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beginner's luck

PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 4:06 pm
by garymaxima
Working commitments and a couple of family bereavements in quick succession knocked the stuffing out of most of my kayak fishing this summer. I have been creeping back into it again over the last week with a couple of nice sessions;

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An unusually sunny September evening had to be capitalised on and there was only ever going to be one way to do that; kayak fishing. Today I had company on the water.

Emma has spent many an hour paddling around while I fished but she was never too bothered about fishing herself. She grabbed her old kayak and decided this evening that she would like to give it a try so I thought that heading out into the calmness of Galway bay would be the best idea. There should be a wrasse, pollock or mackerel that would be obliging enough to give a brief tussle and photograph in exchange for being released to fight another day.

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In what can only be described as glorious weather, we headed out to a mark that I thought may produce the goods. Casting a small articulated lure, I was hopeful that a ballan wrasse may fall for my cunning plan. One did but the area seem very scarce in fish and the occasional sight of a seal popping his head through the surface suggested that the wrasse may be a little spooked, too spooked to be feeding with gusto. After unhooking the wrasse and having a look at his impressive dentistry, used to crunch small crabs and shellfish, it was allowed back into the water to find his home again.

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We decided to move on to a second mark and this proved to be most successful. Keeping things simple I decided that jigging would be the best option and before long the first kayak caught fish for this 'new' angler had been landed. A pollock, small by anybody's standards but a fun and memorable catch all the same. Quickly unhooked and released, the rig was sent to the sea bed in search of more. A procession of small fish came to the kayak as the sun began to dip, getting ever closer to the horizon. Although none of the fish were monsters, what was found impressive was the force that they hit the feathers with and the strength with which these small fish resisted being pulled to the surface.

A thoroughly enjoyable evening on the water was had. But that said, what time on the water isn't fun?

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Re: beginner's luck

PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 10:20 pm
by blowin
Nice report . Thanks .

Re: beginner's luck

PostPosted: Tue Sep 23, 2014 9:06 pm
by hugo
Really nice pictures and report, a great advertisement for the sport. Just wish it had been around in my fitter days... hugo, also ex-Bray resident, now Mayo.