Donegal Bay, 10th and 11th Feb 2012

[johnwest]

People:Me

Duration:approx 7 hrs each day

Tide:Low to just after high water.

Weather:Very mild, calm, sunny even.

Bait:Frozen and fresh lug, fresh mackerel.

Rigs:2 and 3 hook flappers

Results: Flounder, turbot, dab, whiting, coalfish, dogfish.




Report:
Two days, four marks. Friday started off on a beach which was a new mark for me. The surf looked lovely and the sun was shining so it was great just to be out. Unfortunately the fishing was a bit slow. About 1 hour after the start of the flood, a small turbot (19cm) put in an appearance and nothing for another hour when a slightly bigger turbot (22cm) showed up. Both fish took mackerel bait. That was it, not a bite or a molested bait for the next hour and a half so it seemed like time to change venue. Still I suppose some people would be quite happy to catch a couple of turbot, wouldn't you Tightlines? I'll give that spot another go later in the year, perhaps the best time to try a new spot is when the old favourites are fishing well.
The move to another mark didn't really improve matters with only a hand sized dab, (God I wish I had bigger hands!) a slightly bigger coalfish and 4 small whiting (19cm) for my trouble. And so to bed.

Saturday started off with a nice flounder first cast and then nothing followed by lots of nothing, in fact about 3 hours worth of nothing but weed covered baits so I took the hint and moved on to the fourth mark of the 2 days. This didn't seem a particularly wise move for the first 2 hours as not even a bite registered. However around high water a bit of activity started with a couple of 29cm whiting and then 3 dogfish (read and weep Creep!) with a fourth escaping when a swell tore him off just as I was about to swing him in. One dogfish had a small whiting for company in the only double shot of the night. Not an outstanding couple of days fishing but one more for the 2012 species list and a day out beats a day in.

[Creep]

Ahh A dogfish LOVELY!! Those Turbos have the best camouflage only the measuring stick gave it away , Nice to get out though keep it up!!

[sparkey+1]

Fair play John nice fishing and congrats on the two turbos....

[FisherKing]

I see your a bit of a Dab hand at catching Turbot how did the frozen lug compare to the fresh?

[johnwest]

I see your a bit of a Dab hand at catching Turbot how did the frozen lug compare to the fresh?

I had been expecting a few more flounder but floundered in that respect . Most of the fish took mackerel strip but the dab took frozen lug tipped with a bit of mackerel. The fresh lug attracted 1-2 whiting but the lug was also tipped with mackerel so the mackerel alone might have done the job.

[zud25]

Nice fish there nice wee turbot

[leadhead]

fine wee turbo...........

[grady]

great session John, nice looking turbots, well done