Donegal Bay, 22nd and 23rd August 2012

[johnwest]

People:Me

Duration:6 hours on Wed, 2.5 hrs on Thurs.

Tide:1 hr ebb and 5 hrs flood on Wed, 2hrs ebb, 0.5 hrs flood on Thurs.

Weather: Sunny, warm, windy on Wed, duller, cooler, calmer on Thurs.

Bait: Mackerel, lug.

Rigs:2 hook flappers, 1 up-1 down, float.

Results: Dogfish, pollack, 4 types of wrasse, flounder.




Report:
Day one, Wednesday, was spent on a rock mark where I was sheltered from a fresh west/south west wind. I cheated and bought a couple of mackerel fillets from the supermarket in case I was unable to catch any myself (not unheard of this year). I cast out a double flapper of mackerel strip and after only 5 mins got the first bite of the day resulting in a doggie. I thought that was a good sign but that was the last bite on mackerel or lug from that particular spot for the day. I left that rod with the reel on ratchet to fish itself and tried various other nearby spots with floatfished lug. This was instantly successful in that it produced non-stop bites every cast until I ran out of lug. Next time I’ll dig more than 50 no matter how much my back complains. The fish were a bit on the small side though, apart from 2 small pollack, the rest were all wrasse. They were of 4 different species, 2 of which I had never caught before (and I will stand correction on my identifications) so plenty of variety. I ended up with 4 ballans up to 30cm, 10 corkwings, both male and female, 3 small mouth wrasse and 2 goldsinny wrasse, a total of 6 species for the day. Worm no. 50 (out of 50) produced what would have been the best fish of the day, almost certainly a good ballan wrasse, which fought like a demon. I hauled it out of one weed snag but it dived straight into another from which there was no return. I will be back....

Day 2, Thursday, I had some mackerel left over from yesterday so I headed for a beach to try for a few flatties. I didn’t bother digging lug as I have found mackerel usually outfishes it on this mark. I set up 2 rods, one rigged with a double flapper without any beads or sequins and the other with a 1 up-1 down with beads and sequins. Six flounders, the biggest at 22 cm, turned up, all to the bead/sequin 1 up-1 down rig. Both rods were fished close in as no bites were obtained at any distance over 25yards. So what made the difference, the attractor beads and sequins or the 1 up-1 down rig? I’ll have to tie a few flappers with beads for my next visit there. Six small flounder is hardly a record breaking catch but it was 6 more than the last time I tried there during the red tide episode. Thank God to see clear water again.

[FisherKing]

Very nice verity of Wrasse John & your right the your i d,the first pic is a rock cook wrasse also known as a small mouth wrasse & the second one is a goldsinny wrasse nice species to add to the list I hope you pointed them in the sligo direction when you were letting them go!!!!

[pete]

Class wee fish the rock cook, well done.

[The Austrian]

great report and brilliant pictures man, well done!

[Deleted User 3488]

Cracking photos of the wrasse,,nice 1.

[johnwest]

Class wee fish the rock cook, well done.

Thanks Pete, I thought the corkwing was a handsome fish but I think the small mouth beats him.

Very nice verity of Wrasse John & your right the your i d,the first pic is a rock cook wrasse also known as a small mouth wrasse & the second one is a goldsinny wrasse nice species to add to the list I hope you pointed them in the sligo direction when you were letting them go!!!!

I pointed them towards Sligo but they swam off in reverse!

[MC]

nice to the Donegal coast is starting to make a comeback, nice selection of fish

[blowin]

Great report and pics , thanks for sharing

[jbhartin]

Great report there John and excellent photos, you seem to be a bit of a nomad ..west cork one week , donegal bay the next , good on you pal . Two more weeks and I,ll be doing the same ..tight lines John

[roger de dodger]

bet you had a pain in the wrasse pulling all them in

[johnwest]

bet you had a pain in the wrasse pulling all them in

I expect those smoothounds are a doddle in comparison?

[grady]

nice session with wide variety of wrasse spesies, well done

[magpie01]

Great Variety of Wrasse. The thing I love about wrasse is every single one looks unique. I love the colours on the Corkwing Well done, great session!

[sparkey+1]

Nice report John why dont you come over and try for the hounds when you get fed up pulling in the lovely wrasse??

[johnwest]

Nice report John why dont you come over and try for the hounds when you get fed up pulling in the lovely wrasse??

I think I'll have to do that!

Great report there John and excellent photos, you seem to be a bit of a nomad ..west cork one week , donegal bay the next , good on you pal . Two more weeks and I,ll be doing the same ..tight lines John

You're quite a nomad yourself, how is the Salmon Fishing in Yemen?

bet you had a pain in the wrasse pulling all them in

New Avatar, did the Jaundice finally clear up?!