Mizen Head area 4 / 18 September

Another great holiday in South-West Cork. I usually go in Spring ( late May/early June) but a family bereavement meant later dates had to
be fixed. Overall, the weather was good, only losing a few days to the rain and gales ! The fact that I couldn't even remember how many fish
we caught illustrates just how good the fishing was ! The first evening , at a mark on Dunmanus Bay, only a few minutes from our holiday-cottage,
I landed my best ever shore caught pollock, which weighed just under 7 pounds. I'm certain there are bigger fish there, as we were smashed a few times.

It would take far too long to describe each session, so I will just summarise the marks we fished and the species caught:
Shore marks: Three Castles Head , Toor Island, Vaud Creek, BarleyCove beaches, Crookhaven Channel ( by lighthouse), Dunmanus Bay, both on Mizen
side and Sheepshead, Bantry Airstrip beach, Dursey Sound and Allihies beach, on the Beara, plus a few other places , whose name escapes me !
It was the usual suspects fish wise, with pollock, wrasse, coalfish, dog-fish, mackerel, bass and a surprise codling at Bantry. Best fish was the 7 pound
pollack. Wrasse went to the 4 pound mark and bass, around 2 pounds. Sadly no huss or rays were caught and I didn't target conger. Mackerel were quite scarce.
I guess our lazy starts around mid-day didn't help things ,but we could always count on getting enough for bait. On the one morning I managed to drag myself
and my other half out of bed for a morning session near Dunmanus Harbour, the shoal was thick and in just over 30 minutes we had landed 30 mackerel.
Out came the disposable BBQ's and we enjoyed a feast on freshly caught mack ( we brought the wine from France ).

Bait and methods: well, you name it, we tried it ! I found some decent crab and rag at Halfway Angling to get me started ( thanks Dan ). Careful handling
and storage meant that I still had live bait left 10 days after I bought it ! Plenty of lug and clams and a few decent white-rag at Crookhaven. Big wrasse love
clams ! I also found a promising spot for peeler on Sheepshead. Add to that all the usual artificials and my first attempts at plugging ( 3 bass near the stream at
Allihies ). Bottom fishing was disappointing: only dog-fish, a few bass and a solitary codling to show for my efforts.

Although fishing is the priority, we did quite a number of pleasant and interesting walks, too , on Sheepshead, Beara ( Hungry Hill and Caha) and Sherkin island.
We also did some serious eating and drinking ! I just wish that Irish restaurants/ pubs would get rid of their over-priced evening menus ! Countless
restaurants we passed were empty in the evening ; 25 euros for a main-course is just too expensive and in these difficult times, people just don't have the
money ! A special mention to "The Sheeps Head" at Durrus : I splashed out a little more than usual on their sea-food platter and rack of lamb- truly delicious
Sadly, there isn't a pub at the end of Sheepshead, but the café must surely have one of the best views in Ireland !

fair play to you, it sounds like a good trip.

i totally agree about the food prices over here. Last year we met some English lads in Kerry who were coming here for the past twenty years and were saying they could no longer afford coming over because of the price of food and drink when will the government learn how much money angling is worth to the economy.

and your 7lb pollock is the best catch in dunmanus bay since a tonne of coke a couple of years back