East coast angler, Stan Ryan and a party of anglers headed off with well known charter skipper Colin Barnes out from Castletownshend. He set sail at 8.30 with the group and fished all day in different areas and eventually arrived back in port at 19.00 because thay had to drive to Dublin that night. The first venue was a wreck 32 miles offshore. Colin reckoned it would be stuffed with fish, in particular big ling. He had only dropped anchor ( at 11 am) a few minutes when Willie Worth got a gut wrenching pull on a jelly lure and after a great fight landed a monster pollack.

It was like a stuffed pig and was bursting at the seams. Estimates of its weight varied from 15-17 lb. Pulling a fish this size and strength up from 120M was a test of Willie’s fitness. Nicky then followed up with a fine ling of about 15 -16 lb. Fishing was not exactly frantic but there were some fine ling caught. There were no small fish. Colin was very disappointed that the wreck did not produce enough fish and so eventually we decided to do a drift for the elusive big haddock. They would not cooperate and so after a few of about 1 lb we headed for another wreck further inshore. The depth here was only 110 M. Fish appeared almost immediately with everyone catching ling. Barry had a nice fish of about 12 lb and Joe several one after the other. Late at 19.oo the big pollack was weighed onshore at a whooping 18 lb. 2 0z the biggest pollack since 2004 in Ireland. The anglers commented that if it had been weighed when caught it could have threatened the Irish Record of 19 lb. 3 oz. which was taken at Ballycotton in 1903! Willie’s big pollack wins our Catch of the Week.
Holly Joe
Catamaran 36′. Twin 225 HP
Skipper: Colin Barnes
Base: Union Hall Operational area: 30 miles out of Castletownshend and Baltimore. Address: Ballykahane, Castletownshend, West Cork.
Telephone: +353 (0)28 36832 or +353 (0)86 3273226
Web: www.whalewatchwithcolinbarnes.com