In August of 2024, we spent a week fishing on Dursey Island, one of Ireland’s most remote and beautiful locations. This was our third trip to the Beara Peninsula and our first on Dursey. We’d planned on staying there beforehand, but the cable car renovation project was only finished this year.
In our three year long quest to catch a double-figure pollock from the shore, Dursey’s ruggedness and incredibly deep water made us confident. Too confident perhaps.
How do you get to Dursey Island?
The best (and probably only) way to get to Dursey is to fly to Cork, hire a car and drive the 2.5-3 hours south past Ballylickey, Glengarrif and Castletown Bearhaven. Once you get to Derreenavurrig, you’ll need to leave the car and get the cable car over to the island.
The cable car runs from 9:30am – 7:30 ish in the summer months. Shorter in winter. You can see the timetable here. It costs €10 for a return ticket. Be warned, the cable car can be very busy and you may find yourself in a queue of 20-plus people. With a capacity of six, we’d recommend getting there early.
Can you stay on the island?
You can stay on the island, but it’s not flush with rental properties. Or people. We stayed in Schoolhouse, one of the most remote properties on the island. Dursey is around 6.5km long, which we had underestimated. So when we turned up laden with gear, we were a bit nervous we’d have to lug everything all over the island.
Fortunately, the owner of the property has a rusty old jeep he leaves on the island and we had a vehicle in a form of working condition. Without that, we’d have been up slack alley.
Is the fishing good on Dursey?
Fantastic. If you’re after some great sport fishing, you can catch some huge pollock from the shore, alongside some chunky mackerel and conger eels. The pollock and coalfish that live in the deep water are aggressive, hungry and fight like hell.
What fish can you catch?
The breadth of species isn’t enormous, particularly if you’re a lure fisherman. broadly, you’re likely to catch (in order);
- Pollock: the sea floor is completely dominated by pollock. Hard fighting, powerful fish that grow into double figures
- Coalfish: virtually a pollock
- Mackerel: a more transient fish present mainly in the summer months
- Conger eel: some great bait fishing from the shore, getting well into the double figures
- Huss: we’ve only seen a couple, but they’re there
You might catch something else, but broadly this is what to expect.
Dursey Island Map (with fishing marks)
Where are the best fishing marks on Dursey?
We walked almost the entire length of the island and scoured almost every accessible location over six days. Conceivably we may be the world’s leading experts on Dursey Island’s shore fishing marks.
1. Under the cable car
Just under the cable car, there are some shore fishing marks where you can fish the water between Dursey and the mainland. A body of water called Dursey Sound.
This isn’t a brilliant spot to bait fish or fly fish thanks to the strong winds and currents that flow through Dursey Sound. But the deep water is home to some seriously powerful pollock and coalfish. Fighting even 2lb or 3lb-ers in these waters is some serious sport.
2. North along the Dursey Loop Trail
If you follow the Dursey Island Loop north from the cable car for around 10 minutes, there are a couple of superb marks if you’re after big pollock and conger. Follow the path around until you reach an accessible-ish rocky scramble covered in both gulls and gull shit. It doesn’t smell wonderful, but that’s a small price to pay.
3. The pier
You’ll find the pier a few hundred metres along Dursey’s only road. The pier’s a great place to start, particularly if there’s a strong southerly wind. You can bait fish, fly fish and use lures from arguably the island’s most accessible spot.
4. Small island by the cemetery
A little further past the graveyard and you’ll bump into a small island off the coast of Dursey. There are several marks you can fish that can provide some excellent shelter from strong northerly or westerly winds.
You’ll need to clamber over from the mainland and traverse a few ledges to get there. But it’s worth it. Particularly if you can make it to this platform like ledge. There is some really fantastic fishing to be had from here.
5. Dursey Point
Dursey Point is Dursey Island’s most remote tip and a great place to do some whale watching. You can park around a mile away from the mark at an inhabitant’s farm (they didn’t seem to mind us doing it) and reach Dursey Point. Otherwise, it’s quite a long way.
There’s only one mark where you can reach the water safely (trust us). The entire north side of the island is inhospitable for anglers. But if you follow the faint path from Dursey Point around the southerly edge of the island, you’ll find a ledge with some old fisherman’s steps cut into the ledge.
It isn’t pretty, but if you’re up for a walk and fancy fishing somewhere remote, this is about as good as it gets.
How accessible are these marks?
It depends. The pier is ultra accessible, you can drive the entire way down. The marks under the cable car are relatively straightforward, but you do need to have your wits about you. Following the trail north to the northerly tip of Dursey Sound is more precarious, but manageable. The island off the cemetery looks a bit precarious, but is simple enough and never gets cut off by the tide.
Dursey Point is a little tricky, but as long as you’re careful, there shouldn’t be any issues as long as you avoid the main stretch of the headland and the northerly coastline.
FAQs
According to locals, there are around five permanent inhabitants on Dursey Island. Most, if not all of these residents are farmers who are reliant on the cable car to get back to and from the mainland.
Hi, I'm Harry. A keen, albeit exceedingly average fisherman. I've spent the last few years trawling London's waterways with - if I'm being kind - varied success and would love to help you avoid the mistakes I have made.
