Boat fishing Dalkey

My last visit was Oct '06

I started fishing from one of the rented boats at dalkey. I have gone there the last 3 years. I have only ever caught mackeral, dont get me wrong, thats fine. Its just that I would like to land some different kinds of fish. I use mackeral lures with no bait which done the job for the mackeral. Any time I rent a boat I head towards the island off Dalkey harbour and just drift back from there.

Could someone recommend some different types of lures & bait to land some fish other than mackeral????
&
Where should I go on the boat for most action???

P.s Even though I have been fishing for a few years now Im still a complete novice so go easy on me

Thanks all

Bait? You're already catching the best bait there is - fresh mackeral. Bring a filleting knife with you next time and put some mackeral chunks/slices on your hooks. Change it for fresh every 20 mins or so, the scent tends to get washed out. Don't mask the hookpoints with the bait.

Bet you'll catch more fish just by doing that.

lovely, Ill give it a go.

Feathers will get you plenty of pollock, rag baited feathers will get you a few wrasse.

But I'm suprised to hear you havent already got pollock on the lures, we've had a good few on spinners.

Dont be afraid to try a few different tactics, and cover lots of ground in your boat, you'll hit fish soon enough.

If you can get out in the boat around low water on a big tide, it will help you to locate some of the features in the area, reef's, sand banks etc. They will fish well

Bait? You're already catching the best bait there is - fresh mackeral. Bring a filleting knife with you next time and put some mackeral chunks/slices on your hooks. Change it for fresh every 20 mins or so, the scent tends to get washed out. Don't mask the hookpoints with the bait.

Bet you'll catch more fish just by doing that.

Exactamundo!

Thanks for the info lads. Just ordered myself some lures ( lugworm & sandeel ) & ill use ill use the mackeral as bait also.
Ill most likely head towards Dun Laoghaire instead of the island this time.

I have 80g weights at the mo. Im thinking these are too big/heavy. Should I get lighter ones???

I use an 18lb yellow line. Is this ok or overkill????

And lastly, My fishing techniche so far was to drop my line until I hit the bottom & then wind it back in, bouncing anlong the way. Any hints or tips????

18lb line is fine, but you really need to be using leads of around 150-200gram, best to use the ball leads as these wont snag the bottom as much.

If using feathers, let them drop to the bottom and then just jig them up and down.

If using lures/jellys etc, then cast away from the boat, let the lure sink to the required depth (just above the kelp), then retrieve, if your catching the kelp on the way back in, your fishing deep enough.

If your fishing out towards D.L harbour, much of the ground is clean sand, so your tactics will need to be different again.

Next time your heading out, give me a shout and I'll see can I join you to give you a few pointers.

depending on the ground your fishing always fish off the bottom if your useing feathers let the weight bounce off the bottom as you jig pollock and cod unlike mackeral are bottom feeders id say thats why youve been only catching mackeral
your baits have been too far off the bottom

Thanks again, I get more weights asap & try those methods.

Ok first off, the advice from you guys worked a charm.
I caught some Mackeral, Pollock & something else I cant identify ( see below for a pic ).

I used a lure that had a colourful worm type look to it which the pollock seemed to love. The other lads had mackeral feathers which didnt really bring much luck for the day. I also used artificial lug worm which also worked well.

On two occacions I got a bite from something. My rod bent right over and I just knew my knots would not hold. It was the first time I experienced how strong a fish could be . I think Ill have to wat a few vids on youtube on how to tie some decent knots, the granny knots could only get me so far.

Anyway below are 2 pics of what i cought. Im pretty sure this one is pollock http://i44.tinypic.com/23lb8s2.jpg

Now I havent a clue what this one is http://i42.tinypic.com/fbcilx.jpg any ideas???

Thanks again for the tips

First one is a wee pollock, the second is an even wee-er cod. Consensus is that it's more sporting to put codling that size back.

Hi Fishfingers,

Hope you enjoyed the day. The second one is a tiny cod. They can deep hook though and are sometimes hard to get back. You could try a flowing trace as I did yesterday. It's a simple enough rig with a boom, perfect for the boat. If you tie a 3/0 hook onto it with Rag or mac as bait you can drop it down and hit the bottom and pull it back in again. Worked well enough for me yesterday and I avoided the smaller fish this way. I got a couple of good size wrasse and pollock. The pollock were keepers, 18 inches at least.

I'd tie a flowing trace with 20lb mono as follows:

Swivel, bead, 35 cm of line, boom with weight clip, bead, swivel, 6 feet mono, hook.

Good luck

Hi Fishfingers,

Hope you enjoyed the day. The second one is a tiny cod. They can deep hook though and are sometimes hard to get back. You could try a flowing trace as I did yesterday. It's a simple enough rig with a boom, perfect for the boat. If you tie a 3/0 hook onto it with Rag or mac as bait you can drop it down and hit the bottom and pull it back in again. Worked well enough for me yesterday and I avoided the smaller fish this way. I got a couple of good size wrasse and pollock. The pollock were keepers, 18 inches at least.

I'd tie a flowing trace with 20lb mono as follows:

Swivel, bead, 35 cm of line, boom with weight clip, bead, swivel, 6 feet mono, hook.

Good luck

Thanks for the info.

I suppose I got caught up in the excitment of cathching a fish other than mackeral. Dont worry, in future ill pop the little lads back.