Sharks in the dark on Loch an Iasc

“With fine weather and high water temperatures we decided to do a night shark trip on Sunday night into Monday morning (27 July) with the hope of something different turning up.

I started shark fishing over 20 years ago in West Cork an in the early days most of our shark fishing was done on private boats with my brother in law Lee and it was great to have him and his son back out for an adventure on this trip.

Mike also joined the trip and was well kitted out for the larger species in the event of them making a show. Mike has had shark over 1000 lb and porbeagle well towards the 500lb mark but on this trip he finally got one that he could hold himself.

While this trip was another good adventure we only managed 1 Porbeagle and 11 blues which is below average for the effort we put in and highlights the effects that the commercial shark longline fleet are having on blue shark stocks.

Our boat has been adapted with a stern ramp to boat shark and large common skate. Some people are of the opinion that shark should be released at the side of the boat but that is not always the best outcome for the shark. A lot of times it is important for the welfare of the shark to boat them to remove hooks and tangled lines and we have had many tagged shark recaptured which proves that they are a hardy species and that we are doing things right.

I would also like to congratulate Dan Lynch on successfully catching and releasing the largest thresher shark ever caught in Irish waters, a dream for every shark angler