The plan was simple: It would be nice to get a bend in the lure rods but it would also be nice to connect with a blue shark. It is about time for them to show properly and there were reports of a couple caught in recent weeks west of Cork Harbour.
Lack of drift could be an issue, it was so nice in the morning. We decided to hit the reefs until the forecast wind would pick up.
We bounced an assortment of metal and plastics around and were rewarded with some fine pollack. I would have thought we would catch some bigger fish but it was OK!
By now the expected breeze had picked a little and we headed for our "shark ground".
Mackerel were decidedly scarce on the day but we had a "block of dubby" all we needed was a few macks for bait.
We set out our stall and waited.
On or about the hour mark we had our first run, on Kevin's rod. As per usual we hauled in the other gear. Kevin was being quite careful, not wanting to lose his first of the season. It was clear though that he had a very big shark on the end. The fight lasted more than 20 minutes.
We decided to boat the fish for measuring seeing as Length-Based Specimens are allowed this year. The fish need to measure 190cm to fork of tail. We got the fish on board and wrassled it to the mat for measuring and picture.. Not an easy task ... a 190cm shark will be +100lbs
The fish was over the 190cm so a specimen. The first ever documented length-based specimen blue shark.
We had a further two fish to the boat.... both these were mere babies being around the 60lbs mark
You can imagine....a good day!
As most of my fishing is alone I guess I won't be claiming any specimens. 
