Jim Clohessy reports from Cork Harbour anglers have had a tough start to the year, but things may be improving..

We’ve had a tough start to the year in terms of wind. There were not many fishing opportunities so Saturday’s run was even more “needed”.

So much to do and so many plans. We decided to hit the reefs and do some lure work in order to get a bend in the rods after such a long lay-up. Port of Cork recently cleaned the slipway in Paddy’s Point so it was perfect for both launch and retrieve. We launched and were soon blasting our way to some western reefs.

I was really looking forward to getting some decent fish on a couple of new lure rods and reels. So we didn’t even attempt a try for mackerel despite there being an abundance of bird life working at some sort of fish. We could see from the outset that there was an amount of life about the place. April/May can fickle angling months. On our way out we saw dolphins and whales working as well. All on a beautiful morning with clear blue skies and sun. There was signs of the forecast fog further to the west and south.

The reefs fished slowly but steadily. We found ourselves having to move around in order to locate fish. The slow drift coming up to high water had us hitting pollack and wrasse but as soon as the flow picked up with the ebb tide the fishing and the stamp of fish get better.

I was doing most of my damage on a 60g Fiiish Black Minnow in orange and yellow while Paul was doing well on a Illex Slim Shad 180. I was alternating between my new rods. I had a 60g Crazy Sandeel on the other. We had a steady stream of Ling, pollack and cod. Water temps were a chilly 11.5° for the most part.

A few years back we had a massive amount of basking sharks show up. Well it looks like it’s happening again at the moment. The place was swarming with some huge basking sharks. Some were quite timid while others were as bold as brass swimming around the boat.

Go Fishing…

Sea angling in Cork Harbour