Donegal Bay, 14th and 15th Feb 2013

[johnwest]

People:Me

Duration:3 sessions of 3-4hrs each

Tide:Last of ebb to high water.

Weather:Breezy on 14th, beautiful on 15th

Bait:Frozen lug, prawn, herring plus fresh mackerel on 15th.

Rigs:3 hook flappers, 1 up 1 down and single hook clipped.

Results:Rockling, small coalfish, whiting and a couple of dogs.




Report:
Thursday 14th; This was my first run out for a few weeks and I must say I was less than optimistic. However I set up 2 rods sending one out far and the other in close. The far rod produced nothing, baits returning untouched. The close rod wasn't that much better yielding only a greedy shore rockling which managed to take both baits, a fat 5 beard followed by another shore rockling and a small coalfish. One other half-hearted bite and that was it. At least the 2 types of rockling boosted the species list for 2013.
Friday 15th; I obtained some fresh mackerel today (as fresh as you can buy it from a local fish shop but a lot better than the tired, jaded things you see in the supermarkets) and set off for the beach and low tide. Recent rough weather had removed 2-3 feet of sand exposing boulders and ledges which I have never seen before. It seemed to have removed the fish as well, not a single bite in over 3 hrs. Ah well, back to the car for a cappuccino and sandwich and on to a deeper water mark. I got set up as darkness descended and fired out a couple of 3 hook flappers with relatively small hooks and matching baits for a bit of "scratching". Nothing for a couple of hours, not even a chewed lug. I changed one rod to a single clipped hook and larger slice of mackerel and only minutes after casting out a dogfish turned up, an extremely welcome dogfish. I put him in a rockpool so hopefully next time out he might save a blank. The same rod then produced a small whiting, the first of this winter, and then a second dogfish before everything went quiet. Another 2 for the species list! Over 20 rodhours for 7 fish, 5 species; I suppose I could have brought them home and made a Salmonburger.
The fishing continues to be poor, for me anyway, I think I'll break out the fly-tying gear this weekend and get ready for the trout...

[fishmad]

well done ! nice fishing

[saving private brian]

well atleast your getting out,,,well done

[globulin77]

Better than a blank any day....................

[sparkey+1]

Well done JW started your list for the year....

[FisherKing]

At least you got a few for your troubles, Ive only got out once so far this year & that was a waste of time!! the surge of water that was coming up the beach was serious but hopefully I'll get out for cast over next week & make up for lost time!!

[Sweetwrasse]

Tough going at the moment. 5 more species for the list though

[joebhoy]

Hey JW beats sitting in indoors fishing seems quiet everywhere at the minute. nice photos

[razor2]

The rockling is one demon looking fish good stuff john

[gavind19]

Well done john good to see a bit of variety

[sparkey+1]

Bet you where glad of the doggie a bit of weight on the line for you

[johnwest]

Despite my efforts to convey feelings of disappointment at recent poor fishing I got plenty of very positive feedback, "well done"s, "nice fishing" etc. I can only assume that while I think I've been getting it bad, some of you must be getting it worse!
Regards and thanks to all who replied, JW.

[Al and Jordan]

well man, you set out to catch fish and catch fish you did
allbeit a bit hard going for the time put in. great pics by the way. what camera are you using?

[johnwest]

well man, you set out to catch fish and catch fish you did
allbeit a bit hard going for the time put in. great pics by the way. what camera are you using?

Olympus E-450 DSLR.
Good to see you guys back in action btw.