Duration: 1 pm to 5 pm
Tide: from LW up
Weather: not too warm!
Bait: the finest of freshly dug lugworm, a live sandeel (bonus!), mussels, frozen black lugworm and frozen sandeels.
Rigs: 2 and 3 hook flapper, 1 hook rotten ground leger, assortment of lures
Results: 2 shore rockling (K) umpteen small coalies (P)
Report: Client cancelled meeting so decided it was a freebie!
Off to a spot in Clew Bay to dig some bait, tide almost full out... clearly its become a popular spot, looked like the site of the moon landings.
Didn't know there were so many shore anglers in Mayo. Lug were hard to come by and very deep down - mental note about not digging here right at low water. Tried down near the streams and found the beasts a bit higher up. Flicked out a sandeel which has never happened here before as a bonus. Goot some small white ragworm too. Took a few mussels for variety from some local rocks, sadly no crabs about, bitterly cold if light NNW blowing down...off up the road debating where to avoid the NNW and decide to try for a few flatties and wrasse in Keem Bay. Arrived to find a single tourist and a dog walker. Landslide has narrowly avoided destroying the path out to the rock mark - tons of sheep on the mountain, you would think someone can add two and two and figure why there are so many landslides in Mayo...
Anyhow tried casting lures for a half an hour to keep warm (near permanent shadow), big swells crashing spectacularly on the offshore islands but nothing doing. Put a three hook flapper out with finest fresh lug, tipped with a bit of black and despite tiny rattles, nothing doing. Pulled them in closer until started to get nice rattles almost under my feet. Thought well nice, at least there's still a few wrasse knocking about, but up comes two shore rockling. New species for me on this mark, very odd. No wrasse. No mackerel to flaot fished baits either. Live sandeel careful cast out under the float and within ten minutes the float was heading off on a race, struck, float disappears, then pops loosely back on the surface as the line recoils slowly back to me... knot failed. Much television and no sound.
Reckon it had to be a sea trout or at the very least a decent pollack or a coalfish. Cest' la vie.Looked at the increasingly lumpy incoming tide and decided it was time to retreat to Purteen Harbour. Fished out of the boot as with the sun dropped, temperature was already at 1 C! Tons of small coalfish kept me busy for an hour before the boredom got the better of me...
Frozen black lugworm and sandeels now tucked away in the freezer for another day. Not all that thrilled to see rockling in Keem Bay, never seen them there before, maybe a fluke...
Beats working!
