Donegal Bay Wrasse, 22nd Aug, 21st and 22nd Sept. 2022

[johnwest]

I have done very little shore angling recently but the Spirit moved me to break out the gear for a few days at the wrasse.
22nd August. For the first trip I treated myself to some ragworm for bait instead of digging lug or foraging for hardback crabs. I say “treated”; my Saturday night sirloin is cheaper! I opted to floatfish and was soon set up with a piece of juicy rag wafting in the tide. It didn’t take the fish long to find it as the first of 22 ballans and 12 corkwings homed in and engulfed what must be a very rare treat on the west coast. I was certainly kept busy but while the fish had quantity, they lacked quality; the biggest ballan just about made 33cm on the tape with the smallest fitting neatly in the palm of my hand, a hand which shall never be likened to a shovel! The corkwings, not a big species to start with, nudged towards 24cm. Somehow a few “pin” pollack beat the wrasse to it, merely adding variety but not length or weight. Even though rationing the bait portions, I ran out of rag after about 4 hours and with the fish still feeding, I had to pack up. The wrasse are almost suicidal for rag but you do get a lot of small fish, next time I would try crab.
21st September. It didn’t take long to gather a bucket of nice-sized hardback crabs and since we were well into September, I was hopeful of a few decent “harvest” wrasse. I stuck to the floatfishing again and the first reluctant crab descended into the depths, all 14 ft, about 2 hours into the flood. Nothing much happened for an hour, in fact nothing happened so I retired to the car for soup ‘n’ sandwiches. Half an hour later another crab was sent on a scouting mission and this time reported contact with the enemy in the form of a 1.5lb ballan. This was the first of 7 wrasse including 1 corkwing. The biggest today made 3lb 14oz on the scales and gave a good account of himself on the 1-3oz rated rod, even peeling some line off the reel. The smallest today was only slightly smaller than the biggest from the last trip; crab definitely sorts the wheat from the chaff though I find it harder to connect with the bites. How wrasse can remove a crab from a hook even when bound with elastic is beyond me, someday I’ll risk using my Waterwolf camera to find out!
22nd September. I still had plenty of crab left so another go at the wrasse was in order. First cast gave an almost instant bite from a 2lb 12oz ballan so I thought I was in for a busy day. However it soon began to look like First Cast Fish Curse was operating as I hadn’t even a bite for the next three hours. Fortunately as high water approached the fish came on the feed with 6-7 landed in an hour. Things began to slow down again but I ended up with a total of 9 ballans, no really big fish but there is time for a few trips yet!

[MC]

nice fishing

[ESC+RC]

That’s some nice fishing Johnwest.Love float fishing.Great sport on light gear.Thanks for the post.

[corbyeire]

Fair play to you mixing it up - and getting results!

[MartinC]

Lovely fishing jw,, thats a specimen size corkwing, hard to beat float fishing,, nothing beats that split second feeling of it going down

[johnwest]

Lovely fishing jw,, thats a specimen size corkwing, hard to beat float fishing,, nothing beats that split second feeling of it going down

So it is, I hadn't realised that. Bit short on witnesses so I'll check jimc's post on a recent thread.

[ESC+RC]

Don’t need witnesses.Just get the forum signed by your local peace commissioner.There’s no record yet for the Corkwing wrasse yet.They are looking at getting enough claims in to get a idea of % weights and length.Your fish is over the length they have set out.Good luck.

[johnwest]

Don’t need witnesses.Just get the forum signed by your local peace commissioner.There’s no record yet for the Corkwing wrasse yet.They are looking at getting enough claims in to get a idea of % weights and length.Your fish is over the length they have set out.Good luck.

Thanks for that ESC+RC, that's pretty much what jimc was saying. I'm in the North so I'll have to find out if we have the equivalent of a peace commissioner and if that will satisfy ISFC.

[ESC+RC]

Good luck with that Johnwest.I’m sure there’s the equivalent of a peace commissioner in the north.Must be because there’s plenty of anglers from the north that have got specimen awards.Let us know how you got on.

[johnwest]

Good luck with that Johnwest.I’m sure there’s the equivalent of a peace commissioner in the north.Must be because there’s plenty of anglers from the north that have got specimen awards.Let us know how you got on.

I found out from the Law Society, NI, that all solicitors can act as Commissioners for Oaths, on contacting ISFC, they seemed happy that CO's could fulfil the requirements. ISFC also confirmed that my picture was fine and encouraged me to submit a claim so I have downloaded the claim form and arranged to see my solicitor on Wednesday. It was a lot handier to go for a Shimano Mission Accomplished Badge in Sea Angler magazine!

[ESC+RC]

Yeah a bit of a hassle alright.But it will be worth it when you get you cert and badge.

[johnwest]

Yeah a bit of a hassle alright.But it will be worth it when you get you cert and badge.

"Badge? Badges? I don't need no stinking badges!"

[ESC+RC]

You can put it with all those mission Accomplished badges.