Where have the fish gone ?

Until about a month ago I was catching regular Pollack up at St. Johns Point in NW Donegal. Since then I've had 1 fish !? I've been out the last 3 days and tonight was a good HT @ 6.15 and despite conditions being really quite reasonable - just like previous days - I've not even had a touch or sniff of a fish ?

Could be something to so with too much freshwater in the bay due to all the rain in the last month or so!

Until about a month ago I was catching regular Pollack up at St. Johns Point in NW Donegal. Since then I've had 1 fish !? I've been out the last 3 days and tonight was a good HT @ 6.15 and despite conditions being really quite reasonable - just like previous days - I've not even had a touch or sniff of a fish ?

I fear it is far more serious than that. We went boat fishing two days ago from Burtonport and the sea was so "dirty" even two miles out off Arranmore that we lost sight of our rigs only two feet down. All we caught was one pollack very close in. The commercial boys are catching nothing and one of them told us they have never seen such dirty water. In the last week all of the lugworm beds in the Gweebarra estuary and Trawenagh bay near me have been wiped out with not a single worm cast to be seen, and even the shrimps in the rock pools have gone. An angler we met at Burtonport said that the worms in his area were laid on the surface, he didn't have to dig, he just picked them up! The water has a nasty reddish brown tinge and is very opaque. There is no way this is due to rainwater, it appears to be an algal bloom.
Has anyone else in Donegal had a similar experience?

I fear it is far more serious than that. We went boat fishing two days ago from Burtonport and the sea was so "dirty" even two miles out off Arranmore that we lost sight of our rigs only two feet down. All we caught was one pollack very close in. The commercial boys are catching nothing and one of them told us they have never seen such dirty water. In the last week all of the lugworm beds in the Gweebarra estuary and Trawenagh bay near me have been wiped out with not a single worm cast to be seen, and even the shrimps in the rock pools have gone. An angler we met at Burtonport said that the worms in his area were laid on the surface, he didn't have to dig, he just picked them up! The water has a nasty reddish brown tinge and is very opaque. There is no way this is due to rainwater, it appears to be an algal bloom.
Has anyone else in Donegal had a similar experience?

Thats a nasty development. I hope there isn't too much damage done.

I fear it is far more serious than that. We went boat fishing two days ago from Burtonport and the sea was so "dirty" even two miles out off Arranmore that we lost sight of our rigs only two feet down. All we caught was one pollack very close in. The commercial boys are catching nothing and one of them told us they have never seen such dirty water. In the last week all of the lugworm beds in the Gweebarra estuary and Trawenagh bay near me have been wiped out with not a single worm cast to be seen, and even the shrimps in the rock pools have gone. An angler we met at Burtonport said that the worms in his area were laid on the surface, he didn't have to dig, he just picked them up! The water has a nasty reddish brown tinge and is very opaque. There is no way this is due to rainwater, it appears to be an algal bloom.
Has anyone else in Donegal had a similar experience?

Couple of lads went out on a boat from Waterford last week and struggled to get mac, they spent the day catching whiting and 1 conger, the skipper put it down to the dirty water and said he had never seen it as bad.

Last week in Dublin the coast was covered in this horrible weed that was like wet paper and once enough of it got on your line it was imposable to get off.

Weather reports are saying it was the wettest June on Record, so Im sure all the fresh water isnt helping.
Michael McVeigh is reporting similiar issues from Downings, saying that they've caught very little for a few weeks now.

Strange.......

Sounds like north dublin

funny wexford is alive with fish ,just my luck to be heading to your part of the world for a week

funny wexford is alive with fish ,just my luck to be heading to your part of the world for a week

It was alive with fish here too, a few weeks ago! The rain we have had here in June in Donegal is nothing compared to what we get every year in Winter, but that never kills off the worms. The beaches here are devoid of casts, and two weeks ago they were absolutely covered!

Weather reports are saying it was the wettest June on Record, so Im sure all the fresh water isnt helping.
Michael McVeigh is reporting similiar issues from Downings, saying that they've caught very little for a few weeks now.

Strange.......

Trevor Ryder is putting it down to water temps being cooler than normal for the time of year, and the wind being pretty much continously East-S/East-N/East/North back to East etc etc.

Weather reports are saying it was the wettest June on Record, so Im sure all the fresh water isnt helping.
Michael McVeigh is reporting similiar issues from Downings, saying that they've caught very little for a few weeks now.

Strange.......

Trevor Ryder is putting it down to water temps being cooler than normal for the time of year, and the wind being pretty much continously East-S/East-N/East/North back to East etc etc.

Hmm, we had exactly the same weather pattern last year, but the fishing did not suffer like this. Also does not explain what has happened to the worm beds around here. IMO, culprit is more likely something like Karenia mikimotoi, which caused massive damage here in 2005. This would also account for the cloudy water.

Well it's not just me then ! I was beginning to think I'd lost my touch. I have also noticed that the water is not as clear as it usually is. I did also wonder about the temperatures but hadn't thought of the fresh water angle. I'm off out again in a little while, see what happens....

I have been finding it difficult to get mackerel for bait while out boat fishing in Donegal Bay recently, the water is dirty and I had noticed how feathers disappear within about 10 feet of the surface. On one day I could see lots of algae like the blooms in freshwater lakes. About a fortnight ago I was walking on Murvagh beach and saw scores of dead and dying lugworm being washed up by the incoming tide, never seen that before. Last week on Rosnowlagh beach there were masses of dead Tellin(?) shells washed up, there are always some but this many? A local boat angler I was speaking to was be-moaning the lack of pollack with just a few small ones showing up, so it's not just you!

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I have been finding it difficult to get mackerel for bait while out boat fishing in Donegal Bay recently, the water is dirty and I had noticed how feathers disappear within about 10 feet of the surface. On one day I could see lots of algae like the blooms in freshwater lakes. About a fortnight ago I was walking on Murvagh beach and saw scores of dead and dying lugworm being washed up by the incoming tide, never seen that before. Last week on Rosnowlagh beach there were masses of dead Tellin(?) shells washed up, there are always some but this many? A local boat angler I was speaking to was be-moaning the lack of pollack with just a few small ones showing up, so it's not just you!

Well I got back about 1/2 hr ago after another hopeless trip. I gave up after only 1.1/2 hrs. You might say I give up too easily but from my recent experience and knowing what I should usually be catching at this time of year I knew that I was not going to get a thing. There was a good tide, cloud cover, early evening, good breeze in my favour for casting my lures and not a touch ! That is not normal.

The water has the colour of a river running over peat, and it is full of shyte. I've decided to give it a miss for a few days and see if it settles down. This is hopeless.

sounds like there is an outbreak of red tide in there area. If this is the case the fishing will be off for some time. Hopefully it's localised, but from what I am reading here, it seems to be very bad and widespread. Very bad news. I am up that way for the next couple of weekends, I won't bother bringing the rods

There is definitely something up. e.g about 4 or 5 weeks ago I came home with x8 Pollack all around 2lb and my diary tells me that this time of year I am nearly always coming back with some fish, I certainly do realistically expect if not fish then a good number of 'enquiries', but not a single sign......... not a touch...... ??

sounds like there is an outbreak of red tide in there area. If this is the case the fishing will be off for some time. Hopefully it's localised, but from what I am reading here, it seems to be very bad and widespread. Very bad news. I am up that way for the next couple of weekends, I won't bother bringing the rods

Sorry Lads but I agree that it has to be "Red Tide" .
I first saw the devastating effects of it several years ago -- almost certainly the really bad occurrence in 2005 . There was quite a bit of discussion about it on this forum at the time ( under Red Tide ) . The large area of sand up by Killala was carpeted with dead worms . It killed inshore fishing almost overnight . Divers posted reports of seeing the seabed covered in dead doggies in particular . If I remember correctly it was at least 6 weeks before it recovered after the Red had gone out of the sea following cooler weather .
There used to be an open access site which gave the results of regular surveys around areas where mussels / oysters are farmed . That was very handy because it gave you a pretty good indication of your chances of blanking so you could do all those important jobs then and save up your brownie points and days off for when conditions improved I think it was maintained by the Marine Dept and presumably still is ( because the farms are forbidden to sell potentially poisonous shellfish when it strikes ) but I cannot find it now despite extensive googling . No doubt you have to sign up and pay for the info

Please don't shoot the messenger , it gives me no satisfaction to write this post . I will be delighted if you prove me wrong !
Good luck .
Extract from http://www.marine.ie/NR/rdonlyres/1821A ... MEHS21.pdf ( DATED 2005 )
A protracted bloom of Karenia mikimotoi was present in summer 2005 along the northern half of
the western Irish coastline. The onset of this bloom was identified in late May / early June. This
event subsequently dissipated over the month of July and was succeeded by a bloom of the same
species in the southwest in late July. The bloom was very intense and resulted in discolouration of
seawater and foaming in coastal embayments. Major mortalities of benthic and pelagic marine
organisms were observed and a complete decimation of marine faunal communities was reported
and observed in several locations. Deaths of echinoderms, polychaetes and bivalve molluscs were
observed in County Donegal and Mayo, while farmed shellfish and hatchery raised juvenile
bivalve spat suffered significant mortalities along the Galway and Mayo coasts. Reports of dead
fish and crustacea were received from Donegal, Galway, West Cork and Kerry.
Karenia mikimotoi is one of the most common red tide causative dinoflagellates.

went fishing down in banty bay last night on the air field ,the water was that black you could,nt even see
the stones on the beach when the waves washed over them and that was only about six inches deep

Something found on BAI http://www.rosguill.com/category/fishing-news/

As I said earlier, probably Karenia mikimotoi or similar. This causes foaming, and there was unusually large amounts of foam present around the Arranmore rocks despite calm conditions the other day.