Garfish???

While out fishing last night in East Cork, I spotted a dozen or so eel like fish swimming on the surface, they were moving slow and striaght but had a tremendous burst of speed when startled,
They appeared to have very light stripes on them, I'm 99.99% sure they were garfish but I always believed they shoaled up with mackerel, there were very few Mackerel around last night.
I put out a float with a stripe of mackerel on it but no joy, has anybody else seen these lately,I have only ever seen them landed abroad and last year I heard of one or two caught from the shore in Cork Harbour, I'm in work now planning a trip out again this evening.
I'm assuming they will take feathers and lures, has anybody else spotted these in the last few days?

how long would you say they were, gars would be about 2' long. They may have been launce.

I have seen lance swimming around ballycotton pier.
2ft would be a good estimate of the size of what I saw last night,I was thinking they were a little bit too big for lance although I wouldnt dismiss the idea they were lance after seeing the size of the mackerel being caught lately,
The most important thing Donal it was a real life fish we havent been seeing a lot of them lately

had them in the harbour in july last year. never had them in great numbers, 1 or 2 in a session. they seem to just pass by the places i fish and don't stick around. all of them have taken a small piece of mackeral on a size 10 hook just under the surface. recent weather has been ideal for them. evening seems to be best. i wouldnt bother with feathers for them personally- they don't seem to like a big lead coming in on top of them. small lures will probably work as anglers fly fishing for bass have taken them. great fish to catch, something different.

Thanks m.b looks like im going to have to raid my fresh water gear for smaller hooks, I might even try a fly for them.

little sabiki traces are good for them

Had two of them in kerry two weeks back on feathers. Both taken at the top of the water about a foot away from the pier. was morning time.

It was after dark when I spotted them nemo, the lights from the pier seemed to draw them in close. Im going to invest in a few sabiki traces at the weekend, I have the floats rigged up and ready to go with size 10 hooks.