Donegal Bay; Dab, Dog, Ray, April 2017

[johnwest]

With a cold spell forecast for most of next week it seemed wise to avail of the reasonable weather over the weekend. The trip across country was undertaken under very dull, cool and occasionally drizzly conditions so I wasn’t at all surprised to spot a couple of depressed looking buzzards perched on fence posts near the roadside. However some relief from the forty shades of grey was provided by the brilliant yellow flowers of gorse, whin, furze or Ulex europaeus, take your pick. Quite an assault on the senses; mustard on the eyes and coconut on the nose. Reminds me of when I was still working (or at least still getting paid), I had to take a class of 15 year old girls on a Biology field trip. I asked a few of them to smell the gorse flowers and tell me what they smelt like. “Sir, they smell like Malibu!” said the first one I asked. I was afraid to suggest my idea in case they asked me what a coconut was.
Having parked the car, I sifted through the tackle box to remove excess weight for the hike across fields to my mark and set up. I was hoping to target rays so set up one rod with a plain lead, pulley rig, 2/0 hook and a generous slice of mackerel and let fly. A second rod was set up with a 3 hook flapper, size 4 hooks and matching small strip of mackerel to target flatties. The weather was quite changeable requiring frequent addition or removal of layers to suit wind strength, direction, drizzle or dry etc., still it was something to do between the infrequent bites! It was just under an hour before the flapper went slack as a dogfish took the bait for a walk. Just over an hour later, a second doggie attacked the flapper rig followed by a 4lb 4oz thornie 20 mins later. 2 more dogfish came to the flapper rig before a second small ray (1lb 10oz) accompanied by a dab also succumbed to the flapper and small baits. I didn’t see any typical ray bite; just a series of rattles which I attributed to the dab. A short while later a second double of ray and dab took the flapper rig baits; so what about the pulley rig with larger ray-size baits? Exactly, what about it! A change to whole sandeel made no difference, back to mackerel strip again but the only ”bite” over almost 6 hours was a large seastar. I conceded defeat and changed to a new rig I hadn’t tried before, the Urfe rig, recommended in Sea Angler for when the going gets tough. The change worked; it attracted another 4lb 4oz thornie, a doggie and the best dab of the day (32cm) over the next hour. I finished the day with 4 rays, 6 doggies and 4 dabs, not bad for a day that seemed very slow at times. I continue to be surprised at the number of rays that choose small baits on small hooks on flapper rigs, I’ve caught 6 rays so far this year, all on small baits and 5 on a flapper rig, like I said previously, the 3 hook flapper could become my 1st choice ray rig.

[johnwest]

The customary few more snaps...

[keymcg]

Well done sir! The bay is fishing well and can only get better

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[rushnaldo]

Great report again jw it's like being there with you enjoyable reading and some great fish. Lovely smell of those whins these days walking the shore

[hugo]

Great words and pics again JW, always a great pleasure to read your latest adventures. Love to get out there myself but still in the final (antifouling) stages of that boat refit. Soon....

[johnwest]

Great words and pics again JW, always a great pleasure to read your latest adventures. Love to get out there myself but still in the final (antifouling) stages of that boat refit. Soon....

Thanks Hugo, it's a few years since I did any antifouling; horrible job, expensive paint, awkward places to paint and fumes that would choke a rhino. I have some work to do on my own boat but just can't seem to get around to it. If it's a good day I go fishing, if it's a bad day; well who wants to change bearings etc on a cold wet day?

[Deleted User 3488]

Some fine fish there, well done.

[Marco]

Hi JW,

Great reading as always. That Urfe rig looks a lot like the Portugese rig, I came across it in Holland where it gains popularity fast only difference is that the lead in the Portugese is attached to some sort of boom. How does it cast? Can't image you go to far with it and fish it pretty close in. While googling the Urfe rig I came across another one that could be interesting "the washline rig".

[johnwest]

Thanks for the reply Marco, yeah, probably the same thing;
"Recently there has been a lot of talk among both anglers on the beach and online about Portuguese three below or Urfe Rigs." I wonder is Urfe a place in Portugal? I suppose a long trace with 3 hooks flapping isn't going to cast to the horizon but you can still get a reasonable distance. I found it tends to twist quite a bit, perhaps mostly on the retrieve, the side traces are tied facing up the rig to help the traces stand out better, this probably encourages the twisting. However the rig worked for me on the day!

[Marco]

I should be in Holland over the next two weeks so I will buy some of those Portugese rigs so you can test them out. Will be in Donegal first week of June.
Good luck with the fishing.

[bogwoppit]

I read somewhere that urfe is Welsh for tangle!