September in Ireland Part III

I thought I would post about my own trip to Ireland the week before Peter's trip to join Tony in West Cork. Myself and two friends, brothers Phil and Kevin Stuckey, headed some 60 miles further west from Courtmacsherry to the Beara Peninsula. This is a rugged finger of rock that pokes out into the North Atlantic between Bantry Bay to the south and the Kenmare Estuary to the north. The three of us have been going to this area for several years now to fish rock marks, mostly with soft plastic lures on 40gm spinning rods for large Pollack, Wrasse and anything else that will take a lure. We also do a bit of bottom fishing for Conger, Ling and other species and float fishing for Mullet and this year Trigger Fish. We had a great time catching Pollack to over 11lbs from the rocks, loads of Wrasse and some big Conger. Mullet proved hard to tempt though Phil and Kev managed a few from a deep water mark. The Trigger fish were weird and we caught quite a few. It has to be said these do not present much of an angling challenge, on the day we encountered them, using mackerel as bait, we caught and returned every fish in the shoal before they wised up and departed. I recommend Beara, the scenery is superb and the fishing terrific, though as can be seen from the photos many of the marks are rugged and hard to access requiring fairly long hikes over rough ground. I have caught quite a few fish on fly, I've included one photo from a previous trip. Didn't get any on this trip though it has to be said I was not trying very hard. Photos below are a mix of this year and last time we went as I forgot my camera this time so only had my phone.