Annual Cork Trip
Fri Aug 08, 2014 10:39 pm
It was that time of year again. The family trip to West Cork. The Trailer was dug out from the shed axles greased, mud guards scraped clean and of course the kayaks loaded but sure enough I had a sneaky session to test my transducer (or so I told the wife) before we hit the road.
I headed to my local rock mark and fished an evening session into darkness. Codling and wrasse were the main species of the evening both in plentiful numbers.
All geared up we set off on our merry way, a small convey of cars and kayaks (ok just two).
As we got to Clonakilty we were greeted by a dense fog which the locals had said was set in for two days, not so good this was bound to hamper my fishing plans. Tuesday came round and the fog was thick, visibility down to 100metres. Deciding on the safer option I held off until Wednesday.
4am start, breakfast on the go and a 30 minute drive seen me at the launch and ready to go for 5.15am.
I first headed out into the small bay in search for mackerel but was disappointed as they were slow to turn up only producing 2 over the day
I had manage to bring some ragworm from Dublin to Cork and even got them into the fridge in the hotel, best not to ask questions of how!
It was a grand clear morning fairly warm already touching into the late teens. I soon set about a rock mark that had produced for me in the past. It was fierce quiet and I was starting to worry. I upped anchor several times until I hit some small wrasse and pollack. I decided to stick things out in the hope of some bigger fish.
2 rods were down with bait and I was flicking a lure about the top. I'm fairly new to the lure game and only very recently have I produced anything to talk about. Similar again with small pollack I changed to a lovely little lure called the Black Minnow, second cast in and FISH ON. Wow what a scrap, I can really see why people choose to lure fish over bait fishing
In the second photo down you can see that the hook came away from the jig head, no problem to fish it but 5-6 casts later it came apart and now sits on the bottom. Ill defo pinch the wire a little tighter next time. A quick change of lures to a shallow diver seen a PB for me in fact both were an excellent size
Happy with the results so far I decided to head into the bay in search of ray but it wasn't to be. The grey gurnards were fierce active taking every bait that went down. The dabs in this part of Cork are the biggest I have ever seen averaging in the late 30's cm. A lovely fight from a nice wee fish
The fog was rolling in and clearing just as quick, a little daunting at times especially in an unfamiliar surrounding. Below is a pic of what was my launch spot
That was to be it for the Cork fishing as my my two crazy ass boys have grown into little men both demanding Daddy's time.
There was time enough for a quick Dublin session before I went back to work. I was to meet a few lads at the launch but as I got there I realised the forecast had changed for the worse so a quick call seen the lads hold off. Seen as I was there I headed for the shelter of a local harbour wall which seen wrasse and small codling in numbers. I trolled the Shamrock Euro Champ rig for 1km and not a tap from the mackerel(when will they show?). I anchored over a reef and again the wrasse were in good spirits followed by the odd codling
I'm afraid my Go Pro packed in so the pics aren't amazing-on the plus side you don't have to look at my ugly mush
I headed to my local rock mark and fished an evening session into darkness. Codling and wrasse were the main species of the evening both in plentiful numbers.
All geared up we set off on our merry way, a small convey of cars and kayaks (ok just two).
As we got to Clonakilty we were greeted by a dense fog which the locals had said was set in for two days, not so good this was bound to hamper my fishing plans. Tuesday came round and the fog was thick, visibility down to 100metres. Deciding on the safer option I held off until Wednesday.
4am start, breakfast on the go and a 30 minute drive seen me at the launch and ready to go for 5.15am.
I first headed out into the small bay in search for mackerel but was disappointed as they were slow to turn up only producing 2 over the day
I had manage to bring some ragworm from Dublin to Cork and even got them into the fridge in the hotel, best not to ask questions of how!
It was a grand clear morning fairly warm already touching into the late teens. I soon set about a rock mark that had produced for me in the past. It was fierce quiet and I was starting to worry. I upped anchor several times until I hit some small wrasse and pollack. I decided to stick things out in the hope of some bigger fish.
2 rods were down with bait and I was flicking a lure about the top. I'm fairly new to the lure game and only very recently have I produced anything to talk about. Similar again with small pollack I changed to a lovely little lure called the Black Minnow, second cast in and FISH ON. Wow what a scrap, I can really see why people choose to lure fish over bait fishing
In the second photo down you can see that the hook came away from the jig head, no problem to fish it but 5-6 casts later it came apart and now sits on the bottom. Ill defo pinch the wire a little tighter next time. A quick change of lures to a shallow diver seen a PB for me in fact both were an excellent size
Happy with the results so far I decided to head into the bay in search of ray but it wasn't to be. The grey gurnards were fierce active taking every bait that went down. The dabs in this part of Cork are the biggest I have ever seen averaging in the late 30's cm. A lovely fight from a nice wee fish
The fog was rolling in and clearing just as quick, a little daunting at times especially in an unfamiliar surrounding. Below is a pic of what was my launch spot
That was to be it for the Cork fishing as my my two crazy ass boys have grown into little men both demanding Daddy's time.
There was time enough for a quick Dublin session before I went back to work. I was to meet a few lads at the launch but as I got there I realised the forecast had changed for the worse so a quick call seen the lads hold off. Seen as I was there I headed for the shelter of a local harbour wall which seen wrasse and small codling in numbers. I trolled the Shamrock Euro Champ rig for 1km and not a tap from the mackerel(when will they show?). I anchored over a reef and again the wrasse were in good spirits followed by the odd codling
I'm afraid my Go Pro packed in so the pics aren't amazing-on the plus side you don't have to look at my ugly mush
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Re: Annual Cork Trip
Sat Aug 09, 2014 10:05 pm
Well done on a nice session. Good pics.
Re: Annual Cork Trip
Sun Aug 10, 2014 4:18 pm
Fair play anthony nice fiching
Re: Annual Cork Trip
Tue Aug 12, 2014 1:01 am
great report as always Anthony!
Re: Annual Cork Trip
Tue Aug 12, 2014 8:40 am
Thanks for the comments lads, the photos doesn't really do the pollock justice