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kieran
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Pioneering New Rock Marks part 1

Permanent Linkby kieran on Thu Jun 25, 2015 11:46 am

Start online.
Webapp navionics offers free navigational data; - depths, lighthouses and wrecks. The detail can be sketchy but it is a good start.

Download Google Earth – it’s free. Now tilt the view to examine the shoreline from every angle, even from the sea. Detail ranges from brilliant to poor.
http://www.infomar.ieoffer localised maps that plot onto Google Earth and give sonar like view of the sea bed, including gullies, ravines, underwater stacks and holes – it’s so good, it should be illegal! Print all three maps. Store them in a clear plastic sleeve with a pencil for notes. Warning: Smartphone apps don’t work out in the boonies because there isn’t any signal, or certainly not enough for data!

http://www.seai.ie offer maps of potential wave and tidal energy. Detailed models exist for specific locations like the Shannon estuary, albeit boat anglers will find this especially useful, in particular those of you on the east coast and in Donegal and Northern Ireland.

http://www.ukho.gov.uk/easytidegives a free seven day free forecast for tides, including heights and timings for known locations all around the coast. Allow up to 30 minutes for local variations, everywhere except in Northern Ireland, where it can be several hours!

The best source is local people. Surfer instructors are good for beaches (especially if you explain that you will be fishing at night when they are gone home), but for rock marks, local lobstermen are the key, with their intimate knowledge of reefs, rocks, gullies, weed, currents and all for the promise of a few fish for the table or even pot bait. Ask them where their pots are to ensure you stay away from there, which is a nice way to get the conversation going... Local anglers need a reason to share information, maybe by swopping marks?

In Mayo it doesn’t matter in what the direction the wind blows, there are always marks available but checking the weather forecast and visiting http://www.magicseaweed.comhelps – forecast wave height and frequency is useful information to have on exposed rock marks.

Preparation:
Leave a detailed map with the mark(s) highlighted with a reliable friend, i.e. one who won’t forget about you all when down the pub watching a match! List all the phone numbers. Highlight access roads or trails. List every mark clearly and any planned route between them. Call ahead to say you will be late when “fighting a massive fish” even if that’s in the local hostelry and it looks remarkably like a pint – you may be held liable for the cost of emergency service call outs, aside from which you may endanger lives.

Bring a proper first aid kit. First aid kits are no use without the training. If pioneering new marks as a group, more than one person needs to be trained. Do you want to be the pillock standing there when the only trained first aider is the one knocked unconscious? If you ask the first aid trainer, they will look at anglers’ kit and recommend how you could use it. Rod sections make excellent splints, line and a barbless hook can be used to “sew” up a sling for a broken or dislocated arm, etc.

A gas canister life jacket and sturdy toe capped boots with proper ankle supports are essential. In summer, bring waterproofs, sunscreen and insect repellent. Some go in for ropes, pitons, helmets and all that – but if you are at that, perhaps you need to find a new sport?

Bring lots, especially water. Don’t bring alcohol; - it’s not worth it. Use the one litre sports bottles - no lids to screw, unscrew or lose! Food is like clothing – of you have too little you will be miserable. If you have too much, you don’t have to use it. Bring lots of food. Minimise litter by removing wrappers. Leave the baby wipes at home – wash your hands in the sea.

[url]Selecting the Right Kit:[/url]

Travel light. It’s pioneering – the aim is to cover as much ground as possible to find the hot spots.

Bring a spinning rod and box of hard and soft lures, some spare leader and terminal swivels.

Travel rods are superbly compact but weight more and tire you more in the actual fishing. A spare reel and rod avoids one bad stumble, rod in hand, ending the fishing. A mountaineer’s backpack, tapering from wide at the bottom to narrow on top, is ideal for rock hopping. Avoid any model with metal frames. Pull cords and Velcro beat zips although but you can clean and spray WD40 onto zips after each trip. Mine is fine after twenty years hard labour and absolutely minimal maintenance.

Don’t expect to build rigs when you get there. Build them at home or buy them. Pack floats, small leads and full rig wallets. Circle hooks for bait fishing are far superior to traditional J patterns.

Bring a few packets of properly frozen sand eels. Locally sourced baits - mussel, crabs, periwinkles and limpets - work with a sharp knife and shirring elastic. Catching mackerel for bait is very hit and miss, sadly. Bring a boga grip, forceps and a wet towel in a plastic bag for unhooking.

For me, a second rod is what you do on the second trip, after you have found good platforms. It tends to make you a bit more careful with the single rod you do bring with you, which is no harm.

you want to bring a second rod, go long or heavy. Long means a beachcaster; - big leads, lifts, leader, spare spools, rigs, and other baits (frozen mackerel, rag, lug, squid) whereas heavy means a boat rod, big leads, lifts, wire traces, big hooks and big baits, maybe even a gaff. A long handled landing net, carried over the shoulder is an option. Long rods extend your reach over weedy rocks and let you fish safely from sloping cliffs and shelves. Heavy means you have found waters that may hold monsters... it’s all good, but like I said, this is probably what you bring on your second trip.

One guy brings the veritable kitchen sink – he’s knackered before we even start fishing.

Five Golden Rules: CANAC

1. Check a mark before you fish it – watch incoming breakers and how they wash around it.
2. Always keep one hand free.
3. Never pioneer alone.
4. Always face the sea.
5. Check for sign – diving birds, bait fish, current trails, seals, pots or a dirty horizon / squall.
There is a final golden rule: - travel in hope, not expectation. It makes each success even sweeter.

Kieran Hanrahan

Time spent fishing is never time wasted...

2015 targets - a triggerfish, a specimen bass, a three bearded rockling to complete the set and something big and toothy from certain north Mayo deep water marks
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