Experienced shark anglers Pat Kirwan and Clyde McElwaine contacted Inland Fisheries Ireland during the week to report witnessing a rare shark leap clear of the water four times while they were fishing for Tope a few miles off Greystones. It happened last Saturday, 17th July, when Pat and Clyde were fishing in separate small boats, with two other boats close by, in an area known as the Codling Bank. The sea was completely calm when Pat heard a loud splash and then watched as a massive fish swam under his boat before jumping completely out of the water, revealing itself as a Thresher Shark. Immediately identifiable by its massive tail, which he estimated to be 3 metres in length, this enormous fish jumped fully out of the water three more times before moving off. “An incredible sight”, according to Pat – he estimated the fish to weigh about 200 kg. Pat and Clyde, who both tag Tope and other species for IFI’s Marine Sportfish Tagging Programme, have fished this area for many decades and have never witnessed anything as spectacular as this display from a species that is known to visit Irish waters infrequently.
