Connacht Carnage....

People:Myself, JP, Various others.

Duration:Weekend

Tide:Ebb, Low, FLow, both days

Weather:Calm, occasional light shower

Bait:Lug, Maddies, Whites, Mackerel, Sandeel, CK, Lynx...

Rigs:A fetching polo shirt and diesel jeansfor myself and white long sleeved shirt and jeans for JP. Oh, sorry, 3 hook flappers Saturday to size 4s, 3 hook clipped Sunday to size 2s.

Results:Flounder, Turbot, Huss, Doggies, Thornbacks, Weever, Aunties and Nieces :wink: .

Catch and Release:: Yes/No Without a shadow of a doubt....!



Report:

With the opening of shop 2 delayed by a week, a phone call from JP had a weekend of fishing organised. Destination Mayo….. We were to fish a leg of the Connacht Gold Medal at Keel beach in Achill on the Saturday. A long, flat sandy beach, flattie heaven apparently and would make a nice change from all the recent boat and bass activity.

Saturday morning dawned and I hit the road from Cork at 6am. 8.30 had me pulling into Galway to collect the Rampant fella and away we went. The drive to Achill was made a little frustrating by a constant stream of 30mph merchants, a quick stop for some provisions en route and we arrived there with about 25 minutes or so until lines in. We both drew low pegs with JP drawing best on 1 and myself on 3 so there would be ample opportunity for plenty of slagging throughout the day. Still smarting from the absolutely comprehensive battering received at the hands of this fella at Gurteen during the SAI comp recently, I had hopes of putting in a better performance today. For JP, he had bigger things on his mind as a win at this comp was a must to see him make the Home International shore team once again.

A quick tackle up, baiting with a variety of whats listed above, the whistle was blown and it was game on… A 3 hook flapper, with 24inch snoods of 12lb fluoro was tossed out to about 20 yards with the Grauvell Tektron and braid and a rig or two in advance prepared. I didn’t have too long to wait for the first sign of interest and barely had time to get a second rig organised and baited before bringing in the first fish, a small Turbot below the 20cm limit. Even an early undersize fish does wonders for your confidence as cast number two headed out in close again. A double of undersize came to the shore this time…. Scratching my head a little, I made the baits a little bigger and put another 10 yards or so on my cast. 3rd cast had a nice counter, quickly followed by another 2 amidst the palm sized Turbot. With an hour gone I was away to a flier and with only a handful of others coming in along the beach JP began his response with a couple of counters himself.

The next 2 hours or so were great craic, with the rest of the beach fishing poorly, we enjoyed our own private battle at our end. The lead was changing hands with regularity as fish began to flow for us both. The only problem was getting them to make size, with doubles and trebles of juvenile Turbot on almost every cast. With about 90 minutes or so to go, I could hold the rampant fella off no longer as he had sussed exactly where the flounder were and was bringing them in frequently as I continued to haul out non counters :x . I managed just one more counter on the second last cast before the finish. JP had won, and with it rightfully claimed his green Jersey once again, with 12 fish. Nice to see the smiles too reflecting how passionate he is about his sport. I finished 2nd with 8 and 3rd place was won with 4. Between us we estimate we must have had at least 40 undersized fish also…. Startling stuff and a highly enjoyable scrap for most of the afternoon too. A mix of flounder and Turbot on the day with a beauty of 38cms falling to JP. Some fine flounder caught on the beach too with several 40cm+ fish. Prizes were a bit of a surprise with JP winning himself a toolbox and me a strimmer… :lol: .

With a 1,2 in the bag, it was time for phase 2 of the weekend…. The celebratory pints. Base for the night was to be Castlebar, not a town either of us had ever been out in which was going to make things interesting….virgin territory so to speak (or not as it happened). A titanic onslaught on the local Mc-Donalds, a chill out for an hour in the hotel with the footie and a wash and scrub up later 2 handsome devils were revved up and raring to go, off to sample all on offer. Was Castlebar going to be able to cope and live up to hopes and expectations? Only time would tell….. The beer flowed and the slagging followed. Castlebar had all we were looking for…. In some cases whole families… :D . So it ended, with 2 bedraggled, hungover lads eventually making it back to the hotel at the ripe old time of 10.30 the following morning with smiles all over their kisser…. Suffice it to say while it may not have been the best ever as far as nights out go, it certainly gave us plenty to talk and laugh about that day.

Plan of action for day 2 of this journey was to attend an open at nearby Newport, Rossanrubble was to be the venue with hopefully some animal bashing to come in the form of Dogs, Ray and Huss. A stop off and a bite to eat had us in some form of order for proceedings but the effects of the indulgences the previous night were fairly taking their toll all the same. On arriving at Rossanrubble, it was with horror that there appeared to be swarms of midges present in the calm conditions. Now, for something so small these little lads can reduce grown men to whimpering tear stained wrecks in no time, tearing at your face in frustration… :evil: . I love wildlife and for some of the more annoying creatures on the planet, you can usually see where they fit into the whole grand scheme of things. Can anyone tell me please, what possible use or purpose these nasty, toothy little bloodsucking gits have? I was beginning to think they had been sent from above as some form of retribution and penance for sins committed hours before!!

As I only had 2 hook clipdowns in the bag having been too lazy to tie any on Friday night, JP kindly lent me 2 of his “Championship” 3 hook clipdowns. Which will of course be studiously copied from here on in I might add…. Sandeel section married to size 2s was to be the order of the day and with the whistle blown, off we went, into battle once again. 10 minutes in, I was rudely awakened from midge torture induced coma as my zippy took off, taking the tripod with it leaving it in a heap on the rocks as a good fish set off, none too impressed at discovering metal in his most recent snack. A pile of heaving later and I had a nice thornback of 50cms on the deck, a nice start to the days proceedings.

With some relief, a light breeze picked up, driving those pesky midges away and with renewed vigour, I sent another 3 baits back out. A doggie quickly followed, followed soon by another…. Away to a flier again! Unfortunately, 3 fish in the first 45 minutes were all I was to have and the rest of the afternoon passed in frustrating fashion, driven demented by critters in the air and on the seabed as armies of crabs seemed to be marching through demolishing anything left on the bottom for more than 7/8 minutes. JP was faring somewhat better and was picking off fish with regularity until near the end. 5 dropped fish cost him dearly as with only a minute or two to go and having been chasing the leader for most of the day he was bumped into 3rd with a last gasp huss a couple of pegs down from myself. 3rd for JP, 4th for myself, ho hum....

Card counting was done in a mighty hurry and the usual post match post mortem was not to be as droves of midges told us it was time to get the hell out of Mayo and head for home. Supermacs in Ballinrobe got a mighty touch on the way home and 8.30 saw me dropping off JP and heading back down the road to Cork. Sundays comp hadn’t gone too well for either of us, lack of decent bait and well, interest at times if I’m honest cost dear. It was a shame not to finish what had been a cracking weekend on a high but sure, next time….. A mighty weekends craic was had as ever with pretty much all the important things covered, beer, prizes, aunties, plenty of fish….. :D Cheers for the shout JP, fully enjoyed it (apart form those winged vermin) and congratulations once again on booking your Irish team slot once again, hats off….

Well done lads, sounds like great fishing. Congrats to JP, again!

So who had the auntie and who had the niece??? :lol: :lol:

great reading there petekd sounded like a good weekend and congrats jp on making the team and good luck in the future

What a great weekend fishing I decided to take a break in the last 3 years in the match fishing scene will come back with a vengence next year lol hopefull ill get to join the club :lol:

well done jp all the best of luck with the irish team

Thanks lads. Looking to get a gold in England next year am getting fed up with silver medals.

As for the weekend of carnage with Passionate pete. It was some craic. Fishing drinkin and dirty birds, what more would a man want. For the record our friend pete had the aunt ( seanibo`s aunt).

I cant really add any more to what pete said as he has produced yet another tremendous report. We had a great battle on Keel beach for a while but as many a woman has said in the past he has no staying power so I ended up doubling his score with my large turbot and flounder to his small turbot. This earned my bragging rights for the evening.

I must say pete has come along way very quickly, Watch this space for a big result in a major very soon.

Jaysus JP it's no wonder you are doing well! You have the biggest tackle box I've seen. Beta box my arse - Renault box is your only man :)

Great stuff men, sounds like a belter of a weekend!

Congrats again to JP, there's no stopping this fella from all things fishy! :D

living the dream lads - living the dream

Ah yes lads living the fishy dream alright. As for my poor Renault tackle box, she is giving out in so many ways I think she will need to go for a long drive off a short cliff or at least a trip to the nearest scrap yard. I cant find anything in the tackle reviewed section for a similar tackle box. One thing is for sure I will never be buying a Renault again I didn't think it was possible for so many things to go wrong with a car at the same time. I am thinking that my car was assembled on a Friday evening with a lot of french people not really wanting to do that last car before they went on the lash for the weekend.

Well done lads... Cracking report as always Pete.

Well done on the Irish Team Spot JP...... Where do I send off for a few of theose 3 hook rigs?? :wink:

Looksing forward to getting back into the Match scene asap myself. Didn't think I'd miss half as much as I have.

Kev

I am thinking that my car was assembled on a Friday evening with a lot of french people not really wanting to do that last car before they went on the lash for the weekend.

Sounds a bit like yourself JP! :wink: :lol:

Yes Boy! You can buy my Nissan Bait Bucket.
Pete I hope you were nice to my aunty. She may not look the best but she's a great little engine on her.

:lol: I can only imagine the shape of the two of you the next morning. There was a rumour going around the beach in Dunree on Sunday that it was Jp's aunt(her name was Mossy?) not Mr.Ivory's :lol: