kerry & donegal. not what we expected 19th - 22nd august

[Al and Jordan]

People: me, mark and jordan

Duration: see below

Tide: all states

Weather: wet

Bait: rag, lug, razor and sand eel

Rigs: 3 hook flappers

Results: mackeral, ballan wrasse, corkwing wrasse, pollock, coalfish, grey gurnard, thornback ray, sea scorpion, dab, pouting, poor cod, conger and more doggies than you could shake a stick at




Report:

sorry about the late post lads, but things have been a bit hetic of late and the old luck has been in short supply lately . now where do i start??. we decided on tuesday the 17th that a last minute trip to kerry was in order as jordan has to start back to school soon so the order of the day was getting some razor, but all my usual suppliers were clean out. so after phoning every tackle shop and fishing buddy in my contact lists i tracked some down in a tackle shop in larne and high tailed it down to get them. i got the last 4 packets in the shop and went spinning for some fresh mack with mark and jordan when disaster struck we were standing on some uneven rocks when in the full swing of a back cast i lost my footing and whalloped mark in the back with the lead on the way past thankfully somehow none of the hooks got him, but my 3oz lead had left him winded and gasping for breath . it was only after he got his breath back and we had a bit of a chuckle about it that i noticed that the top section of my favourite rod has splintered to bits and was a goner . so if anyone has a spare top section for a shakespear salt beach fixed spool 12ft 4/8oz rod i'd happily buy it off you as this was my favourite every day use rod that doggie had given to me some months back . i phoned round a few places in england including shakespear themselves, but no joy in tracking a top section down . any how back to the fishing. i thought that nothing else could possibly go wrong as we hit the road at 5pm on thursday kerry bound. we arrived on our pre chosen beach just after midnight and got set up to fish through to the morning when we were supposed to head to the camp site to set up for the weekend. 2 rods each for 9 hours fishing in the rain and lightning resulted in 1 single wee tea bag sized flounder for jordan and diddly squat for me and mark . but not to be put off we decided that it must have just been a one off bad session for this spot and resigned ourselves to coming back later in the day after we got the tents sorted out at the site and a good sleep was had by all . but this notion was put to rest as we drove to the campsite. with all the rain the roads had some standing water and i drove through a small puddle that turned out to be a 10 inch deep pot hole that broke a spring in the front of the motor and pushed the shock up through the strut . the car was wounded in a bad way and i had no option other than to find a garage somewhere and get it sorted. i found the garage and the fella informed me that it would be the middle of next week before he could get the parts and mabey the weekend before he could get it in and sorted . we were only down for the bloody weekend . i phoned my insurer who then informed me that my breakdown cover only covered me within the uk and i'd have to get the car back up into the north as far as newry before they could do anything for me . so i called my mechanic back up home and explained the situation to him and he reckoned if if limped her home and got it to lisburn he could get it sorted for me. so after the 7 hour drive down, an all night session with only 40 mins sleep i had to get ready for a possible 11 hour drive back up home to get the motor sorted . needless to say if the guards had of given me a blood test on the journey home it would have came back nescafe 'C' for caffinne positive . i must have chugged down a coffee at every service station on the way home . the long and short of it was that i got the car back up north and my mate was a trooper as he had the motor sorted within an hour as the parts were all in his garage waiting for us .
now with the mountain of bait we had, we had to get out somewhere and donegal was decided on. we got to our mark within 2 hours and were fishing a spot we always usually found other anglers at so we were made up to finally get onto the spot . this was where it all turned round as the rain cleared away and we had a great 20hour session with well over 200 fish between us all. mark got his first ever conger, 4 in fact by the end up to 12lb 4oz jordan was hammering the pollock on the float and i even got 2 thornies . it was a great session where we all made up for the disasters of the previous days and we all went home very happy campers indeed. despite now having travelled over 1000 miles in the past 4 days (now all i have to do is track down a replacement rod section or just bite the bullet and get a new rod ).

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Last edited by Al and Jordan on Fri Aug 27, 2010 10:50 am, edited 1 time in total.

last few pics. i know,,, not my usual battery of photos. but the fishing was so frantic i hardly got the chance to get the camera out

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Al
Really unlucky with the Rod and Pothole, but what a cracking session the day after, you definately deserved those results.
Well the good luck must be in for a while now after all that and the 1000KM drive.

Mick

Nice fishing guys and a great report as ever
which part of Donegal were you in?
I must find out from my insurers if I am covered for breakdowns in the north and england
as it could be an expensive breakdown

Great report & pics Al, well done done guys hard luck with the rod & spring happened to me a while back fishing some dodgy rocks but luckily the chap beside ducked just in time & broke the top half

Jesus Al, what can I say, you had no luck on your trip down to Kerry did you? Such a shame. At least you's managed to get out fishing somewhere to make up for it and when you's did you's managed to catch a good lot of fish Well done guys.

A Shakespearean Tragedy Al, my commisserations ,,,,but on a positive note all ended well .I broke the mid section of a Shakespeare Salt Long Beach 14' 6'' but I dont know if the top section would fit yours, probably not. If so its yours, or maybe someone out there would have a mid section for my Salt Long Beach and you could have that

That Kerry trip sounds like the session from Hell, one tiny flounder between the three of you and a wrecked car
At least you eventually got the car sorted and the Donegal went someway to wiping out the bad memories.

jesus al when it goes wrong for you,it REALLY goes wrong .hard luck with the rod,i know you really liked it.glad ye had a good session to make up for the bad luck.when are you heading down this way again?

jesus al' that must have been a nightmare drive back, especially with very little sleep.
but at least the Donegal trip was a good one, well done

that was some amount of motoring al when thinks go
wrong they GO WRONG but im delighted things turned out well
and yourself and jordan had a great days fishing

talk about murphys law .anyway beyond that well done ye 3.great pics and great varietys

Have the same rod and they are a great all rounder!! Also use the salt bass which is great for flounder fishing off the likes of waterfoot!! Hope you get sorted with a replacement lad.

Al
Really unlucky with the Rod and Pothole, but what a cracking session the day after, you definately deserved those results.
Well the good luck must be in for a while now after all that and the 1000KM drive.
Mick

cheers mick, our luck had to change after all the disasters with the kerry trip . i checked the trip on the speedo when we got home and we'd clocked up 1021 miles over the 4 days . i'll be needind sponsorship from shell at this rate

Nice fishing guys and a great report as ever
which part of Donegal were you in?
I must find out from my insurers if I am covered for breakdowns in the north and england
as it could be an expensive breakdown

cheers man. i'll send you a pm . i never even thought about the insurance as i was always with quinn and they never made a distinction between the north and south. but now that they've went belly up i'm with axa. it's a cheaper policy, but has a lot more restrictions

Great report & pics Al, well done done guys hard luck with the rod & spring happened to me a while back fishing some dodgy rocks but luckily the chap beside ducked just in time & broke the top half

thanks brian. my immeadiate concern was for mark. he's a fairly tough guy who worked with me on the door in belfast for a few years, so we've been in a few tough scraps togeather. seeing him hunch up into a ball making grunting noises was a bit of a shock. i never imagined a 3oz lead could do that damage it lifted a match box size chunk of skin off his back and it had swollen up like a golf ball sized black lump . thank god it did'nt hit him on the head

Jesus Al, what can I say, you had no luck on your trip down to Kerry did you? Such a shame. At least you's managed to get out fishing somewhere to make up for it and when you's did you's managed to catch a good lot of fish Well done guys.

cheers paula. rescued in the end

A Shakespearean Tragedy Al, my commisserations ,,,,but on a positive note all ended well .I broke the mid section of a Shakespeare Salt Long Beach 14' 6'' but I dont know if the top section would fit yours, probably not. If so its yours, or maybe someone out there would have a mid section for my Salt Long Beach and you could have that

very witty dave cheers for the offer man. i was looking at that model in the world sea fishing on line shop. they have them reduced to £69.99 as a clearence deal . if i can't get a top section i might treat myself to that one

That Kerry trip sounds like the session from Hell, one tiny flounder between the three of you and a wrecked car
At least you eventually got the car sorted and the Donegal went someway to wiping out the bad memories.

thanks frank. i was at the end of my teather with all the disasters . i felt more sorry for wee jordan. poor wee mite was bored outta his skull after the 18 hour drive for just 1 wee flounder . thankfully donegal treated us better and reminded us why it is that we travel the length and breadth of the country in search of fishies

jesus al when it goes wrong for you,it REALLY goes wrong .hard luck with the rod,i know you really liked it.glad ye had a good session to make up for the bad luck.when are you heading down this way again?

cheers noel. it will be pretty soon man. we're getting west coast withdrawlls we need to get out with corbyeire to that mark in letrim for our tour of the counties. we could mabey get in a galway and sligo session too what do you reckon?. mid week or weekend suit you best?

jesus al' that must have been a nightmare drive back, especially with very little sleep.
but at least the Donegal trip was a good one, well done

cheers don. did you get that pm ok?

that was some amount of motoring al when thinks go
wrong they GO WRONG but im delighted things turned out well
and yourself and jordan had a great days fishing

well ger,,, we do'nt tend to do things in half measures do we hopefully that's all the bad luck outta the way for another while . just gotta keep the chin up and keep at it . i think if the donegal trip had'nt have been such a success there would have been lots of rods and tackle for sale

talk about murphys law .anyway beyond that well done ye 3.great pics and great varietys

thanks brian. donegal restored our faith in fishing again

Have the same rod and they are a great all rounder!! Also use the salt Bass which is great for flounder fishing off the likes of waterfoot!! Hope you get sorted with a replacement lad.

cheers ronan. they are indeed a great all round reasonably priced rod. if i do get sorted with a replacement section i'll just have to pay more attention when i'm casting it in the future mark and jordan have had endless fun since the incident by running away every time i go to cast and shouting "warning,, warning. cast in progress!!!" i a'int gonna live this one down for a while

Al,

Did you try the guys at Village Tackle, they're normally fairly resourceful in getting spare parts. On one occassion they even lent me a rod until my replacement section arrived.

The three stoodgies spring to mind,lol. Glad all come right in the end Al. Very seldom does Donegal let you down.

shame about your rod and motor that some bad luck but 200 fish after all this is bright in the darknes Al, so well done you 3 great report and the pictures

Fair play for picking yourselves up and getting back out there. I think I would have ended up on a bar stool.

well done lads, always a great read of a report..
gotta say, that list has me feeling envious, I haven't seafished in so long!! My species list stoppped growing back in May!!! GOnna try rectify that within the next month hopefully..
Beaut congers too!!

ha al ye heard about your trip ,, bad luck or what... at least you all got home safe.........nice to see the wee man smile again....