I will post an update regarding the easing of lockdown ect in due course so keep an eye out. Much as it is nice to have lots of texts and emails I cant respond to them all at once and I will need some time to digest the latest announcement so please bear with me.

Unfortunately for obvious reasons there have been no weekly reports from me throughout this lockdown. I have tried to keep posting odd bits on here to keep you interested and with this in mind I have decided to go over some of our holidays over the next few weeks. I will start with some of our trips to Ireland. We have now stayed in cobh, county cork for several years. each time we have stayed with bella vista and hired Kevin Murphy’s self drive boats.

Cobh is well placed within cork harbour, which claims to be the second biggest natural harbour in the world. Cork harbour is steeped in history, surrounded by great places to eat and stay and most importantly a rich and diverse habitat for many species of fish. the harbour is one of the biggest attractions to me as it means we can find decent fishing in any weather while we are there.

Our first trip was back in 2010, we had visited Ireland before several times but uncle Steve organised for us to stay at bella vista for a few days shortly after our wedding. It was early October so some of the summer species had already started to leave but we had some great fishing never the less.

We had 5 days boat fishing on a warrior 165, there was plenty of room for the three of us and she certainly nipped along pulling 31knots flat out (although we rarely ran her this fast).  Bella vista is owned/run by Kevin Murphy who is himself a keen angler and had seen the potential for small boats in this great location. Kevin has always been a great help and offered great advice on where to fish, what to target and when to be there. This was invaluable particularly on our first trips.

Our first stay was a learning curve however we were blessed with some pretty good weather. At times it was hard to believe it was the middle of October. We tried many different marks and covered several different methods. There were good numbers of codling in the harbour that first year, the locals were out in force targeting them. At the time we had enjoyed very good numbers at home for several years so we spent more targeting other species.

We had some great fishing within the harbour although we didn’t manage any blonde rays at first as our baits were being nailed by the whiting and codling before they had a chance. The mixed fishing on the reefs was great (as it was every time we visited). One of the best reefs for mixed fishing is ‘the smiths’ which is a short ride outside the harbour. This is fairly shallow (between 15-25 meters deep) and can produce all sorts. We regularly had small pollock, cuckoo wrasse, coalfish and codling from here. As well as a few haddock this first year along with red and grey gurnard.  I often managed to sneak and octopus from here and they became a regular sight for us over the following trips.

Other well known reefs such as the pollock rock and ling rocks also produced well over the years. we had some great light tackle fishing for pollock this first year. I think it may have helped as it was late in the season. We were able to use spinning gear and had fish to 11.4lbs. we often like to mix up the methods a bit so might start the day drifting for pollock and then try and finish with a few hours at anchor. The weather was so good we were able to pick and choose what we did. Some days we had 30-40 pollock in a morning, then put the anchor down and had lots of ling and conger on the ling rocks.   There were no giants with but great sport with the biggest ling around 10-12lbs and the biggest conger over 30lbs. the best part was only having to use 8 oz of lead as there is very little tide there.

By the end of the holiday we had caught some great fish and had such a great time it was only a matter of time until we would return.

Back in the here and now, If you would like to get something in the diary for this year then please call me (Scott) on 07956411528