sligo, galway and strangford lough 1st-5th march (busy week)

MONDAY 1ST MARCH SLIGO BEACH MARK
me and fisherking
4pm to 10pm
HW 5pm
3 hook flappers
sand eel, rag, squid, lug, mack and razor
ME= 1 sea trout, 2 coalies and 1 whiting
FISHERKING= coalie and a 5 beardy (i think)

report,
i had arranged to meet up with fisherking and doggie3131 for another crack at getting my first ever trout . but just as i arrived i got a phone call from doggie letting me know he was'nt gonna make it as jason's car had broken down . i offered to nip down to mayo and lift them but he reckoned just to go on ahead as fisherking was already set up and fishing on the beach. but he told me not to worry as there would be a cold beer and a bowl of stew waiting for me when i got down to his place after our session top bloke!. i arrived to see the place quite busy with dog walkers and famalies making the best of the sunshine and headed over to greet fisherking. pleasentries were exchanged and i got my 2 rods out in quick time . fisherking had'nt got a bite yet, but he was only fishing an hour or so. a few hours passed by without a bite and davy from the sitwe arrived in to say hello. (good speaking to you again man ). not long after he left i got the first fish of the night. a wee coalie. so the blank was put to rest and i eagerly waited for the sea trout to make an appearence. i noticed the rod twitch a bit and fisherking spotted it too and said "that's a trout munching your eel al" . but i struck too early and wound in a half munched sand eel . but not to be put off i baited up and cast into the same spot again. and within seconds sammy the sea trout was hooked, landed and photographed mission accomplished. he was only about 8ozs at best but it was my first ever sea trout so i was made up . just one slight problem with him,,,,,, he was'nt actually on any of my hooks . it was only when i went to unhook him i noticed he was hooked onto a wire boom that had obvously broken free from someone elses trace and got tangled in my mainline when he attacked one of my sand eels . but i'm gonna claim him anyways as he was attached to my line and i landed him fair and square . so he was unhooked and swam away free and i'll bet he was glad to see the back of that hook and boom he'd been carrying about with him for only god knows how long . fisherking got a 5 beardy to beat the blank too and a coalie i think too. it was almost 10pm by now and i said my goodbyes and hit the road for doggies place and we must have sat up to only god knows when in the morning talking all things fishy and sinking quite a few beers in the process

TUESDAY 2ND MARCH GALWAY ROCK MARK
me, doggie3131, chrisfeeny, saltydog and the stevecrow
5pm to 10pm
HW at 5.30pm
every bait and rig imagineable
chris doggie and salty all got a micro pollack each and me and the crow blanked
report,
noel had arranged to meet up with some of the galway lads for a session at one of salty's marks for a go at an early ray. but sadly the gods were against us as the only fish that were about were 3 single wee pollack . just one of those sessions . still great to meet up with some of the west coast lads again we'll get em next time lads the plan to stay in the bar might have been the better option in the end , but still great to get out. so i headed on home on the wednesday as work was calling

FRIDAY 5TH MARCH STRANGFORD LOUGH ROCK MARK
me and the dog
noon to 6pm
HW at 4pm
3 hook flappers
lug, sand eel mack and feathers
2 pollack and a male dragonet
report,
with a mountain of bait left over from the start of the week i decided to do a bit of scouting around some new marks inside strangford lough. i found a suitable outcrop of rocks that looked fishy and quickly had 2 rods fishing the bottom with baits while i set my spare rod up with a set of feathers just in case the session was gonna be a slow one. it was during the day after all . an hour or so went by and not so much as a nibble registered on the rods so out went the feathers and a wee pollack decided to have a go and my blank was beaten . i'd no sooner put the wee guy back when i noticed a twitch on one of the bait rods and reeled in a cool looking male dragonet who was displaying all his mating colours and looked quite stunning with bright reds, yellows and neon blue (sadly it was cloudy and my pics don't do him justice). they're a funny wee fish and at this time of year the males do a wee ritual dance for the females to encourage egg laying. it's now that the colours are the most vibrant in them. another first of the year and i was made up to see him. just as a word of warning thow, they have 3 serated razor sharp notches on the gills that cut like a surgeons knife , so handel the really carefully if you get one. in all the excitement i forgot this fact and he sliced me open good and proper . but sure it's nothing a plaster would'nt sort out other than that the bait rods got diddly squat the rest of the day and i packed them away and gave the feathers one final chuck. thank god i did as the rod doubled over and a nice pollack fought well before i bullied him out of the kelp and up on the rocks . i'd no scales with me but he was easily 2lb+ as he was as long as my measure. i was chuffed as i've not had one that size since the end of last summer and went home a very happy camper

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the big chap!

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well lads sounds like you had a great couple of days hope doggies stew was nice great report and some good photos
never seen one of those dragonets before.. nice one...lads....

it was a fun few days all right,i was a bit fed up missing sligo,but the sessions over the few days made up for it,and the fishing was not bad either! well...the fishing was sh*t really,but we had a laugh im still recovering! nice to see a decent pollock for a change,roll on the summer! planning the next session with al already,hopefully out on the boat.

Al west coasting again ,Well done on the Sea-Trout and great pics as always...Lucky the little man wasn,t there probably would have showed you up again

The Dragonet is a cool wee fish & thats a decent Pollack for this time of year might have to hit a few rock marks during the week for a few cast, glade you got your Co Sligo Seatrout never was I so happy to catch a wee 5 beard Rockling after all the blanking sessions I was having lately great to meet you again hopefully will get another few sessions in when the fishing gets a bit better

Class! Excellent report. A few crackers, love the dragonet. The guy's are sure good at making you fell at home down there, home from home

Well done, always great reports and good pics.

the big chap!

hey al, i notice you keep your lug utterly nice in water, does this keep them in better nick?
as well as mine do in just a tub in the boot of my car for 3/4 days, i do freshen them with sea water when i go fishing but i drain them then, should i leave them in the water, only fishing for 35 years but still learning!

Great to meet you Al, and hopefully i'll be a bit more myself the next time, my health seriously deteriorated towards the end of the night, just about made it back to the car... next time i think i'll recover fully from flu/whatever i had the next time i head out, didnt even make it to the gig the next night (shows how bad i was)
but next time we'll hit some proper fishin followed by a wee session of another kind.. and i promise i'll go easy on ye..

Well Done on the Sea Trout Al
Nice Pollock too
Whereabouts in Strangford were you (pm me)?

Wish I had the time you have to fish!!

Nice fishing guys.

I feel my first trip of the year coming on.

We're definitely gonna make a point of meeting you guys this year. Daniel's itching to get out.

well lads sounds like you had a great couple of days hope doggies stew was nice great report and some good photos
never seen one of those dragonets before.. nice one...lads....

cheers man. doggies stew hit the spot alright. top man,, always keeps me right the dragonets are hard enough to come by. i think wicklow harbour has a few knocking about it, but just watch the gills as them things are razor sharp

it was a fun few days all right,i was a bit fed up missing sligo,but the sessions over the few days made up for it,and the fishing was not bad either! well...the fishing was sh*t really,but we had a laugh im still recovering! nice to see a decent pollock for a change,roll on the summer! planning the next session with al already,hopefully out on the boat.

good man noel!! you should have seen the look on jordan's face when i told him you got a boat his response was "and sure our car has a tow bar" . had a blast as always and the west coast lads kept me right. just a pity the fishing was slow,, but it's that time of year again . we're just chuffed not to blank on our trips at the mo . i got you a load of stickers to decorate your boat with man . i'll bring them over with me when i'm over again

Al west coasting again ,Well done on the Sea-Trout and great pics as always...Lucky the little man wasn,t there probably would have showed you up again

cheers man, he'll be doing that today no doubt i'll be religated to ghillie and photographer again . but i don't mind as he has to miss all the mid week trips due to school. but that will all change when school stops for the summer hols

The Dragonet is a cool wee fish & thats a decent Pollack for this time of year might have to hit a few rock marks during the week for a few cast, glade you got your Co Sligo Seatrout never was I so happy to catch a wee 5 beard Rockling after all the blanking sessions I was having lately great to meet you again hopefully will get another few sessions in when the fishing gets a bit better

tell me about it brian for a while i thought we were both looking at a blank . it must be davy acting as a good luck charm . that's twice now that when he's headed off after a chat that the fish come out to play i was just stoked to finally get the sea trout monkey off my back . i'm sure noel will keep you posted for when i'm coming back down again, so if you're needing any thing brought up just give me a shout before hand and i'll pick it up for ya man

Class! Excellent report. A few crackers, love the dragonet. The guy's are sure good at making you fell at home down there, home from home

cheers man. they're a top bunch of lads we'll have to get an east coast session in the works round easter and get you down with us again. have'nt got out with dave and neil yet this year, so that one's well overdue

Well done, always great reports and good pics.

thanks steven, just a pity the trout kept jumping about all over the place and got covered in sand i'll get a better pic of the next one

the big chap!

hey al, i notice you keep your lug utterly nice in water, does this keep them in better nick?
as well as mine do in just a tub in the boot of my car for 3/4 days, i do freshen them with sea water when i go fishing but i drain them then, should i leave them in the water, only fishing for 35 years but still learning!

yeah man,, always keep them in sea water as it keeps them in top condition, espically if there is bright sunlight. any we have that left over from a session go back into our bait fridge at home. i can usually keep 100 lug and 100 rag alive at a time. one good digging session a month usually keeps us going in bait .
our wee set up at home

my fridge set up for my worm baits.JPG

stocked up for the month.JPG

Great to meet you Al, and hopefully i'll be a bit more myself the next time, my health seriously deteriorated towards the end of the night, just about made it back to the car... next time i think i'll recover fully from flu/whatever i had the next time i head out, didnt even make it to the gig the next night (shows how bad i was)
but next time we'll hit some proper fishin followed by a wee session of another kind.. and i promise i'll go easy on ye..

jeese steve missed a gig,, must have been bad to pass up on all those women and all that booze i'll have to start on the black bush to build up a tollerance thresh hold for that trip . good to finally meet you and chris and see salty again. the fishing might not have been great, but the banter was top notch,, and it did'nt cost you nothing to be told that doggie only explained that joke to me on the way home to me in the car

Well Done on the Sea Trout Al
Nice Pollock too
Whereabouts in Strangford were you (pm me)?
Wish I had the time you have to fish!!

no probs fenton, i know i can trust you to keep it to yourself i'll send you a wee PM today man. i'm lucky enough to be the one who makes the rota for work, so i always check the tides and forecast before i sort what shifts i wanna work

Nice fishing guys.
I feel my first trip of the year coming on.
We're definitely gonna make a point of meeting you guys this year. Daniel's itching to get out.

no probs man. you and daniel are more than welcome to get out with us you do realize that jordan and daniel are likely to put us to shame thow

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Well done Al, you realy wrack up the miles around the country, I heard a rumour that the entire oil supply from Kuait goes to your local garage just to keep you in fuel

Cracking report and pictures as usual fella,Also well done on getting the sea trout

Nice fishing Al.

nice to meet you al, you will have to trekk down this way in a few months for a real crack at the ray! Nice few pictures there too!

Great report and pics Al, congrats on your first seatrout ,,,,,,,you cant beat a bit of craic with the lads off the site. Thats a decent pollock too for the time of year,,in fact for any time of year .Dont be letting those Connaught Rangers lead you astray,,i thought for a moment i heard you mention women and booze in that report ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,nawwww,,,,,,,,,couldnt have

Nice meeting up with you again Al looking forward to seeing yourself and the wee man down this way soon congrats again on the seatrout

nice dragonette ,looks like something you,d see in denis,s shop for sale
i have a bait fridge just like yours it,s a bit understocked at the moment 20 lug looking very sad

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