Tolka Estuary, Dublin 27/03/2011

[nanor]

People:
2 of us

Duration:
18:00 - 19:45

Tide:
High at 19:14

Weather:
Calm, no wind, clear skies

Bait:
Sand eel, peeler, razor, wedge & jelly worms

Rigs:
Running ledger

Results:
Blank!

Report:
Decided to head down for a couple of hours to give the area along Alphie Byrne road a shot for the first time as its close to home. Arrived when the sun was low and set up the beachcaster, baited up with sandeel & razor, and cast out about 80 yards towards East Point. Bait came back untouched after about 40 mins so changed it to peeler/razor mix and cast out the same distance further down. Left it out for about the same time but once again came back untouched.

We were also spinning using jelly worms, a smallish wedge and sandeel. No luck there either!
Despite the blank, was good to get out again... its been a few weeks since I got to wet a line.

[paul skelly]

hard luck lads
give it a month or so and it should be full of mullet

[saving private brian]

the tolka used to have bass years ago is this true

[tight lines]

it did and still does not in many numbers mind you but you can still get a few when there in stiil a bit early lads maybe next month

[nanor]

Thanks, I'll give it a go again when it warms up a bit.

What would be best for bass down there, peeler/rag/lures?

[paul skelly]

Thanks, I'll give it a go again when it warms up a bit.

What would be best for Bass down there, peeler/rag/lures?

rag and lures but you would have better results at the wooden bridge down the road

[nanor]

Fished the wooden bridge a fair bit last year at night but only brought in mackerel. Hopefully have more luck this year! Thanks for the advice

[roger de dodger]

fairplay for having abash someone has to test these spots had you got a ten pound bass i wonder would you have done a similar report

[nanor]

fairplay for having abash someone has to test these spots had you got a ten pound Bass i wonder would you have done a similar report

May have had second thoughts about being so exact with the location alright

[Gilks]

Have also fished in the Tolka estuary twice this year and didn't catch anything either. It seems worth a punt because it looks alright and there are reports of bass, flounder, mullet and sea trout. I guess late-spring/summer is the best time - although are bass 'much' better caught at night...?

Also of interest might be this report from some plucky biologists in the Fisheries Board whose species list from the Tolka estuary (in 2008) included sand-goby (2741), sprat (404), grey mullet (122) along with flounder, eel, cod, pollock and salmon.
http://www.wfdfish.ie/wp-content/upload ... /Tolka.pdf

There's a thread with more information on the Tolka estuary in Shore Angling, Q&A (started by myself co-incidentally)
http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/bull ... =1&t=33161

[nanor]

Great information in that report Gilks. Thanks for sharing it.
Its slightly disappointing that there is no mention of bass in the report, considering how the sampling was carried out in September.

If you manage to catch anything around the area let me know, I'll be sure to do the same.

[nanor]

Here's a later report from the same body from October 2010 that includes the Tolka Estuary...
http://www.wfdfish.ie/wp-content/upload ... t_2010.pdf

Despite the fact that they increased their number of samples, the fish count is way down, though it did include one bass.

[Gilks]

I'll post it here if I catch anything down there. If it's a bass you will probably hear me first.

Nice one with the more recent survey report. Good to see a bass in there. The total fish numbers are down but the 2010 study is a month later into autumn and it doesn't state if they put the nets in the same places as the 2008 survey so I'm not sure how accurate it might be as a replication study. The sand gobies and sprat are down but the cod way up - maybe the cod found a new place to dine.