Cormac Burke & Gavin Dorrian, both members of Killybegs Mariners SAC, had a trip of a lifetime in Kerry on the species trail. Read their report below…
Kevin’s & Cormac’s adventure…
Well that’s our excursion to Co. Kerry all over and I’m sure we’ll most definitely be back after this brilliant angling experience!
Finding our particular target species was hard work at times and it saw us fishing 12 hours per day (15 hours on one of the days!) at twelve different venues overall – sometimes with fantastic results and sometimes not so much.
A massive thanks to Chris O’Sullivan for his advice on venues and tides, and to John Marshall who joined us for a day to “show us how it’s done” by getting a club record stingray and beating Gavin’s stingray record that he had only set less than 24 hours earlier.
Kerry trip species (all from shore)
1. Ballan wrasse
2. Corkwing wrasse
3. Goldshinney wrasse
4. Black goby
5. Red mouthed goby – Cormac club record 15cm
6. Ring necked blenny – Cormac club record 8cm
7. Rock goby
8. Pollock
9. Pouting
10. Tompot blenny
11. Bull Huss – Cormac club record 86cm
12. Flounder
13. Tub gurnard – Cormac club record 30cm
14. Shore rockling
15. Ballion wrasse – Cormac club record 14cm
16. Thornback ray
17. Undulate ray – Cormac club record 45cm
18. Stingray – John M. club record 65cm
19. Dragonette
20. Garfish
21. Mackerel
22. Painted ray – Gavin club record 70cm
23. European eel
24. Conger
25. Grey gurnard
Six new club records for Cormac
One new club record for Gavin
One new club record for John M.
Five new species (red mouthed goby, ring necked blenny, ballion wrasse, undulate ray, bull huss) for Cormac’s total = 52
Four new species (painted ray, red mouthed goby, garfish and sting ray) for Gavin’s total = 48
*All species confirmed by Chris O’Sullivan.
