Adrenalin Rush!

Rock Fishing with a difference ticks all the boxes.

- Chris Clark

WHEN HEADING TO A NEW venue, I always get a buzz, but when you add some rocky ledges into the equation, my expectations are multiplied many times over.

My adrenalin was flowing freely as a team from Sea Angler made its way to Barry’s Point, only a 15-minute drive down Irish country lanes from our week’s base at Courtmacsherry, County Cork.

We had been given the nod about the potential of this venue by several locals, including charter boat skipper Jim O’Donnell, who knows this part of Ireland like the back of his hand.

Like many of Ireland’s narrow, winding lanes heading towards a headland, it petered out well before the fishing area. There was just enough room to get two cars parked off the track, after which it was a case of donning our hiking boots.

Unlike the approaches to many other headlands in the area, the terrain was fairly level, providing a fairly easy walk along the shallower eastern side of the headland, where we had been told some nice thorn back rays could be caught.

However, on this occasion we were going to target the western side, where the water is far deeper, but a series of underwater ledges can be a tackle graveyard; it only needs the smallest of waves to send plumes of spray into the air, as we were to discover (pictured left).

Unlike a headland we a had visited earlier in the week, the last couple of hundred yards were fairly simple to negotiate. There were also some ledges close to the water’s edge that offered good grip for our feet, not in the slightest bit slippery, always important when fishing deep-water rock marks.

Joining me and our guide Jim O’Donnell were Tronixpro boss George Cunningham, who seems to be able to turn his hand to most types of fishing, and Sea Angler contributors Adam Kirby and Dan Sissons, who specialise in LRF and HRF techniques. It had all the makings of an interesting encounter.