Xmas Light Line Comp - the result!

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.

Most effective baits on the day were mackeral and lug. Amazingly, crab didn't have much of an impact.

The final placings were: - 1st Sylvester Sko

wronski Cobh SAC 111 fish 100% 1662pts; 2nd Martin Perryman Cobh SAC 103 fish 100% 1420 pts; & 3rd Danny Kane Cobh SAC 109 fish 95.5% 1588pts.

The final tally of fish were 690 whiting; 342 dabs; 3 lsd; 1 cod; 14 poor cod; & 1 scad.

If you'd like to fish the upcoming light lines contact Mary Geary Cobh SAC on 021 -4812167 (email: seaangling@esatclear.ie) or Danny Kane, Cobh SAC, on 086 - 8161946 (email: danny.kane@

hotmail.com).

The remaining competitions are on:

Sunday 22nd January 2012

Sunday 19th February 2012

Sunday 25th March 2012

Sunday 22nd April 2012

Winter light line series....

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

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....

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

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....

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....

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.....

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

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....

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

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

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

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....

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

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.