People: myself, jordan, drew and fishermannum1
Duration: 3pm to 11pm
Tide: LW 7pm
Weather: flat calm, dry and sunny
Bait: mackerel, squid, rag and sand eel
Rigs: 2 up 1 down and 4/0 pennel pulleys
Results: thornies and doggies
Report: with the warmer weather holding out and rumours of mackerel and wrasse returning to our shores it was time to get the thornies ticked off the species list for 2012. so after a few phone calls a team was put togeather and we were donegal bound

. fishermannum1 had arranged to meet us at the mark so it was just myself, jordan and drew in the wagon for the short 1 hour 30 min drive up the road. we got to the mark and were unloading the car as fishermannum1 pulled up. so we all got sorted and headed over to our chosen spot. i am still on the wounded list with the thumb, but i had'nt had my fishing fix in almost a fortnight. so painfull or not i was going fishing!. althow my screams mid cast when my thumb touched the rod did provide entertainment for the rest of the lads
as usual the milk of human kindness was flowing as freely as cold roofing tar in siberia as the rest of the lads kept giving me the thumbs up

. but sure i always reckon if they are laughing at my expence then some other poor git is getting left alone

.
on the very first cast fishermannum1 was into a ray, but it did the old suction trick into the soft sandy sea bed and was'nt shifting for love nor money. eventually it snapped off and it was first blood to the rays

as we all gathered around my tripod for a good old laugh at al trying to bait up one handed, jordan's k2 was getting pulled off his tripod

. he raced across the sand and struck into and landed the first ray of the day and 2012

. it tipped the digital scales at 5lb 8oz and jordan was duely smug
then it was don's turn to land 3 sucessive rays on the trot up to about six and a half pounds. then it was my turn and i got a nice thornie of 4lb

. so by now we all had rays (apart from poor drew

) and it was time for fishermannum1 to head on home.
great to wet a line with you again don

. there were a few lads to our right and they seemed to be having good sucess with the thornies too landing about 6 between them and even a big mackerel

. i thought it might be a sea trout at first glance as they were 100 yards down the beach from us. but the guy came up for a chat and confirmed it was a big bruiser of a mack
as we began to lose the light the fishing died a death and pretty much nothing happened for another 3 hours. drew even resorted to fishing 3 rods in desperation at trying to beat the blank

. but then all at the same time we all had our rods nodding away together

. jordan and drew both got dogs and i lost another thornie on the retrieve. these things have better suction into the sea bed than a dyson!. i had no sooner reeled in my rig when my other rod began nodding and the biggest thornie of the session came in at 7lb 7oz

sadly this fella had taken both hooks on the 4/0 pennel pulley and it took a bit of messing about to get him unhooked. but we were patient and he swam off without a hitch
i was made up, but poor drew was still waiting for his first ray which sadly did'nt come. but there will always be next time man
in the end the scores on the doors was,
ME - 4 thornies to 7lb 7oz
JORDAN - 1 thornie and 1 doggie
FISHERMANNUM 1 - 3 thornies
DREW - 1 doggie
not the buisest of sessions, but no blanks and a new species ticked off the 2012 list
and the penn powerstix pro 15'9 paired with the shimano biomaster xsb 8000 performed well with the heaviest thornie of the session. well chuffed indeed

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