Dublin Gurnard Mark, Wicklow Sharkfest !!! 12-08-08

People: Myself & Eric, then + Corbyeire

Duration: 15.00-16.30, then 20.30-00.30

Tide: ?????

Weather: Horrid, then fine

Bait: Rag, Mack, Sandeel

Rigs: allsorts

Results:

Venue 1 : Tub Gurnard, Doggies, Mackerel

Venue 2 : Doggies (shark), Smoothhound (shark), Dab, Whiting




Report:

Had arranged to pick up Corbyeire around 5pm, so headed out for a quick appetiser with Eric, went to his (secret) Dublin Gurnard mark.

Eric started with a doggie, whilst I had a cracking bite, fish took a bit of line, then snagged in the kelp...fish gone, poss Huss/Ray?!

Whilst I was re-rigging, Eric then got a Tub Gurnard. After hearing many a tale about these only being caught from the boats, it was nice to see that theory put to bed....Well done Eric for predicting the mark would produce this fish :wink:

I then had a doggie. Then lost another fish to a snag, Eric had a couple more dogs then finished with a mack, that took his mack bait as he was retreiving it?!, then it was time to pack up and head off (drenched) to collect Corbyeire for session No 2.

After all the rain in Dublin it made a pleasant change to see the weather brighteneing as we headed south to our next mark.

By the time we arrived we knew we would have the weather ok all night.

There was a good swell when we arrived, and half expected Bass. However the swell seemed to die away gradually.

A few small whiting caught, Eric had a dab, damn dogs all night for all of us :roll: Most of the night the bait had only been out a couple of minutes before the dogs were onto it again, a good few doubles came in aswell.

I was using a loop rig at distance hoping for Ray, and a 3 hook flapper at 30-60 yards.

My 3 hook flapper was set up on my spinning rod, and boy did it get a savage bite, the rod bent over in two, then went still, then bang...bang... fish on...I thought it was likely to be a Bass, given it was baited with sandeel on the top hook and rag on the bottom 2 hooks.

With the fish on it felt a good size, and gave a reasonable scrap.

It was only when I got the fish into the suds I saw what it was....a lovely Common Smooth Hound, my first decent sized smoothie, so to say I was pleased would be an understatement.

This perked us all up and it raised our expectations for the evening.

It was however to be a false dawn :oops: , nothing else much to report after that, plenty more dogs were had by all, I got a decent whiting 30-35cm approx, then it all went very quite for the last hour.

Given the quietness and lack of fish, Eric put a mack tail cone out for Tope, but nothing doing.

Ah well, a pleasant evenings fishing as always, and I finished with the fish of the day....that doesnt happen very often :shock:

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Well done lads be over shortly for some more of that smoothie action :)

good fishin lads, well done... nice work with the gurnards!

Nice fishing lads and good work on the gurnard and the smoothie, they're two species that I'd love to catch.

Well done on the smoothhound - that is a nice fish.

Good work on the gunards as well - without giving away the location of the mark what sort of terrain would you predict to get gunards from the shore?

Dogs can be a nuisance all right - but they saved me from many a blank - if fishing is a bit quite I resort to tipping the hooks with a small sandeel slice - that always seems to attract them.

what about my 20 foot long weedfish!

getting serioulsy sick of dogs and whiting

eric got a nice counting dab also

that smoothie looks well 8)

Good work on the gunards as well - without giving away the location of the mark what sort of terrain would you predict to get gunards from the shore

I wasnt sure Tub's could be taken from the shore having read/been told they are only taken from the boat, but Eric put that one to bed.

The mark we fished was very rocky/kelpy to around 50/60 yards out and then its onto sand. Hope this helps.

From what little I know most gurnards will be taken over sand/mud, especially the grey gurnards. I've even taken them on feathers :roll:

Brains weedfish was a cracker, I'm still reeling from the shock of it not breaking his line/rig :shock:

You did well to get it back in one piece Brian, hats off to you :lol:

I'm pleased with the smoothie, for once he looks every inch as big in the photo as he was in the flesh :D :D :D

And good to know you dont need all this fancy bait/rigs to get a decent fish :wink:

nice fishing Mark :lol: ,,, lovely smoothie :lol: ,,, after a few weeks absence you're back with a vengeance :wink:

I've had a good few sessions lately Dave, but just not too much in the way of good fish :oops:

You wanna head out sometime soon?

nice fishing lads ,that eric fella is a jammy git alright :D greystones south beach used to throw up gurnard on a regular basis but not in years ,the good ould days :roll: