Pollock: the fish that gave the holes their name

If you dive out of Kilkee once, you will see pollock. They are the fish this coast is built around, and the one that gave the Pollock Holes their name long before anyone was diving here for fun.

Knowing one when you see it

Pollachius pollachius. Bronze-green along the back fading to a pale belly, a lateral line that curves distinctly over the pectoral fin, and a projecting lower jaw that gives it a faintly sulky expression. Young fish sit in the shallows in numbers. The big ones — and they get big, well past 10 kilos on this coast — hold deeper and alone.

The lower jaw is the giveaway. A coalfish, its close relative, has a straight lateral line and a jaw that lines up. If the bottom lip juts and the line curves, it is a pollock.

Where they hold, and why

Pollock are ambush hunters that let the sea do the work. They hang facing into the current beside structure — a pinnacle, a gully wall, the edge of a kelp bed — and wait for whatever the tide brings past. That is why you find them at Middle Rock and Donegal Point, holding station off the rock rather than swimming about.

It also tells you where to look. Find the edge — where reef meets sand, where a wall turns a corner, where the current accelerates round a headland — and look up-current. That is the productive water.

Getting close to one

Big pollock are curious and nervous in equal measure. They will often come to a diver, hold at the edge of vision, and leave the moment you swim at them. The trick is to stop swimming. Settle, get your breathing slow and quiet, and let it decide. A diver who stays still gets a much better look than one who chases, and it is the single easiest way to improve your diving on this coast.

Noisy bubbles empty a gully. Slow breathing fills it again. Pollock will come back to a diver who waits.

Season and depth

They are here year round, which makes them the backbone of diving on this coast rather than a seasonal treat. Numbers of small fish in the shallows build through summer. The larger fish tend to be deeper and are the ones worth going out to Middle Rock for.

If you are diving with us for the first time and want to see fish rather than just get wet, this is the one we can more or less promise. Everything else on this coast is a bonus.