Iverargh Peninsular August 2012

People:

Duration:

Tide:

Weather:

Bait:

Rigs:

Results:

I know I don't get out and post as much as others but here goes with my Irish trip 2012.

Short version, yes I caught fish, the weather was great (really it was !) and I also caught something other than intended (no puns).

Long version...

Arrived via Cork at our cottage in Kerry on the Iveragh Peninsular overlooking Derrynane Harbour. The cottage was huge and had cracking views:


We chilled Saturday evening and had a wander on the beach on Sunday stopping for lunch at a nearby pub for a Guinness or two !

Monday and I headed out to Abbey Island below the house, after a yomp across the beach you reach the Island


Found the terrain hard going so opted to fish just on the Island in front of the Abbey itself. It looked a great spot and I soon had a jelly worm working the water in front of me:


However the jelly worms produced no interest but there were some bait fish jumping around me and some terns were taking some serious interest. So I thought I'd try a surface lure (popper) - it seemed to have a great action skipping across the surface, splashing about and making a lot of noise - what self respecting bass could resist ?

After a while I did finally get a hit on the lure, sadly not a bass from below but a seagull from above ! The bloody thing dived on the lure and before I could react he was hooked in the beak on the rear treble. The fight that ensued was interesting with me gaining line and the the gull flying off taking line. I did eventually get to grips but by this time the other treble was now caught in the birds foot !

Fortunately after a few minutes and a deft bit of work with a pair of forceps I managed to free the gull and it flew off seemingly ok from it's ordeal but it left me quite shakey.

In the afternoon we hit a lovely little beach known as O'Carrols cove - handy in that it has a bar doing food so lunch sorted we all hit the beach for a wander and I was happy hurling some lures about:


The water was so clear I could actually see some bass following the lure in but I couldn't manage a take.

Tuesday saw me on the beach at Waterville which I'd been told was fishing it's socks off for Bass, so with high hopes and some peelers I felt confident.



There was a lovely surf running but it quickly became apparent that weed would be a problem. Rafts of the stuff constantly clogging up the line so after a while it became clear this would not be my day

Waterville was a favoured holiday destination for Charlie Chaplin as shown by the statue on the seafront:




Wednesday we toured about visiting Dingle and Slea head, the most westerly point in Europe with fantastic views of the Blasket Islands

Thursday I tried Abbey Island again but went to the right hand side and set about some jelly worms again. After a few minutes there was a tap, tap, bang and fish on. A lovely pollack falling to a firetail lure:



After that it became a fine morning with fish falling to a variety of different jelly worms and also float fished sandeel.

Friday I hit the beach at Derrynane. This has some rocks you can clamber across to reach some deeper water. Finding a comfortable perch I set up and instantly got snagged - a blooming Texas rig which I thought wasn't supposed to do that ! Mindful that I'd lost a load of gear at this spot last year I put on an old toby lure cursing my luck only to have a fish hit it almost straight away:



I also had this greedy little beggar:



Again another good session with fish coming to most lures:



Satisfied I decided to make my way back across the rocks only to discover I'd been cut off by the rising tide - thankfully the water was only knee deep but it could have been a lot worse. I made it back across to the beach greeted by puzzled looks from my wife at the sight of my soggy jeans and we squelched off for a final pint of Guinness.

Saturday we spent in Cork city and I have to say it's a great place with lots of bars/eateries and a real buzz to the place. Hell we even had a pint of chips with our lunch



Sadly it was time to return home on Sunday but an easy flight, despite some brat kicking the back of my seat all the way, and we were back in deepest darkest Kent

Oh and the weather - it was amazing, actually hot with very little rain - I do wonder if perhaps we were somewhere other than Ireland !


Report:

lovely pics and an interesting read. Glad you enjoyed it and got a few fish to boot. Kerry, on that particular penninsula, has been poor this year for bass IMO.

Nice photos and report, and a few fish to boot.

Nice report + pictures, so that's how you pull the birds.