Baltimore, Skibbereen and Cape Clear Island

Baltimore is well known for deep sea angling, and the shore angling is not as good. The coastline is very rugged and often inaccessable. Pollack, Mackerel, and other clear water species are the common catch, while mullet reside in the harbour for most of the year. There are some flounder around and the odd bass. Lough Ine is a very unusual saltwater lake, with extremely deep water on the western side. Some deepwater species can be caught here, possibly ling, and definitely conger, pollack, mackerel, dogfish and gurnard. I have been told that you can catch trigger fish there.

There are two harbours on Cape, the North Harbour and the South Harbour. The boat arrives in the North Harbour, and the South Harbour is just a few minutes away. The fishing differs significantly, with the North Harbour favouring light spinning or float tackle. In the harbour itself, it is possible to catch specimen ballan wrasse, good sized conger eels and mullet, and maybe some flounder, with pollack, mackerel, dogfish, and possibly seatrout and conger available from the rocks. Whiting are around in winter.

The South Harbour is much larger. There are rocks all around, with sand in the middle. Pollack, coalfish, mackerel, dogfish, and wrasse are common, while seatrout can be seen jumping. Garfish can be caught in season, with some codling and the very occasional bass. Distance casting might produce flats or possibly ray from sandy patches. Again, whiting can be caught in winter months.

Anywhere else on the island which is accessible is likely to be similar to the rocks in the North Harbour. The ground is usually very rough along the rocks.

Skibbereen is inland, so sea angling in non-existent. Mullet can be caught in the lower parts of the river Ilen. There are two shops which sell tackle in the summer: Fallon's Sports Shop and J.D. Keneally's hardware. In Baltimore, Cotter's and the post office sell some fishing tackle. On Cape, you can dig ragworm and lugworm in the North Harbour. There is a Seabait king ragworm farm on the island (see links page), and you might be able to buy some directly from here.