Dingle 4th to 7th of July 07 - Day 2

Day two

Rock mark

crab, worm on float rigs and some lure fishing

results:20 wrasse to 5lbs 13oz, pollock and macks and a starfish

The wind on day two had really picked up and that made most marks unfishable. It left us with only a couple of choices so we headed for a sheltered rock mark in a shallow bay to try some of the big wrasse we have had there before.

We groundbaited as we always do for the wrasse and float fished crabs or my alcohol preserved lug and rag worm (for the smaller fish when the biggies moved off the crab) and used stinger rigs, which proved extremely successful. over the whole trip about 50% of the wrasse we landed were hooked only on the stinger and not on the main hook, this effectively doubled our catch rate. losses can be higher due to the treble snagging, but in marks where we can get past that the stinger has been excellent.

the wrasse fishing was steady but not spectacular, we had to work and wait for our bites but we all had a few fish. eoin even snagged a huge starfish when he deepened off to trip his crab over the bottom

after about two hours we moved to a new outcrop of rocks and i perched myself on a little sheltered ledge, dropping right off into 25 feet of clear blue water over a kelp bed. after about fifteen minutes there, fishing a hard back crab, my float absolutely buried and my rod (nine foot daiwa spinning rod, 30lbs braid, mitchell fs reel) hooped over as a big wrasse dived for the bottom. I knew it was a good fish and the rod just pulsed and thumped as he bored for the deck. i clamped right down and hauled and managed to turn him. with the momentum on my side i pumped as much as i could and after a shorter second dive a big angry red wrasse , smashed the surface, slapped his tail and idved again.

seeing the size of the fish eoin had the net passed to my dad who scooped the ballan in as he crashed the surface for the second time. what a gorgeous fish he was, broad, deep and crimson red with white and electric blue spots. A quick weigh and some pics and soon he was diving back down to the depths to terrorize the crabs for another while.

the fish went 5lbs 13oz and was a new pb,

[img]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/adamsalbum79/DSCF4656.jpg[/img]

later we had a few more, i had a 4lbs 12oz fish, before finishing off with some lure fishing in the evening as the wind eased for some more pollock and the ever present macks

[img]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/adamsalbum79/DSCF4772.jpg[/img]

later in the evening we went for a drive sround the penninsula to take in some of the fantastic scenery, as the wind continued to drop it turned out to be a nice evening

[img]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/adamsalbum79/DSCF4690.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/adamsalbum79/DSCF4737.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/adamsalbum79/DSCF4694.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/adamsalbum79/DSCF4664.jpg[/img]

so we were doing well so far,despite the "summer" weather, but we werent finished yet, more wrasse and pollock plus sea trout and bass to come in the next part .....

Thats a very nice wrasse well done. :D :D

very nice wrasse, 2nd last picture is class.

The thickness of that wrasse is diriculous

Wonderful wrasse that Adam :wink:

real thumper of a wrasse mate ,and a wonderful colour aswell.

Adam excellent fishing and some impressive fish myself and a friend are visiting next week how do you tie your stingers and what size hook on the stinger, we have tried for the wrasse before but never had much luck so any marks you can recommend much appreciated, Gaza

Cracking wrasse Adam ,def have to get a crack at those boyos ,How much ground bait you using ?

hi

ron i usually bring about one to two kilos dry mix with me and add the oil, mashed fish etc to that. putting in about 8 balls (some hard some soft) at each new spot to get a bait cloud in the water to attract th wrasse out from their holes.

gaz i use size eight or size 6 trebles for the stinger

info on the stinger is here

http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/bull ... php?t=6709

if you like i can pm you some marks

adam

great catch mate. sorry to appear daft but whats a stinger ,,never heard of it. thats what i love about talkin to other fishermen .. after 30 years fishin there is still something new to learn

Adam,

Super report and some cracking fish....magic.

Am heading down that way over the next few weeks and even though I am staying on the opposite side of the peninsular I hope to get at least one or two days fishing in Dingle.

Noted your offer to Gaz and Ron re PM'ing some marks hope you don't mind me asking to be included.

Any info much appreciated.

Stevie C.

hi kevin

the stinger is this

" only use it when i am fishing crab, as it doesnt really lend its self to fishing with baits that need to be threaded up the hook such as rag. (but it can be used for worm if you thread the worm on from the opposite end to the hook)

The last time i used it we were missing bite after bite on crab, no matter how long or how quickly we hit the bites. put the stinger on and had a 5 pounder on the next cast. And hit most of the bites after that. my mate changed back to the normal float rig (just to see) and missed a lot more bites.

what it is is a small treble hook ( very small size 8 or so) hanging just below (about one cm below) a knotless knotted aberdeen, i use shrink tube to hold the line going to the treble against the shank of the aberdeen, so that when you hook a crab the treble hangs in among the legs, so when a wrasse hits the crab and manages to avoid getting hooked on the single hook you have the treble in among the legs to get him too.

most of the time when hooked just on the treble the treble catches just on the lip and even if its in the mouth you can get it out no probs with a forceps. i dont know if other people use it for wrasse, its something i just came up with one day, so i cant point to to any diagrams but i will do a few "how to" pictures and post them if you feel that will be of help to you. you can add beads and attractors above the hook if you wish.

it does work well when the bites are picky and frustrating, we used to put this down to small fish but have found with the stinger that this is not always the case "

stevie will do, no probs

adam, u truly are a legend on this website to me and many others, but what on earth is a 'knotless knotted aberdeen'???!!! :? :?

thanks stevie.. you live and learn, sounds like a great idea.

hi

thanks booner, legend, ha ha :D

a knotless knotted aberdeen, ok that might not have been very clear.

the aberdeen is just the hook pattern we use, i usually go for black kamasans size 1/0 to 3/0 (usually 2/0 for crab).

the knotless knot is a knot that is used to whip on your main hook while leaving a loop below to add a bait , or in our case a smaller hook onto. it came to prominence in carp fishing for hair rigs but you can also use to add extra hooks to big deepwater jigs, sea trout flys or even to add a smaller hook for when mullet fishing with bread (you put the bread on the main hook and when they come up to slurp in the bread they suck in hte small hook)

http://www.dorkingas.co.uk/Knots/Knotle ... s_knot.htm

if you look at that link you will see how to tie the knot, to make the stinger all you do is add a small treble to the loop before you tie the knotless knot and you have a stinger hook that lies among the legs of the crab bait.

if you look at the picture below, thats what you want to end up with. fished on a float rig it can really help hit shy bites. with the treble though it could snag more often so its best used on a float above the kelp on a decent strong setup to keep the wrasse away fomr their bolt holes.

[img]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/adamsalbum79/stinger1.jpg[/img]

adam

Excellent idea!! Will have to give it a go. Do you use a barbless trebble to enable easier unhooking?

Jonny