times: Mon- 13:00- 18:30 tues - 14:00 - 16:00
tides... High on monday bout 14:30
weather: breezy, drizzly, misty..also known as connemara weather
bait: Rag, mack, sandeel
rig: pennel pulley, float, sabiki, freelined sandeel
report:
Monday was the 1st anniversary of being with the lady, so what better way to celebrate this than to a trip to our favourite hotel. It just happens that this hotel is within stones throw of our(read as 'my') favourite fishing mark on these fine shores- clifden bay. Headed off from dublin at 5am to get there and enjoy the day to the fullest, giving us as much time to hang out(fish) and sight see(more fishing)..
The fishing was great from the start. I'd brought 2 bait rods, but the swell was fairly bad, so decided to use just one, and we had 2 telescopics for float/spinning.. bait rod was rather quiet, with occasional doggie..and initially what I thought to be a ray I was heavin in- turbed out to be a double of giant spider crab(hoors) and doggie.
Eefs was floating Rag and was gettin a steady line of pollock and wrasse, both ballan and corkwing. this just wasn;t to be, I could not be beaten by my lady!! So I tried the sabiki.. first cast got a decent mack but as I had bait, released it, probably the only mackeral to be releassed ever.. next the sabiki started farting up tiny pollock so I changed tac- switched to freelined mack sliver, and then sandeel. Got some really nice pollock this way, and it is such a gentle way to fish, really organic. Or some hippy siht like that..
Swopped to float for a bit, to play species catch up, and duly started gettin wrasse, none to any great size, one or 2 maybe hittin the pound mark. I was rather proud of Eefs at this stage as she had turned into a full fledged fishing lady- baiting her own rag, taking her own fish off etc.. gone are the days where she couldn;t even reel in a flounder
as Floating for wrasse, I noticed the line on my bait rod get slacker and slacker....
grabbed rod, picked up slack and found a fishie to be still on the business end of things... used the swell to get his over the barnacle coverd rocks without shredding my line- 8lb thornback. nice.
This day ended with me on 4 doggies, 7 wrasse, 3 pollock, 1 mackeral and a brace of spider crab, with eefs on 9 pollock and 8 wrasseand an 8lb thornback, no bullhuss this time though..
then off to have a nice bottle of wine and a 14oz T bone- the lady knows how to look after me...
Onto Tuesday: we decided to go for a drive, Ended up at cleggan pier. the end seemed swarmin with smeall pollock and wrasse so thought the rmay be some big brothers int he kelp at the end.
there wasn;t.. spent a few hours pullin in the smallest poolock ever, , small pouting, a couple of nice wrasse, and got my first launce/greater sandeel of the year.. Freeelinded some sandeel again and got a few bigger pollock and a mack. Eefs outfished me here with the wrasse preferrin her ragworm float to my sabiki/freelined.
Some ppl came up and asked would we be long as his kids wold like to do some pier jumping.. i obliged by movin away from the ladder, givin them space to get out...
but of course this would not do- the guy proceeded to not only dive off wall, but swim out right in front of whrere i was fishing, where he knew I was fishing..... and then just hang in the water , thinkin' gosh this is lovely, I must own the ocean'... he quickly got the msg when I launched a 4oz lead attached to a string of sabikis over his head... some people!!
packed up with an end result of perhaps 20 fish each, mostly small though. had to depart soon as the mackie bashers came in with the tide. There was a little girl there with a rod , reel and Leeda
reel, with condor bar, seemed to be the stock outfirt the taackle shop was sellin to tourists.. I gave her a hook and some sandeel and she caught her first ever fish, a tiny pollock, which she declared' my first fish, a goldfish! I'm going to eat it..as she ran off to show mam.. ahah thing musta been 3 inch long..anyhow, a great trip had, can;t wait to get back out that way- btw, if anyone is headin that way, the ardagh hotel is the best place there to stay, such great service, character and cost! Love going there, looks right out oto the bay...
tight lines
Dáire
