Donie Geary, skipper of the John Boy, recently ran into the 'blues' with a group of UK anglers. Blue shark haven't been showing in numbers off the harbour as of yet and Donie was surprised that they ran into a number of them. Here's Donie's report:
'On Saturday morning, a day with beautiful sunshine and no wind, we headed for an area north of the Ling Rocks. The five English anglers on-board wanted to do some species fishing and this is normally a good spot to ratchet up the species numbers. We started our drift 2 mikes north of the rocks. A couple of boys asked if they could put out a shark trace while bottom fishing. With this in mind I set up 3 rods with shark tackle and balloons, while the lads got stuck in to the bottom fishing. I then set up a fine bag of rubby dubby with some mackeral left over from the previous day, some bran and some fish oil from last year. I wasn't very optimistic about our chances as I hadn't heard of any blues being landed this year and, also, the mackeral had been very scarce. The bottom fishing, however, was good and getting better as we drifted slowly towards the rock. The lads were landing ling, pollack, haddock, whiting, coalies, cod and some lovely red gurnard (which I had for my dinner that evening).
At about 2 O' clock we were only about a mile off the rock when the tide turned and we began to drift slowly back in the direction of Cork Harbour. The bottom fishing was so good that the shark rods were forgotten about until one of the ratchets screamed off. Everyone rushed to get all the bottom gear in to give the shark a clear run. However, after the initial run he lost interest and came to the surface for a look around. After about 20 minutes Barry's rod took a good run and this time the fish was hooked. After about 30 minutes of gentle coaxing on 30lb braid, an elated Barry boated his first ever blue shark of about 60lbs.
Steve and Paul had unsuccessful hookups before Barry again had a mighty scrap with a fish of 80lbs. Again this fish was photographed and released back into the water. After that we had no more interest but, nevertheless, I arrived back at the pier in Cobh later with five very satisfied and thirsty anglers.
On Sunday the weather took a turn for the worst so we decided to stay within the shelter of the harbour. We had a very relaxing day. The fishing was poor. We were fishing an ebb tide for most of the day. Between cups of coffee and plenty of jokes we had a number of dabs, whiting, and dogs. Before the day was out we also had three blonde rays, which put the icing on the cake for five very happy customers.
On Sunday night we met up again in Paul's (Ryans) where post-mortems were held and, more importantly, dates were decided for a return in 2013.'
If you fancy a trip out with Donie on the John Boy you can contact him on 00-353-87-2776566. Alternatively, check out his website on
John Boy for more information and contact details.
Well there are only a few days left to this year's sea angling festival and it looks as if this year the weather gods are smiling down on us. The forecast for the next week looks fairly good. Fingers crossed and with a bit of luck it will stay that way. If it does then, more than likely, the boats will get outside the harbour every day. That's not to say that there is anything wrong with the fishing in the harbour, but when you do get out to the outside reefs like the Smiths, the Ling Rocks and the Pollack rock anything is possible. Certainly cod and ling to double figures are a possibility with pollack to specimen weight and big conger. Indeed, the heaviest fish of last year's festival was a mighty conger of 44lb landed by the eventual winner, Danny Kane.
Its the potential fishing like this that will spur on the 50 or so anglers who are competing this year. Once again, many nationalities are represented. Anglers from Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, Holland, Germany & Switzerland will be taking part. Many of these anglers have being fishing the event year after year. Indeed, some of the Dutch anglers having been coming over and fishing the festival for over 30 years on the trot. Its not just the fishing that attracts these anglers. The craic has a big part to play and there is some craic in this festival. The friendship, camaraderie, banter and slagging is something to behold. Each day out fishing is great fun and it just doesn't end when the fishing is all over. Every day all competitors retire to one of the nominated pubs to discuss the day's activities and, more importantly, to discuss the 'one that got away.'
