Various spots, Co. Sligo (4th to 10th August '08)
Fri Aug 15, 2008 8:18 am
Monday 4th August = Aughris Head
Tide: HW 2057 4.0m
Duration: 2.5hrs until 2200
Weather: Sunny and calm
Rigs: Diving lure
Result: 4 wrasse, 1 pollack
First session after arriving so expectations were high. Lovely still sunny evening, but still some large swells breaking which had put off a guy and his son I had briefly spoken to on the walk round. 2nd cast felt a pluck on the lure. Couple casts later I hooked up close in. Expecting to see a pollack I was surprised to watch a wrassse break surface, even though I have had one before to a plug. Probably around 2.5lb mark. Unfortunately he'd hit the treble awkwardly and taken one in the eye socket, so despite having barbless hooks there was still considerable damage. He swam off rapidly enough although I'm not sure about the long term prospects for a handicapped sight feeder. Within next 5 minutes had another hit and again another wrasse, this one bigger and putting a decent bend in the rod after hanging deep:
While unhooking it and admiring the colours he got a bit feisty and I took the loose treble deep in the thumb... Karma for the previous blinding incident perhaps, although after a good deal of cursing I was glad that de-barbing hooks as a matter of course had saved me an early trip to Sligo general!
Confident that I'd get some good pollack given that even the wrasse were taking the plug, I continued to flog away from the various platforms opposite the now submerged island.
As the throbbing in the thumb eased I eventually landed a pollack just after 8pm:
Certain there'd be some bigger ones moving in as HW neared and the sun started to set, I sent it on its way. Eventually after high water and no more fish I decided to move further west to some steeper platforms where I could get better access to deep water (the shallower platforms near the island meant it was difficult to get the lure out to where I thought the fish would be and avoid snagging the drop off on the retrieve through the breaking waves):
A drawback of the steeper platforms were some big swells which reflected straight back out to sea and a few soakings from the resulting spray. I was a bit nervous despite having the life jacket on. Managed to land another two wrasse here in fading light, again in 2.5lb to 3lb mark, but smaller than the second one I'd got previously. Couldn't believe it when one of them took a hook to the eye socket again. Must be the way they hit the lure in the swell or something?
As the sun went down I whacked out a shrimp rig and german sprat in a last attempt to cover both the mackeral and pollack bases in the deep water. No joy and I called it a night once the light had gone almost completely. Shine was taken off the evening by the foul hooking of the two wrasse and a lack of decent pollack. I'd had plenty in the 3lb bracket here in May last year (which went back), and also some mackeral. Is it just the poor summer weather-wise? I also couldn't help recalling the guy I'd tried conversing with here last year who put every pollack he caught into a black bin bag regardless of size...
Tuesday 5th August = Ballysadare Bay
Tide: HW 2140 3.8m
Duration: 3 hours
Weather: Overcast, constant drizzle, no wind
Rigs: Shallow diving lure, slider float and lug
Result: Blank
Dug some lug over low water in the rain and wind and headed out later in the evening around 8pm to catch the last of the flood. At least the rain had eased to constant drizzle and the wind had died. Headed to the entrance of a small stream in the waders where I thought I might have a chance of some mullet or flatfish bumping a weighted lug baited mepps over the sandy bed. After getting to the spot and going through the motions of trying to quickly rig up I realised I'd forgotten to bring the f'ing mepps spinners!
Popped on a small shallow diving minnow from the lure box and had a few casts into the still surface. There were no tell tale ripples in the area so I decided to cut my losses after 20 min and begin the long trudge downstream for deeper water. On route I passed an area with a bit of flow and saw a shoal of fish boiling near the surface. Thought sea trout at first but after positioning myself downstream out of sight and sending the minnow right through them half a dozen times concluded they must be mullet.
Was seriously kicking myself for forgetting the mepps at this stage and wondered how I could get the lug out to the shoal as I read in the forums that Irish mullet readily take lug. Fumbling around in the various containers in my ruck sack produced a big polystyrene slider float and a size 2 nordic bend. Not exactly mullet gear but I rigged up with the adrenaline flowing, threaded on some juicy lug and trotted it through the shoal.
No interest on the first pass, but by the size of the swirls and fins there were some decent size fish in the shoal. After 40 min or so of frustration, re-baiting and some not so subtle casts into the shoal they had all been spooked and moved off. I reverted to my orginal fall back plan and re-clipped on the shallow diver. I spent until gone 10pm flogging the deeper water along a channel until packing in. Despite blanking I had at least seen some fish and the scenery and wildlife never fails to soothe.
Wednesday 6th August = Rocks east of Dunmoran Strand
Tide: HW 1006 3.6m
Duration: 4.5 hours
Weather: Patchy cloud, calm
Rigs: Slider float and ledger rigs with lug, various lures
Result: 1 coalfish, 4 wrasse
Took a trip to the rocks to use up the lug left over from the previous evening and to try for some mackeral and pollack after the lug were gone. Was a bit of a mess at the wrasse hole when i arrived an hour after HW, with feather wrappers and line left all over the show.
Missed the first bite on the slider float with the hook being stripped. 10 minutes later I got a small coalfish which went back fine. Another 10 minutes and the float shot under. Felt like a good wrasse as it thumped and ploughed for cover so I put on the pressure. Line went slack and I reeled in to find the nordic bend had done exactly what it says on the box. Next hook I chose from the box of pre-used hooks set aside for wrasse fishing was an aberdeen(!)
After deepening the float I stayed connected with the next wrasse which was smaller than those I'd had on the plug at Aughris. After losing in the reaction stakes plenty of times after, with only one more small wrasse to show, the line was bitten off below the swivel and I lost the small lead needed to keep the line taut between the float and the hook. Bite detection became even worse and the only other ball leads I had kept sinking the float. Switched to ledgering the lug tight into the rock face on bottom. Landed the best wrasse of the session, although not a monster by any means:
He was followed by another smaller one before the remaining lug were given a burial at sea as I switched to the lure rod and feathers. Nothing doing as the tide ebbed so I decided to go mobile. After stashing most of the gear out-of-sight I headed off further east to fish the shallow rockledges with poppers and shallow divers as the tide receded further:
Absolutely nothing showing except one seal, and again no bird activity. Ended the session close to low water and returned to collect the rest of my gear where some guys were setting up their mackeral gear to fish the flood. They confirmed that the fishing had been pretty poor for them this summer in terms of mackeral and pollack. With this in mind I headed into town to raid Lidl's bread stocks ready to begin the ground baiting campaign for the mullet on the evening's high tide.
Wednesday 6th August = Ballysadare Bay
Tide: HW 2223 3.6m
Duration: 2 hours
Weather: Overcast and slight breeze
Rigs: 3BB float with bread on barbless size 14
Result: Blank
Took along the 14ft match rod on this groundbaiting trip just incase. Small chunks of bread were lobbed out regularly in the general direction of the fish, against the current, but there were no takers, which wasn't surprising really seeing as they'd probably never seen the stuff before.
Spent most of the session crouched down out of sight trying to flick the float out covertly as they were within 10m or so of me. Any profile on the horizon or a few footsteps would spook them momentarily away from the area. Couldn't postivitely ID them as mullet either from low angle where I was sitting, even with polaroids.
Eventually conceeded defeat as I could just about see the tip of the small float trotting in the gloom. Shredded the last of the loaf I had with me into the water and headed home. Had a rethink and decided that I'd have to get them feeding on the bread before trying to fish for them again. Next day I secured some empty onion sacks from a green grocers and borrowed a blender from a puzzled aunt. Over the next two evenings I set my ground bait offerings in the general area, the sacks weighted down with rocks.
Thursday 7th August = Aughris Head
Tide: HW 1048 3.4m
Duration: 10min fishing & 4hrs exploring
Weather: Overcast strong N breeze
Rigs: Diving lure
Result: Blank
Was going for a lunch at the beach bar at 2pm and thought it would be a shame not to take the rods just incase. Strong breeze from north with big swells, so after the meal it was obvious I wouldn't be able to fish from the head as in my previous session. Decided it was a good opportunity to do a bit of exploring further afield for future trips, what with ow water at 1620 (and a good way of burning off the steak).
Walked west from the end of the path beyond the sea cliffs to within sight of the water tower (at Dromore West I think). Some of the spots along here look good but you'd need a good set of walking boots, fishing companion, a drop net and a nice high pressure system for a few days.
As the walk back took me along the eastern side of headland I couldn't resist a chuck at the designated "fishing spot" by the path where the water is much more sheltered. After 10min I snagged some submerged line about 5m out in the kelp margin. When confidently pulling to release it the 30lb braid unexpectedly parted and the lure remained stubbornly fastened to the submerged line. Bo****ks.
In a bit of a foul mood I then cleared up the shite I could see left by fellow "anglers". Aside from the feather wrappers and line, there were packets for freeze dried rag, ledger rig packets, empty ammo packets etc. so it's not just the casual mack bashers at fault. It's sad when people think plastic bags and mars bar wrappers stuffed into rock crevices will rot overnight, or just don't give a stuff either way...
Saturday 9th August = Rocks east of Dunmoran Strand
Tide: HW 0030 2.9m
Duration: 20min
Weather: S breeze, clouding over but dry
Rigs: Diving lure
Result: 1 pollack
Car wasn't available until late in the evening so I eventually arrived at the mark around 2145 with the light quickly going, and the neap tide making little headway in covering the shallow rocks. Got a mackeral sized pollack at a spot I had scouted out at LW on Wednesday. Was happy to see this after the previous 2 sessions. Sent him on his way to put on some weight and packed in after a few more casts.
Sunday 10th August = Ballysadare Bay
Tide: HW 1300ish 2.9m again
Duration: 4 hours
Weather: Passing showers, Gusty S breeze
Rigs: BB and SSG waggler floats, light ledger rig, barbless size 14s ...and a mepps spinner
Result: 1 mullet
D-day for the "mullet" and I was hoping to at least see them take some ground bait. Particularly after the previous days' efforts feeding my aunt's antiquated small capacity blender with a dozen loaves of bread. After setting a fresh sack in the water I set up my 12ft lure rod with a two hook 6lb ledger rig on 10lb main line. I've never bothered ledgering for mullet before but thought it worthwhile if the fish had been taking groundbait off the bottom as I hoped they would have. With the match rod set up with a waggler I initally concentrated on float fishing in the same area. However, constant splashes and 'bow waves' further away saw me getting impatient.
After setting the ledger rod on a light drag with my rucksack firmly in front of it, I headed off with the float and a bucket of loose groundbait to stalk the splashes. The fish were seriously nervy and easily spooked. Having laid back on the grass with the rod propped next to me, the tell tale ripples and waves slowly came back to the area where I had seen them active. No interest in the hook bait or regular offerings of hand thrown ground bait and floating crusts. I only made one strike in 3 hours, and that was most likely for a line bite. All the while I was glancing over to make sure the ledger rod was still where I'd left it, while fish splashed in various locations in the waters around me.
Finally during an interlude of bright sunlight, with the aid of the polaroids I was able to clearly see a mullet cruise through the shallow water swim in front of me. This raised the spirits a little. However, when hour 4 ticked by I was pretty dissapointed that I hadn't seen them feed on any of the bread. In resignation I left the float rod and went to pack up the untouched ledger rod and retrive the ground bait sack. While emptying the sack and removing the ledger rig, as well as an aching neck, I had niggling thoughts about the complete lack of interest in the bread - were these thinlips? Some of the bow waves were massive so I thought it unlikely. However, even if they were thicklips it was worth trying a mepps spinner in a final two fingered parting gesture.
Unfortunately I had no lug, but the neap tide meant I was able to turn a few rocks over and scrape out 4 or 5 tiny harbour rag by hand from beneath. AFter threading these on to the mepps spinner I went on a wander making casts as I went. This was punctuated by the occasional spooked fish swimming out into deeper water and me clearing weed off the line and spinner after almost every retrieve (which also saw most of the delicate harbour rag get dislodged).
With loose line lay on the reel from the unweighted mepps and gusty conditions, this had created an annoying tangle in the 10lb mono that I could feel passing though the eyes on each cast. Eventually this turned into a birdsnest that I couldn't ignore, or cast with. After more cursing and patiently unpicking this I started heading back the way I'd come in order to pack up the float rod. I was casting without paying much attention as I went.
Suddenly the line tightened, the rod tip whacked over and I was shocked out of my 4 hour stupour. The fish made numerous lunges and splashed about for a good five minutes, despite not feeling like there was too much weight to it. I kept tension on and held the rod high so that the barbless size 6 would hold. A certain amount of bullying was needed to bring it into the shallows where after a few final dances on the surface I beached it. A thinlip (I think...) of maybe a pound or so:
It was still kicking a fair bit with the dorsal fin flared while I was having a 'eureka' moment making a bit of celebratory noise. As if on cue another passing sharp shower gave me a soaking as I was fumbling to get the camera and long nose pliers out of the waders. The fish was cleanly and frimly hooked in the top lip. A quick snap and 30 seconds of being held in the water or so, and it sped off. My first Irish mullet and a great way to end the session on a high when it had looked like all the effort was in vain. Very satisfying, probably more so than the thinlips and specimen thicklips I've had over here in Hampshire, as these fish seemed a bit more wiley, and the surroundings more scenic.
Now I think that I've sussed out the sub species and method I look forward to trying for the larger ones when I'm next over!
Tide: HW 2057 4.0m
Duration: 2.5hrs until 2200
Weather: Sunny and calm
Rigs: Diving lure
Result: 4 wrasse, 1 pollack
First session after arriving so expectations were high. Lovely still sunny evening, but still some large swells breaking which had put off a guy and his son I had briefly spoken to on the walk round. 2nd cast felt a pluck on the lure. Couple casts later I hooked up close in. Expecting to see a pollack I was surprised to watch a wrassse break surface, even though I have had one before to a plug. Probably around 2.5lb mark. Unfortunately he'd hit the treble awkwardly and taken one in the eye socket, so despite having barbless hooks there was still considerable damage. He swam off rapidly enough although I'm not sure about the long term prospects for a handicapped sight feeder. Within next 5 minutes had another hit and again another wrasse, this one bigger and putting a decent bend in the rod after hanging deep:
While unhooking it and admiring the colours he got a bit feisty and I took the loose treble deep in the thumb... Karma for the previous blinding incident perhaps, although after a good deal of cursing I was glad that de-barbing hooks as a matter of course had saved me an early trip to Sligo general!
Confident that I'd get some good pollack given that even the wrasse were taking the plug, I continued to flog away from the various platforms opposite the now submerged island.
As the throbbing in the thumb eased I eventually landed a pollack just after 8pm:
Certain there'd be some bigger ones moving in as HW neared and the sun started to set, I sent it on its way. Eventually after high water and no more fish I decided to move further west to some steeper platforms where I could get better access to deep water (the shallower platforms near the island meant it was difficult to get the lure out to where I thought the fish would be and avoid snagging the drop off on the retrieve through the breaking waves):
A drawback of the steeper platforms were some big swells which reflected straight back out to sea and a few soakings from the resulting spray. I was a bit nervous despite having the life jacket on. Managed to land another two wrasse here in fading light, again in 2.5lb to 3lb mark, but smaller than the second one I'd got previously. Couldn't believe it when one of them took a hook to the eye socket again. Must be the way they hit the lure in the swell or something?
As the sun went down I whacked out a shrimp rig and german sprat in a last attempt to cover both the mackeral and pollack bases in the deep water. No joy and I called it a night once the light had gone almost completely. Shine was taken off the evening by the foul hooking of the two wrasse and a lack of decent pollack. I'd had plenty in the 3lb bracket here in May last year (which went back), and also some mackeral. Is it just the poor summer weather-wise? I also couldn't help recalling the guy I'd tried conversing with here last year who put every pollack he caught into a black bin bag regardless of size...
Tuesday 5th August = Ballysadare Bay
Tide: HW 2140 3.8m
Duration: 3 hours
Weather: Overcast, constant drizzle, no wind
Rigs: Shallow diving lure, slider float and lug
Result: Blank
Dug some lug over low water in the rain and wind and headed out later in the evening around 8pm to catch the last of the flood. At least the rain had eased to constant drizzle and the wind had died. Headed to the entrance of a small stream in the waders where I thought I might have a chance of some mullet or flatfish bumping a weighted lug baited mepps over the sandy bed. After getting to the spot and going through the motions of trying to quickly rig up I realised I'd forgotten to bring the f'ing mepps spinners!
Popped on a small shallow diving minnow from the lure box and had a few casts into the still surface. There were no tell tale ripples in the area so I decided to cut my losses after 20 min and begin the long trudge downstream for deeper water. On route I passed an area with a bit of flow and saw a shoal of fish boiling near the surface. Thought sea trout at first but after positioning myself downstream out of sight and sending the minnow right through them half a dozen times concluded they must be mullet.
Was seriously kicking myself for forgetting the mepps at this stage and wondered how I could get the lug out to the shoal as I read in the forums that Irish mullet readily take lug. Fumbling around in the various containers in my ruck sack produced a big polystyrene slider float and a size 2 nordic bend. Not exactly mullet gear but I rigged up with the adrenaline flowing, threaded on some juicy lug and trotted it through the shoal.
No interest on the first pass, but by the size of the swirls and fins there were some decent size fish in the shoal. After 40 min or so of frustration, re-baiting and some not so subtle casts into the shoal they had all been spooked and moved off. I reverted to my orginal fall back plan and re-clipped on the shallow diver. I spent until gone 10pm flogging the deeper water along a channel until packing in. Despite blanking I had at least seen some fish and the scenery and wildlife never fails to soothe.
Wednesday 6th August = Rocks east of Dunmoran Strand
Tide: HW 1006 3.6m
Duration: 4.5 hours
Weather: Patchy cloud, calm
Rigs: Slider float and ledger rigs with lug, various lures
Result: 1 coalfish, 4 wrasse
Took a trip to the rocks to use up the lug left over from the previous evening and to try for some mackeral and pollack after the lug were gone. Was a bit of a mess at the wrasse hole when i arrived an hour after HW, with feather wrappers and line left all over the show.
Missed the first bite on the slider float with the hook being stripped. 10 minutes later I got a small coalfish which went back fine. Another 10 minutes and the float shot under. Felt like a good wrasse as it thumped and ploughed for cover so I put on the pressure. Line went slack and I reeled in to find the nordic bend had done exactly what it says on the box. Next hook I chose from the box of pre-used hooks set aside for wrasse fishing was an aberdeen(!)
After deepening the float I stayed connected with the next wrasse which was smaller than those I'd had on the plug at Aughris. After losing in the reaction stakes plenty of times after, with only one more small wrasse to show, the line was bitten off below the swivel and I lost the small lead needed to keep the line taut between the float and the hook. Bite detection became even worse and the only other ball leads I had kept sinking the float. Switched to ledgering the lug tight into the rock face on bottom. Landed the best wrasse of the session, although not a monster by any means:
He was followed by another smaller one before the remaining lug were given a burial at sea as I switched to the lure rod and feathers. Nothing doing as the tide ebbed so I decided to go mobile. After stashing most of the gear out-of-sight I headed off further east to fish the shallow rockledges with poppers and shallow divers as the tide receded further:
Absolutely nothing showing except one seal, and again no bird activity. Ended the session close to low water and returned to collect the rest of my gear where some guys were setting up their mackeral gear to fish the flood. They confirmed that the fishing had been pretty poor for them this summer in terms of mackeral and pollack. With this in mind I headed into town to raid Lidl's bread stocks ready to begin the ground baiting campaign for the mullet on the evening's high tide.
Wednesday 6th August = Ballysadare Bay
Tide: HW 2223 3.6m
Duration: 2 hours
Weather: Overcast and slight breeze
Rigs: 3BB float with bread on barbless size 14
Result: Blank
Took along the 14ft match rod on this groundbaiting trip just incase. Small chunks of bread were lobbed out regularly in the general direction of the fish, against the current, but there were no takers, which wasn't surprising really seeing as they'd probably never seen the stuff before.
Spent most of the session crouched down out of sight trying to flick the float out covertly as they were within 10m or so of me. Any profile on the horizon or a few footsteps would spook them momentarily away from the area. Couldn't postivitely ID them as mullet either from low angle where I was sitting, even with polaroids.
Eventually conceeded defeat as I could just about see the tip of the small float trotting in the gloom. Shredded the last of the loaf I had with me into the water and headed home. Had a rethink and decided that I'd have to get them feeding on the bread before trying to fish for them again. Next day I secured some empty onion sacks from a green grocers and borrowed a blender from a puzzled aunt. Over the next two evenings I set my ground bait offerings in the general area, the sacks weighted down with rocks.
Thursday 7th August = Aughris Head
Tide: HW 1048 3.4m
Duration: 10min fishing & 4hrs exploring
Weather: Overcast strong N breeze
Rigs: Diving lure
Result: Blank
Was going for a lunch at the beach bar at 2pm and thought it would be a shame not to take the rods just incase. Strong breeze from north with big swells, so after the meal it was obvious I wouldn't be able to fish from the head as in my previous session. Decided it was a good opportunity to do a bit of exploring further afield for future trips, what with ow water at 1620 (and a good way of burning off the steak).
Walked west from the end of the path beyond the sea cliffs to within sight of the water tower (at Dromore West I think). Some of the spots along here look good but you'd need a good set of walking boots, fishing companion, a drop net and a nice high pressure system for a few days.
As the walk back took me along the eastern side of headland I couldn't resist a chuck at the designated "fishing spot" by the path where the water is much more sheltered. After 10min I snagged some submerged line about 5m out in the kelp margin. When confidently pulling to release it the 30lb braid unexpectedly parted and the lure remained stubbornly fastened to the submerged line. Bo****ks.
In a bit of a foul mood I then cleared up the shite I could see left by fellow "anglers". Aside from the feather wrappers and line, there were packets for freeze dried rag, ledger rig packets, empty ammo packets etc. so it's not just the casual mack bashers at fault. It's sad when people think plastic bags and mars bar wrappers stuffed into rock crevices will rot overnight, or just don't give a stuff either way...
Saturday 9th August = Rocks east of Dunmoran Strand
Tide: HW 0030 2.9m
Duration: 20min
Weather: S breeze, clouding over but dry
Rigs: Diving lure
Result: 1 pollack
Car wasn't available until late in the evening so I eventually arrived at the mark around 2145 with the light quickly going, and the neap tide making little headway in covering the shallow rocks. Got a mackeral sized pollack at a spot I had scouted out at LW on Wednesday. Was happy to see this after the previous 2 sessions. Sent him on his way to put on some weight and packed in after a few more casts.
Sunday 10th August = Ballysadare Bay
Tide: HW 1300ish 2.9m again
Duration: 4 hours
Weather: Passing showers, Gusty S breeze
Rigs: BB and SSG waggler floats, light ledger rig, barbless size 14s ...and a mepps spinner
Result: 1 mullet
D-day for the "mullet" and I was hoping to at least see them take some ground bait. Particularly after the previous days' efforts feeding my aunt's antiquated small capacity blender with a dozen loaves of bread. After setting a fresh sack in the water I set up my 12ft lure rod with a two hook 6lb ledger rig on 10lb main line. I've never bothered ledgering for mullet before but thought it worthwhile if the fish had been taking groundbait off the bottom as I hoped they would have. With the match rod set up with a waggler I initally concentrated on float fishing in the same area. However, constant splashes and 'bow waves' further away saw me getting impatient.
After setting the ledger rod on a light drag with my rucksack firmly in front of it, I headed off with the float and a bucket of loose groundbait to stalk the splashes. The fish were seriously nervy and easily spooked. Having laid back on the grass with the rod propped next to me, the tell tale ripples and waves slowly came back to the area where I had seen them active. No interest in the hook bait or regular offerings of hand thrown ground bait and floating crusts. I only made one strike in 3 hours, and that was most likely for a line bite. All the while I was glancing over to make sure the ledger rod was still where I'd left it, while fish splashed in various locations in the waters around me.
Finally during an interlude of bright sunlight, with the aid of the polaroids I was able to clearly see a mullet cruise through the shallow water swim in front of me. This raised the spirits a little. However, when hour 4 ticked by I was pretty dissapointed that I hadn't seen them feed on any of the bread. In resignation I left the float rod and went to pack up the untouched ledger rod and retrive the ground bait sack. While emptying the sack and removing the ledger rig, as well as an aching neck, I had niggling thoughts about the complete lack of interest in the bread - were these thinlips? Some of the bow waves were massive so I thought it unlikely. However, even if they were thicklips it was worth trying a mepps spinner in a final two fingered parting gesture.
Unfortunately I had no lug, but the neap tide meant I was able to turn a few rocks over and scrape out 4 or 5 tiny harbour rag by hand from beneath. AFter threading these on to the mepps spinner I went on a wander making casts as I went. This was punctuated by the occasional spooked fish swimming out into deeper water and me clearing weed off the line and spinner after almost every retrieve (which also saw most of the delicate harbour rag get dislodged).
With loose line lay on the reel from the unweighted mepps and gusty conditions, this had created an annoying tangle in the 10lb mono that I could feel passing though the eyes on each cast. Eventually this turned into a birdsnest that I couldn't ignore, or cast with. After more cursing and patiently unpicking this I started heading back the way I'd come in order to pack up the float rod. I was casting without paying much attention as I went.
Suddenly the line tightened, the rod tip whacked over and I was shocked out of my 4 hour stupour. The fish made numerous lunges and splashed about for a good five minutes, despite not feeling like there was too much weight to it. I kept tension on and held the rod high so that the barbless size 6 would hold. A certain amount of bullying was needed to bring it into the shallows where after a few final dances on the surface I beached it. A thinlip (I think...) of maybe a pound or so:
It was still kicking a fair bit with the dorsal fin flared while I was having a 'eureka' moment making a bit of celebratory noise. As if on cue another passing sharp shower gave me a soaking as I was fumbling to get the camera and long nose pliers out of the waders. The fish was cleanly and frimly hooked in the top lip. A quick snap and 30 seconds of being held in the water or so, and it sped off. My first Irish mullet and a great way to end the session on a high when it had looked like all the effort was in vain. Very satisfying, probably more so than the thinlips and specimen thicklips I've had over here in Hampshire, as these fish seemed a bit more wiley, and the surroundings more scenic.
Now I think that I've sussed out the sub species and method I look forward to trying for the larger ones when I'm next over!
Fri Aug 15, 2008 8:52 am
man thats some report have you any fingers left
Fri Aug 15, 2008 9:48 am
Great report, really enjoyed reading it.
Fri Aug 15, 2008 10:06 am
Excellent report, shame you didn't get more fish after all the effort, but getting wrasse on a lure was a bonus and your persistence with the mullet eventually paid off.
I tried fishing for them a few times but dont have the patience to keep at it for long especially when they totally ignore my bait, swim around it, under it, over it without as much as a flicker of interest :roll:
I tried fishing for them a few times but dont have the patience to keep at it for long especially when they totally ignore my bait, swim around it, under it, over it without as much as a flicker of interest :roll:
Sligo marks
Fri Aug 15, 2008 10:17 am
Excellent report MacD
On Aughris head, at low water, there is a weird deep narrow channel that bcomes evident running in front of three islands. If you can cast into or near this on a coming tide with junk leads you pick up excellent wrasse to over 4 lbs and bigger pollack. I find the pollack can go to around 5 and possibly 6 lbs if you get an flooding tide filling late into darkness. The designated spot and island are good but you do not need to cast lures over the island, drop them into the hole above the kelpy pinnacle almost at your feet and you will get hit. Shallow divers and floaters are best. Surprised you did not get or see sea trout around Dunmoran as it has a lot of them, worth a try with silver lures...
Again, really excellent report....
On Aughris head, at low water, there is a weird deep narrow channel that bcomes evident running in front of three islands. If you can cast into or near this on a coming tide with junk leads you pick up excellent wrasse to over 4 lbs and bigger pollack. I find the pollack can go to around 5 and possibly 6 lbs if you get an flooding tide filling late into darkness. The designated spot and island are good but you do not need to cast lures over the island, drop them into the hole above the kelpy pinnacle almost at your feet and you will get hit. Shallow divers and floaters are best. Surprised you did not get or see sea trout around Dunmoran as it has a lot of them, worth a try with silver lures...
Again, really excellent report....
Fri Aug 15, 2008 11:05 am
excellent report and persistence!
Fri Aug 15, 2008 4:23 pm
Fair play for getting all that fishing into one report!
Blackie
Blackie
Sat Aug 16, 2008 10:23 am
Thanks for all the positive feedback. I don't often get a chance to post reports on the site so thought I'd make an effort - rest assured I didn't type it all out in one go though.
Interesting info about the channel Kieran. I gave ledgering a go there last May in the middle of a bright day and neap tide. Flat calm and I didn't get a touch. Tried mack, sandeel and limpets. Evening tides that give a decent depth of water must be key.
As for Dunmoran, it's been on the to-do list for far too long (i.e. the rocks that stick out in the middle of the bay in-line with the stream @ LW). Closest I got there this time over was a morning jog along the strand the day we were leaving.
After comparing it with some photos, I'm not so sure that the mullet I got was a thinlip. Here's a pic of a Hampshire thinlip from a couple years back:
On the NMC website - http://www.thenationalmulletclub.org - there's a downloadable ID guide that says thinlips have a dark spot at the base of the pectoral fin (which the above clearly has)
If the one in Sligo was a thicklip that fell to the lure, this is a first for me. Anyone else have any experience of taking thicklips on a baited mepps?
Cheers
Interesting info about the channel Kieran. I gave ledgering a go there last May in the middle of a bright day and neap tide. Flat calm and I didn't get a touch. Tried mack, sandeel and limpets. Evening tides that give a decent depth of water must be key.
As for Dunmoran, it's been on the to-do list for far too long (i.e. the rocks that stick out in the middle of the bay in-line with the stream @ LW). Closest I got there this time over was a morning jog along the strand the day we were leaving.
After comparing it with some photos, I'm not so sure that the mullet I got was a thinlip. Here's a pic of a Hampshire thinlip from a couple years back:
On the NMC website - http://www.thenationalmulletclub.org - there's a downloadable ID guide that says thinlips have a dark spot at the base of the pectoral fin (which the above clearly has)
If the one in Sligo was a thicklip that fell to the lure, this is a first for me. Anyone else have any experience of taking thicklips on a baited mepps?
Cheers