Donegal Bay LRF species hunt. 29/08/2013

[johnwest]

People: Me

Duration:2 hours

Tide:Low tide

Weather:Fine

Bait:Mostly lug

Rigs:Jigheads

Results:8 species and about 18 fish in total




Report:
This wasn’t intended to be a species hunt; I had intended targeting a few ballan wrasse on my LRF gear. I tried a few small soft plastics but to no avail so I switched to baiting the jigheads with a couple of white rag I had dug the previous day. These produced instant results with a small coalfish on the first cast. Successive casts produced a few small Pollack and then a half decent one measuring 43cm, about 1lb 6oz in weight. Once the white rag were gone I used slivers of one of the small Pollack and got a long spined sea scorpion. Not much else apart from a few tentative nibbles so I started using lug. This seemed to do the trick for the original target species as a succession of small wrasse came on the feed. A couple of palm sized ballans at first, then a better one at 1lb 4oz and a decent one at 2lb 6oz. This one really put a bend in the lrf rod. A couple of corkwings then put in an appearance followed by a goldsinny and a small mouth wrasse. I got one of these last year but it was much more vividly coloured. At one point I noticed a much larger fish showing a bit of interest in the lug baited jighead as it was sinking into about 15ft of water, I chucked in a couple of lugworms to try and hold the fish’s attention while I rebaited. The fish took the bait properly this time, it was a mullet and it put a proper bend in the rod. After a scrap lasting a few minutes I managed to guide it onto a shallow ledge to land it. Strangely there was another mullet, bigger of course, which followed the hooked fish closely the whole way through the struggle, only turning away as I reached down to lift the fish out. They were like pennel rigged mullet. The mullet weighed 3lb 4oz, a surprise end to the session. The fish were caught around low tide, I would have loved to stay to fish the flood as this spot has produced some good wrasse as the water depth increases with the flood but I had to be elsewhere. Some other time perhaps.

[johnwest]

Jus a couple more pics.

[eyesreilly]

Great report and photos,,,well done,, you got some nice fish there,,,looking forward to the HW report

[Sweetwrasse]

Great report JW and a very nice bag of fish for a short session Interesting to see a mullet on a jig-head too, do you know the species?

[corbyeire]

that was some result to hook that mullet on the jig head - nice one

[agardiner22]

nice coalfish too

[tight lines]

Interesting to see a mullet on a jig-head too, do you know the species?

it a gray thick lipped mullet

well done jw another great lrf session if it was that good on the drop i would like to see how is fairs out on the rise

[gerty86]

Nice fishing! I did a bit of lrf fishing last weekend myself and wasn't having a huge pile of success with the soft plastics. I changed it up and started using small slivers of mackerel on jig heads and managed some very decent pollack, some wrasse and a good few mackerel. I'll have to give it a go with some lug now!

[the weasel]

Fair play on a fine report and some great photos to go with it.

Welldone

John Ainsworth.

[FisherKing]

Very nice fishing & mixture of species, I could do with a session like that!!

[paul skelly]

That's some savage fishing John , great crack an the lrf gear I'd say, fair play

[razor2]

Good man John nice few fish

[danbrosnan]

Great report, lovely pics...

[sparkey+1]

Good man JW nice LRF session had by you..... again....

[gitsea M]

that's some fishing jw and great pics

[johnwest]

Great report and photos,,,well done,, you got some nice fish there,,,looking forward to the HW report

Interesting to see a mullet on a jig-head too, do you know the species?

it a gray thick lipped mullet

well done jw another great lrf session if it was that good on the drop i would like to see how is fairs out on the rise

Looks like I'll have to go again on the flood.

Very nice fishing & mixture of species, I could do with a session like that!!

I've noticed a lack of reports from you recently Fisherking! Are you getting out at all?

Good man JW nice LRF session had by you..... again....

Thanks sparkey+1, all the fish came from the same spot, I hardly took a step.

That's some savage fishing John , great crack an the lrf gear I'd say, fair play

Great crack indeed, I think the LRF gives a better hook-up rate with the wrasse than other methods, you are "touch legering" which is very sensitive and you can react more quickly.

Nice fishing! I did a bit of lrf fishing last weekend myself and wasn't having a huge pile of success with the soft plastics. I changed it up and started using small slivers of mackerel on jig heads and managed some very decent pollack, some wrasse and a good few mackerel. I'll have to give it a go with some lug now!

Definitely Gerty86, I couldn't get over the difference it made.

Thanks to everyone else for the positive comments

[zud25]

Well done ,, St.Johns Point always good for many species