Enniscrone Co.Sligo 3rd week in July 09

[drseafish]

b]People[/b]:myself

Duration:Fished the beach on 3 three occasions over the week

Tide: Rising and dropping tides <3.8

Weather: Variable, but generally calm and wet

Bait: lug, black lug, mackeral, razor and sandeel

Rigs: 3hook pats, wishbones, bombers, ledgers

Results: Not a damn bite in over 12hrs fishing!




Report:

I don't want to slag venue that was close to my heart, but I still get the chance every couple of years to fish this beach and over the last seven years its just got worse and worse. I have now blanked on it on the three last trips. Yes I know I could go elsewhere but I am a lazy bugger and when I am up there its virtually in my back garden. It used to have loads of flats, (flounder, dabs and the odd plaice), and at night you would get plagued dogs and small pollock with the odd Bass on a good surf. There are still plenty of sea-trout especially over at the bar (moy estuary) and you can pick them off the beach as a bycatch, but apart from the sea-trout whats happened to everything else?
Very little trawling occurs in Kilalla bay now and although seals are more plentyful than in the past, I have fished other marks with much more seals that hold plenty of fish. The beach gets so little fishing now, that I thought maybe fish were there but not being caught, to be its a worry as its does appear to be a desert. I would love to be proven wrong, so if anyone has any info on catches from the Kilalla bay but especially the eastern side I would love to here them.
If other marks go this way, we may give up.

Drseafish

[gfkelly1969]

hard luck,fishing can be hard at time must be fish around somewhere if the seals are around

[zeke]

i feel your pain mate ,me,yorkshireman and shaneR fished at the pier last sunday loads of fish landed by shaneR and yorkshireman...conger and wrasse to name a few

[Kevvv]

sounds tough ...can be very unmotivating on days like that

[drseafish]

Its good to hear that some conger are still at the end of the peir and the odd wrasse are coming in but I suppose its the total dissappearence of flats from the beach that puzzels me most. The sea-trout fishing is still great but I cannot under stand why the beach is fishing so poorly. I really targetted flats on my last trip and its now nearly 7 years since i got a flat off the beach!, I suppose this equates to about 12 sessions, I have had sea-trout in that time but nothing else and assume its the sea-trout that the seals target.
Anyone fishing the beach??

[doggie3131]

my mate john fished it about a month ago,caught two flounder in a 8hr session,i know because he sent me the picture at about two in the morning. caught them near the small river that flows thru the town

[yorkshire man]

i have a theory which is based on pure speculation as to why the fishing is so poor round here,
Last year when fuel costs where so high every time i went fishing i saw big trawlers very close to the shore all along the coast. i think they basically devastated the resident fish stocks rather than travel out to sea.
There seems to be an abundance of very small fish ( 1-2 inch) about maybe last years fry?.
As i say its only a theory but could explain the poor fishing for the last few years

[doggie3131]

think i agree with yorkshire man on this,the trawlers fished awful close to shore this year,and saw fish shops sell fish witch i thought were awful small this year,deisel cost had to hit the boats.

[doggie3131]

actually when we asked a local angler about flats on the beach last year, he told us not to bother,and said try to target the seatrout instead

[FisherKing]

The trawlers did fish very close to shore in enniscrone and some other beaches in the north west leaving nothing but tiny fish.I to noticed some fish shops selling very small fish.