Mackerel Frenzy - Youghal 31st August 2008

[RockHunter]

People: Me

Duration: 2.00 - 4.00 pm

Tide: HW at 6.45 pm

Weather: Partly cloudly, sunny, dry light southerly wind

Bait:
dd
Rigs: Feathers

Results: 106 mackerel




Report: I had to go to Youghal on Sunday afternoon to drop some hospital visitors at Youghal Hospital. After dropping them off I went down to the pier to have a look at how the weed was - it had been unfishable due to weed over most of the summer - Since the tide was quite low but rising I was thinking that it would be good for flounder fishing if the weed was not too bad. When I got there the bay was "boiling" with mackerel. There were only a few fishing at the time - so I thought I may as well have a go at mackerel bashing.

I have never seem anything like it - there must have been houdreds of thousands of mackerel there - multiple patches of the sea were just "boiling" with them. Sprats were jumping out of the water to try to eascpe the feeding frenzy. Some shoals were swimming close to the pier and the water was dense with mackerel.

I had a five hook set of feathers and retrived it slowly to see if I could get a full house each time - got about 10 of those. At one time I even hauled in six mackerel - one had swallowed the weight

The word had got out and soon the quayside was full. I have read some reports on this site of unruly behaviour by the mack bashing brigade - but this was much more of a family occasion with a festive atmosphere. Little kids were there with their rods hauling in three or four at a time - they are probably hooked on fishing for life now There was even a little girl that caught one with a rock pool net when the tide got higher. There was just a very good vibe all around. After I caught over a hundred in less than and hour and a half I lent a set of feathers to a young guy that was fishing with a lure but was not having much success. After that he ended up with a lage bag bursting at the seams with fish.

Most of the people there were locals. There were a group of East Euopeans there - they get a lot of flank for throwing everything into a bag but they were dispatching the fish quickly when they caught them which was something the majority of the local anglers weren't doing - most of the locals were just throwing them alive into bags, cooler boxes etc.

As Kraken mentioned in the mackerel reports - there was very little litter. Some people were cleaning out their fish on the pier and throwing the guts and heads into the water - there must have been a lot of happy crabs - and very full crabs probably bursting at the seams now and ready to pop soon.

I thought I might have caught too many - but I have given most of them away to friends and neighbours. I kept about 20 for bait and have had mackerel for dinner for the last couple of days.

[RockHunter]

More Pics

[shamoo0804]

Great pic's and glad you got the place when it was hot with fish

I fished courtown pier for macks sunday afternoon, myself and my pal were just about first at the pier so got ourself a prime spot, it didnt last long as arrogant, brainless dub's soon invaded the area (I can see why this part of the country is nicknamed Little Dublin).....now I know the mackie bashers get a bad rep most of the time...its little wonder with how this lot were going, lines everywhere, f'ing and blinding (mainly on my part I have to say), mindless idiots everywhere and it really spoiled what was a lovely afternoon.

Glad to hear you had it much better

[nicefish]

nice pictures, like the one with the dog,

[Kraken]

Nice pics Frank -

Was there yesterday - arrived about an hour before HW - same thing again - no camera to take pics but 4 or 5 guys didnt even take the rods out - just used a landing net

At high water it was almost over the edge of the quay wall - any higher and the macks would literally have swum over the wall

Have to say again in defence of the FNs on the quay - no rubbish and watched one/two which shook off all smaller macks. Didnt take too many either Not like some of the locals........

Great to see the macks in such "plague" proportions Decided I would be a bit sporting and left off the feathers and used a toby with the treble replaced by a single hook with the barb crushed in - was good fun on light gear

And as Rockhunter said - real family atmosphere on the quay - all that was needed was some bunting and a BBQ

John.

[Eoghan]

Decided I would be a bit sporting and left off the feathers and used a toby with the treble replaced by a single hook with the barb crushed in - was good fun on light gear


John.

Much more like it. Its easy to get carried away and be left with a whole pile of mackerel and then the problem of what to do with them.

[RockHunter]

Thanks guys,

Shamoo, sorry to hear you had an unpleasent time with the mack bashers. I didn't have any problem with crossed lines in Youghal despite the pier been so crowded, but a lot of people, especially the kids were just danging their feathers over the pier edge and catching.

Nicefish, yes that dog was quite funny, I guess he had never seen a mackerel before and would go over to sniff one lying on the pier, the fish would flip around a bit and the dog would jump about a foot into the air

Kraken, next time I am fishing into a shoal like that I might try a lure. On Sunday within an hour and a half I had more than enough fish so stopped - the fishing was so easy it took half the fun out of it - the main fun I was getting was trying to get a full house each time. Although five mackerel on a spinning rod do put up a good fight

[roger de dodger]

arrived down on brittas bay last sept to find a two foot wide two inch deep high water line made of sprat ! it was the whole length of brittas bay a local lad told me the macs were getting picked off the beach by people you didnt even need a rod ! imagine the size of that shoal brittas must be near two miles long!funny thing they are few and far between in dublin bay at the moment maybe they are on the way

[daithi]

yeah it was the same on fitzgeralds strand last week. a mate was out there and picking them off the beach