Donegal Bay, 25th/26th August 2021
Fri Aug 27, 2021 10:06 pm
Once more unto the breach…
Tuesday 25th. Arriving early at the slip to avoid the inevitable crowds brought out by the good weather, I was soon launched, parked up and ready for the off.
First drop in the search for mackerel bait produced an instant response and an unexpected codling around 3lb thumped its way to the boat, aided and abetted by a small pollack. I kept the latter in case no mackerel showed but the codling went back to grow on; it would be pointless anyway keeping a fish caught so early in the day with such high temperatures ahead. Further drops yielded numerous pollack to around the 3lb mark along with several decent pouting and a male cuckoo wrasse until eventually a pair of mackerel joined in the fun. Off to the sand and several hours later I had only 4 doggies to show for my efforts. This mark has been very disappointing this year, hard to believe I had 30 rays of 3 species in a day here a couple of years back! I was trailing my underwater camera for a couple of hours; admittedly the water was very murky but all I saw was a single dogfish homing in on the other rod. It’s interesting to watch them quartering the ground as they pinpoint the source of the scent, a bit like watching my springer spaniel tracking a pheasant back in my shooting days. I moved to a new mark, as much for something to do as for any other reason. A couple of drifts here yielded only a few dabs nudging the 30cm mark, not very exciting so I shifted again to a nearby patch of low rough and switched from a boom and flowing trace to a twin boom pater noster rig. After 4 small whiting in quick succession I was about to move again when a shoal of mackerel showed on the “TV”, I had about a dozen in no time to see out the rest of the day and keep a few for tomorrow. As the heat built in the afternoon, hordes of black flies descended on the boat, it was like a scene from 101 Dalmatians. I returned to the first mark, it was on the way home anyway, and fished for the last hour or so. The sounder was showing fair numbers of fish and I was soon hauling lots of pouting, again of a decent size, and had a nice double shot of small ling and female cuckoo wrasse. A single ballan wrasse boosted the species count and as I drifted along the mark, pollack took over. I finished the day with the last drop producing a full house of pollack to about 3lb on the baited feathers. Back at the slip the weather had indeed drawn the crowds out and I got tied up at the slip without mincing a single swimmer. Backing the trailer down was fun as I avoided deck chairs and a pair of kayaks abandoned on the slip. Just as I was guiding the boat onto the rear rollers, someone asked me “Should I move our kayaks?” “No, I’ve done the hard bit now” I replied.
Wednesday 26th. With some reasonably fresh bait on board it was straight to the first mark and two booms with flowing traces were soon bouncing slowly along over the sand. The water wasn’t so murky today but it was dark and almost peaty in colour, I was to find out later that there was a bit of red tide going on, not good news. Things were a bit slow but speeded up to give a series of doggies, 4 in all; uncomfortably like yesterday’s start. With nothing else to show for 2 hours, I was en route to another mark when I picked up a large, tightly packed shoal of fish. This proved to be a mix of scad and mackerel and I was glad to get them as the mackerel from yesterday was already very soft. This fresh bait was soon tripping along the second mark and a succession of dabs, mostly around the 30cm size, tried to take advantage. What seemed like another dab bite, a quick rattle of the rod tip, failed to develop so when I retrieved a short while later to check the bait I was surprised to feel some extra weight; my first turbot of 2021. Unfortunately it had completely swallowed the hook and at 34cm and well fed, it was pan bound. That was the end of the fish though last drop of the day produced a surprise octopus which had the good manners to squirt its ink into the water rather than re-spray the inside of the boat. How come they are called "OCTOpus" yet they have TENtacles?Musing over the two days, I was surprised to find I had managed 12 species including a few “firsts” of the year yet not one ray of any type showed. While disappointed, I must say eating the turbot helped; filleted, skinned, coated in well seasoned flour and pan-fried in oil and butter it was delicious!
Tuesday 25th. Arriving early at the slip to avoid the inevitable crowds brought out by the good weather, I was soon launched, parked up and ready for the off.
First drop in the search for mackerel bait produced an instant response and an unexpected codling around 3lb thumped its way to the boat, aided and abetted by a small pollack. I kept the latter in case no mackerel showed but the codling went back to grow on; it would be pointless anyway keeping a fish caught so early in the day with such high temperatures ahead. Further drops yielded numerous pollack to around the 3lb mark along with several decent pouting and a male cuckoo wrasse until eventually a pair of mackerel joined in the fun. Off to the sand and several hours later I had only 4 doggies to show for my efforts. This mark has been very disappointing this year, hard to believe I had 30 rays of 3 species in a day here a couple of years back! I was trailing my underwater camera for a couple of hours; admittedly the water was very murky but all I saw was a single dogfish homing in on the other rod. It’s interesting to watch them quartering the ground as they pinpoint the source of the scent, a bit like watching my springer spaniel tracking a pheasant back in my shooting days. I moved to a new mark, as much for something to do as for any other reason. A couple of drifts here yielded only a few dabs nudging the 30cm mark, not very exciting so I shifted again to a nearby patch of low rough and switched from a boom and flowing trace to a twin boom pater noster rig. After 4 small whiting in quick succession I was about to move again when a shoal of mackerel showed on the “TV”, I had about a dozen in no time to see out the rest of the day and keep a few for tomorrow. As the heat built in the afternoon, hordes of black flies descended on the boat, it was like a scene from 101 Dalmatians. I returned to the first mark, it was on the way home anyway, and fished for the last hour or so. The sounder was showing fair numbers of fish and I was soon hauling lots of pouting, again of a decent size, and had a nice double shot of small ling and female cuckoo wrasse. A single ballan wrasse boosted the species count and as I drifted along the mark, pollack took over. I finished the day with the last drop producing a full house of pollack to about 3lb on the baited feathers. Back at the slip the weather had indeed drawn the crowds out and I got tied up at the slip without mincing a single swimmer. Backing the trailer down was fun as I avoided deck chairs and a pair of kayaks abandoned on the slip. Just as I was guiding the boat onto the rear rollers, someone asked me “Should I move our kayaks?” “No, I’ve done the hard bit now” I replied.
Wednesday 26th. With some reasonably fresh bait on board it was straight to the first mark and two booms with flowing traces were soon bouncing slowly along over the sand. The water wasn’t so murky today but it was dark and almost peaty in colour, I was to find out later that there was a bit of red tide going on, not good news. Things were a bit slow but speeded up to give a series of doggies, 4 in all; uncomfortably like yesterday’s start. With nothing else to show for 2 hours, I was en route to another mark when I picked up a large, tightly packed shoal of fish. This proved to be a mix of scad and mackerel and I was glad to get them as the mackerel from yesterday was already very soft. This fresh bait was soon tripping along the second mark and a succession of dabs, mostly around the 30cm size, tried to take advantage. What seemed like another dab bite, a quick rattle of the rod tip, failed to develop so when I retrieved a short while later to check the bait I was surprised to feel some extra weight; my first turbot of 2021. Unfortunately it had completely swallowed the hook and at 34cm and well fed, it was pan bound. That was the end of the fish though last drop of the day produced a surprise octopus which had the good manners to squirt its ink into the water rather than re-spray the inside of the boat. How come they are called "OCTOpus" yet they have TENtacles?Musing over the two days, I was surprised to find I had managed 12 species including a few “firsts” of the year yet not one ray of any type showed. While disappointed, I must say eating the turbot helped; filleted, skinned, coated in well seasoned flour and pan-fried in oil and butter it was delicious!
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Last edited by johnwest on Fri Aug 27, 2021 10:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Donegal Bay, 25th/26th August 2021
Fri Aug 27, 2021 10:10 pm
The usual extra pics;
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Re: Donegal Bay, 25th/26th August 2021
Sat Aug 28, 2021 1:05 am
Great report John, nice to see a cuckoo wrasse and a turbot! Nothing worse than coming up to the slip and there's swimmers all over it, the miles upon miles of beach is just simply not enough for people 
Re: Donegal Bay, 25th/26th August 2021
Wed Sep 01, 2021 8:39 pm
A fairly good species hunt,, that pout was a decent size,, a decent turbot too,, at least you got good weather