Our last trip was slightly different once again. Stacey and I travelled over alone but met with uncle Steve several times as he stayed a short way down the coast at Corkmacsherry.
As ever our first day was spent ashore and we explored a slightly different area and visited the harbour at Ballycotton. This is placed a few miles East of cork harbour and is another picturesque, relatively busy fishing port. It was a lovely sunny day and looking down from the harbour wall we could see a huge shoal of sprats milling around the harbour with the odd bigger fish disturbing them now and again. We also noticed a large gathering of small fish around an outfall on the outside of the harbour wall. We couldn’t resist fishing here and so caught several small pollock, coalfish and wrasse before making our way to a sandy cove in search of other fish. we were still a little early in the tide but couldn’t hang around too long as we hadn’t been shopping yet. We snuck out a bass and a flounder before we left though.
Our first day on the boat wasn’t bad. There was a bit of breeze off of the land at first so we snitched a few wrasse and pollock out from under the cliffs. As the weather improved we caught some mackerel and made our way further out to and inshore reef. We set up a drift with a couple of shark rigs out as well as bottom fishing. we had no signs of life on the shark rigs but lots of fun with the light gear. Ended the day with a nice mix of wrasse, mackerel, pollock, tub gurnard, grey gurnard, codling, whiting and ling.
The weather had improved by the next day so we headed further offshore to another reef in search of mixed fishing before setting up a shark drift. We started on the reef and things were very busy. Particularly for uncle Steve who was somewhat on fire that day. he was using the very traditional method of cod feathers (large white chicken feathers) baited with strips of mackerel. He was off to a great start with a chunky cod, coalfish, whiting, pollock cuckoo wrasse, ling and even a megrim! As a sign of how slow the drift was he even had some strap conger and dogfish. after a few hours of slow drifting and no wind we had covered little ground and ended up close to where we had started. So as the tide turned we moved further off for the last hour or so and as the wind picked up a little we had a shark bait bitten off. Unfortunately it was too little too late and we drew a blank on sharks that day.
The next day started a bit later as there was wind forecast. It hadn’t picked up as we headed out so we caught some fresh mackerel before heading a short distance outside the harbour. We set up a nice drift and got the shark rods out as well as bottom fishing rigs. Despite being so close in we still had lots of interest on the shark rods. That didn’t mean we could hook them though as we had 4 runs before we got the first fish to the boat. Stacey and Steve had a blue shark each around 60lb and 50lbs. the other rigs produced lots of whiting at times, the odd codling and a few small ling. As the wind freshened we made our way back under the cliffs and ended the day catching wrasse.
The wind was still there the next day and freshened throughout the day. we started off with uncle Steve catching a nice blonde ray first cast while I had a roker and a few dogfish. we had a couple of hours for wrasse after that while the tide suited. We had some little pollock here too. We ended the day just outside the harbour mouth catching roker, dogfish, gurnards and dabs before heading in.
Unfortunately after this we were unable to spend much time on the boat as a series of severe storms ran through consecutively for the rest of our stay. Of course we had a potter around the marina and harbour when conditions permitted but as these storms were forecast to hit force 10 at times we took them seriously. We didn’t waste the remainder of our time here though and instead had some lovely days out ashore. One of the benefits of corks location as well as Irelands size means it is fairly easy to travel around for excursions. The main roads are easy to drive down and it doesn’t take much time to nip off of the main drag to small harbours and villages along the way.
Our first day out was arranged by uncle Steve, we set out on a suitably grey, wet and windy morning as one of the storms passed through and set off for Mizen head light house. Lighthouses always seem to capture Stacey’s imagination so she was excited to be visiting one.
For those of you that don’t know, uncle Steve’s directions can be a little ‘sketchy’ to say the least. We once drove for several hours around the Irish countryside and managed to pass the same parked car on 3 separate occasions from different directions until the map was taken away from him!
So it was with a certain amount of caution that we let uncle Steve navigate as I drove from cobh to Mizen head. As I mentioned before the main roads are pretty straight forwards. Once off of the main roads it can only be one or two wrong turns until we find our selves driving down roads with grass growing down the middle and this occasion was no different. Luckily there weren’t too many of these incidents and me made good time. For the last few miles we took the coastal route past Shannavalley, Killane, and then Barely cove. As the road climbed up the side of the cliffs the views were spectacular despite the scotch mist and grey light it was still a picturesque place. The storms had created some huge swells which were impressive to behold as they broke on the sandy beach.
It was now, after several hours drive and once we were on the single track road that uncle Steve decided to tell us that when he visited here last time it was in accessible and the buildings pretty much derelict! I don’t think he was even winding us up as he seemed quite relieved as we turned the corner to be greeted with a swanky new visitors centre, car park as well as the obligatory café and souvenir shop.
The weather may have been a tad ‘bracing’ to say the least but I enjoy seeing this kind of rugged landscape at the mercy of an Atlantic storm (from a safe distance). There is a walkway that winds its way to the cliff edge and part way down the cliffs which we took a look at first before making our way back up to the buildings. Here we payed a small entrance fee to look around an interesting and informative visitors centre within the original signal station, once we had seen the displays in here we made our way through the building and out towards mizzen head its self where the lighthouse is situated. On our way we crossed a rather impressive foot bridge which gave a birds eye view of some seals sheltering from the storm. The lighthouse isn’t the tall thin building that may be expected but rather a series of small buildings clustered together. There is no need for the building to be high when it is on top of some rather high cliffs in the first place. It was interesting looking around the former lighthouse keepers quarters where there are several more displays on various themes. The most impressive thing once again was the view of the Atlantic and the huge swell that was crashing ashore. By the time we made it back to the visitors centre on the main land we were ready to sample that café, time had flown by and we had already been here 2-3 hours. We had a scenic ride back to our digs at Cobh after dropping uncle Steve off at Corkmacksherry and having dinner in the local pub.
We nicked a couple more inshore trips on the boat in between storms. We couldn’t venture far from the harbour although we still found a few more sharks and I caught my first hake, only a small one but what a prehistoric looking fish!
While the wind was once again too strong to head out on the boat we had a couple more trips out visiting another interesting centre in an box fort on the old head of Kinsale as well as Kinsale its self. We also took a ride around to Crosshaven to look around the harbour once again. Even when it was time to head home the storms played havoc with our plans. Stacey and I were on the boat on the last day and received a text saying that nights ferry would be cancelled due to the wind. We were able to get another night in one of the hotel suits at bella vista thankfully. Early the next morning we made our way to Rosslare for the delayed ferry crossing. We arrived and boarded on time before making our way to our lovely berth which we thought would no longer require. As it happens we were glad of this comfortable berth and the facilities it came with. The ferry was delayed further as the wind was now pinning it to the quay side so much it couldn’t leave the dock. Luckily we were able to watch tv and make several cups of tea while we waited for the wind to ease and release the ferry. We ended up home a lot later than planned but it was no problem. We had enjoyed another great holiday in Ireland with loads of cracking fish despite some poor conditions. We look forwards to our next Irish adventure as soon as we can get over there.
We have now started taking our first trips of the year out and I look forwards to posting some up to date reports from next week.
COVID-19 UPDATE
We have now had confirmation that the large deck area on Galloper we have some good news. we are able to accommodate up to 6 anglers plus the skipper as of 29/03/21. I will honour existing bookings as they are unless you wish to change them. If you are booked as an individual and would rather book on a trip with 6 @ £70pp then please get in touch.
I understand this could be due to change after 17th of May but I am not willing to take bookings for larger groups until the rules have actually been relaxed on this.
That means that until further notice I will taking bookings on the basis of groups of up to 6 people.
NEXT SPACES
I have plenty of midweek availability please contact me to discuss midweek dates.
Weekend spaces as follows
17/04/21-possible offshore trip 2 space @ £90pp max 6 anglers
25/04/21-6 spaces @ £70pp or boat £400 max 6 anglers
03/05/21-6 spaces @ £70pp or boat £400 max 6 anglers
22/05/21-poss offshore trip please call for info otherwise 6 spaces @ £70pp or boat £400 max 6 anglers
23-05/21-6 spaces @ £70pp or boat £400 max 6 anglers
30/05/21-6 spaces @ £70pp or boat £400 max 6 anglers
31/05/21-6 spaces @ £70pp or boat £400 max 6 anglers
Please call me for more information on 07956411528
Stacey is still operating the ‘lady grace’ on a bookings only basis both mid-week and weekends at the
Moment but and is likely to fall under the same restrictions as me. so please call her on 07791859624
Dad (Stuart) has availability on the ‘Razorbill 3’ please call him on 07850234077
