Donegal Bay Smoothhound, 30 June 2018

[johnwest]

The Bro was ready, willing and able for a day out so we were on the water shortly after 11.00am with a flat sea, sunshine and the slightest of zephyrs to provide some relief from the heat. First stop for bait produced two mackerel, the bigger being exactly on the pound mark and falling to The Bro. These were backed up by a few small pollack and I managed a nice little red codling of a couple of pounds before we headed off to the sand where I must admit I was expecting, rather than merely hoping for, a good turn-out of rays; warm weather, settled seas, why not? Well the first drift produced not a bite between us, likewise the second drift which was a bit further out in deeper water. The breeze was pushing us along the shore rather than in or out ( I much prefer the latter). The third drift was in deeper water again and after 20 mins was looking poor but then a delicate little rattle on the rod tip made me pick up the rod to check if it was a bite or not. A few more rattles and I tightened into a fish which gave a few kicks but nothing to get excited about. It was coming in easily and I predicted a dogfish for which I was quite grateful and soon I could see the elongated shape emerging. But this was grey, not spotty brown. I decided that it must be a cousin, a spurdog, but as I reached for the net I could see it had no spurs, and just as I realised this, the fish realised something wasn’t quite right and it took off, stripping line from the reel and putting a very satisfying bend in the rod. A few more runs and dives and it slid into the net; my first ever smoothhound! This was a species I had often intended to pursue but had never got round to it; this was a case of the mountain coming to Mohammed! It weighed 6lbs and after a few quick pics, it was returned to the water. I would have been happy enough to go home at this stage. A bit more drifting on the sand produced only a dogfish so we headed out to a deep rough ground mark and switching from boom and long trace to pater noster, we started hitting fish straight away. The Bro had a succession of pouting, pollack, a couple of male cuckoo wrasse in their finest attire along with a couple of small ballan wrasse and a small ling and poorcod. I latched onto something a bit heavier which gave a few good thumps , a nice cod at 4lb 10oz, din-dins! I had a few pouting and a handsome male cuckoo wrasse before another “thumper” at 4lb 12oz hit the deck, din-dins for the Bro. A fourth codling at 2lb 8oz was returned to grow on a bit. The drifts were very short as the breeze was pushing us across the reef rather than along but it was bites and fish every drift. We decided to try a different mark for rays and could grab some grub while on the longer drifts. Sadly this mark failed to produce; just a solitary dab which I didn’t even know was there until I reeled in prior to a move. The breeze suddenly veered around (or was it “backed”, I can never remember) and strengthened while becoming noticeably cooler. The waves soon built up into a lumpy choppy sea, a reminder of how quickly conditions can change at sea. Soon after, a small craft warning was announced over the vhf though only for as far north as Erris Head. We headed back to the deep water mark for a few more drifts, The Bro sticking with mackerel strip to get more pouting and I switched to firetails to get a couple of pollack to 3lb 11oz. The breeze, now a proper wind, with the tide was pushing us too quickly to hold bottom comfortably and after losing a couple of rigs to snags, we called it a day. But it was a busy day crowned for me by the smoothhound. A couple of nice cod helped too. Recently I’ve had skate, megrim, cod and now smoothhound; Donegal Bay, the gift that keeps on giving!

[johnwest]

More pics;

[chuckaroo]

Lovely Paddy. Nice read, nice pics, great fishing, nice smoothie.
A few decent cod too, nice too hear one returned.
Great job

[corbyeire]

wow what was that smoothie doing up in Donegal - we must be jinxed in galway bay - everything is bypassing us and going north!

[rushnaldo]

Wow. No stopping you lads now. The mountains have been coming to mohammeds all summer lol well done great stuff as usual

[mickser]

Brilliant makes me want to head up that way instead of south ?

[Sweetwrasse]

Lovely fishing and great photos. The colours on the wrasse are amazing! If the hounds spread to donegal bay it really will have it all!