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Introduction - Co. Mayo (10 boats)

The county of Mayo is vast and Ireland's least populated county.  It offers a massive coastline, and three excellent centres for deep sea angling - Clew Bay, Killala Bay and Belmullet. Access is by road, rail or bus and by air into Knock Airport, via charter or scheduled flights.  This county's vast sheltered bays will let you fish in all but the worst conditions, and it is also famous for the coarse and game fishing.  Mayo's waters offers you a truly remarkable variety of species, particularly from May or June to November.

The current Irish record Blue Shark and Porbeagle Shark records were both taken in the ocean off Achill Island. Clew Bay's fame as a common skate ground is slowly recovering given the introduction of mandatory catch & release (bar a new record). The deep waters around Clare Island offer superb fishing. I have had two octopus and a John Dory from eighteen species in a day out there!  Good pollack are always available on the drift from the reefs around Deace's Rock and further out the Bills Rocks offer superb reef fishing.

Further north the vast sheltered and shallow water bays of Blacksod and Broadhaven, either side of Belmullet offer superb and safe fishing in even poor weather conditions.  They are reknowned as excellent locations for gurnard, flatfish of all varieties, and most types of fish.  Even haddock is possible around the Erris Race, even off the shore, and the vast expanses of storm beach offers specimen bass (if you can avoid the surfers!).

Finally we come to Killala Bay, now home to an international two day deep sea angling competition of world reknown.  It routinely produces remarkable catches of fish, in terms of both quantity and variety.  It also has the distinction of having recorded a massive catch of hake in the past, possibly due to the proximity of the continental shelf and very deep water.  Lying to the south of Donegal bay, the local charter skippers are keeping a keen eye on the blue fin tuna exploits up in Donegal Bay and may well enter the fray!