Achill tackle?

[Chris T]

Can anyone direct me to somewhere in Acill that sells fishing tackle?? Also any good easy marks too??

[corbyeire]

you might get feathers and leads in the supermarket from memory
otherwise you best bet is pick up what you need in a shor thing back in westport before you get out there

[Chris T]

Cheers, any idea if there's anywhere to dig some lug??

[tight lines]

Chris there is a hardwere just as you go over the bridge at the sound beside the super value he sells gear and frozen bair as for digging I dont think so

[kieran]

The hardware store at Achill Sound has a small section dedicated to tackle but mostly boat gear. There are a couple or charter captains at Purteen who live locally and they might be persuaded to sell you some gear if you are desperate. I think their names are on a plaque in the harbour with phone details. After that you are looking at heading into Belmullet, Ballina or Newport/Castlebar. There are some shops and gillies in Bangor Erris but they cater for the salmon anglers only. And there's Doug in A Shore Thing on the pier in Westport, who is well stocked. The big shop is gone in Castlebar but a new guy has opened on Linenhall Street near Rocky's and Cox's Bar.

Digging bait on Achill is hard work. The sound is full of small inlets that are studded with lugworm casts but they tend to be very small and above a skim of mud, the ground is often terribly hard to dig, being made dominantly of stone. You would swear builders dumped 4 inch hardcore there. There are pockets of deeper mud but its incredibly oozy, stinks like hell when you disturb it and its not recommended. Hard to move in and get out of....

The storm beaches like Keel have very little in the way of casts, bar a few lugworm down near the cliffs. Dugort is similar. Sandeels are a better option and anywhere on the tideline around low water at the Bull's Mouth can yield them. On the one occasion I tried it I found weaver in there as well so use gloves. They are also to be found in the wet sand under the fish factory building at the other end of the sound but not in great numbers, it was hard work. A drop net with some mack tied to the end typically gets you lots of crabs within fifteen minutes in most harbours. Strap congers too!

There are some good lugworm beds on the way to Achill and on low springs you can dig black lugworm (very deep backbreaking work) on the storm beaches around Stonefield and Kilcommon. There are sandeels available in the section between Mulranny and Newport in the clean sand - if there is any mud you are wasting your time. You can also collect cockles, limpets mussels and crabs in the intertidal margin but you can get them on Achill away from the most exposed shorelines.

http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/shore-mayo.htm

HTH