Cork Trip

[anthony byrne]

With a trip to the in laws planned for the bank holiday weekend I decided to make the most of it and bring the kayak. The in-laws live in Cork in the south west of Ireland. Recent reports suggest the fishing was still slow but I decided to take my chances. I was on the road nice and early at 4am, about an hour later I was soon at the launch point.

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Flat calm conditions with a light wind from the east. It didn't take long to get geared up and on the water. Unfortunately my fish finder packed in (corroded wires) so I was fishing blind. I first headed straight out into the bay in about 40ft of water and dropped down the Shamrock Euro Champ rig. It literally hit the bottom and I felt a decent bite. As I was reeling in the line got heavier and heavier. Up eventually popped a string of six mackerel one of which was 41cm in length, a personal best for me.

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With some fresh bait on board I headed east to some deeper waters picking up another mackerel on the way. I would stop every 300m or so to test the ground, dropping the lines to to feel the lay of the land. A wee rattle came on one of those drops but as I lifted the rod it went dead so I did the usual waiting game but nothing happened. As I was then reeling in I took another wallop which turned up my personal best dab. This fella actually took the bait on the retrieve which I found interesting. The rig had to be at least 10ft off the bottom as he hit.

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I soon found a buoy in roughly 50ft of water very close to some rough ground. This time I changed from the smaller rigs to a 4/0 flowing trace and 3/0 1up/1down rig. The bites were coming in hard and fast with a mix of wrasse and some fine dogfish touching up to 75 cm. After awhile of doggie bashing i changed over rods to a lovely rovex lure rod and small black/silver freckles worm. Ive never actually caught anything on a lure before so this was gona be a first for me and I can really understand why people do it. The pollack were turning up and hitting hard, some Craic on the lure rod

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The easterly was then picking up with some slow moving rollers heading for my launch point so I soon called it a day. 6 hours of the best fishing I have personally seen in a long time. A quick stop off at Bantry Bay Canoes on the way home made for a great morning. Looking forward to getting back down soon. You can catch a quick look at some of the banter in the video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKEjspDAz9E

[mickser]

that's a horse of a mackerel did you weigh it could have been a specimen.
mickser

[anthony byrne]

Just short of it mickser literally just by a few grams, should have weighed it fresh.
Gona try your mark this week if I get a chance !

[Mozza]

Nice fishing Anthony, sounds like you had a nice day away from the capital. Surprised to see that's your first lure caught fish. I often see you around Dun Laoghaire when I am lure fishing for Pollock during the Bass ban and just assumed you would carry a small lure rod in case the fish weren't interested in the bait.

[anthony byrne]

Nice fishing Anthony, sounds like you had a nice day away from the capital. Surprised to see that's your first lure caught fish. I often see you around Dun Laoghaire when I am lure fishing for Pollock during the Bass ban and just assumed you would carry a small lure rod in case the fish weren't interested in the bait.

Hi mozza ive tried on the odd occasions but always turn back to bait. I'll be bringing the lure rod in future

[SeanA101080]

Another busy and productive trip for ya Anthony. Nice fishing

[anthony byrne]

Thanks Sean, lovely part of the country down there if I could just get that fishing in Dublin

[joeflan35]

nice fishing anto

[tomtum]

Well done anto fine mackerel