West Cork 5th – 18th July 2015
Mon Jul 20, 2015 1:42 am
. It was a couple of days before the weather permitted a boat trip so I was keen to wet a few feathers. First stop for mackerel produced only a solitary launce in 25mins so I headed to a different mark over rock where pollack might be available if not mackerel. The pollack were there as were the codling. I got 7-8 pollack to about 2lb and 4 codling around 3-4lb and at last a few mackerel. These latter came one at a time so after 15 mins I still only had 5. Turned out to be plenty! I moved to a favourite mark and set up 2 rods to drift large and small mackerel baits. Several drifts produced only 3-4 dogfish. This was very disappointing as in past years this spot has produced big dabs, nice plaice and turbot, gurnard, spotted rays and thornbacks including my pb. I headed out for deeper water and a mixed bottom but by now the remnants of the swell and freshening wind had made it a bit too lumpy for comfort and the drift was a bit too fast so I headed back in to shelter where drifting produced just a couple more small doggies. There didn’t seem to be a dab anywhere.
Day 2. Once again the mackerel proved difficult to locate, over an hour searching for 5 mackerel. As a distraction 4-5 coalfish around the 3.5lb mark turned up and they were good sport on the light rod. Plenty of pollack to 2lb as well. One coalfish was noticeably thinner, it was caught in a piece of gillnet which had cut into the fish as seen in the photo. It must have been tangled like this for some time as there was a growth of algae on the trailing bits of mono. What are the odds, caught in a gillnet and then caught by an angler? I cut him free and released him, may he live long and prosper as he’s due some good luck. I tried my erstwhile favourite mark again but this time didn’t even get a bite, not even a dogfish. I headed out into deeper water and got a couple of cod, the larger nudging the seven pound mark, before the freshening breeze again made the drift too fast and lumpy.
Day 3.Headed out for what the weather forecast suggested would be the last chance. When I stopped the boat to try for mackerel, I saw a sunfish flopping about on the surface. It swam over to the back of the boat and stayed there about 12 feet away for 4-5 mins before swimming off. I saw one last year as well but this one was about half the size. This was the only fish I saw for some time as I couldn’t get any mackerel this time for love nor money,( not that I have much of either).Only a month ago, alfiebass put up a report complaining about not being able to get through the mackerel to fish! In a vain effort, I switched to a smaller size of feathers but first drop down produced 2 nice codling. Strange to be catching more cod than mackerel! I persevered with the feathers for a while longer landing another 6 codling and a few pollack. Last throw of the dice was to switch to a heavier rod and try a pirk to get down to the depths. This tactic resulted in another couple of cod up to 5.5lb, pollack to 4lb and a small ling to add to the species tally. There seems to be plenty of nice cod about, if they last to the winter the shore guys at Youghal might be in for a good season. I can only imagine what it would be like to land a couple of those bigger ones from the shore.
Day 2. Once again the mackerel proved difficult to locate, over an hour searching for 5 mackerel. As a distraction 4-5 coalfish around the 3.5lb mark turned up and they were good sport on the light rod. Plenty of pollack to 2lb as well. One coalfish was noticeably thinner, it was caught in a piece of gillnet which had cut into the fish as seen in the photo. It must have been tangled like this for some time as there was a growth of algae on the trailing bits of mono. What are the odds, caught in a gillnet and then caught by an angler? I cut him free and released him, may he live long and prosper as he’s due some good luck. I tried my erstwhile favourite mark again but this time didn’t even get a bite, not even a dogfish. I headed out into deeper water and got a couple of cod, the larger nudging the seven pound mark, before the freshening breeze again made the drift too fast and lumpy.
Day 3.Headed out for what the weather forecast suggested would be the last chance. When I stopped the boat to try for mackerel, I saw a sunfish flopping about on the surface. It swam over to the back of the boat and stayed there about 12 feet away for 4-5 mins before swimming off. I saw one last year as well but this one was about half the size. This was the only fish I saw for some time as I couldn’t get any mackerel this time for love nor money,( not that I have much of either).Only a month ago, alfiebass put up a report complaining about not being able to get through the mackerel to fish! In a vain effort, I switched to a smaller size of feathers but first drop down produced 2 nice codling. Strange to be catching more cod than mackerel! I persevered with the feathers for a while longer landing another 6 codling and a few pollack. Last throw of the dice was to switch to a heavier rod and try a pirk to get down to the depths. This tactic resulted in another couple of cod up to 5.5lb, pollack to 4lb and a small ling to add to the species tally. There seems to be plenty of nice cod about, if they last to the winter the shore guys at Youghal might be in for a good season. I can only imagine what it would be like to land a couple of those bigger ones from the shore.
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Re: West Cork 5th – 18th July 2015
Mon Jul 20, 2015 12:42 pm
Fine Fish John that's one lucky Coaly, Mackerel are very hit & miss around Sligo so far this year hopefully they'll start showing in numbers in the next few weeks!!
Re: West Cork 5th – 18th July 2015
Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:20 pm
Always nice to get a win away from home 