Brandon 21 & 22 August - "The Kingdom"

Vessel: Thresher (& Gigabyte)

Crew: Myself and Kev (& Sean)

Duration: 2 Days

Tide: All Stages

Weather: North Westerlies on Thursday turning Southerly on Friday force 4 – 5 easing to force 2-3

Bait: Macko, Squid, Sandeel

Rigs: Everything

Results: Very Good! – fine selection of species as to be expected from Brandon

Report: Myself and Kev had been tormented for the past few weeks trying to get a window to shoot off to either Cork or Kerry. We had a few close calls but none of them made sense at the last minute as it may have only meant a half days fishing or possibly none at all! On Wednesday we made the call to go. Gear packed, boat hitched up and a call into Sean to inform him that we were finally on the way!

It took a mere 4 hours to get to Sean’s impressive and spacious holiday home in Firies. It was clear Sean had Anglers in mind when he selected this house. Located within 20-25 minutes of numerous launching marks such as Anascul, Dingle, Scraganne & Brandon it certainly offers the small boat angler numerous options when making the call where to go each morning, not to mention the big driveway and garden that is big enough for all small sized boats. After a quick meeting in the morning at Sean’s house we headed off over to Scraganne to launch at the new slip there. Launching at Brandon can be a pain at times as usually the slip is littered with old Curragh’s and peoples unwanted trailers, let alone the number of tourists parked everywhere and anywhere. The new slip at Scraganne is sheltered and spacious and there is ample parking, unlike Brandon!

We decided to get straight into it some Rod bending action and no better place to bash big Pollock in numbers than the reefs off Brandon bay. Instantly we were into double and treble shots of good Pollock. Our arms quickly tired and we decided to anchor up for a couple of Spurs, thinking that we could relax for a while… what a stupid idea that was. Within two minutes of the first bait going down we were into them. For 90 minutes we had non stop action with a number of the fish breaking the double figure mark
It was amazing to see 3 or 4 other Spurs following the hooked Spur to the boat. It was though they were attacking the line to free their mate! Big or small none of the fish had a problem cutting through 150lb mono

This time we needed a real break as we were genuinely exhausted from 4 hours of non stop action. We followed Sean in under the head and got into plenty of species as is to be expected from Brandon head. It’s a spot you could never get bored of.

Day 2 followed a similar pattern to day one, however we venture further up around Brandon head to try some new marks, all of which proved worthwhile.

After the two days Kev and I wondered what hurt more, our stomach muscles from the non stop slaging and crack or our arms from the couple of mayhem Spur and Pollock sessions.

Sitting in the pub later that night with Colm and Sean it was clear to see why Sean had settled in the idyllic setting of Firies, Killarney. To have that class of fishing on your doorstop is something special and the lads know it! All in all a fabulous stint to the glorious Kingdom, albeit brief, but bloody worthwhile.

Thanks again to Sean for the hospitality and crack. For all fellow small boat anglers I would highly recommend it.

Gigabyte and Thresher head off from Scraganne.


Not 10 minutes into the Spur bashing and a sizeable double figure Spur comes aboard


Kev has a fish a double shot on but as you can make out their mates are attempting to rescue them!


Show off!


Ahh the Kingdom


Sean shoots off to another mark


And for good reason….


Finishing off the day under Brandon head – it still amazes me how many species reside there – however Sean seemed to prefer Macko bashing

Last edited by RobertMcClean on Tue Aug 26, 2008 10:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Enjoyed your report and the excellent shots makes we want to buy a boat :D

Well done on an other weekend down south. :D :D
The goverment tried to interduce decentarzation :? :? and failed maybe they should enter sea anglers into the equation :idea:

great report rob

sounds like the spurs were still on form. did you catch sight of any real big ones? if you drop a freelined mack down to the following pack they will take it and run , its cool to see.
i switched to wire after a bite off.

Hey Adam,

I found the wire was kinking too much, so in the end just switched to 8 foot of 200lb mono, and retied the hook after every second fish. We didn't try the freeline method.... pity, would have enjoyed that.

Cracking place all the same. Can't wait to get back.

Kev

Wow, RobertMcClean, excellent fishing, I didn't knew that spurs will follow their palls...Love to see it in real... Nice photos too

A few pics to keep you lads busy...

I love 12mm..... Heading out to the reefs






First Drift






Rob leaning into a Spur


Nice Double Figure Fish





Taking a break and trying for some flats....





Back to the reefs for a bit of Pollock Bashing.....

Treble up





Moving off to Brandon Head


Some Dolphing giving Chase







Ahh.... The Kingdom





One more Spur



Million Dollar Pollock

That is some serious fishing there lads

Fair Play
Cracking Pictures

I gotta get myself some of that action

Great pics there Kev, good on yer for posting them