Tue Dec 04, 2007 8:01 am
Sorry about the delay, I've been really busy with work the entire year and since it's close to the holidays here in the US, I finally have some time to post a really long travelogue about my Ireland trip. I've also had problems trying to post this entire report at once(probably because there's too much information in it)in the forum for some reason, so I have to post in sections at a time at a time, go back, edit and then add a tiny bit more every time and it worked!
And you thought last year.s post was long. This might be longer, so bare with me.
*Broadband only, please.*
Photo credits are my wife and myself.
So, where to start?
My wife was looking at travel deals in late May and saw a really, really good deal for a flight to Ireland. How good? How about 99 cents to Ireland from JFK or Boston? Yes, please. Coincidentally, my wife and I were contacted within days by Tourism Ireland to be contract photographers for 2-3 months in Ireland starting the first week of June. They had seen some of our photographs from last year.s trip and other trips to various locales. The pay was pretty low and I wasn.t about to take it without the guarantee that I.d be put up in a place that would have a dedicated internet connection so that my stateside clients wouldn.t feel neglected.
So, after a week or so of negotiations and going back and forth about it in every conceivable way, I turned down the offer. We would have had to cover the West and Northwest of Ireland if we did indeed accept. They kept calling and promising more and more. They had bought me a cell phone that would allow me to access the internet with my laptop via the cell phone, etc, etc..I still declined and they were bummed out.
BUT, I did take the 99 cent fare. I told my wife to just quit her job and I'd be taking off of work. Booked the flights on JetBlue to JFK and off we went! More about the airline(flyglobespan) later with a good, no BS review.
So, we had to wait around 5 hours for the flight and it was a charter flight for a new airline. So, while waiting on the runway at 8pm, I look out the window and see:
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_01.jpg[/img]
Umm...BBQ time? Most people didn.t see that because if they did, I.m sure there would have been paranoia and chaos. That incident delayed our departure by at least 1.5 hours. We had to wait on the freakin. plane too! A bunch of bollox if you ask me. As usual, I probably slept 20 minutes on the flight over to Knock. Leg-room? Is there even such a word on this airline?
Somewhere over the Atlantic, very close to our destination:
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_02.jpg[/img]
We flew into Knock airport in County Mayo. We then drove to Galway. The conditions were SUNNY and WARM. Whaaaaaat? It was about 74 degrees and like being in So Cal...amazing weather. We couldn't have asked for more.
I had my first driving experience last year in Ireland, with the grip of death on the wheel and an automatic car was adrenaline-inducing and had my life flashing before my eyes way too many times to count. So, what the hell? I got a stick shift this time, baby! Shifting with my left hand while sitting on the right and driving on the left side of the road.no problem!
So, we drove around and went to the grocery store and bought something to eat for lunch. Took that to the beach where the tide was a big-time minus tide. Basically, you could walk in ankle/knee-high water from one side of the crescent-shaped beach to the other and that stretched about a mile. So much structure is revealed during a minus tide over here that it.s pretty interesting to see.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_03.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_04.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_05.jpg[/img]
I had bought all kinds of ammo before coming back here. I bought some sand eel-imitations(well..not really, but, I bought the things that looked the closest), NPGS and I had to buy a travel rod. The only one I could find that would handle 10 lb test and break into 4 pieces to fit into my luggage was an Ugly Stick. The airline that we took to Ireland(flyglobespan) would have charged me 15£(close to $30 US) each way to bring a rod in a rod tube. Uh..no. I also bought a Lucky Craft to target those awesome Bass.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_06.jpg[/img]
Tried a bit from the rocks even though I knew I wouldn.t get anything. I just wanted to wet a line.
Went to sleep later on.
The next day, after some walking around the City Centre, we walked over to the causeway.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_07.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_08.jpg[/img]
I can imagine this place during Winter...the waves would probably be crashing down from 10 feet above. I started throwing a NPGS with a lead head because the structure on the sides were somewhat like fishing the breakwater over in So Cal.
(North side)
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_09.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_10.jpg[/img]
I was hoping for some Ballen Wrasse, but on the low tide, I knew nothing was coming. On the North side where I fished, very calm and sheltered from the wind and turbulent swells. The South side was completely different. Enormous kelp trees everywhere and the wind was hitting me in the face. Every cast was salad.
(South side)
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_11.jpg[/img]
Went to sleep and did the usual walking around until later.
We strolled down to the water. I saw these BIG F.in Mullet swimming around and eating the bread people were throwing to the Swans. Those Mullet were easily over 5-6 pounds each. Damn it..I left my bread at the B&B.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_12.jpg[/img]
I started talking to a local and he was definitely a character.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_13.jpg[/img]
He told me that the Mackerel by the hundreds would be there when the tide started filling in the harbor.
So, after we went back to the City Centre and had a picnic in the park, we took a walk back to the beach.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_14.jpg[/img]
Took a few random photos..saw some awesome looking Serrano Ham in the cheese monger.s shop. Also took a picture of this moldy, aged
cheese..tasty.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_15.jpg[/img]
Don.t forget the shot of the Guarda with the fully-automatic assault rifle waiting outside of a bank for the armored car to transfer money. There were about 5 of those guys. You don't see that in the states that often. Ok, well...I've seen special police with fully-automatic weapons before in front of me during a few bank heists and other stuff, but hey...this is Los Angeles :)
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_16.jpg[/img]
So, we got back to the beach and we walked where I had talked to the guy in the orange shirt before, I saw at least 10 people throwing spinners and sabiki-like rigs. I saw about 15 more on the North side of the pier and a few others closer to me. I saw boils all over the place and I turned to my wife and with a smirk. I ran over to where I just saw a big boil, took out the Kroc, tied it on, cast out about 100 feet and let it sink into the channel for about 30 seconds. I saw a bunch of Macks swim by, underneath the water. Good thing I brought my polarized sunglasses. Start the retrieve and right away, hookup!!!
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_17.jpg[/img]
Small guy. Perfect size for Irish Bass. Threw him back and more and more people started coming to catch some dinner. I went on top of the pier wall and the Macks were boiling 5 feet from shore on a huge bait ball of pinhead Anchovies that were pushed up against the shore. People were catching fish and I threw the Kroc out and BAM! Another.the biggest Mack.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_18.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_19.jpg[/img]
The locals were saying .He.s using a Spinner!!!!!. And that pretty much signaled the competitive nature in all the people around for some reason. I started catching more and didn.t stop to take pics because the action was fast. A kid came up to me and said .Are you an American?.. Yep. I sure am, kid. We smiled, nodded and went back to fishing. I caught some more and outfished everybody..hahah. Ended up with 6 Macks in about 20 minutes of fishing. Most people were throwing big Sabiki-like rigs(feathers).
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_20.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_21.jpg[/img]
I enjoyed the long Summer days over there. It's like being in Alaska. I think I started fishing around 8:30pm and stopped close to 10pm.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_22.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_23.jpg[/img]
So, we start off the next leg of the journey heading really, really far South to the Iveragh Peninsula. Having it being sunny for the most part, I figured the drive would be pretty smooth. We were staying in Listowel and check-in time wasn.t until 3 pm. After a long drive down various-sized roads and uphill switchbacks that only had enough space to fit one small car, we took the ferry across the water to a different county, drove for another hour or so and arrived at the Cliffs of Moher.
[img:1000:335]http://www.weslouie.com/2007_CliffsOfMoher01.jpg[/img]
A complete contrast to when we were here last year.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_24.jpg[/img]
We couldn.t even see the cliffs last year because of the thick fog, pouring rain and gusty wind. We took a hike up the hill to see an awesome view of the cliffs. Tourists were out in droves. From listening to people talk, most were from France and some from Germany. Now, about these cliffs...every year, several tourists die (per month) because they.re too stupid and they stand right on the edge to look down and they get blown off by the strong winds. They plunge for 2000 feet until they go splat and become chum to the local sealife. There are of course, signs telling you NOT to go up onto the edge, but people never listen.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_25.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_26.jpg[/img]
Oh yeah.those people you see have about 1-4 feet of space between jumping back down onto the stone path and becoming insta-chum, but you all know that already :)
Looked around and then went inside to the visitor centre, which got a complete overhaul from last year. It.s completely different inside.
Duelin. in Doolin.
After we took off from the Cliffs, we headed over to Doolin. After taking in some of the local fare at a pub, which consisted of Irish stew and local Salmon, we headed on down to the pier. I, of course, had backpack and fishing gear in-tow. I saw the water, looked back at my wife and she knew I had to try it out.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_27.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_28.jpg[/img]
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[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_30.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_31.jpg[/img]
It was low tide yet again and the chances of catching something was very slim. I knew that this place is a very good fishing spot though, but it depends where you fish from and I know that I won.t be catching much by the pier at low tide. The one great thing about traveling around to different parts of a country is noticing the different landscape. The rocks here were completely different than anywhere I.ve been in Ireland. The rocks I fished off of were jagged and extremely sharp like a coral reef. If I would have slipped and fell on it, I probably would have been on the news being extracted by a chopper to a major hospital. .Hey, look at the stupid American playing around on the sharp rocks! Poor b*****d.. Is what I imagined.
So, after looking around and casting out here and there, I figured that I mind as well try right below me since the water looked to be about 6-7 feet deep and I was standing on rocks that created overhangs for the fish to hide under. If there were any that is.
I rigged up a drop shot and I placed the hook maybe 3 feet above the sinker since I didn.t know where the fish were holding. I also put the standard size piece of CSW on since they have fat ragworms that look exactly like the CSW. I drop it down and start bouncing it and the water is as clear as can be. I see something that is kelp-like in color and I see it hovering around and I was getting bit..but it kept hitting the sinker. Wtf! So, I re-rigged and put the hook about 8 inches away from the sinker and dropped it down. Instant hookup.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_32.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_33.jpg[/img]
It was on the small side, about a foot long. But, very beautiful coloration. I dropped back down, got hit immediately and as I was bringing it up, it swam underneath those rocks and spit the hook. I had plenty of CSW, but I wanted to try something different. I put on a white curly-tail grub.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_38.jpg[/img]
Right when it hit the bottom, another hookup! Another with awesome colors.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_34.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_35.jpg[/img]
A few minutes later, I get another one, the smallest one.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_36.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_37.jpg[/img]
After that, we walked over to the rocks that were facing the open water and after walking to the edge, I saw that there was a deep drop-off. The rocks here were more treacherous than the previous place, but right behind me about 50 feet away, the rocks were completely different. To complicate things more, there was kelp in the water, all along the rocks everywhere over here. So, I pinned on a NPGS and started working the area. I had to be careful because the water was about the same height as the rocks and one bad move, I.d be in the mosh pit that was the ocean and rocks in front of me. After a long while of casting in different directions and distances, I threw out the rig as far as I could. About halfway in, I felt a huge hit and there was something really heavy at the end of the line.
Wife took the big Bendo shot:
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_39.jpg[/img]
As it got closer, I saw color. I saw a brilliant and bright glow of amber and I knew it had to be a big Pollack. Sweet! As I got it close to the rocks, I saw it and it was FAT, about 5 pounds and easily over 20 inches long. It made a really strong run and swam to my left, right in the kelp. *****!!!!!! I kept trying to pull it out before it lodged itself any deeper. I tightened the drag and started cranking. I pulled it out only to have it make a stronger run to my right and into thicker kelp. I pulled it halfway out and then the line went slack! I looked down into a crevasse within the rock, where it had got stuck in the kelp. There it was. We both looked at each other for a split second and it was just as I had guessed. BIG. A wave came in and away it went, back into the deep blue.
VIDEO of the fight: [url]http://www.weslouie.com/pollack.mpeg[/url]
My wife was yelling at me to be careful...haha
Hmm..ok. Lost my NPGS and I put another on. After a while, I got hit again and it was way smaller this time, but it put up a good fight. Juvenile Pollack with some cool, orange stripes on it that was about a foot long.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_40.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_41.jpg[/img]
A view from the B&B. For breakfast, I had to eat the Traditional Irish breakfast.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_43.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_42.jpg[/img]
For the next 7 days and 6 nights, we.d reserved a self-catering house on the Iveragh Peninsula in the small, fishing town of Cahersiveen. Check in-time wasn.t until 4pm, so we had plenty of time to kill before driving there. The drive from Listowel to Cahersiveen is about 2 hours. We headed on down and stopped at a few places along the way. We got to Cahersiveen with a few hours to spare and so we headed on down to White Strand Beach, which was maybe a 3 minute walk from the house we were renting for a week. White Strand Beach is a Blue Flag winner for being one of Ireland.s best beaches. The main part of White Strand is crescent-shaped and we took a short walk to the point and it was low tide yet again. I still wanted to try it out even though I knew nothing would really be there.
I tied on .Clarence....the Rapala that I.d won from that little giveaway last Dec. After a few casts of getting clumps of kelp on every cast, Clarence hit a rock and well..Clarence went on clearance. Roger, roger. What.s your vector, Victor?
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_44.jpg[/img]
I like how fishing/bait is shown on different spots in Ireland. Very helpful for the visiting angler.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_46.jpg[/img]
We took a 20 minute drive down to Waterville.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_45.jpg[/img]
Too bad the rain and wind has been on and off for the past few days. So, we went inside a pub, had the local fare and talked to a few Aussie tourists that were telling us of their hair-raising experiences driving on Irish roads for their vacation. I couldn.t help but chuckle the entire time since I went through that last year.
A pic of a guy with what I think was a 12 pound Sea Trout from Lough Currane last November.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_47.jpg[/img]
After eating dinner, we walked through town and I saw a tackle shop that was closed and then headed on down to the water and the tide was on the rise, but it had barely started. I fished for a little, but nothing. The sun was peeking out and the water felt somewhat warm. Another guy showed up looking for Bass, but he didn.t catch anything either.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_48.jpg[/img]
We got to the self-catering house and the people were great. They gave us a bunch of fresh, free-range, organic eggs from their chickens as well as raw, unpasteurised milk. Sweet.
During conversations with the hosts, I had heard about a pier which had really good fishing. I was so tired that I forgot the directions. I recall it going somewhat like this..You go down that road you came on, make a left instead of a right, go past the cows, give Batman a high-five and then Robin will open the Batcave and then you.ll see a fork in the road where.. An older Irish guy in Galway told me last year that maybe one in seven will give you the correct directions. So, I drove around for a while, getting lost on some tiny roads where the berms were overgrown and seemed to go on forever. I finally drove around some strange way and happened upon a harbor which didn.t really look like a good place to fish.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_49.jpg[/img]
I saw a sign that said:
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_50.jpg[/img]
Later in the day, we headed way South to the town of Ballinskelligs. Why they.d want to subject themselves to live on Skellig Michael in such harsh conditions is beyond me, but that.s what they did. We took a walk around the pier and beach as I was reading that they had good fishing, but again..low tide. I still tried at different spots. We went walking onto a really high wall and I saw some deep water, so I dropped my rig down and I saw some fish chasing it. They were probably Wrasse, but I didn.t get anything.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_51.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_52.jpg[/img]
Ballinskelligs-style!
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_53.jpg[/img]
We somehow missed the directions to get to the chocolate shop, where they hand-make their delicious truffles. Maybe tomorrow, but back to the house we go. So, we head back to the other beach that.s right in front of the house and take a walk out on the jagged rocks. Salad is everywhere and that.s all I caught since it was still low tide.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_54.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_55.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_56.jpg[/img]
Made some homemade pizza for dinner later on and I had to find that pier.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_57.jpg[/img]
I asked the hosts again and it was along one of those small roads I drove on, but they told me to keep driving until I come to a fork in the road. Uh oh.I.ve heard that before. But, I found it. The tide was super-low and I only fished for a few minutes and then left.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_58.jpg[/img]
So, the next day, we drove South again to Valencia Island and got lost on the island and it.s super-small roads. I stopped at a nice-looking location and didn.t catch anything.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_59.jpg[/img]
The tide was falling at this point, but man..I need to catch something! We did see some cool-looking snails, high up on the mountainside:
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_60.jpg[/img]
We had to go get groceries and what did I find? Well, let me just say that I'm pretty sure they don't taste like American hot dogs.....I didn't get them. I just thought it was funny from last year and I had to get another picture.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_62.jpg[/img]
Went back into Cahersiveen and had the Irish stew, which was really good.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_61.jpg[/img]
So..wtf. I needed to get back to that pier. The weather was overcast and the tide was on the ebb since this was way later in the day. We headed on over and there was an older couple from England that were on holiday and fishing on the pier. They had the usual heavy gear and they said that they had bought some bad, frozen bait before coming over from England on the ferry. They had some stuff called .Lazy Lug and Lazy Rag. that fell on the hook right when you put it on. My wife, being understanding and as patient as ever, sat down on the pier and watched me fish. There were about 10 people on the pier or swimming. Swimming? It was freezing out and somewhat windy.
So, I rig up with a drop shot and CSW. Fishing this pier, I could see the kelp trees and they extended out, towards the other side of the beach for about 70-80 feet. If I got past that, it was sandy. I also noticed that after casting the rig out, I could feel the rig .jump. from kelp tree to kelp tree after being stuck in the kelp. This kind of kelp was the soft kind that was almost like mush. After that fruitless attempt, I looked down and the water was maybe 15-20 feet deep, so I just dropped the rig down and bounced it up and down. The sun peeked out and the water was really clear. After a while of seeing some fish swimming around, which had to be Wrasse, I saw a HUGE silhouette come out of the kelp forest and my rod got turned into a pretzel! I was on the corner of the pier and it had railings and boats were tied to it. So, it was like being on a cattle boat(open-party fishing boat) here in the states. Over, under, over, under and I tried not to fall into the water. After about 8 minutes of pulling that thing out of the kelp and trying not to let it cut the line on the rocks, I pulled it onto the lower steps of the pier. It was a JUMBO Ballen Wrasse! YES!!
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_63.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_64.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_65.jpg[/img]
After the pics and admiration by the other anglers and tourists that were also fishermen, I released it. It took a while for it to fully recover because the fight was a long one. I was getting worried that it wasn.t going to make it and I would have been sad if it didn.t. Gorgeous fish. It taped out at 21 inches and from top to bottom, it was 9 inches. Probably 6-7 pounds, maybe more, but not sure. A little while later, I caught another Wrasse that was way smaller. Close to a foot long.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_66.jpg[/img]
I also tied on the LC and went at it, but nothing. I gave the English couple an entire bag of CSW(Gulp ragworm) and wished them luck with fishing.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_67.jpg[/img]
Headed for a walk on White Strand and watched the sunset from the living room.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_68.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_69.jpg[/img]
The next day we headed over to Sneem. We saw a river with really cool rocks that, during the Salmon season would have Salmon all over the place as well as people trying to catch them.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_70.jpg[/img]
We also sampled some excellent cheese as the farmers market by a local who makes the cheese with raw milk. There was Garlic cheese, Cumin cheese, Mature cheese(which about slapped me in the face when tasting it).
We drove through the countryside and had pancakes at a B&B that was halfway to Kenmare. Wild Strawberry and fresh cream as well as Goat cheese, Walnut and Thyme. Both were excellent.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_71.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_72.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_73.jpg[/img]
Kenmare:
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_74.jpg[/img]
Night time stroll along White Strand:
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_75.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_76.jpg[/img]
The following day, we headed on down the coast again and stopped by the Derrynane House and Derrynane National Park. We walked through the grounds to the beach and saw a bunch of surfers catching some nice waves.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_77.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_78.jpg[/img]
It started raining again and we had bought some of that Raw milk Garlic cheese along with some Salami and Olives from Spain and we munched on that inside the car while watching the ocean.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_80.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_81.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_82.jpg[/img]
Later on, I went back to the pier in Cahersiveen. Staying at a self-catering place allowed us to make our own meals and no offense to the glorious Irish breakfast which I really like, but I usually eat healthier food for breakfast. So, I wanted to catch something fresh to eat for dinner. The price for fresh seafood is expensive no matter where you go. I think the really good thing about most of the produce, poultry, meat and seafood sold in Irish stores is that there is 100% traceability of the product. So, if Jim Bob had some bad Shrimp that he delivered, you can go tell him about it. If it were say Crab for example, like we had bought at the fishmonger..it lists the fisherman, boat and date that the crab was caught. You never see that in the States...and I think it's really, really good to know where your food comes from.
Anyways, back to the pier. As you can see, the water was clear, the tide was perfect, but it was overcast out.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_83.jpg[/img]
I had changed my tactics a bit with the drop shot and I tied on 3 hooks at varying depths. The highest hook was about 3 feet from the sinker and the lowest was about 6 inches from the sinker. The third was right in the middle. A few minutes went by and I had seen some Mullet swim by and I swear I had seen Bass swimming with them. When I got home to LA, I read that Bass did indeed swim with Mullet in Ireland. So, after working the structure close to the pier, I pulled up a Wrasse and then about 30 minutes later, another.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_84.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_85.jpg[/img]
Both hit on the middle hook and btw, they were rigged with different things. The bottom hook had a pos Gulp sandcrab just to see if anything would bite it, the middle had a 2-3 inch piece of CSW and the top hook had a MORF grub.
So, as you can see in the above picture on the right, the sandy area is really far out from the pier and I was working that area. I wasn.t going to eat Wrasse because they.re not known to be good-eating fish and they have a ton of bones. So, I kept trying to cast as far as possible and no less than 15 minutes later I was reeling the rig in and it didn.t feel like it was bouncing from kelp tree to kelp tree.it felt more like a BIG fish was on the end! So, it played dead like a Halibut and as soon as I got it 20 feet from the pier, it went nuts. I saw some color and it was flashing gold and I knew it had to be a big Pollack. Same routine as the big Wrasse...under, over, under, over, don.t fall in, etc.I slid it on the top of the water to the bottom step and I ran down to measure it.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_86.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_87.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_88.jpg[/img]
Right at or around 22. and about 4-5 pounds. Unfortunately for this guy, I was keeping him for dinner this time. Pollack was 10-15 Euro at the fishmonger per kilo and this fish would probably cost about 30 Euro, which is around $40 US.
Drove back to the house soon after, cleaned the fish and took a walk to White Strand.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_89.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_90.jpg[/img]
It was sunny out, so for dinner, I made Sauteed Pollack and a homemade Irish beef stew. Good thing that I know how to really cook. Had that outside on the patio with a view of the water. Ahhh..yes.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_91.jpg[/img]
While walking at the beach this week, we.d noticed an exorbitant amount of these sand flea-looking things jumping all over the place and they were LARGE. So, we headed on down for a walk to the beach and I snapped a shot of one. This one was a little over an inch.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_92.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_93.jpg[/img]
The following day, I headed back to the pier to check out the action. It was windy, raining and not good fishing conditions. The English couple were back and fishing. I didn.t even get a bite and they caught this:
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_94.jpg[/img]
I forgot what the name was. And..they caught it on the CSW that I gave them. Cooked up more dinner, which was leftover stew and more fresh Pollack. Bought some Bulmer.s Cider to go with it.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_95.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_96.jpg[/img]
Took a walk to the beach again for the night.
The next day, we went to some castle ruins that were right down the road and I saw some mutant Rabbits that were as large as cats or maybe even Kangaroos. Ok, well, not Kangaroos.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_97.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_98.jpg[/img]
We drove on down to Rossbeigh beach and it was raining pretty hard, so we didn.t stay very long.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_99.jpg[/img]
Now. We were driving to our favorite place from last year, which is named Dingle. On the way to Dingle, there was Inch. The chances were slim that I was going to be able to fish it as it was raining on and off and there were tons of tour buses there.
So, we arrive at Inch and its low tide. From where the waterline was for the peak high tide and where the water was now was about 1000 feet. It looked really cool. Inch stretches for almost 4 miles to the South.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_100.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_101.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_102.jpg[/img]
So, what can you catch at Inch you ask?
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_103.jpg[/img]
We arrived at Dingle later on.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_104.jpg[/img]
Yes, we were back. We headed on over to a café and we got some coffee and I grabbed a pastry.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_105.jpg[/img]
Later on, we headed on down to the only restaurant in town that gets their seafood hours before opening at lunchtime and there is nothing pre-cooked or fried. The seafood chowder was the BEST I.ve eaten in Ireland and I.ve eaten a lot of it while we.ve been there.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_106.jpg[/img]
We head down to the harbor for a walk to see if I can catch some Wrasse, Mackerel or Pollack like last year. It was high tide and I rigged up with a Kroc and I saw a dad with his kids set up shop on the end of the pier.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_107.jpg[/img]
I then saw a guy in a boat with his dog who immediately poached the dad.s spot, trolling right below him and his kids.haha! Man, that was funny!
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_108.jpg[/img]
The pic doesn.t show, but he trolled back and forth, right under them. So, I.m telling my wife how that guy might get a bollocking in the states for that, or have people launching pyramid sinkers or even jigs at him(Yes, that does happen). So, as I.m working the Kroc, I notice the guy coming right towards me and I was like.umm..ok.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_109.jpg[/img]
Then, he started trolling right underneath where I was standing. To make it worse.he was holding the spinning reel upside down!! I just got punked by a poacher who was holding a spinning rod upside down!! This doesn.t bode well, but I was laughing the entire time. I didn.t end up catching anything as I.ve heard that this harbor is best fished on the Ebb. Oh well.
The next day we took a walk to the inlet of the harbor and I had read from Bob Moss(Dingle Peninsula fishing expert) that the lighthouse rocks were a good spot. It was a dangerous climb down the slippery stairs and rocks, but I managed. My wife wasn.t too thrilled with it. No bites and I kept getting my rigs snagged in rocks and forests of kelp since it was low tide.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_110.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_111.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_112.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_113.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_114.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_115.jpg[/img]
Headed back into town and went to the grocery store. Peking Spare Rib and Five Spice chips, anybody?
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_116.jpg[/img]
Those silly Brits :) But hey...last year I tried the Roasted Chicken as well as the Balsamic/Onion potato chips...haha.
After a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng F.in delay at Knock for the departing flight, which was 3 hours late, we flew back to JFK. We got there too late to fly back to LA and we had to stay in Jamaica, NY. Grabbed some NY pizza and tried to sleep.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_117.jpg[/img]
I didn.t feel quite back home yet despite being in the humidity of New York.
When we got back to LA and unpacked, I headed for a remedy. What else would say I.m back in LA besides:
A steaming, hot bowl of guts. Menudo.
Menudo is a Mexican soup consisting of the good stuff...Beef tripe(intestine lining), chiles, etc.
[img]http://www.weslouie.com/ireland07_118.jpg[/img]
Yes, Menudo.
Thanks for even reading this far. So, some reviews.
-flyglobespan(airline based out of Scotland). They started offering REALLY cheap fares to Ireland West(Knock airport) from JFK or Boston for 99 cents TO Ireland depending on the day you booked for their initial foray into the Irish market. They had these deals from May-September. They soon disappeared. We got into JFK 5 hours before our flight. At the check-in desk, they specifically tell us to be there at 6:30 for our flight at 8pm because, since this IS a charter flight, if we miss the tram, we'd miss the flight. Ok.
Everybody gets there at 6:30. It turns into 7 and then 7:30pm. The tram finally comes, but not before we were taken to another waiting room below. Then, there was another delay on the tram because the plane wasn't ready yet, so we waited on the tram for about 15 minutes. After everybody boarded and were supposed to leave, that's when I saw the gremlins throwing the bonfire on the runway beside us that caused that really long delay.
They weren't very courteous to people who didn't purchase an additional meal. They actually didn't even offer people water. When my wife did ask for water, the attendant brushed it off and said he was busy. No snacks offered either.
On the way back, we got to Knock about 5 hours early and the MF'in plane was delayed about 3 hours or something and nobody would tell us what was going on even after people kept asking. They were nicer on the flight back I'm sure only because of the delay and they offered everybody bad airline food of sausages and mash(mashed potatoes).
Did I forget to rant about the legroom or lack thereof? Oh yes, I did way earlier. My knees were digging into the guy's back in front of me it seemed. I'm 6 feet tall and it was uncomfortable for me to even sit in an aisle seat to try and stretch my legs.
I'd rather fly Aer Lingus anytime over flyglobespan.
-Jetblue(US airline that mostly flies within the US)...an absolute dream compared to flyglobespan. I had so much legroom, I almost started dancing around the aisles. Not to mention that the staff was really nice and gave me free cans of ginger ale whenever I asked or they just told me to take as many snacks as I wished.
-Self-catering house on Whitestrand. Highly recommend. If you know your way around and know how to cook for yourself and that's what you want to do, go for it. Just remember that you have to buy your own groceries and it doesn't come with the price.
Some panoramas, in no particular order:
[img:1000:214]http://www.weslouie.com/2007_Derrynane01.jpg[/img]
[img:1000:335]http://www.weslouie.com/2007_Kenmare01.jpg[/img]
[img:1000:335]http://www.weslouie.com/2007_Inch01.jpg[/img]
[img:1000:335]http://www.weslouie.com/2007_Dingle01.jpg[/img]
[img:1000:335]http://www.weslouie.com/2007_Cahersiveen01.jpg[/img]
[img:1000:335]http://www.weslouie.com/2007_Cahersiveen02.jpg[/img]
[img:1000:321]http://www.weslouie.com/2007_Cahersiveen03.jpg[/img]
[img:1000:335]http://www.weslouie.com/2007_Cahersiveen04.jpg[/img]
[img:1000:335]http://www.weslouie.com/2007_Cahersiveen05.jpg[/img]
[img:1000:335]http://www.weslouie.com/2007_Cahersiveen06.jpg[/img]
And THAT is that.
Now....where should I go next year?