32 species at Martin O'Brien Festival in Cork Harbour

Tony Tait reports that the Martin O’Brien Festival, fished over the long weekend, was unusual this year as they had 3 days of good weather giving the anglers unrestricted fishing. A total of 32 different species of fish were caught over the 3 days.
In the interests of conservation all congers and rays were witnessed, photo’d and released.
Tony want to say a big thank you to the organisers Catherine Donnelly, Sue Tait, Kieran O’Keeffe, (Arthur Beechey AKA The Welsh Wizard) And Dave McCarthy. Also to Martin and Imelda Budden and their staff of Pepperstacks Bistro Rosies Bar.

Last week charter Skipper Donnie Geary was getting some good fishing for the anglers on John Boy…
On Sunday week last with a group from Cobh sea angling club we fished the peaks east of Power head and had a good catch of Pollack 4/5 lbs. and plenty of Conger. On Monday with a my old school pal John English with family and friends we went south and caught plenty of Whiting, a few cod, gurnards, Ling and Conger. On Tuesday the first of 4 days with a regular group from England, we again went to the eastern marks. The fishing was excellant for the first few hours with plenty of fine Pollack and about a dozen conger, but as the tide slacked so did the fish and the rest of the day was slow.
On Wednesday we went for species, drifting south of Daunt buoy we managed about 9 species even though the fishing was slow. After lunch we moved east to South of Cork buoy and caught some very nice Cod, Pollack, Ling and whiting. finishing with 14 species. Thursday we again went south and stopped for bait about 3 miles from the point, and were surprised to hit a lot of pollack, ling and Cod. We fished the area for most of the day until the wind picked up and we headed for the shelter of White bay where we had a nice Thornback and plenty of Dogs.

On Friday we headed for a wreck south east of the harbour and after a few slack drifts we dropped the anchor fishing was slow to start and a lot of tackle was lost, but we succeeded in catching 15 Ling and 10 conger but surprisingly not one pollack. We finished the day on the bank where we landed 5 rays biggest 18lb.
Also out last week from Cork Harbour was Crosshaven’s Wreckfisher which had skate and some really good looking coalfish.

Go fishing…

John Boy

Geary Angling Services is owned and operated by Donal and Mary Geary. We offer Shark, Wreck and Reef Fishing for Blue Shark, Conger, Ling, Pollack, Turbot and Rays among others. Based out of Cork Harbour gives the John Boy access to the cod grounds towards East Cork. East Cork Fishing is some of the best on the south coast of Ireland. Geary Angling Service’s operate from the Historic Town of Cobh which is the second most natural  Harbour in the world, and is just a short drive from Cork Airport, and also from Cork City via Rail and Bus. The Rosslare Ferry port is just 2.5 hours drive. We also pick up in Monkstown, Crosshaven, East Ferry and Cork City by prior arrangement.
Donal Geary
Base: Cobh Operational area: 30 miles out of Cork Harbour
Tel: +353 (0)21 4812167
Email: [email protected]  Web: www.sea-fishing-ireland.com

Wreck Hunter II

Sails from Crosshaven. 10.7m twin engined Wildcat catamaran. 25 Knots cruising speed. Licensed and insured for 12, to 40 miles. Wreck, reef and Shark fishing. Rod hire available. Full entertainment system, DVD etc for cruising to and from the action.
Address: 89 East Avenue, Park Gate, Frankfield, Cork.
Telephone: +353 (0)21 4362392 or +353 (0)87 2302362
Email: [email protected] Web: www.wreckhunter.ie