5 days small boat fishing at cork

[iona]

hi Guys,

just back from 5 days small boat fishing from Cork.

what can i say about the weather, its not often the weather in scotland is better but this week it was.

first 2 days we were greeted with fog and rain so you couldn't see 2 feet in front but that didn't stop us getting out.

1st day we headed down to the Lings where we had plenty of pollack to 7lbs or so, a few congers to mid teens, loads of big pouting and strangely only 1 Ling? my mate is a bit of a poor sailor and lost his colour after a few hours so by the time the wind and tide were opposing he was a lost cause and i couldn't make him suffer any more so we headed back. Bit annoying as i was taking some decent fish by that time but its supposed to be a holiday not a punishment. we then tried a few spots around the enterance to the harbour where there was plenty of straps and small stuff. headed into the harbour where we had an hour trying for mullet which was a success as i had 2 fish, one at 6lbs and the other 4lbs.

2nd day we headed the opposite way. after getting a fresh supply of mackies we set sail to find every barren piece of sea bad there was. several hours of blanking was finally ended by a move back towards Cork and putting the hook down. here we took a number of eels to just over 20lbs along with gurnard, pouting, poor cod and wrasse. eventually we put out of rubby and started fishing for gars. no luck with them but we did get a Sunfish. well it travelled up the slick trail right to the boat where we leaned over and picked it out, a quick snap and it was returned to swim away. however an hour later it reappeared in the slick trail. day 2 ended with some bottom fishing where we had several dabs, whiting and a few plaice, to be honest they were fairly small.

3rd day. the weather was s***! stuck in the harbour. we decided to give the bank a shot and were royally rewarded with some nice blonde rays to short of 20lbs and thornback to 10lbs. we then decided to give the old bass a shot. Boy was that good with the smallest fish being 5lbs and the largest just shy of 8lbs. not bad considering how crap the weather was.

4th day. & 5th day

followed the same routine as day 3 as the weather gradually got worse. however by the weekend the charter fleet was out and the bank was a busy place. still we again had blonde ray and a load of small stuff. from there it was onto the bass fishing which turned out to be the highlight of the week with all the fishing following the stamp of day 3.

highlight of the week.

fishing a livebait. Bass takes it and a healthy scrap ensues. eventually i get the fish which weighs in at 7.5lbs to the surface. the mackerel hanging out of its mouth has its twin hanging onto it. it only let go when my mate slung in the net.

overall fantastic week, hospitality at the Bellavista was excellent and despite the crap weather the fishing was pretty good with 20 species.

i have some photos but haven't downloaded them yet.

[JOHN1]

thats great sport you had iona well done
looking forward to the pictures, the bank looks like its on form at the moment well done again great report.

[mickmick]

Nice fishing in difficult circumstances. Well done

[brianbru]

good man dale nice report, great fishing by the sounds of it and looking forward to the pics.

[yappo]

Nice few days fishing pity the weather didn't play ball, but that's the beauty of Cork, still good enough fishing inside the harbour. As John says the bank seems to be producing at the moment. Hope it still is when I am down in August.

Yappo

[gfkelly1969]

well done on getting 20 species in 5 days,i cant do that in one year glad you enjoyed your trip

[iona]

pics now added. seems my mate can handle a rod but aint too hot with a moving boat and a camera.

ps he is the one in most of the pictures

[rory from cork]

Nice fishing Dale...no need to head to Waterford in future now that you know where all our bass are

[iona]

Hi Rory,

yup, booked another 2 week stay this morning for the Autumn. hopefully they will still want to play then.

back to waterford area though but i know the road to Cork now.

give you a bell then and we could compare notes for a day. same mobile?

[Dave Jolly]

Iona, don't worry in the autumn the bass will be a bigger average size and hopefully the weather will be better. btw if you jigged a set of feathers slowly infront of the sunfish they can be enticed to bite, would be a nice one for the species list.
great to see you had good fishing.

[iona]

Iona, don't worry in the autumn the Bass will be a bigger average size and hopefully the weather will be better. btw if you jigged a set of feathers slowly infront of the sunfish they can be enticed to bite, would be a nice one for the species list.
great to see you had good fishing.

Already been that lucky a few years back. fishing from the shore at rostoonstown for mackerel i got one on feathers.

its amazing how many doubters showed their faces when i posted that despite the fact that i returned it and just posted as i thought it would be of interest. got it on a green feather not foul hooked. then discovered they are know to eat small fish occasionally especially when feeding on jelly fish.

[rory from cork]

Ya, look forward to it,drop me a pm before hand...cheers,rory

[littleglyn]

Hey lads love the fishing report but you forgot to mention the two very
helpful welsh anglers Glyn Hughes & Mark Singleton who gave you their bass fishing secrets and secret marks (haha).

[iona]

credit where credit's due. thanks to Glyn & Mark for their help. in fact they were so helpful we caught all their fish. LOL.

hope you have some more success in the comp especially now you know about the easy species, decided not to go for the comp as i couldn't be arsed running around looking for a flounder.

tooooo many other fun species to catch especially as i now know the secret

dale

[dan]

not very often u see sunfish caught. nice one.