Drone Fishing Dublin coastline

Hi all.
I will be relocating from South Africa to Dublin in Dec'19. My two sons and I are nuts about all fishing, but for this note would want to focus on opportunities for DRONE fishing around the Dublin area. I've done some fairly extensive research and interestingly Ireland and UK are very, very far behind SA, Australia, NZ and the US in the evolving sport of Drone Fishing.
We use our DJI Phantom 4 with the custom manufactured GANNET bait release. (Advice/Tip: Please folks ignore every bit of You-tube advice about wire, clothes pegs, or other non-specific heath-robinson bait clips/releases - you will only end up losing an expensive bit of equipment). Get hold of Gannet/Dronefishing SA and order the specific release to ensure optimal functioning of your equipment.
In SA we usually fly large baits - whole mackerel or sardines, often even large fish-heads out into the deep (300m plus drops) for large inedibles (skates, rays, sharks). For this we use heavy duty rods, buckets/harnesses and make sure you have a serious reel with significant line capacity - ideally a lever brake. (I have Torium 50 with >1000m of 80lbs braid).
Depending on circumstances we also fly smaller baits - prawn/squid/sardine etc for edibles - we have significantly wider array of species, so smaller baits get picked up quickly.
I've read lots of reports and watched you-tube videos, that seem to show the local fishing shore-based marks are heavily overfished, but was wondering whether a bait dropped further into the deep - considerably past the longest distance caster's range - would yield positive results.
Would it make sense that reaching further from shore (say 200m to 400m) would open up better opportunities for more and larger catches, or are all the good near-shore marks also extensively overfished by boat-based anglers?
A big advantage of drone fishing from the rocks is that one no longer needs to venture too close to the water - in SA we have significant surf which is an ever present danger - so by drone launching and flying a bait out off a high point, you only need to get near the water once you are in a position to bring the fish onto shore and then at least you can guide it into a more sheltered gully or sandy cove.
My fishing equipment is still has to embark on it's international sea-voyage which could take 2-3 months. Once it arrives I will submit another post and then perhaps anyone who may be interested can contact me to arrange a trip to their local hotspot where we can do some flights/casts and see what bites.

I can absolutely guarantee that there isn't a single location in Ireland that has been "extensively overfished by boat-based anglers". Commercial tangle nets and the trawlers allowed to fish our bays and harbours are a different story.

To find suitable locations based on your experience and where you won't be dragging you braid through rocks the charts for Ireland are here.
http://webapp.navionics.com/?lang=en#bo ... vaIjpzk%40

Check the tide speeds along the East coast, probably not like that where you fish.

Sea bed features are here
https://maps.marine.ie/infomarbathymetry/

You're not going to get the same fishing you are used to but your drone could work for smooth hound and tope (gummy-soup shark) at places like Cahore where we've had them off kayaks close in.

There is a list of shore marks on the website the forum is part of and another at fishinginireland.info

This website has a list of species and tactics from boat and shore.

Register on irishkayakangling.com to get an idea of what we catch as a lot of our fishing is at the distances your talking about.

I couldn't imagine using something like a Phantom 4 for fishing - I'd be way too paranoid of it going for a swim! Do you have insurance on your drone?

You also need to register your drone https://www.iaa.ie/general-aviation/dro ... gistration

I couldn't imagine using something like a Phantom 4 for fishing - I'd be way too paranoid of it going for a swim! Do you have insurance on your drone?

100% right for sure - it is not without some measure of risk. However like everything modern these days with global networking etc, the pace of technological change and development of solutions is incredible. I hazard a comment that South Africa is now leading the world in the development of bespoke, 100% waterproof dedicated fishing drone technology - both for the actual drones and the customised release mechanisms - check out the new 100% saltwaterproof Gannet drones and releases. Incredible.
The key to sea-drone fishing is actually in just spending the time over dry land to get 100% comfortable with your drone and it's capabilities and then once you have mastered that, you can start practicing (still over land) flying out dummy bait rigs etc to get the feel for how your drone now behaves with a load. Yes, there are many flight tests showing their carrying capacity, but it's always prudent to avoid coming close to max payload, and also to be cautious on how many flights/drops you may wish to make on one battery charge. You don't want your drone 400m out and start getting a low battery warning.
There are now significant portals and web-based tutorials and guidance on what does and doesn't work, but as with anything relatively new, there is still some experimenting taking place. I for one would love to fly out a whole string of Sabiki's or flukes over a deep-water pinnacle or reef, with a balloon on the surface and the line of sabikis or flukes dropping below through 20m.
Re Insurance - not sure about Ireland, but in SA you would certainly not be insured if you ditched your drone in the drink, hence the need to spend the time and effort practicing first before venturing over the water.
Also, like I'm sure everywhere in the world these days there are extremely strict regulations relating to flying drones. In SA these are typically restricted airspace within 10-20km of any designated flight space or airport, and all airspace over national parks is off limits. We don't expressly need to register our drones with the authorities unless there is some intention to use it for professional use- that would typically be the very large drones used in movies, advertising, and geological surveys etc.
I'll get myself legal for Ireland, and see what the sea dishes up.

"I can absolutely guarantee that there isn't a single location in Ireland that has been "extensively overfished by boat-based anglers".

Have to disagree, up to a point, but we all share Tim's frustration...

There are marks, remote with long treks from the nearest 'green' road, impossible to get at from the sea due to the terrain and severe currents or simply the length of journey and cost of fuel from the nearest harbour, that still offer near virgin territory.

A case in point is the coast along north Mayo from Belderrig to Porturlin. It's a bugger to get to and even harder to fish there. There is no angling pressure from charter or private boats owing to all the issues mentioned above, and there are similar stretches in Donegal and possibly some spots in west Cork, south west Clare, Connemara, south west Mayo and possibly even wee bits of Kerry.

These marks are rare - agreed Tim - but for the intrepid few willing to either trek there over bog (ok, through bog and gazillions of midges) or steam for more than an hour from the nearest pier or slipway...

Midges for our SA friend are like mosquitoes only far smaller.
Don't let that deter you from packing melt-your-skin strength DEET
Not that it will work on the feckers...

I have not been to north Mayo this year but can verify that marks with no boat fishing pressure exist and that their potential remains largely unexplored. We had one memorable trip to a crazy dangerous mark some years ago, the lads tried to get to it from Killala and it just took too long against the prevailing current. The grounds around these rare locations are open to commercial fishing and thus the number of species likely to benefit from these safe havens may be quite limited. But that is not to say that drone fishing or sliding baits or kite fishing can not work there. I have tried balloon fishing with an offshore wind on a few marks and quickly realized that I needed a bigger reel on account of the cliffs and "angle of dangle" not to mention the seriously quick currents. I am not sure how well you will do around Dublin - there could be spurs and smuts available off Wicklow, but don't be put off from trying it out.

If there is only one certainty about sea fishing, it's that you really have no idea what's coming to your bait next...

Tight lines,

Kieran

Good luck on your drone fishing endeavours regardless, I've always wanted to try it. I got myself a DJI Mavic Mini for Christmas and I'm afraid to fly it more than 100m away, nevermind 300m over the ocean! Although I do have DJI care refresh, which will give 2 replacements if the drone is damaged/broken. As long as you retrieve the drone and send it off they can repair it or send you a replacement for 40 euro each time. Is this service available for the Phantom 4?