Cork Harbour Cod.....

Cork Harbour Boats have been getting amongst the cod lately....literally!!! All at the same time three clients aboard Cork Harbour Boat 'Cuan Ban' struck into three great cod, weighing, 14lbs, 12lbs, & 10lbs. That's great fishing, especially as the bigger cod have been thinner on the ground this year!!!

John & Eoin Barry, of Cork Harbour Boats, had the group from Holland over fishing for the week. Eoin reports that they had a great week, managing to get to the offshore reefs every day. The fishing was superb! More cod were caught, aswell as ling to 15lbs, and plenty of conger. The lads will surely be back next year!

If you'd fancy a trip out on the 'Cuan Ban' then give John a buzz on 087 - 2363566. Check out the Cork Harbour Boats website here.

A day out on the 'John Boy'

Well it wasn't just a day out, it was a competition day with Cobh SAC. Cobh SAC's August master angler competition was fished as part of the Cork Harbour Championships and Cobh SAC were fishing aboard Donie Geary's boat 'John Boy.' Donie himself was going to come out of retirement and fish this one!

Seven of Cobh SAC's club members gathered on Kennedy Pier on a fabulous August sunny morning and boarded the John Boy. We met the other boats on the Turbot Bank and farmed out the scorecards - Cobh SAC were the host club for this event. Most of the boats opted to fish close to the harbour. However, seeing that it was such a beautiful day we decided to head further afield and headed down east.

At the eastern end of the Pollack Rock reef lies Ballywilling Rock. Donie wasn't happy with the recent pollack fishing on the Power Head grounds of late but felt that Ballywilling Rock might offer us the best chance....and how right he was.

From the oft most of the anglers onboard opted to try some gilling. As it was low water, live ragworm was preferred. Within minutes of anchoring everyone was into pollack...and they were of a good stamp. Many of the fish were in the 5-6lb category but as the tide started to push hard some bigger fish made an appearance. They steadily got bigger; first 7lbs, then 8lbs, and finally 9lbs. What great fishing!!!

As the fishing slowed later in the tide Donie suggested a move. Donie had been concentrating on ground fishing. Upto that point he had 2 conger. A short hop of 3/4 mile brought us to a nearby reef, known locally as Twin Peaks. The pollack fishing here wasn't as good; the pollack were smaller and weren't as plentiful. Donie, on the other hand, was more successful in his approach. Slowly but surely the conger started coming onboard. Some of these were big buggers! Donie was using a Shamrock Tackle Animal Rig and it was scoring well. A couple of nice ling were also landed.

All too soon it was time to go. Totting up the scores it quickly became apparent that old sea dog, Donie was out in front. Donie you'll have to come out of retirement more often. In second place was Pat O'Shea with a scorecard full of pollack. Milo Burke was in third.

Alas, these scores weren't enough. Some of the boats that had stuck closer to the harbour had racked up higher scores. Fred Vickery of Crosshaven SAC was the overall winner with a scorecard that included sixteen congers. Now that was some card! What a great day out! Great fishing, fabulous summer weather, and great craic!

If you'd like to book a day out on the John Boy check out Donie's website here or give Donie a buzz on 021-4812167.

Summer Cod....

There have been a few lunkers this Summer. This is one of them that was caught during the hot sunny spell earlier in June.....

Summer action on Naomh Cartha....

Sandra O'Shea with a 13lb cod

Cobh SAC held their second Master Angler competition of the year last Sunday. Fishing for the day was onboard Naomh Cartha, skippered by Ger Keohane....and, what a day it was!

The weather was great, if somewhat breezy. Beautiful blue skies, hot temps, but a stiff easterly breeze. There's always a messy chop with an easterly breeze and this was the case today. However, Ger reckoned we could manage it and manage it we did. We set off for the fishing grounds off Power Head and drifted the Pollack Rock reef from east to west. From the off the fish were coming onboard. Pollack, cod, ling, cuckoo wrasse, ballan wrasse, pouting, and more....but it was the pollack that were there in numbers with nearly 300 landed. Some of these fish were good fish coming in over 6lbs! In the mix were some good cod with three fish coming in over the 10lb mark!

Ger had a hectic time trying to keep a track of the scores. At the end of the day, Milo Burke from Kilkenny had the best score. Milo had a total of 108 fish for a final score of 1,130pts. In second place was Danny Kane with 77 fish for a score of 820pts. Pat O'Shea was in third place with 72 fish for 742pts.

By day's end the six anglers had landed 349 fish. A great return, a great day....a day to be remembered!!!

If you'd fancy a day out on the Naomh Cartha why not give Ger a ring on 00-353-87-2589448. Check out the Naomh Cartha's facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/naomhcartha.anglingcork?fref=ts

Bass Tagging Project gets under way....

47th Cobh International Deep Sea Angling Festival

Its now less than 2 months to this year's Festival and we are now taking entries for this year's event. Brochures and Application Forms can be downloaded here.

We've retained the prize fund for this competition at €7,500. Of this €2,000 will be in cash, the breakdown of the cash element is as follows:

1st Prize €1000
2nd Prize €400
3rd Prize €200
Best Team of 4 €400

However, there are numerous other prizes. Each day is a competition in its own right and there are prizes for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.,.... plus heaviest fish. For the whole week there are also category winners like heaviest conger, heaviest cod, ling, pollack, most species, most fish....the list goes on and on.

The competition will be run over four days from the 3rd to 7th September 2012 (Mon, Tues, Thurs, & Fri). This Festival is great craic and if you want a week away with your buddies with great craic and good fishing well this is the fishing break for you. Many of the anglers are coming back to this event year after year, after year!!!

This report from last year (2012 Report) will give you an idea of the quality of fishing (and craic) to be had over the week.

Charter Boats will be provided by Cork Harbour Angling Hub (http://www.corkharbouranglinghub.com) and accommodation packages are available from the Commodore Hotel (http://www.commodorehotel.ie or ring 00-353-21-4811277 and just ask for Mary, tell her you want the fishing package and she'll sort you out), and Bella Vista House Hotel (http://www.bellavistahotel.ie).

For more information contact Cobh SAC on 00-353-21-4812167 or thru the following email address: seaangling@esatclear.ie

A shark of a different colour.....

During the recent spell of superb summer weather there were some notable catches reported. One of the most unusual of these was aboard the Lagosta II, skippered by Alan Kennedy. One of the gang out with him last week caught this fine spurdog, weighing just under 12lbs. Not only are spurdog a rare catch in the waters off Cork but this fish was just marginally under specimen weight, which makes it a great catch indeed!

Spurdog were once a relative common catch in the deeper waters off Cork Harbour but after decades of heavy commercial pressure they are now almost non-existant. This fish was caught in the waters south of the Smiths reef while its captor was targeting whiting, with baited feathers!!

Alan feels that the fishing is now picking up. On Sunday just gone he fished an inshore wreck for three hours landing 16 ling in the 15-17lb bracket; they also had 14 conger and 10 pollack.

If you'd fancy a day out with Alan on the Lagosta II give him a bell on 00-353-87-6792796 or check out his website here.