Blue shark fishing going well off the Cork coast

Monday morning started fairly calm in Cobh but as the day progressed it got windier. Out on the sharking grounds 12 miles from shore this made for a lumpy enough sea.

As part of a film to promote angling in Ireland, IFI were on the high seas to capture some footage of blue shark fishing with AnglersView Media. Fishing on the on the charter boat Deora De with Skipper Jim Linehan there was an air of anticipation as the group set off. The task of catching fresh bait proved almost fruitless with just 2 mackerel landed. Luckily Mike Hennessy had come prepared with a half box of day old mackerel.

Once the rubby dubby was out it was a 2 hour wait for the first run. The shark was hooked on two traces, but it soon broke one of these at the rubbing leader and after a quick tussel was landed, tagged and returned. A nice 36lb female. The crew of anglers then enjoyed the spectacle of watching John Mellerick doing everything in his power to ensure the next few blues never made it to the boat.

Charlie Stuart of AnglersView Media was unlucky, losing a good shark just under the boat, before John eventually hooked into a shark that was determined to be on the big screen – a small blue of about 28lb. During the day a few garfish were caught on float gear which proved to be good (and badly needed) sharkbait and  bottom gear yielded nothing at all, but one good fish was lost on the way up… You can read more about this great day afloat here “Balloons and Blue Shark off Cork“.

Baltimore

A better day was had by anglers “DMSmith”, Nick and Cameron on board the Rooster out of Baltimore. Fresh bait was also a problem – again only 2 mackerel were landed, but forward planning DM had brought a bag of previously caught fish with him. They had their first shark in the boat soon after setting up (this was initially on two traces but dropped one bait during the fight) and a second while the first was being played out. Two fine fish of about 90lb each had been landed by DM and Cameron.

A second double hook up followed this – a 50lb and a 30lb shark again for DM and Cameron. Cameron finished the day with another of about 50lb. [read more about trip and see all the photos at http://www.boat-angling-ireland.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=7650&p=68609#p68609]

Back to Cobh

On Tuesday a group of Dutch anglers staying with BellaVista in Cobh had even better blue shark fishing on a beautiful sunny day. This time there was no problem with finding bait as there were big shoals of mackerel everywhere. Charter skipper Pat Condon of Osprey made the most of the beautiful conditions and within seconds of setting the first baloon a shark was on. This set a rather hectic pace for the day with multiple runs and big similes all round. By the end of the day the anglers had landed 10 blues, lost two and had loads of excitment.

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