Sligo Pier Mark October 9th

People:Johnny, Alan, Dave and myself

Duration:11am to 10pm

Tide:Dropping whilst fishing the eels

Weather:F3 to F5 westerly, plenty of sunny spells

Bait:Lug, mackere and squid

Rigs:Flappers, 1 hook(6/0) freeline

Results:Small flounder & turbot, 10 or so mackerel, squid, 11 congers

Catch and Release:: Yes/No



Report:Was properly knackered by the end of today but managed to get a fair bit of fishing in. Went to St. John's Point to try for a few mackerel but things were very poor and it was with a alot of persistence that we managed close to a dozen. A lone squid also put in an appearance.

Headed then to pier mark in sligo, stopping off at Murvagh for some action with alot of small turbot and a handfull of equally small flounder. Poor fishing to be honest but there was very little surf running so it was no great surprise. Made it to our pier and delighted to see no one else on it. Freelined mackerel flappers down the side and almost immediately two of the boys into fish, smallest goes 6lb whilst the bigger pulls scales around to 19lb. Nice start and sport keeps up until the tide drops away near low water. In the end we only get 2 and half hours with them but I think we finish with 10 or 11 with a few more dropped runs. The best was the 19lb lady but a pair of 16 pounders also pop up. Two around 10lb aswell along with a scattering of straps. Nice to be doing some proper fishing after all the flattie scratchin :D

19lb conger that's a fine fish. Was wondering what line class rod and reel did you use for that from the shore

Greys Nitra is what i was using myself, 30lb mainline straight through Johnny

19lb conger, thats a great fish, must try and get one in double figures before the year is out, it was a target i set for this year

some nice conger there pete, just wondering how you found the longer rod for them. what kinda pier was it, you can pm me if you wish..have one or two down this way which i think should hold a few good eels..just wondering was yours similar.

cheers

Neil the longer rod was handy for manouvering them about the pier head and the slipway, just gave you that bit more control over the fish when they were at the surface.

Ironic thing about the pier is that there is only around 4ft of water or less at low tide, looked distinctly unfishy when we seen it first. Whether the eels sit there happy enough with that depth or whether they rove in from the surrounding rough ground is something I don't know. Just goes to show that you can't really discount a spot until you fish it.