A couple of sessions in Connemara

[spindlefist]

People: Myself, Conor and Paddy

Duration: - first session 11pm-7pm , second session 9pm - 12am , third session 10am -12pm

Tide: all stages

Weather: sunny/breezy then rainy/windy

Bait: Rag, mack, sandeel, lug, squid

Rigs: pulleys , flappers , running leger

Results: conor: dogfish, cuckoo wrasse , meself: dogfish, cuckoo wrasse, common blenny, flounder. PAddy: Conger, dogfish, thornback ray



A few weeks ago a plan was hatched - the men'd come west, we'd go do a proper session. So with baits ordered, rigs made, weather watched daily,the day arrived. We headed off early tuesday morning, with just a few stops for supplies and some extra bait, can never have enough..Got to the first connemara mark at 11pm, carrying way too much gear as usual, for the hike across bog and rock. Attempted soft plastics and spinning for pollock for the first hour, not a sniff, and this was high water.... floats on next, with rag and we began to get some small cuckoo wrasse. these then went off the feed as tide turned, so we in turn began bait fishing the bottom, in a quest for ray. I was fist to draw the attention of a fish to my line, a lovely thick dogfish, female, heavily
pregnant by the looks of things, so back gently she went. this is how it went then for a couple of hours, dogs here and there. I decided to irk out another species for the year - rockpool action- and was not long before I'd a common Blenny ravaging the ragworm. box ticked. Conor decided to try for some of these, and as he was away from his rod, it began bouncing so Paddy took the helm, to his great surprise he got his first Thornback Ray, no giant, but a very welcome fish. Hope rose that they would begin to flood in, but this was the one and only of the day. I had brought my conger rod, intent on capturing a sea
beast, but Paddy told me he had never had one and has been chasing them for years, so I handed it over. he wasn't waiting long- the tip tip of the rod tip, then the first short sharp ratchet sound... another first for him, with a fish of 4 or 5 lb. he followed it up with a smaller strap a few minutes after, by now a pro.

Things then went quiet, and with the wind building and the rain finally making an appearance , we decided to call it a day on this mark at 7pm, knowing that the black rocks that stand between the mark and safe ground become black ice when wet. Paddy headed off home, while myself and Conor headed to the next mark, in Ballyconeely Bay. the plan here was to fish the flooding beach into dark. First things first though - grub up. We washed down the Wild Boar, rocket and
Gouda baquettes with a can of Tuborg, and a side serving of chicken liver. Real fishing fare indeed! at 9pm we had our next baits in the water, with no bites for first 30mins... on retrieval of baits I saw what I dreaded , Skinners... horrid little cretins. but thankfully these moved on, and the dogs duly moved in again. Tired of the ever obliging Dogfish we called it a night at midnight.

The next day Conor was supposed to head off but we decided to try one more mark as we still had mountains of bait. I chose another beach, facing into the wind(and rain). as we pulled up at it the leaden sky and sheets of sideways rain made us both consider turning tail, but we figured we were there so give it a blast. Wouldn't you know it, the clouds cleared and the sun shone down, which felt odd, as I was wearing full waterproofs and warm layers for this short session, uncertain if the weather'd turn again at a moments notice. nothing first 40mins, but as the tide really pushed, and hour from high, I got a lovely rattle - Flounder. a lump of a fish appeared, the makings of many fine goujons, but I decided to return him as I still had more wild boar for later. this was followed by another, more aggressive biting flounder, again returned.
The last good deed of the session was return all unused lugworm, which is always nice to see them rapidly
burrowing away, there for another day.Not the busiest of sessions, but one person with two life goal species and myself with 3 new ones for the year, was

enjoyable.

Daire



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Last edited by spindlefist on Thu Apr 24, 2014 12:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

more pics

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Good fishing, good report...great photos!

Excuse my ignorance...but what are you referring to when you say "skinners"?

http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/bull ... rs#p205668
I believe this is the name of them..
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/weever2.htm#Parasites

isopod Ceratothoa steindachneri
they're isopods... tiny horrid sea bugs that cover baits and eat everything..... reckon the fish don't like being about, esp flounder as they may get bitten too

yea those skinners seem to live year round in ballyconneely - wish i knew their main behaviour so i could avoid them
good report

Nice one great to see a conger Hoping for one myself soon

Nice bit of fishing lads, well done.

Nice session lads and what a place love that part of the contry

yeah, weather was fairly well behaved, could've done with slightly less easterly winds, but all in all nice to be getting a few fish again. going to start exploring more of the off the beaten track marks in the coming weeks..

Great fishing lads and well done to paddy for his first thornie and conger (hard to beat the sea fishing ).

great report,well done

That looked like a great session hip flask, sausages and a bit of fishing , great report its all about having a good day out

That looked like a great session hip flask, sausages and a bit of fishing , great report its all about having a good day out

looked like a good trip and yous had fun, nice conger also, great report mate, well done!!!