fishing expert, Cmdr. Richie Ryan is getting in some fishing of his own. Richie has had a busy season guiding and offering tuition in saltwater fly fishing. However, during a recent foray on his own, Richie managed this superb seatrout on the fly. This was caught on one of Richie's secret marks in the upper reaches of Cork Harbour.

Richie isn't the only one; some of Cobh SAC's members have been targeting the seatrout aswell. This fine fish over was caught by Cobh SAC member, Tom Hoyne; again at a well known upper harbour mark. This fish was caught on a Viva Maria Parade.

If you fancy a day out with Richie you can contact him through his website at http://www.corkbass.com/

National Fish-Offs

2010-11-04T03:26:00.000-07:00

The National Fish Offs were held over the recent Bank Holiday weekend in Cork Harbour. This was the culmination of the process to select a boat angling team to represent Ireland in the World Championships in 2011. Thirty two anglers participated, twelve of these qualifying through the Boat Masters and the remaining anglers coming from the pool of top twenty anglers who qualified from last year's event.

The weather over the event was glorious, particularly on the Sunday with blue skies, calm seas and mild temperatures. Not that it would have mattered in any event as the competition is held entirely within the confines of the harbour targeting the hoardes of whiting and codling. As it turned out the codling didn't oblige but the whiting certainly did, as did the dabs, pouting, and other species. On the first day over 2,000 fish were caught but this was eclipsed on the Sunday when a massive 4,000 fish were caught. Over the two days the breakdown of fish caught were 3,229 whiting, 1,777 dabs, 573 poor cod, 89 codling, 33 lsd, 14 coalfish, 66 scad, 38 tub gurnard, 23 grey gurnard, 70 plaice, 5 dragonet, 91 pouting, 1 weever fish, 3 flounder, 2 scorpion fish, 1 turbot and 1 thornback ray.

Well done to Dave Jolly who won the competition outright. In the placings behind him, and joining him on the National team are Terry Boyle, Myles Howell, and Pio Enright. Brian Whelan qualifies for the team automatically having won the Boat Masters. Bian also finished in the top 20 which qualifies him for the panel next year.

The event was hosted by local club Cobh SAC and they used the following four charter boats of the Cork Harbour Angling Hub fleet:

The John Boy (http://www.sea-fishing-ireland.com/)

Lee Star (http://www.anglingcharters.eu/)

Noamh Cartha (http://www.corkanglingcharters.com/)

Lagosta II (alank167@gmail.com)

Cobh SAC are now organising light line competitions for the winter months. These competitions have been hugely popular and are confined to the harbour targeting the same stamp of fish. More codling will be expected to show as there will be no bait restrictions, and anglers armed with lugworm and codling should do very well. In contrast in the fish-offs bait was supplied and was restricted to mackeral, squid, and ragworm. The first of these competitions will be held on Sunday 7th November and the second on Sunday 5th December. For more information contact Cobh SAC secretary on 021-4812167.

There will also be a similar competition on 28th December to raise funds for the Irish Team. This is being organised by the Irish Team themselves and promises over €2,000 in prizes. A similar competition was held last year which proved very successful. Contact Dave Jolly at 086-2536389.

The last of the summer wine....

2010-10-20T13:52:00.001-07:00

Well Autumn actually....Richie Ryan was out at the end of last week with well known bass guide and renowned salt water fly fishing expert, Jim Hendrick. In fairness to Richie, he put Jim and another client onto bass despite the difficult conditions. Not only were the tides not right but there was a stiff north easterly all day, which usually conspires to kill off the fishing. Undaunted Richie brought his guests to a few of his favoured Harbour marks and came up trumps. Here's a picture of Jim with the best fish of the day, a fine well conditioned 7lber....a superb fly caught fish!

If you'd fancy a day out with Richie check out his website for contact details at http://www.corkbass.com/

Deora De - Specimen Blonde Ray

2010-10-04T15:26:00.000-07:00

Jim Linehane, skipper of Deora De had a group from Wales out last week. He's given us the following report: "John Morgan form Port Talbot, Wales, had this fine specimen blonde ray while fishing onboard Deora De last Wednesday. This is the second time that this previously tagged blonde has been caught by an angler onboard Deora De. She was also caught on 18-9-09 by English angler, Andy King, when she weighed in at 20.25lbs.

One year later the fish weighed in at just over 26lbs. C.F.B. tag no: 32790, she was released in perfect condition to fight another day. Hope to see her soon."

The Welsh crew also had a specimen mackeral of 2lb 5oz. Looks like they had good fishing allround.

Checks out Jim's webpage at http://www.charterangling.com/

Skipper Diaries - Osprey II

2010-10-04T14:26:00.001-07:00

Skipper Pat Condon of the Osprey II reports that fishing over the last few weeks has been up and down. However, on one trip he had a few blue shark and a number of specimen garfish. Here's a fine action shot of one of those blues going back!

On every other trip they've managed some fine codling. Here's a pic of one of those rock cod found on the eastern marks around Power Head. Pat later told me that the fish came in at over 16lbs. Its not bad fishing all the same!

Although, this is Pat's second season skippering the Osprey II he brings a wealth of experience to the table having represented Ireland at boat angling and captaining the team on several occasions. If you'd fancy a day out with Pat why not contact him through his website on http://www.atlantic-charters.net/

Skipper Diaries - Cork Harbour Boats

2010-10-03T04:15:00.000-07:00

The Cork Harbour Boat fleet has been busy this last month. Cork Harbour Boats consist of the Cuan Ban and the Castlemaiden. These boats are skippered by the Barry family with John, Finbar, and Eoin sharing the honours. John & Finbar are definitely the most experienced skippers in the Harbour having operated Cork Harbour Boats now for over 40 years. As you can imagine they have a wealth of knowledge regarding the fishing inside and outside the harbour. Their notebook with fishing marks is worth its weight in gold!!! Have a look at their website at http://www.corkharbourboats.com/ for more information.

This knowledge was put to good use this September with the Barrys catering for groups from Holland, Denmark, aswell as several local groups. Indeed, it is worth saying that many of the Dutch groups have been returning year on year, with some coming since the 1970's.

Eoin reports that fishing has been very good with good conger, cod, ling, pollack, and whiting. The Danish group had excellent fishing, finishing up their week with over 24 species. That's some going!!!

There were many notable fish caught. The pic over is one of a fine specimen blonde ray. The previously tagged fish weighed in at 12.2kg and was caught by Peter Schaap of Holland.

Also caught that week was another fine blonde of 9kg. This was caught by Wim van der Zijden, also a member of that Dutch group.

There was also some fine fish caught on the outer harbour reefs. Two conger over the 14kg mark were boated. A fine ling of 9kg was caught by Arnold of the Donker group, pictured above, and also pictured above, is a 6kg ling, caught by Derek from the Amersfoot group.

The Irish lads weren't left out of the action either. Here's a picture of young Dylan Geary with a fine pollack of 10lbs. That's a fine pollack by any standards!!!

Just before going to press, rumour had it that the Barry's had boated a specimen pollack. Specimen pollack are few and far between. Well done lads!!!

Once more details emerge, we'll post an entry here. Watch this space!

If you'd fancy fishing Cork Harbour, the Cork Harbour Boat fleet is worth considering. Contact, John, Finbar, or Eoin through their website on http://www.corkharbourboats.com/

Skipper Diaries - Wreckhunter

2010-10-02T12:34:00.000-07:00

Skipper Joe Lynch reports good fishing over the latter end of September aboard Wreckhunter. Two weekends ago he had a party down east on a favourite mark of his. The lads had a great day with good cod fishing. Best of these cod was this fine fish pictured over.

Last weekend he brought a party out to the Smith's. The gang had over 20 conger of the stamp of this fish over. One of the anglers, targeting a large conger, put on a whole mackeral flapper and was rewarded with this fine ling.

Joe is hoping that this calibre of fishing continues for the next few weeks. It'll be a fine way to wrap up the season.

If you'd fancy a day out fishing on the Wreckhunter, you can contact Joe through his website at http://www.wreckhunter.ie/

Skipper's Diaries - Bella Vista Self-Drive Fleet

2010-10-02T04:18:00.000-07:00

Kevin Murphy of Bella Vista boats reports that he has had some very satisfied clients in September. Most days the fleet have been able to get out as the weather has been reasonably good. The fishing has been quite good aswell with many boats reporting good catches of blonde ray from the Turbot Bank, with many fine specimens amongst them. That's good news to hear, especially as it had been reported that the Bank had been trawled and that the skipper in question had landed several boxes of ray. The blonde ray are localised to this spot and are very susceptible to overfishing. Indeed, all small boat anglers have been encouraged to return their catch and most abide by this voluntary code of conduct. Kevin also reports that the bass fishing has been quite good aswell. All this has been good news for the Cork Small Boats Festival which was held at the end of the month. Indeed, fishing had held up for this week and a record number of species had been landed. Congratulations must go to regular contributor Jim Clohessy and his crew onboard Skua who won the event with 31 species. That is a record in itself. In all over 50 species of fish were landed. Jim will give a full account in due course. In the meantime, if you are interested in the results have a look here http://www.skuaangling.net/.

If you would like to avail of a day's angling onboard one of the boats of the Bella Vista fleet why not contact Kevin at http://www.bassfishingireland.com/

Bella Vista - Tight Lines Bass Challenge 2010

2010-09-30T15:02:00.001-07:00

Jim Clohessy, organiser of the Cork Small Boats Festival, reports on a unique bass angling festival which was organised through the Bella Vista House Hotel recently: "I got involved with the administration of this Festival, which was held from the 6th to the 11th of September. This was the inaugural event of what is planned to be a bigger event next year. It is organised by the Bella Vista Hotel and Tight Lines (a Dutch angling travel company). Basically twelve Dutch anglers arrived on the Saturday beforehand for seven nights and would have a bass fishing competition over four days. Twelve anglers is the max that can be accommodated comfortably in the self-drive fleet."

"The competition was fished on a catch, photo, and release basis. The winner would be determined by the best six fish in length over four days for each angler. Simple but effective!"

"The guys chilled out on arrival on Saturday evening and were chomping at the bit to get out Sunday. The plan was that some of us locals would go out for a few hours with the competitors to give them some pointers as to where they might catch some bass. We took a spin around and managed to catch some fine fish so things looked bright for the week ahead."

"The competitors decided they would book a charter for one of the non-competition days of the week. Looking at the forecast it was clear that Monday would be one of the poorer days in small boat terms so they took a charter and fished for a variety of species on Monday."

"The competition proper started proper on Tuesday and there was a good return of fish almost all succumbed to hard and soft plastics. Wednesday was a tough day in bass terms, strange considering the huge spring tides. The anglers had a superb day on Thursday. Friday tested the best with some inclement weather but the competition was on a knife edge. The competition was won by George de Bruyker with a fine total of 3480mm of bass, his best fish was a lovely bass of 660mm. the best fish of the week was a sturdy 730mm."

"The winner took home an all expenses paid trip back to Cobh next year with the others getting rods and reels and some splendid trophies. It is planned to run the event next year over a series of weekends to accommodate demand."

If you'd fancy fishing on one of the boats of the Bella Vista self drive fleet why not contact Kevin at http://www.bassfishingireland.com/

Congratulations must also go to Jim Clohessy and his crew aboard Skua who this week won the prestigious Small Boats Festival (http://www.skuaangling.net/). Hopefully Jim will give us a full report in the near future.

Skipper's Diaries - The John-Boy

2010-09-22T12:53:00.000-07:00

The John-Boy was once again the top boat in the 2010 Cobh International Deep Sea Angling Festival. Skipper Donal Geary sent us on this report:

"The Cobh four day Festival once again proved a fantastic success. Eventhough, the entries were down in the low fifties, competition was very tense with anglers from Holland, Germany, Wales, England, Scotland and all parts of Ireland taking part.

On Monday morning the boats departed Kennedy Pier at 10am in excellent conditions to fish the Smiths area. Fishing was very slow with boats moving about in search of fish. Best of the day was Gerard Richardson with a hard earned 350 pts. Best on the John-Boy was 250 pts.

On Tuesday the fishing area was changed to east of Power Head. This proved to be the best move of the week for the John-Boy. Having dropped anchor at 11am we were fishing the last hour of the ebb. The fishing in that hour was slow with only 4 conger landed. We awaited anxiously for the tide to turn and an improvement in the fishing.

Suddenly, as if turning on a light, the conger came on the feed and all hell broke loose. The fish were coming over the gunwhales 3 and 4 at a time. With all fish needing to be netted, weighed onboard, and recorded yours truly was a spent force by the time the lines up call came at 4:45pm. We ended up with 67 conger to 12kg, a number of pollack, ling, cod, and dogs. The best on the boat and winner for the day was Danny Kane with 835 pts, followed closely by Frank Cronin with 800 pts, also onboard.

On Wednesday we had a well earned rest.

On Thursday morning we again headed east in search of the same stamp of fishing as Tuesday. Alas, as anybody in fishing will tell you, no two days are the same. Again after a slow start things improved by early afternoon. We managed to boat 42 conger with the most falling to local angler, Richie Fortune. This helped Richie to finish joint winner of the day with 555 pts.

On Friday the weather took a change for the worst. All boats were forced to fish nearer to Roches Point. Fishing was very slow all day with the best falling to another local angler, Paul Tennant, with 335 pts. Best on John-Boy was Paul Evans of Wales with 285 pts which was enough to give him 3rd place on the day.

A great evening was had by all in the Commodore Hotel later on with the presentation of prizes and dinner going well into Saturday morning. Worthy winner of the event was Danny Kane with 1830 pts. Best boat went to the John-Boy for the second successive year." (Pictured above left is Skipper Donie Geary with the prize).

If you'd fancy a day's fishing on the John-Boy why not contact Donie. Details are on his website here http://www.sea-fishing-ireland.com/

Cobh International Deep Sea Angling Festival

2010-09-15T15:53:00.000-07:00

In the week just gone Cobh SAC hosted a very successful deep sea angling festival out of Cork Harbour. This was the 44th year that this event has been run and, as per its usual format, the fishing was over four days. 50 anglers from Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, Holland, and Germany participated.

This year the fishing was excellent. Over 1,000 fish were landed over the 4 days. These included 468 conger, 312 pollack, 76 lesser spotted dogfish, 51 ling, 46 pouting, 35 cod, 22 grey gurnard, 11 cuckoo wrasse, 6 coalfish, 3 bullhuss, and 1 garfish. Biggest fish of the week was a 17kg conger, caught by Cork angler, Bob Crebor.

As per usual, the craic and banter during the week was excellent. Each evening the anglers retired to a suitable watering hole to chew the cud over the day's events. This proved especially popular with the foreign anglers!

The event was won by Danny Kane, from Donegal, with over 150kgs of fish. Points are awarded per kg of fish weighed. As well as the usual battery of trophies and crystal prizes, Danny also won €1,000 for first place. In second place was Paul Tennant of Cobh SAC, who won €400, and in third was Richie Fortune, also of Cobh SAC, who won €200. The Ireland B team won the team event and collected a cheque for €400.

A number of the boats from the Cork Harbour Angling Hub were used for the fishing and these included:

The John Boy, skippered by Donal Geary http://www.sea-fishing-ireland.com/

Wreckhunter, skippered by Joe Lynch http://www.wreckhunter.ie/

Cuan Ban, skippered by John Barry http://www.corkharbourboats.com/

Lee Star, skippered by Aiden Kneeshaw http://www.anglingcharters.eu/

Entries are now been taken for the 2011 Festival. If you would like more information, contact Cobh SAC club secretary, Mary Geary, at seaangling@esatclear.ie

FOR A FULL REPORT HAVE A LOOK HERE http://cobhsac.blogspot.com/2010/09/2010-festival.html

Boat Angling Ireland Meet

2010-09-02T07:09:00.001-07:00

Boat-Angling-Ireland held their annual shark meet out of Cobh this weekend . This is the second year on the trot that Cobh has been used as a base and by all accounts this year's meet was just as successful as last year's.

9 boats fished this meet, a combination of own boats and charters, and had great weather for the weekend. On the Saturday all boats headed out to that blue shark belt between 10 and 14 miles offshore and weren't disappointed. By all accounts the blues were in aggressive feeding mode. All boats had plenty of blues with an average of 5 per boat landed. Several of the blues were in excess of the 'ton' with the biggest going to 160lbs. That's some fish!

Celebrations went long into the night back on land. The lads had made the Commodore Hotel their base for the weekend and were not alone. There was another group of 24 lads there from the Dublin based Sheridan group fishing a competition for the weekend out of Cork Harbour. There were also a group of 8 Dutch lads over for the week fishing. As you imagine the craic and banter over fishing was mightly. As one local hack remarked '....you'd need a lifejacket and fishing rod just to get into the bar.'

To see the full reports on the weekend's fishing have a look here http://www.boat-angling-ireland.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=5583.

If you are interested in using the Commodore Hotel for a base you can check out rates here http://www.avvio.com/hotels/Commodore_Hotel/bookings/client.php?action=redo&form=hotel_home&SID=b542a1c132904493c95291c909fea246&ul=2

Jumbo Cod at the Kelp Beds

2010-09-02T06:31:00.000-07:00

Donie Geary, skipper of the John Boy, had a great session recently targeting cod. Donie had a group of Welsh anglers with him and took them to the kelps beds off Power Head. Boy, did they have good fishing!!! They had several boxes of red cod with a good number of the fish in double figures. Best of the bunch was this 18lber.

Later as they motored their way back to the harbour the group set about filleting the catch. When they gutted the big fish a plastic object, about the size of a pencil battery, fell out onto the deck. Turns out it was a tagging device implanted many years ago by the Marine Institute. With it came a reward of €75 for the device and €25 for the fish. That wasn't the last; on filleting one of the 12lb fish the lads discovered two wire tags in the flesh of the fish. These also carried rewards of €100 each. What a day bumper fish and bonuses to boot!!!

These devices have been forwarded to the Marine Institute and they should give very interesting information asto the movement of the cod and their life history. Once we get that info we'll blog that here. Watch this space!

If you'd like a day out on the John Boy after these lunker cod, give Donie a shout through his website at http://www.sea-fishing-ireland.com/

Wreckhunter down east....

2010-09-02T05:51:00.001-07:00

Skipper Joe Lynch, of Wreckhunter II, reports that after a number of disappointing sessions on the Ling Rocks he decided to venture down east on the grounds off Power Head and the Pollack Rock. He was rewarded as his party had some good ling to 9lbs and some fine cod to 11lb 12oz. Some lively conger were also caught and there were plenty of pollack to 8lbs falling to ragworm. Mackeral were easily caught for a change but what was less welcome were the hoardes of small coalfish that mobbed every bait put in the water. Still a great day was had by all and the weather, as can be seen by the photos, was superb.

If you'd fancy a day onboard Wreckhunter, contact Joe through his website at http://www.wreckhunter.ie/

Angelsea SAC competition....

2010-09-02T05:32:00.000-07:00

Angelsea SAC member and Cobh SAC member, Martin O' Leary reports on a great competition held by Angelsea SAC out of Crosshaven. Fishing onboard Alan Kennedy's boat, Lagosta II, the group had superb fishing with the best edible fish this fine ling, on the photo over, which came in just over 20lb. Ling of this size are rare on the reefs these days which made this catch so special.

There were also plenty of cod to double figures, including this one pictured over.

Plenty of the usual suspects, such as conger, pollack, coalies, etc.,.... were caught. All in all it was a great day out!

If you'd fancy a day's fishing onboard Lagosta II, why not contact Alan at alank167@gmail.com

Festival bait session....

2010-09-02T05:19:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday a group of Cobh SAC anglers were dispatched with instructions to catch enough mackeral for bait for the upcoming Deep Sea Angling Festival (http://cobhsac.blogspot.com/2010/07/less-than-2-months-to-go.html). An order was given for 1,000 mackeral!!! That would give each competing angler a bag of 5 mackeral for each day's fishing.

However, Cobh SAC member, Timmy Leahy, just wasn't paying heed to the task at hand. He just kept catching cod....and good ones at that!

All joking aside, cod turned up in great numbers. All were of the stamp shown in the photo. As you can see from Timmy' smile, he wasn't complaining.

There was as many cod caught as there were mackeral and, although, the quota wasn't reached there were a couple of fine boxes of fish allround. All Cork Harbour skippers are now reporting that a bigger stamp of cod are turning up than the small codling that were in plague proportions earlier in the year. These cod are showing up on all the usual reef marks and in good numbers too. Hopefully, this is a sign of even better cod fishing to come. As regards the mackeral, the Cobh SAC anglers can always top up on mackeral the next day!

The Yanks are coming....

2010-09-02T05:05:00.001-07:00

Well they've actually been, and gone....but they had a great day's fishing while they were here all thanks to Cork Harbour bass guide, Richie Ryan. The group were under a tight schedule as they had to be back for midday. Nevertheless, Richie made sure thay had fish.

Fishing at first at the Harbour mouth, the group had plenty of mackeral and codling. The Yanks would have been content at that but Richie brought them to one his favourite bass marks and despite the neap tides and less than favourable conditions he managed to winkle out a nice plump 3lber for one of the group.

Later during the week, Richie came up trumps again. This time he had renowned bass angling guru, Jim Hendrick, and French bass specialist, Jean Louis Max, in his company. Details of the catch, methods, and marks have been kept secret. There may be an angling magazine article to come from this one? Well done, Richie!

If you'd fancy a trip out with Richie, why not contact him through his website at http://www.corkbass.com/

Conger to 40lb....

2010-08-25T15:26:00.000-07:00

Donie Geary, skippering the John Boy, had Cobh SAC out with him this Sunday. Weather conditions were superb and taking full advantage Donie decided to take them to an offshore wreck. Donie headed 11 miles south east of Roches Point and positioned the John Boy over the wreck of a WWI U-Boat. Things got off to a slow start, however. It was a struggle first to get 3 dozen mackeral for bait. They then drifted the U-Boat three times without a bite. Eventually, Donie decided to drop anchor to see if the bottom fishing was any better. After about 20 minutes the first fish was landed, a conger of 20lbs. They had steady fishing for the next three hours, finishing up with over 30 conger, one of which was touching the 40lb mark....a near specimen! However, with only one ling and no pollack for their efforts Donie suspects that the wreck was heavily netted recently.

Donie also reports that he had great fishing during the week. Nearly every day his party had over a box of cod to 8lbs drifting inshore reefs quite close to Roches Point. There'll be no shortage of cod and chips for the next while in the Geary household.

If you'd fancy a trip out on the John Boy check out Donie's website at http://www.sea-fishing-ireland.com/.

Mackeral trip surprise....

2010-08-25T14:49:00.000-07:00

Jim Linehan, onboard Deora De, reports on a surprise catch on a mackeral trip. With the mackeral in plentiful supply again, Jim has been busy with evening trips targeting mackeral. During the week, one of his regular customers, Linda Lee, caught a specimen pouting while feathering for mackeral. Now that is unusual! Well done, Linda!! The fish weighed 3.75lbs....a hefty pouting at that.

The group had plenty of mackeral, but also picked up other species, such as red and grey gurnard, cod, pollack, and even ling. All on unbaited mackeral feathers! Even Jim was surprised, especially by the ling, as they were fishing a mark close inshore. They must have just hit it right, as by the end of the night they even had more pollack and cod than mackeral, and the mackeral were by no means scarce!!!

If you would fancy a trip out in Deora De why not check out Jim's website on http://www.charterangling.com/

3 specimens in one day....

2010-08-25T13:56:00.001-07:00

Well it really was a red letter day for Martyn Rayner recently. Last week Martyn and fishing buddy, Seirt, managed three specimens in one day fishing aboard Martyn's boat, Screemin' Reels. Martyn takes up the story himself '....well the day started as a hunt for ray and huss, but rather turned out a flatty marathon. It was a cracking days fishing to say the least. We initially headed out to new ground near the Smiths and I soon had the first specimen onboard; a lesser spotted dogfish. This was much to the annoyance of Siert, as he couldn't get one over the magic mark, eventhough we had plenty to 3lbs. As we still had no ray a move was in order. We shifted to an inshore mark, where we decided to drift. Here we picked up plenty of grey gurnard, but still no ray.
We then moved to an area east of Trabolgan and again started to try for thornies. Still no joy but I picked up a nice plaice. This was soon followed by the second specimen of the day, a nice dab. We started to pick up some more nice plaice around the 2-3lb mark, and decided to continue fishing for flats. Seirt sent down his match bait special, and just as I said it was time to move, he said, "hang on whilst I just bring in this specimen plaice." Although, intended as a pun, he wasn't joking either! When I looked around, his 30lb class rod was bent over, and I could see long powerful runs. I grabbed the net and in went a lovely big plaice. Weighed onshore it tipped the scales at 4.15lbs. Seirt was a happy camper, as were we both with three specimens onboard!!! We then decided to move back to the Harbour, to try again for ray and huss, but as the flood started and still no joy, we called it a day. These days come very rarely and boy did we enjoy it.'

The specimen tally was a specimen dab at 1.55lbs, a specimen plaice at 4.15lbs, and a specimen LSD at 3.75lbs. What a great result! It looks like the lads on Screemin' Reels will be once more the ones to watch in the Cork Small Boats Festival http://www.skuaangling.net/

Specimen Red Gurnard

2010-08-19T14:04:00.001-07:00

Skipper Jim Linehan of Deora De has got in on the act this time landing this fine specimen red gurnard of 2.2lbs. Jim just happened to be demonstrating to his clients techniques they could use to target bottom dwellers like haddock, whiting and gurnard when this beautiful red gurnard took a fancy to his offering. What a beautiful fish! Well done Jim!!!

Jim reports that the fishing is still excellent. He had various parties out this week and there were still plenty of cod, haddock, whiting, ling, pouting, poor cod, red gurnard, grey gurnard, tub gurnard, pollack, coalies, wrasse, doggies, conger, etc.,.... The most noticeable difference he reports is that the mackeral are now solid for the first time this year!

If you would like a trip out with Jim on Deora De why not contact him through http://www.charterangling.com/.

Cork Harbour Deep Sea Angling Championships

2010-08-16T04:13:00.000-07:00

Monkstown SAC recently hosted the 2010 Cork Harbour Angling Championships. The event was a great success. The Harbour Championships is an annual event where all the Harbour angling clubs compete against each other. Its much looked forward to and is extremely competitive. This year the Angelsea A team, consisting of Tony Cotter, Kevin Cotter, Ian Murphy, and Finbar O' Sullivan, took the honours and held off stiff competition from 16 other teams. In second place were the Crosshaven A team, with Crosshaven C a close third.

In the individual rankings, Henry Ross of Crosshaven came first and is the Harbour Champion for 2010. Well done Henry! In second place was Ruud Boelhouwer also representing Crosshaven. Third was Ken Murphy of Anglesea. Very little separated the remaining anglers in the top ten spots reflecting the stiff competition for top places. In all 66 anglers fished the event and, despite the competiveness, a great day was had by all.

The quality of the fishing was superb. The weather was very kind, which allowed all boats the opportunity to fish the outer harbour grounds. Many boats ventured to the Smiths, with a few heading down east to Power Head and the Pollack Rock buoy. This was reflected in the fish catches with 1,121 fish caught and over 14 species landed. This gave an average of 17 fish per angler, a great return by any means. Pollack predominated the catches, followed by conger, and then whiting, lsd's, cod, pouting, ling, ballen wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, grey gurnard, coalfish, dabs, bull huss, and haddock. A great selection!

Many thanks to John Martin, Denis O' Byrne, Mary Geary and the crew at Monkstown SAC whose organisation beforehand and on the day was superb.

This annual event is a great competition and a great day out. It is, however, restricted to members of the Harbour angling clubs. All these clubs are very progressive and organise a full calender of matches fished inside and outside the harbour. Some also have a shore match calender. If you would like to join one of these clubs you should contact the club secretary. All new members are very welcome. Details are as follows:

AGHADA SAC, Donal Domeney, E-mail: ddomeney@gmail.com

ANGELSEA SAC, Pete Davis, E-mail: angelseasac@gmail.com
CARRIGALINE SAC, Flor Kent, E-mail: crossersec@hotmail.com
CLOYNE SAC, Maria Lewis, E-mail: jdom@eircom.net
COBH SAC, Mary Geary, E-mail: seaangling@esatclear.ie
CROSSHAVEN SAC, Jackie O' Keeffe, E-mail: crossersec@hotmail.com
EAST FERRY SAC, Des O' Connell, E-mail: desfishing@yahoo.ie
MONKSTOWN SAC, Aiden O' Byrne, E-mail: aidenobyrne@hotmail.com

Great season out of Ballycotton....

2010-08-16T03:48:00.000-07:00

Fishing the eastern end of the hub's fishing grounds, Colm Sliney, aboard the Sarah Marie reports that the season has been excellent so far. Based in Ballycotton, Colm can have clients out on prime fishing grounds within 20 minutes of leaving the pier. Colm reports that they are having superb fishing so far with an excellent stamp of ling and cod in particular.

If you'd fancy a trip out with Colm on the Sarah Marie why not contact him here http://www.ballycottonangling.com/

Big Bass on plugs and fly....

2010-08-15T12:37:00.001-07:00

Cork Harbour salt water fly fishing specialist, Richie Ryan, has been getting some superb bass lately. Across is a magnificent 12lb bass caught on an angel kiss lure recently. Unfortunately, Richie did not have a certified scales with him at the time and will not be claiming an official specimen fish. Richie was more anxious to return the fish alive. Well done, Richie!!!

The dimensions of the fish can clearly be seen in the picture. Measured up against Richie's salmon spinning rod the fish is approximately 84cms in length. According to the UK B.A.S.S. tape a fish of that length would weigh 13lb 8oz. Wow!!!

Cian Ryan, Richie's son, is one of the people benefiting from Richie's expert tuition. Cian is no mean angler himself having clinced the Munster Juvenile Deep Sea Angling title in 2009. However, this was a milestone for Cian being his first salt water fly caught fish. Hence, the broad smile.

Another group of anglers who have benefited from Richie's guiding and fly fishing expertise were from Sky Sports Italy. They were recently filming a clip to be aired on Sky Sports on fly fishing within Cork Harbour. Richie brought them to one of his favourite marks that produces excellent pollack fishing on the fly. In Richie's own words they 'murdered' the fish. I'm sure it will make for interesting TV viewing.

If you would like to book a day out with Richie why not contact him here http://www.corkbass.com/

Specimen Tub Gurnard

2010-08-12T01:59:00.000-07:00

Fishing over the last few weeks has been hectic, so much so that it has been very hard to get any reports from any of the charter skippers as they have been too busy!!! One report that has been logged has been of the capture of a specimen tub gurnard. Tub gurnard are common enough in Cork waters but are not as commonplace as grey and red gurnard. Their average size tends to be small aswell and by no means do they reach the large proportions of tubs found in northern and western waters. That's why a catch a specimen tub is so unusual for this area. A fine 5.5lbs tub gurnard was caught recently by Paulina Turcza fishing with Jim Linehane aboard Deora De. Paulina, from Cork city, is a regular aboard Deora De and on that day herself and her companions were targeting white fish on a mark close to the Smiths. Upto that point they had plenty of fine cod and ling, but this surely was the highlight of the day out! Paulina certainly looks pleased!!!

Jim also reports that the fishing is still on fire at the moment. On Thursday he had a group of novice teenagers out in sloppy conditions on a mark east of Power Head. Despite their inexperience the group still landed over 60 conger between them! Another group had a great mixed bag of species with conger, cod, coalfish, pollack, ling, poor cod, pouting, red gurnard, grey gurnard, tub gurnard, haddock, whiting, lesser spotted dogfish, and bullhuss. According to Jim, the whiting are still in plague proportions.

While the weather is still so good you should consider a trip out with one of the hub's boats. If you fancy a trip out on the Deora De you can contact Jim on http://www.charterangling.com/

Big Bass show in Cork Harbour

2010-08-11T14:34:00.000-07:00

There have been a number of good catches of large bass reported in recent weeks. Internationally renowned bass angler and guide, Jim Hendrick had one fantastic session. Jim, from Wexford, was holidaying in the general area with his family. He took the opportunity to shore fish the harbour. Jim's superior waterskills definitely came into play as, fishing an untried shore location, Jim had several fish over 8lbs, with two over 10lbs. One of these was 84cm. Spectacular fishing!!! Even more spectacular was that all fish were taken on the fly!!!

Jim wasn't the only one to score with a double. Myles Kelly of the CFB went big bass hunting with Pat O' Shea, of Cobh SAC. Myles thought Pat was joking when he advised him to gear up for big fish. He wasn't laughing, though, after landing this fine double, weighing in at 10lb 8oz. He was smiling, however, and well pleased he should be.

If you have landed a fine bass recently why not send us on the details and a pic to cobhsac09@yahoo.com

EFSA storm Cork Harbour

2010-07-22T02:18:00.001-07:00

After minding yachts for the duration of 'Cork' week Donie Geary, the skipper of 'John Boy' got back to the serious side of fishing. Donie filed the following report with us '....after spending the last week chasing yachts around Cork Harbour it was nice to return to the more relaxed sport of sea angling. Last weekend we had 35 anglers from all over Ireland and the UK. All were members of EFSA and were fishing their two day competition out of Cobh. Boat hire and local organising was done by Mary Geary of Geary Angling services who also supplied the bait for the two days. Four boats were hired; these were the Lagosta II, Naomh Cartha, Cuan Ban, and the John Boy.

On Saturday the weather was favourable and all boats went to the Smiths. The first 3 hours were fished on the drift and the second 3 hours were at anchor. We started our drift north of the Cork buoy and as the wind was from the South West we were covering a mixture of rough and sandy ground. The anglers were concentrating on species as this gave them most points. We landed ling, pollack, coalies, grey gurnard, red gurnard, cuckoo wrasse, pouting and some fine haddock. At 2pm we went to anchor and after a short time we realised that the conger were not co-operating so everyone changed to the lighter tackle landing a lot of pouting, pollack and dogs. One angler on the boat managed 12 species.

On Sunday the anglers arrived at the pier to strengthening southerly winds and torrential rain. A decision was made to fish inside the harbour.

After catching some fresh mackeral we went to anchor on a mark known as 'Deep Hole.' Right from the start we had a steady flow of good whiting, codling, dabs and of course the old reliable doggies. About half way through the 6 hour session I suggested to the anglers that if they were prepared to take a bit of a battering we could get some good conger under Roches Point lighthouse.

This proved to be a very good move as we landed 16 conger (to 20lbs), several pollack, cod and doggies to end the weekend with some very happy but saturated anglers.

One interesting feature of the day's fishing with 6 anglers all fishing for conger, was that each one of the 16 were caught by the 3 anglers on the port side of the boat. One angler had 7, with another 5, and one 4. Fishing never ceases to amaze.

This group enjoyed the weekend so much that they have booked for a return trip in September and some have booked for the 44th Cobh International Sea Angling Festival, which starts on Sept 6th.'

If you would like to fish with Donie onboard the John Boy you can contact Donie through his website at http://www.sea-fishing-ireland.com/

For more information on the Cobh International Deep Sea Angling Festival see here http://corkharbouranglinghub.blogspot.com/2010/07/less-than-2-months-to-go2000-in-cash.html and here http://cobhsac.blogspot.com/2010/07/less-than-2-months-to-go.html

Ray action on Osprey II

2010-07-21T12:23:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Pat Condon had a group of English lads over for the weekend. Fishing aboard Osprey II they had four good days working the marks both inside and outside Cork Harbour. On the Smiths they had plenty of the usual suspects with haddock, ling, conger, pollack, cod, coalfish, etc.,.... However, it was while fishing an old mark of Pat's at the mouth of the Harbour that they really did well. Fishing on the ebb they had plenty of thornback rays which is a welcome sight to see. Thornbacks have been scarce in the Harbour in recent years due to the pressures of commercial fishing but its great to see numbers bouncing back, but that wasn't all; mixed in with the thornies were a few homlyn ray and an undulate ray! Now that is great to see!

Defence Forces Master Angler

2010-07-16T07:46:00.000-07:00

The Defence Forces Sea Angling Club recently held their Master Angler competition out of Cobh. This was a three day event and the lads were blessed with fine weather. In all 32 anglers were competing and fished onboard four of the hub's charter angling boats; the John Boy, the Osprey II, the Lagosta II, and Wreckhunter.

The fishing was excellent with over 18 species recorded including cod, pollack, ling, coalfish, pouting, poorcod, ballan wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, dogfish, whiting, haddock, red gurnard, grey gurnard, tub gurnard, garfish, megrim, scad, and conger. Indeed the winner, Mick Barry, had 148 fish over the three days. That's some fishing!!! Second was Phil Barry with 102 fish, and third was Micky Moore with 80 fish. The team event was won by the Dubs, but the Cork lads gave them a good run for their money.

Best fish was a 94cm ling. Mick Barry reports that the best rigs he found were the shop bought variety from Shamrock Tackle and plain simple homemade traces. For some of these lads it was their second Defence Force competition out of Cobh in less than a month. The last time round the fishing was excellent again (http://corkharbouranglinghub.blogspot.com/2010/05/army-master-angler-championships.html). Hopefully, it won't be too long before all the lads are back down once more!

If you would like to book a trip out with Donie Geary in the John Boy have a look here http://www.sea-fishing-ireland.com/. If you'd fancy going out on the Osprey II you can contact Pat Condon through his website here http://www.atlantic-charters.net/. Joe Lynch, skipper of Wreckhunter, can be contacted here http://www.wreckhunter.ie/ and Alan Kennedy of Lagosta II can be contacted through his email address at alank167@gmail.com.

World Shore Team Fundraiser

2010-07-16T06:04:00.000-07:00

For those of you who like your shorefishing, there's an interesting competition coming up next month. The team members of the Nation Shore Team are organising a fund raising competition on Youghal beach on Saturday 7th August. Fishing is from 9pm to 1am in the morning. The fishing should be very interesting as plenty of small eyed ray would be expected at this time of year. Bass should also make an appearance, and recent reports suggest that they are still catching codling off the beach. There will be 2 to 3 zones, depending on the number of entries, with optional pairs and optional pools. The match will be pre-entry and will carry penn points (Sea Angler). If you are interested in fishing this, you can contact the captain of the Irish shore team, J. P. Molloy, on 087 - 7946518.

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2010-07-15T13:56:00.000-07:00

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Giant Bass from a sheltered Harbour mark

2010-07-15T03:18:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest bass from Cork Harbour in years was recently caught by well known Cork angler, Tony Tait. Tony is well known in the small boats circle, but tries his hand at shore fishing aswell and it was from a harbour shore spot that he caught this beauty. Tony had planned a offshore session on his Warrior 175 but was put off by the strong SW winds that kicked up at the start of last weekend. Instead, Tony opted to fish one of his back-up shore marks in the harbour. Using crab for bait and a simple one hook rig Tony didn't have to wait long before he was into this monster. Tony did expect to hook up a bass but not one of this size!!! Wow, its huge. Well done, Tony. The fish registered 6.36kg on Tony's certified scales, thats over 14lbs in old money. The fish had a length of 83.5cm and a girth of 49.5cm; what a fish!

When Tony did eventually get offshore his run of luck continued. Tony managed a fine specimen megrim, pictured over. Some buggers have all the luck!!!

Tony is a regular competitor in the Cork Small Boats Festival and should be in the final shakeup again this year. For more information on the Small Boats Festival have a look here http://www.skuaangling.net/.

This fantastic story was forwarded by another well known Cork angler, Kevin Murphy of Bellavista Boats. Thanks Kevin. Kevin has a fine fleet of Warrior 175's for hire. If you would like more information on these self-drive boats have a look here http://www.bassfishingireland.com/.

Less than 2 months to go....€2000 in cash prizes!!!

2010-07-10T08:23:00.000-07:00

There are €2000 in cash prizes to be won in this year's Cobh International Deep Sea Angling Festival. That's on top of the usual array of crystal prizes. In fact the total prize fund now stands at over €7,500. If you haven't booked in for this event, you should seriously think about giving it a shot, especially as the fishing out of Cork Harbour this year has been so good. The Festival starts on Monday 6th September and runs over 4 days concluding on Friday 10th September.

The fishing over the years at this event has been excellent. It is a unique competition in that points are scored mainly by weight. This is a throw back to the format of old competitions prior to the introduction of conservation in the '70's. In fact Cobh SAC were one of the first clubs to pioneer competitions run under a conservation format. Nevertheless, this competition is the nearest you'll get to the old competitions of yesteryear. The fish are still returned, mind!!! However, they are weighed onboard and recorded to the nearest 0.5kg. Points are awarded by kg and per fish. As a result many of the competitors concentrate on fishing for conger and quite hefty scores can be notched up as the average conger in these parts weigh between 10 and 20 kgs. The heaviest fish last year was a 15kg conger, but there were many of similar size. In prior years they have been even heavier. Here's a picture of Cobh SAC member, Richie Fortune, with one that weighed over 20kgs.

It's not all conger, though, and quality cod, ling, and pollack abound. Indeed, tactics come into play and many a previous winner has concentrated on gilling for pollack for the week.

What marks this competition out, though, is the banter and fun to be had during the week. Needless to say it doesn't just end in the boats, but carries on in the various watering holes that all competitors retire to from the pier. Its that mix of quality fishing and craic that has made this such a successful event over the years. Indeed, the competition is in its 44th year now and many of the international anglers from England, Scotland, Wales, Germany, Belgium, and Holland have been returning year in, year out.

The beauty about Cork Harbour, aswell, is that in the event of inclement weather there are still productive venues that can be fished. Its definitely one to mark in your calendar. If you are interested in fishing this Festival you can contact Cobh SAC Club secretary, Mary Geary, on 021 - 4812167 for more information, or download the entry forms at http://www.flickr.com/photos/cobhsac/. Don't delay, book today!!!

(There's a small bit more info here http://cobhsac.blogspot.com/)

Mumbles Motor Boat & Fishing Club visit Cobh

2010-07-07T15:26:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend a number of the 300 strong Mumbles Motor Boat and Fishing Club visited Cobh. The group stayed at the Bellavista and fished with Pat Condon onboard the Osprey II. Unfortunately, the weather had deteriorated and the fishing was quite mixed. The group were happy with their fishing, though, and managed to bag a few species that they wouldn't encounter while fishing South Wales. During the week Pat had better fishing on the reefs south west of the Smiths. Pat reports that they had plenty of quality conger, ling, pollack, and coalies.

If you fancy a day's fishing aboard Osprey II, contact Pat through his website on http://www.atlantic-charters.net/

Liner passengers sample Cork Harbour fishing...

2010-07-07T14:44:00.000-07:00

Passengers from the Crown Princess tried out the angling in Cork Harbour during the liner's recent visit. The Crown Princess is one of the bigger liners that visit Cobh every Summer, with a gross tonnage of 113,000 tons and carrying 3,600 passengers. The Gilliland and Brown families from High Point, North Carolina, USA made the most of their stopover and booked the Deora De and the Leestar for a bit of fishing. Jim Linehan, skippering aboard Deora De, took them to a mark just a few miles off the Point. Jim was anxious that they get the best out of their limited time, as they were subject to boarding time limits on the liner. After a few drifts they had managed a good selection of pollack, poor cod, grey gurnard, cod, mackeral, launce, and a bullhuss! Due to weather and time constraints, Jim decided to move into the Harbour Rock to try for some conger. The family were anxious to catch a few conger as these were an unknown species to them, but while planning the Cobh leg of their trip they had become aware of their availability. They weren't to be disappointed, as Jim put them on the right spot. Over the course of an hour they had plenty of conger. Thirteen year old Emily Gilliland rightly got the knack for it, landing 6 fine congers herself!

Jim was out again over the weekend and had a gang from "City Bounds" bar in Togher on Saturday and the Cork Bon Secours Angling Club on the Sunday. On Saturday the fishing was excellent. While drifting over the Smiths the group managed to bag themselves cod, pollack, mackeral, and ling. In the afternoon they went to anchor to fish the flood tide for conger. Sport was hectic with over 40 conger landed to over 30lbs. Other species added were poor cod, pouting, cuckoo wrasse, coalies, and grey gurnard.

If you fancy a day out with Jim onboard Deora De, contact him through his website at http://www.charterangling.com/

Bass fishing aboard Seahawk...

2010-07-07T14:13:00.000-07:00

Richie Ryan reports that bass fishing within Cork Harbour over the last few weeks has been fairly good. Richie now operates Ireland's first licensed salt water fly fishing charter boat. Last weekend initially proved tough enough with the strong winds. The winds were too strong to fly fish effectively. Instead Richie brought his clients to a more sheltered spot were he advised them to use surface plugs as an alternative. They were rewarded! Several bass were landed. The picture above is of South African, Daryn McArthur, with a fine surface lure caught bass. Would you believe that this was Daryn's first saltwater caught bass. Richie's clients were gobsmacked at the ferocity of the surface attacks on the lures. Many fish missed at the first attempt! One of his clients remarked that he naively thought that this kind of action could only be got in the Tropics: well there you go! If you fancy booking Richie for a bass hunt, you can contact him through his website on http://www.corkbass.com/.

Specimen Coalfish

2010-06-30T16:46:00.000-07:00

Cobh SAC held the first of their Master Boat Angler competitions this Saturday. Fishing aboard the Naomh Cartha, club member, Sandra O' Shea, had this fine specimen coalfish. The fish weighed 20lbs when landed, but when weighed 6 hours later, on a certified scales, it came in at 18.5lbs. Still a fine fish though. The fish was caught on one of Ger Keohane's marks east of the Pollack Rock and is an excellent fish for a reef caught fish. For a full report read here http://www.cobhsac.blogspot.com/. Cobh SAC are holding three more Master Angler comps. Anyone is welcome to fish them. If you are interested please contact Club Secretary, Mary Geary, on 021 - 4812167. The Club also run the Annual International Deep Sea Angling Festival in Sept. This year the prize fund for this event has been increased to €7,500 of which €2,000 is in cash.

Cork Harbour Blues!

2010-06-30T12:48:00.000-07:00

Members of Cobh SAC availed of the recent settled weather and targeted the Blue Shark off Cork Harbour this week. Fishing the grounds south of the Ling Rocks they had some hectic action. Over a three hour session they managed to land 10 blue shark to five rods but lost 4 more. On several occassions they had double hook ups, which made for some interesting maneuvering onboard. The smallest of the shark weighed 50 lbs, with the biggest going to 100lbs. For the full report see http://www.cobhsac.blogspot.com/.

If you're interested in fishing for blue shark, all the charter skippers in the Cork Harbour Angling Hub do specialise in shark fishing. Here are their contact details:

John Boy (Donal Geary) http://www.sea-fishing-ireland.com/

Deora De (Jim Linehan) http://www.charterangling.com/

Wreckhunter (Joe Lynch) http://www.wreckhunter.ie/

Cuan Bawn (John & Finbar Barry) http://www.corkharbourboats.com/

Castlemaiden (John & Finbar Barry) http://www.corkharbourboats.com/

Lee Star (John Geary) http://www.anglingcharters.eu/

Osprey II (Pat Condon) http://www.atlantic-charters.net/

Sarah Marie (Colm Sliney) http://www.ballycottonangling.com/

Sundance Kid (Butch Roberts) http://www.anglingkinsale.com/

Naomh Cartha (Ger Keohane) http://www.corkanglingcharters.com/

Osprey II has another cracker of a weekend

2010-06-24T02:44:00.000-07:00

Pat Condon reports that they had great fishing once again aboard Osprey II out of Cork Harbour. Fishing in almost Mediterranean like conditions, his clients had plenty of pollack, cod, ling, conger and numerous others of the smaller species. Best cod, pictured above, went to 8lbs. Many of the pollack were of similar size, with the ling and conger going to double figures. Pat was once again fishing the Smiths, south of Roches Point. It has to be said that the Smiths are fishing very well this year with all the skippers reporting good fishing so far.