Wexford guide Sid Jones of Fishing Ireland reports on his recent trip to Waterford coast:
Dungarvan was the port of call for some recent wreck and blue shark fishing trips aboard the Avoca, a sturdy Lochin 33 with a rebuilt powerful 308 hp Volvo Penta engine skippered by Jack Keating of Dungarvan Bay Charter Boats. The sunny south east certainly lived up to it’s name without a cloud in the sky on a beautiful September morning. After a quick chat we steamed to our mark, one of the many WW1 wrecks. “Ding a ling” ling after ling were brought to the boat from 50m+ ling over 10lb and up to 14 were caught but 20 and even 30lb ling are possible. Conger eel up to 30 lb were caught along with some catches of cod, pollock, wrasse and mackerel resulting in tired arms but delighted anglers. Next on the list was the majestic Blue shark, one of the most saught after game fish for anglers. A sleek and powerful cobalt blue requiem shark and luckily we got to land a few.
The first day we set out for them there was flat calm seas and there wasn’t a breath in the air which is lovely for boating but not ideal for shark fishing so we towed a bag of chum for a mile or two to have the scent doing it’s job and after an hour or so it paid off my reels ratchet sounded off a few clicks… Then some more… I lifted my rod and set the tension ….. Fish on !! The first blue shark of the trip took my whole mackerel baited on a 10/0 circle hook, after a great fight the blue was tailed and boated weighing close to 80 lb, we quickly photographed and released it. We could see the shark swimming away in the gin clear water visible to over 50 feet, another shark weighing close to 100lbs was boated at the same time and another two were hooked, one snapped the line and the other threw the hook. Great days sharking !!
On the next trip there were 3 shark boated and 4 runs with one shark hanging very deep unlike a blue more like a porbeagle. During the boat trips in Dungarvan we were lucky to avail of the wonderful sightseeing opportunities to be had with a large fin whale and a pod of dolphins spotted. We were also amazed to see a thresher shark fully breach the water chasing pray. Thanks again to Jack for the most enjoyable and memorable trip I’ve had.
Sid Jones
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Sid Jones
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