annual trip to ireland 2014 beara

ireland 2014
After all the planning ,e-mails,bing and google map searching we were finnaly ready for our yearly trip to the south of ireland.just three of us this year, davy,graham and myself.our destination was castletownbere on the extreme south west corner.we left stranraer on friday the 4th of july on the 3.30pm ferry arriving in belfast at 6.00pm.leaving the city we headed to our traditional first stop newry dominos pizza and for me the chinese next door.well fed and watered we set of for our next stage that would take us south of dublin on the cork motorway to cashel mcdonalds for a top up.then onward to our first mark.
arrived at the airport strand in bantry about 1.00am, wind very light and quite warm.6 rods baited and cast out full of anticipation. first rattle of the night brought in a dogfish not what we were after but the blank was off.so it continued through the night we must have ended up with about 30 plus doggies when we decided on a move about 11.00 am.
leaving bantry behind we went to the DoD pier at castletownbere hoping for a few thornies but the doggies must have followed us as that was all we caught there too.gave that till 3.00pm then went to search out another mark for the sunday found where we were looking for after a few missed turns, it looked very fishy so it was decided that was where we wereheading for a 12 hour session sunday. left there to go to our digs in eeryies and get the bait into the freezer,get settled in and hit the bed about 6pm.14 hours later we were up and ready to go.
headed to dunboy castle and got settled on to the rocks there, quite a comfy spot.first cast i got a thornie of just under 5 lb,game on we thought but that was the only one of the day.more doggies followed and small pollack to the float fished gear.we reckoned the lack of tide pushing through here was the cause of the lack of fish.
monday we headed along the wild atlantic way and found a mark we liked the look of.so gear out and a bit of mountaineering done to get to it.the kenmare river is a huge expanse of water and the bit we were fishing in was at least 70 feet deep.this mark kept us entertained with congers, we must have arrived at feeding time as we had 6 to 15 lb that session,some acrobatics needed to land them.after 6hours we left there to try another point we could see in the distance,this was just as deep and we got doggies and rockling to 3 lb from here a pb to graham. believe what you
tuesday we headed out to a flat calm sea with very little wind to try a mark on the back of cod head looking for exotic species the guide books said were possible.(dont believe all that you read)doggies again with a couple of conger runs that we never connected to.left there and went back to dunboy as the tides were starting to get bigger so here was hoping. scorching hot on the mark there no wind sun beating down.set up the gear again and out went the baits,this was a better time as we landed a thornie to 12.4lb still only one,doggies and another rockling to graham.there was a couple on the rocks beside us fishing for wrasse and they were doing quite well when the lady fought a ballan of about 3 1/2lb to the surface ,well done to her.the man with her then got a monster ballan,this one must have been 5-6lb but before we could get over with the net the line parted on the fish of a lifetime.davy then had a screaming run to bring in a pollack of 6lb ish,lovely looking fish in the sunshine.more little pollack on the float and then that was it for the day.
up early and headed out to dursey island hoping to get to fish this famous mark but it wasnt to be,the wind was screaming through between the island and mainland which made fishing impossible.headed back to the kenmare river mark and we got another 3 congers of 5-6 lb and more doggies.left there for a chinese in castletownbere,then on to another mark for the evening session on bantry bay.having fished the shannon for years we are not put off by very shallow water,and this mark paid off big time.couple of doggies at first then the first huss came in about 6lb this was followed by another 2 abbout 3-4lb.graham then gets to beat his pb huss by landing one of 12lb 11ozs,well done that man.more doggies then it went quiet so packed up about 11pm and headed back to the digs.
thursday, back to kenmare for another session on a different mark further up the bay, all three of us getting doggies on our first cast, then it got better, graham pulling in a ling of about 4 1/2lb another pb for him then davy got one of about 3lb.the time passed wih us getting another rocling some strap congers and a sea cucumber.headed back to our oriinal kenmare mark for another session different state of the tide.congers back on the feed again, the best falling to me of 20lb plus couple of double figure ones and graham getting a bootlace one of 10 inches, the bait was longer than it. more food then out for another late session.this mark was inside dunboy,we set up and 6 baits back in the water, after 15 minutes davy get the first thornie of 7 1/2 lb,graham then get a run and one of about 3lb comes ashore then the congers arrived again,straps to about 3lb 4 in total.a bit of a wait then davy gets another ray of about 4lb, graham not to be outdone gets one the same weight.i then get a run and bring in one of 5lb 11oz and while weighing it my other rod goes and i get another ray of about 3lb,the last ray of the session as the straps came back on and so did the rain so finished up and headed for the digs.
friday was going to be a wind down session,so we caught the ferry over to bere island from the town centre,no idea where we were going as a lot of no entry gates about.we ended up on a grassy field with a fair bit of water,first blood to me with a thornie of 6lb plus,more doggies then davy and graham get one each at the same time, a great way to end off our beara adventure.packed the gear up for the final time and back for the 6pm ferry to the mainland.
a great spot to fish, the scenery is fantastic the people very friendly so many marks so little time.left the digs at 9am for the drive back up to belfast and the 7.30pm ferry arriving home about 10.30pm shattered but glad we had went to this fantastic corner of ireland, we will be back.
alan
my thanks must go out to Frank(rockhopper) paul harris and derek from west cork and district angling club, thanks guys your help was greatly appreciated

Yoi Lucky,lucky so and so!

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Brilliant report, the fish weren't a bit shy.

Great trip lads, any pics?

was it bottom fishing only?
Me and my friend were there couple of weeks ago and got only one pollock on soft plastic lures ;(

i feel wrecked just reading this lol fair play lads some road trip and some nice fish aswell

We will be about 5 weeks behind you, nice to have a report from the Beara, did u fish DOD?.

nice read well done lads

Great trip lads, any pics?
yes but still trying to work out how to post them

was it bottom fishing only?
Me and my friend were there couple of weeks ago and got only one pollock on soft plastic lures ;(
it was bait on the bottom that accounted for all the big fish,belly strips of mackerel on float for smaller Pollack nothing to lures or plastics

i feel wrecked just reading this lol fair play lads some road trip ) and some nice fish as well )

you met the 3 of us on kilteery pier last year roger

We will be about 5 weeks behind you, nice to have a report from the Beara, did u fish DOD?.
we fished the dod pier but all we had was mackerel and doggies, but has the potential to surprise.

Fantastic report lads, a really great read. Well planned trip with good results...what more could ya want. Well done.

A brilliant post and well done to all of you ...thanks J