Yesterday (24 June) was a busy day for anglers the first length-based specimen blue shark recorded by the deadly duo fishing from the one of the Bellavista small boat fleet and some cracking conger and thornback ray fishing on the charter boat John-Boy. Jim Clohessy picks up the story…
A great day out yesterday! Kevin Murphy and myself headed to sea on one of the Bellavista small boat fleet with a plan. Our first stop was at the Ling Rocks where we tormented some pollack. Really we were only waiting for the wind to increase a little so we could try some shark fishing.

We set up our shark drift. We deployed the ruby dubby and waited. At roughly the hour mark we had our first run. Shark on for Kevin!
It was clear from the outset that this was a big shark. The fight took over twenty minutes. As the shark passed the boat I reckoned we would need to measure this fish as it was a likely specimen. 2015 is the first year that length-based specimen blue shark are eligible. The shark must measure at least 190cm from snout to fork of tail.

We boated Kevin’s shark – and had some wrestling match while trying to measure the shark. It measured +190cm – A specimen fish! – The first Length-Based specimen ever recorded in Ireland! A 190cm Blue is +100lbs.

We had another two sharks both in the sixties….
A great day. Congrats Kevin!!
On the Charter boat scene the fishing was a little more up and down but the fishing has really improved over the weekend according to John-Boy skipper Donie Geary…
On Tuesday morning (23 June) I was out with a group of 8 English anglers some who fished on John-Boy as far back as 2003. We set off at 10 am. in blazing sunshine to try a wreck about 10 miles from Roches point. After my previous recent experiences I brought a few dozen frozen mackerel along. Just as well because after 3 stops we reached the wreck with about 10 fresh mackerel. With no wind and a slack tide I decided to try a few drifts. Each drift produced some nice fish with pollack to 8lb, ling to 6lb and a few lovely Cod to 8lb.
After a number of drifts we decided to drop anchor and have a go on the bottom, and again this proved to be a great move as the conger were on the feed. We left the wreck at 5 p.m. having boarded almost 40 Conger biggest 38lb. and at least 6 over 30lb. 14 ling to 12lb. 8 Cod to 8lb. and many other bits and pieces.
Yesterday morning (24 June) we changed tack as they wanted to try for a few Rays in the Harbour. Again with my bag of frozen bait we managed about 12 fresh Mackerel and a few Launce on the bank before going to anchor. The first hour was slow with 1 Thornback and a few dogs. Eventually the ebb tide ran and so did the fish. At times there was 4 anglers in fish at the same time and one even had a double. We finished with 31 Thornback rays (biggest 15lb) numerous dogs, Gurnards and dabs.
A really fantastic 2 days fishing and 2 to go.
Not that it was all plain sailing (or rather fishing) for Donie recently. Although last Friday was good with plenty of Mackerel some very nice cod (to 6lb) and ling (to 8lb.) and some fine Conger to finish off a good day Saturday and Sunday were less successful. On Saturday with a group of prison officers we again targeted some cod for the pot, but despite getting a couple of dozen fresh mackerel we struggled to get anything of interest until mid afternoon when we managed to hijack a few ling, cod and whiting, we finished by landing a few Thornback ray and plenty of dogs to save the day. But Sunday was a different story, with a group from the Rob-Roy bar we left Cobh at 10 am. we stopped for bait about 2 miles south of Roches point, after 30 minutes and several stops we got our first mackerel at 12.45 and heading for power head. it was nearly 2 p.m. when we eventually started to get a few fish. This was without doubt the worst mornings fishing I have ever had. Again we finished up in the Harbour where we landed 5 Thornbacks and 1 Blonde ray and plenty of bow-wows in the last hour.
The fishing of the last couple of days just goes to show how quickly it can all come right when the fish are there. Almost 40 conger to nearly 40lbs and a whole pile of other fish followed by 31 thornbacks to 15lb and again a good clatter of other fish really is fantastic fishing ..
Go fishing…
Book a self drive boat from Bellavista Angling Centre – Ireland’s premium angling centre in Cork Harbour.
Web: www.bellavistahotel.ie
Go fishing with Donie on the John Boy
Website: www.loughcarrig.com