Donegal Bay 14th and 16th October 2016

[johnwest]

Friday 14th. Some half decent weather was predicted so the freezer was raided for some frozen mackerel, squid and prawns which would be supplemented with a few sandeels at the tackle shop. I decided to try the beach for a change and arrived just on low water. Many books and magazines etc refer to “reading the beach” and looking for features such as gullies, sandbars and so on but I usually arrive at low tide to see acres of flat featureless sand. Just for once, today was different; from the car park I could see a gentle surf rolling in and there, about 20 mins walk away, was an obvious gap in a sandbar as shown in photo 1. The tide was just starting to flood as the first 2 hook flapper hit the water. Nothing happened for about an hour when the first of 6 small flounder took the bait. The biggest was 24cm, a little disappointing for this beach at this time of year. The bites dried up completely (anything to do with the young seal which was “surfing” in the waves in front of me?) so with plenty of bait left I headed for somewhere harder and deeper, I might even have time for some coffee and grub myself. The two rods were re-baited and cast out at different distances. I barely had the lid screwed off the flask when the far rod started bucking in the tripod. This resulted in a double of a doggie on the top hook and a nice 42cm pollack on the bottom. Last year around this time I got a number of similar pollack from the same mark but this was a loner. It spat up a recently eaten meal; a very yellow butterfish. While I was unhooking the doggie and pollack the second rod started nodding vigorously, in came a spotted ray. This was my first ray of any type from this mark; I won’t be expecting another anytime soon. Another double of dog and dab followed and over the next hour I picked up three mackerel (singles), probably the last of 2016, and another doggie on the far rod. It was a busy spell but then all went quiet and I headed for home.
Sunday 16th. Today I was joined by “the Bro” as we headed for another beach which had been on my hit-list for a couple of years. Again arriving near low water, we were met by a gentle surf coming in, perhaps too gentle. Out went 4 x 2 hook flappers baited with mack, squid strip, prawns and before long small turbot started to show. We had about 5-6 each in 1’s and 2’s and then the Bro landed the first of 2 small flounder. Shortly after, he was walking back to base with a double of small turbot when his other rod registered a powerful bite, he was pre-occupied so I took control and reeled in the best fish of the day, a 36cm flounder. To be honest, after such a vigorous bite I was surprised that it was “only” a flounder. When wading out a bit for a long range cast I could see tiny flatties scooting away across the sand leaving trails of puffs of sand behind, the future! It was now about half tide and any hopes that the flounder were coming on the feed were groundless as the bites stopped dead. The wind, which had been at our backs, now veered round to be almost straight into our faces and accompanied by a couple of showers, made things uncomfortable. We re-located to another mark close by but after only half an hour we were put off it by big swells coming in. As he reeled in his second rod, the Bro picked up one of the rafts of floating weed which was also making fishing difficult but as I reached for the shockleader to haul it ashore I could see something white flashing on the lower hook; a nice 34cm plaice to finish the day.

[johnwest]

Just a few extra pics.

[corbyeire]

Great photos and report as ever, making me so jealous stuck behind a desk today

savage plaice at 34 cm

[chuckaroo]

Great photos and report as ever, making me so jealous stuck behind a desk today

same

[MC]

once again a great report. look forward to your posts

[slippytit]

beautiful fish, well done great report , actual photos of fish