Cork Reports

Fished Ballycotton Pier 31st August, quiet until dusk when the mackeral and Dogs arrived, ended up with as many mackeral as I could cast for, if I had continued, 3 LSDs and a three bearded rockling.

Fished the cliffs at Ballycotton on Friday 3rd September, conditions seemed ideal, I blanked all day but had quite a few hard knocks at dusk, but couldn't manage to strike into them, perhaps I was too hasty after sitting there all day with nothing.

Fished White Strand, near the rocks in the middle of the bay, night session, 9pm to 2am, ended up with 14 LSDs but no bass, no real surf to speak of.

Fished Camden, Cork Harbour, never been there, chose a bad spot, when the tide receded, I had been fishing a ledge about 75 metres long and flat so had no depth all day and no fish either, other than a three bearded rockling and 3 gobies. :?

Despite the miserable weather strong gusts and heavy rain the slob fished brillently. Only about 10 seniors and 4 juniors turned up mainly due the all-ireland and the weather, however approximately 35 flounder were caught. I think 3 fish were over 40 cm with most between 30 & 40 cm in lenght. Again crab was the bait, but lug also took some fish. Distance was important but with the wind on our backs most people could get out far enough to connect with fish. Towards full tide (~5.30pm) lots of tiny codling appeared and it was hard to get past these to get the flounder. Talked to a few anglers and the fishing has really taken off down here over the last week, with most venues producing quality fish.

First visit to Cobh, Fished from the car park, the pier had boats moored up from low tide to the high. Nice weather at first, turned cold though, miserable fishing. Caught 4 small codling and a Scad. Apparently a trawler had been down last week, within 10 metres of the wall, all the way along the coast and round the other side of the bay. May expain the small fish. Disappointing.

Youghal Bass Club. 7-11pm low water at 9.15pm.
Despite a strong easterly wind those anglers on the left hand side of the beach got some decent coddling and doggies. 6 fish won the match. Most coddling were around the 40cm mark but one was close to 3lb. Crab, mackeral and lug at distance worked best.
This beach was fished on the Munster Closed last week were some decent ray were caught.

Cork, Cobh Footbridge, 26 Oct 2004, 2000 - 2400
LT 2300, calm sea, clear sky
King rag, squid and a few sandeel.

Having missed the last two months I was gagging to get out. I dug over two dozen kin rag last Sunday and went targetting Codling in Cobh after dark. I chose the low tide in order to hit the deeper channels from the opposite the naval base. Unfortunately no discernable bites so I moved to the footbridge after an hour and a half. I eventually managed to catch a small whiting but nothing else.

A bad nights fishing but its great to be back. :)

On saturday 12 pm to 3pm on Monkstown sea wall, dab about 1 lb, small pouting, small whiting on lug. Next guy up to me was using peeler and had 2 small codling and a much better one of about 4lb

On Tuesday 9.30 to 12.30 am, learnt my lesson a brought some crab, had 1 codling about a pound and lost a much better one which got snagged up as I was reeling it in. A guy just up from me was using lug and rag, didn't get a bite

Cork; Ballinwilling, Ballycotton, 2 Nov. 2004, 1700 - 23300
HT 2000, medium swell with strong currents, on-shore wind, clear sky
King rag, peeler crab, frozen squid and sandeel.

Organised a trip with Plukeman and another Pat from work to Ballinwilling for the coming tide. We were plagued by sea-weed all evening and Pat was the only one to land a fish, a small ray. I lost several rigs and two shock leaders to the weed. Any slack on the line seemed to find the weed which inevitably lead to losing gear.

Eventually we packed up at 2100 and headed to Ballycotton. Pat and Plukeman landed a whiting each there but I blanked again. Although Plukeman fished on, Pat and myself gave up the ghost at 2330 and were away home before midnight.

After Pat and Declan left, I still had a dozen pealers left so stayed on until 3a.m. :o .

Managed a small codling, about 2 1/2lb, Coalfish, slightly smaller and 2 other 1lb Coalfish. Not much, but for me a monster session. Ran out of baiting elastic for the crab so went home.

I did hook into a large lobster, but it came off on the way up the wall, but it posed a question for me, is it legal to take a rod caught lobster, or are they all covered by a licence or law? I would be interested in answers please.

Regards,

Phil.

Cork; Cobh footbridge, 7 Nov. 2004, 1700 - 2000
LT 1930, medium swell with strong currents, clear sky
King rag, frozen squid and sandeel.

Having a few rag left over from last weekend I decided to try the low tide at the footbridge in Cobh. I had plenty of knocks all evening and managed to land two small whiting. I was using 3/0 hooks most of the time as I was hoping for codling so I wasn't too bothered about missing the small fish.

I met a couple of guys there, they helped me jumpstart my car, who had just begun fishing as I was leaving. They suggested the only time to fish there was the 4 hours to full tide. Having fished the low tide there on several occassions recently, I'm beginning to agree.

Cork; Cobh footbridge, 14 Nov. 2004, 1700 - 2000
HT 1830, medium swell with strong currents, clear sky
Frozen squid and sandeel.

With just frozen bait I returned to my handy haunt for high tide. There were about nine people fishing the mark but unfortunately the fish weren't invited. I only saw a single LSD and a pin whiting being taken for the three hours. I didn't get a single knock all night and the crabs feasted well.

Everybody and their aunty seemed to be fishing around Youghal on Sunday. Even more than when the mackeral are in, which is a hard feat. We were supposed to be fishing the last comp of the year at Montrea (ferry point) but another club decided to fish it before us. They are not supposed to do this, but you how it is. Anyway our comp had to be put back 2 hours and I could wait so drunk off to the quays. I managed to get a spot and once the tide slowed around 5.30 it was possible to hold the bottom at distance. There were lots of small coddling around and the size got a little better once darkness hit. However I am sure I left before things improved and hope that the lads I gave some lug and crab too caught some codling towards the 2lb mark.

Cork; Monkstown Grassy Knoll, 22 Nov. 2004, 1930 - 2300
LT 2015, No swell, calm and mild
Frozen squid, mackeral and tiger prawns.

This was my first time fishing Monkstown. The word is that this is a crab bait mark that throws up codling, flounder, whiting, coalfish and recently a plaice. Me, I caught a small pouting, on prawn and mackeral cocktail, a crab and a sea urchin :shock: . I bought a bag of tiger prawns at the English Market as a crab substitute. Eur11 bought me about 3 dozen which is good value comparted to crab a a euro each. Anyway I stopped using them with about a hour to go and the number of knocks certainly fell off. It could have been the tide run increasing so the jury is still out on whether they are effective or not.

fished the wall to-day from 11.45 to 12.30 very wet and windy.spent the first 10 mins. cleaning up the rubbish left by other anglers. had about 7 casts with crab. result, 4 cod between 2 and 3lb. plus 1 poor cod. fridays menu sorted.

An unusual catch at the weekend was a golden gray mullet at ferry point in Youghal in a juvenile competition. I had never herd of one been caught there before.

Cork; Monkstown Pier, 5 Dec. 2004, 1930 - 0030
LT 2330, Fast rip, mild
Frozen squid, mackeral and tiger prawns.

First time for me at this mark for me and a friend. Lots of small whiting and pouting as well as a couple of dabs and dig. I must admit that I only caught 2 whiting and a pouting but I stuck to bigger baits for the night. My mate took the rest using a 4 hook :shock: rig with tiny baits.

Apart from the smell from the chemo-plants I enjoyed a busy night. Pity I couldn't get iinto anything bigger. Some passers-by recommended lug and crab for the mark. The frozen tiger prawns, so far, don't seem to be doing the business.

fished the wall saturday morning from 10.00 to 12 noon (slack tides). landed about 14 cod and 2 whiting the cod were caught on CRAB would use noting else on the wall for cod. landed the whiting with last weeks lugworn. hitting a bait over 160 yds. also helps.

DD, if I understand you correctly I need to use CRAB. Just a minute I have to put my hearing aid back in :lol: . Frozen or fresh?

Well I organised a shore outing with a few collagues from work, some who never fished before. Its was ferrypoint Youghal, low tide 5.30pm. 9 fished and everybody got loads of fish, but 95% were all small coddling between 20-30cm. About 3 codling to size were caught, once it got dark and the tide turned, but 2 nice coalies were caught early on (1.5/2lb). 2 doggies were caught towards 6pm on mackeral. We had a ball, but trying to help more than 2 people is very difficult and getting enough crab took a lot of effort in the preceeding week which. THe outcome is that 2 more people are hooked.

CORK; MONKSTOWN WALL 29th December 13:00-16:30
Fine clear day with little wind.

I took the nephew fishing and following an hour digging for lug, we headed for the wall in Monkstown. A good number of anglers out and plenty of small codling and whiting, with the odd pollack and pouting.

Once the tide turned, the sizes started getting better, with two reasonable whiting and a pollack. The best fish was caught just as the tide started racing, a fine 3lb cod. We fished for an other half hour, but the tide got too strong, with the usual weed.

A variety of bait was used, including frozen crab, mackeral and sand eels, but the freshly dug lug did most of the damage.

A nice fresh day, with loads of fish, pity they were so small. Best fishing from low water for the first half of the tide!

H

Last edited by UncleH on Wed Jan 05, 2005 12:12 am, edited 1 time in total.

Cork; Browns Island, Cobh, 28 Dec. 2004, 1500 - 1830
LT 1400, Calm water, mild
Lug, rag, frozen squid, mackeral and mussels.

Pat M and myself decided to combine a quick dig with some low water fishing at Browns Island. The dig was successful, as even broken lug can be used straight away, but the fishing at Browns Island was terrible. Lots of crabs and no fish. It's a very odd place that looks an ideal mark but doesn't seem to fish at all.

Anyway without further ado we upped anchor and headed for the jetty in Cobh. We had plenty of action from the jetty with the lug in particular catching codling. Unfortunately nearly all the fish were small. Pat, using his custom four hook short snood paternoster, was particularly successful in hooking the smallies. I landed a 30 cm three bearded rockling to capture the specimen prize. This was my second one this year and was a good size also.