North Sligo, 15/03/08

People:
Myself and the other Pete (bald variety... :D )
Duration:

Tide:Ebb, low, flow

Weather:Nasty NE and driving rain, eased a bit for last half hour.

Bait:Plain auld mackerel strip.

Rigs:3 hook flappers

Results:2 Sea Trout




Report:
Headed for the Drowes fishery with the family for the weekend (highly recommend the set up BTW) and after a fruitless morning flogging the river with all manner of Lures in pursuit of a spring salmon made plans with Pete to hit a nearby beach. With the salmon fishing not going to plan, another species on the to do list was sea trout. Having never had them before from the sand on bait, it was an opportunity to try something new, so with a brand new 134 quid license burning a big hole in my pocket, off we went.

Conditions on the beach itself werent great with the wind doing its level best to flatten what little surf there was but we persisted anyhow. 3 Hook flappers baited with a nice long, slim, sandeel style strip of mack were the order of the day and were duly tossed out. 2 windsurfers appeared and with their apparent blindness as to where we were and what we were doing and some weed issues we moved further down the beach.

With the wind and rain making life for the bespectacled pair of us somewhat miserable, we resorted to casting out and wandering back to shelter in the dunes before returning every 20 mins or so to check and rebait. On returning at one stage, I felt a bit of weight on the line and was somewhat disgusted when the braid, for no apparent reason (Its new.... :evil: ) parted. With fishing in close however, I knew there was a good chance of getting my rig back and recast a fresh rig to a similar position.

As luck would have it and maybe as for some form of recompense for missing a salmon take that morning on the river, not only did I manage to retrieve my rig, attached to the break off but on the first rig, there was a lovely silver trout flapping away.... :D Jammy or what....! I was using a fairly large watch lead to combat the wind and that obviously helped to keep the fish in a small area. Next cast went out with a bit more vigour as revitalised by the success, the wind and rain were temporarily forgotten. We didnt have long to wait before the rod tip slammed down again to the tune of another fish, slightly better this time too. The evening was progressing nicely...! You could see the value of the long thin strip of mackerel when upon gutting one of the fish on the beach, it had 24 (!) sandeel inside it.

That however was to be that, I missed another trout on the following cast and with baldys constant moaning about cold hands (woman!) we packed up and headed for home.

Cheers buddy for taking me down and showing the way, thanks for doing the decent thing also and not catching any fish too.... :D All the best guides do that! It would also appear I had used up all my luck retrieving that first trout and the salmon weren't to play ball for me over the weekend but there were 9 taken on saturday and sunday so definitely worth another visit.

You may have seen the ads for the Drowes fishery in the Google Ads box, its a great set up they have there with reasonably priced accomodation in a beautiful setting. Shane Gallaher was an absolute gent over the weekend too and I'm looking forward to getting back up there again in the near future.

Nice one Pete (and commiserations Pete). You are top at retrieving lost bits and pieces from the sea - keys, tripods, rigs....

Nice session Pete. 9.... Excellent. Looks like the fishing is starting to get better on the drowes....

I was on the Drowes the weekend before and can highly reccommend it. Excellent set-up with cottages to rent on the river.

Might have to do an SAI trip there soon Pete.

Absolutely, fish the river for the day, try a beach in the evening, drink all night..... A proper lads weekend!

Once again i have to teach you to fish for another species :roll: A weekend of salmon/sea/booze would be a good laugh, i'm sure you'd have no bother getting a bunch of heads together either.

You know what they say, those who can do, those who can't teach.... :lol:

Weekend trip sounds like fun, I'd be up for that. I'll show ya how to catch salmon Pete! Actually that goes for both of ye.... :P

Count me in, the Drowse is on the to-do list this season. Sea-trout from the beach at night would be a bonus.