Welsh return....

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.