A month by month summary of the 2004 Fishing season aboard TIGGER, Castletownbere, Beara Peninsula, West Cork, South West Ireland
SUMMARY for those who find the
month by month a bit tedious
A) A total of 105 Days charter in
2004.
B) A total of twelve specimen fish
including Ling to 33lb 12oz, Pollack to 16lb 5oz and a Haddock of 7lb 1/2oz.
C) Over 70 Ray tagged and released
for the CFB Ireland with one recapture.
D) Steamed a total of 3,700NM in
TIGGER
I took delivery of the new TIGGER
in December 2003. She is a brand new 31ft Procharter Offshore built in
Cornwall, UK.
JANUARY 2004
I took her out of the water in
order to check her over and have the out of water survey done for the
Department of Marine. There was also quite a lot of things to do to comply
fully with the new passenger boat regs, including radio licenses etc.
FEBRUARY 2004
An article about us appeared in
the Feb issue of Sea Angler magazine which read very well (Many thanks to Mel
Russ).
I only had one charter toward the
end of the month which went reasonably well in good weather conditions,
Coalfish to 8lb, Pollack to 8lb and a Ballan Wrasse of 4lb 2oz.
Around this time i attended the
Irish Specimen fish committee awards in Dublin. I wasn't collecting any award
but it gave me a taster for next season!!!
MARCH 2004
Still pretty quiet this month,
weather mostly good. I go out a few times checking out new marks and wrecks,
towards the end of the month three of us have a pretty good day fishing on a
wreck with 16 Ling to 19lb 12oz and a couple of boxes of Pollack to about 9lb.
APRIL 2004
Weather very settled for the first
two weeks of the month. Quite a few conger to about 25lb, Loads of small to
medium Pollack and Coalfish on the inshore reefs, one Pollack in the middle of
the month at 11lb 14oz, First of the haddock starting to show.
In the last week of the month, i
have a trip with just two people and we end up with about 140KG of Pollack and
Coalies to just under 10lb. On the way in we find a floating wreck of a
Sailing yacht which has been drifting the Atlantic for several months.
MAY 2004
Weather still pretty settled on
the whole,Loads of Mackerel showing just outside the harbour of Castletownbere,
fishing very good around the inshore reefs around the Beara Peninsula. All
Pollack are absolutely full of sprat and pipefish, haven't had one trip this
month without a Pollack of 9lb's or more. Quite a few Ling and Haddock
showing up now. One SPECIMEN Cuckoo Wrasse at 1.28lb on the 22nd, Just after
that we have a Pollack of 10lb 2oz and two Cod, best 9lb 6oz. Weather
deteriorates towards the last few days of the month.
JUNE 2004
First week of the Month, loads of
Haddock showing west of Dursey Island, we have a club competition over two
days of the June bank holiday weekend and we bag up on Haddock, On Sunday 6th
we have 186 Haddock between 6 Anglers in four hours. Best is 6lb 4oz. After
this the weather deteriorates for a few days and confines me to the harbour
inside Bere island with a group of lads from the UK. Not great at all,
Thornies are scarce and we have one small conger over a shallow reef. The week
after this the conditions improve and we fish the reefs west of the peninsula,
Haddock to 6lb 5oz, Ling to 15lb 2oz and a SPECIMEN Pollack of 14lb 5oz. Tried
anchoring a reef for the conger and we have 10 in 2.5 hours with as many again
lost. Best are 36lb, 29lb and 25lb, 6 Ling to 9lb 12oz and a Haddock at 5lb.
Again the weather spoils my plans
for another party from the UK and we only manage a quick smash and grab for
the Haddock on the first day, next two days are in the harbour where the
thornies are still scarce but plenty of Dogs!!!!!!
JULY 2004
Tried a couple of wrecks in the
first week, fished very poorly, we did have a Brill of about 4lb but lost it
at the side of the boat (don't attempt to pull them in without a net!!!!!) One
Pollack caught 11lb 14oz, 2oz less than specimen.
We land a SPECIMEN Haddock at 7lb
1/2oz on the 10th. This is the first specimen Haddock to be caught in Ireland
since 1995.
We also have a day with a family
of four, the 14 year old daughter outfishes everybody else on the boat and
ends up with three double figure pollack, best 11lb 8oz. This earns her a
picture in the young rods section of the Sea Angler Magazine. Lots of Dolphins
and Minke Whales Showing at this time of the year.
Lots of small to medium Thornies
now appearing inshore (31 tagged for the CFB in one day). Another Pollack of
11lb 12oz on the 18th.
Another Haddock of 5lb 12oz on the
24th. 15lb Ling on the 28th and a few more to 13lb on the 30th.
Tried to go Blue Shark fishing
twice this month but the water temperature isn't right and also the weather is
holding us back.
AUGUST 2004
On the 2nd i hit a wreck with a
group of lads from Cork City. Two specimens, a SPECIMEN Ling at 33lb 12oz and
a SPECIMEN Pollack at 12lb 4oz, good start to the month. Two days later
another SPECIMEN Pollack at 12lb 5oz and a Whiting at 2lb 151/4oz, this is
3/4oz under specimen.Have a great day with 5 young lads on the 6th, we tag 21
Thornies in two hours, best at 7lb 4oz going to a ten year old on his first
fishing trip. From then until the 17th, the weather plays havoc with plans but
on the 17th we have a group from Kenmare and we go to an inshore wreck, we
have 10 Ling between three rods with the best at 19lb 12oz and 23lb 8oz.
Towards the end of the month the weather is broken but when we do get out we
find the Cod making an appearance at last, nothing special but still around
the 9lb -10lb mark.
Steam up to Cahersiveen on the
29th for the start of the EFSA championships. A very pleasant journey in a NW
6-7, certainly puts TIGGER to the test!!!!!
SEPTEMBER 2004
First five days are in Cahersiveen
for the EFSA championships, two days of light line drifting and three days on
the anchor. We get all four seasons in the week. Anglers from all over Europe
attending and some serious fishing going on. All goes well with a nice mix of
fish over the five days but nothing exceptional on the TIGGER. Steam back to
Castletownbere on the 4th and the sea is literally carpetted with "Sail on the
winds". These are floating jellyfish eggs with a little vane on top that
catches the wind and moves them. When i arrive in castletownbere i have to
clean the decks which are full of them.
SPECIMEN Pollack on the 6th at
16lb 5oz, a nice start to being back home, quite a few codling in the next few
days but weather still making life difficult for us all. I have a group of
lads from the UK over for four days on the boat. We manage two, one on a wreck
where we have Ling to 17lb 8oz and Pollack to 10lb 8oz. The other day is in
the harbour as weather is S-SW8. These lads fished of the shore on the other
days and caught about eight farmed Salmon to 15lb. Not a bad backup.
The rest of the month is bitty,
with quite a few cancelled trips, we try experimenting ground for Turbot and
Brill with no success, but we will keep trying. Catch my first Bass of the
winter season from the shore on the 30th September, about 2lb 9oz.
OCTOBER 2004
Start the month with gales from
the South West, Have a club booked from the South East of Ireland for the
first weekend but only manage one day mostly inside the harbour. A few small
pollack, pouting and Cuckoo wrasse, no rays but one dab. The next weekend have
a trip on Saturday 9th. Easterly 6-7's but get to Dursey sound where we have
10 Cod to about 9lb. one SPECIMEN Cuckoo wrasse at 1lb 8oz.Good bag of Pollack
and Coalfish too. Only one more trip of note in the middle of the month. A
calm day so go to wrecks with two other Anglers. Between us we have three
SPECIMENS two Ling at 27lb 8oz and 26lb and one Pollack at 13lb 6oz. Four more
Ling over 20lb and Coalfish to 13lb 8oz. TIGGER comes out of water on the 23rd
October and will go back in, in the beginning of january 2005 to try and get
some more specimen Ling, Pollack and Coalfish as they move onto the wrecks to
spawn.
NOVEMBER 2004
Shore fishing for Bass at the west
end of Beara after i return from holiday on the 15th. have had ten to 4lb 2oz
although a friend of mine has one at 4lb 9oz. A couple of Codling showing from
the shore also to about 4lb. Things looking good for the winter.
boat sea angling in south west ireland
boat sea angling in south west ireland
boat sea angling in south west ireland