Private Boat, Donegal Bay, 17/18 Jun 2014

[johnwest]

People:Me

Duration:9hrs each day

Tide:ebb and flow.

Weather:Fantastic, warm, sunny, light winds.

Bait:Pollack, mackerel

Rigs:Sliding boom leger

Results:Pollack, mackerel, thornbacks, dabs, turbot, tub gurnard

Report:
Tuesday and Wednesday seemed to offer the chance to get the boat out for the first time this year so Wednesday morning saw me on the slipway. I spent about 2 hours searching for mackerel to no avail but I was getting plenty of Pollack up to about 3lb. Eventually I decided to keep a couple for bait though I didn’t really have much confidence in it. I was pleasantly surprised after only 10 mins on my first drift to hear the ratchet going and I struck into a nice little thornback, 3lb 12oz. On the second drift I had 2 more thornback in the boat at the same time, these were slightly heavier at 4lb and 4lb 12oz so just as I was thinking this Pollack is damn fine bait, everything ground to a halt; not a bite the rest of the day, (not counting the gull which landed in the boat and took a whole fillet!http://youtu.be/LKywP_kHGMU )
Wednesday morning saw me head out into much deeper water and eventually I managed to get 4 medium mackerel, one at a time and widely spaced in time; half a tank of fuel and 2.5hrs for 4 mackerel! However I headed back to my chosen mark and was immediately into the rays again but this time the action lasted and was fairly steady through the day. At one point I had a ray on each rod at the same time and after unhooking one and dropping the remains of the bait over the side, a dab took it so 3 fish in the boat at once. Some decent dabs took the baits (mackerel strip on 2/0’s) in between rays and 3 nice little turbot also showed up from one quite small area. At one point I topped up the dwindling bait supply with a mackerel and late on in the day, a small tub gurnard took a bait for a bit of variety. So I ended up with 19 thornbacks to 5lb, 9 dabs, 3 turbot and a tub gurnard. Not to grumble but a few bigger thornbacks would have been nice, still it was just the first trip of 2014.

[gavind19]

nice report mackeral still a bit patchy here surely. was out wednesday could of filled a box out sunday hit and miss . very frustrating. hope you hook a couple of bigger thornies. big ones coming from the shore so maybe a couple of drifts towards a shore mark might produce a better stamp of fish. keep the reports coming a great read

[Determined Dan]

Well done great fishing. What was your chosen rig for the flats? I'm hopin to get out and I'd like some advice on a flatty rig. All the best on your next outing.

[mackfish]

Great report as always John!

[CiaranMcFish]

Nice bit of fishing, plenty of fish, mackerel very scarce up this way as well on certain days.

[johnwest]

Well done great fishing. What was your chosen rig for the flats? I'm hopin to get out and I'd like some advice on a flatty rig. All the best on your next outing.

Thanks for your comments Dan, I got all the fish on the same rig; a boom and flowing trace, 5-6ft long and a 2/0 hook. 4-5-6oz lead depending on depth and speed of drift. I find that a 2/0 is big enough to cope with a ray yet a decent dab or small turbot can still take it. If specifically targeting flatties, I would scale down the hook to perhaps a 2 and maybe add a second hook on a dropper. At anchor, especially in slack water I would use a simple pater noster rig. Good luck if you get out!

[chuckaroo]

good to get the boat wet JW
some nice pics there, decent fishing
hey that is one game gull )