What species was he talking about?

[anthony2carr]

My dad used to tell me about a fish they used to catch from the Gweebarra bridge.

He said they were small but they would fill bags of them, they fished for them using feathers similar to mackeral feathers.

I think he called them 'sheehans' or something like that. I've not heard of them since that??

[kieran]

could it be a local name for small pollack or more likely autumn coalies or scad?

[anthony2carr]

One more thing. He said they didn't appear until late September.

[teacher]

Herring (Scadán as gaeilge) with (very very small) feathers perhaps???

[stevecrow74]

Herring (Scadán as gaeilge) with (very very small) feathers perhaps???

think you could be on the nose with that one...

[Big Bear]

!

think you could be on the nose with that one...

Herring (Scadán as gaeilge) with (very very small) feathers perhaps???

sorry but kieran has it on the button they are small pollock and coalies. small white feathers whipped on with red cotton onto size 8 or even 10 hooks is a killer for them. Any of the piers in that area and you can be plagued with them.....easy to catch and is what got me hooked on fishing!

[pete]

They'd be small pollock Anthony, also called 'shanes' in south Donegal or sheillog in the north of the county

[anthony2carr]

Ok, cheers for the info guys. Just when you said it about the white feathers, I can recal my Dad saying they used to wrap white feathers onto hooks for them.