3 Days in Wexford 1 Day in Clare

People: Myself mostly in Wexford and stevecrow74 in Clare

Duration: Many Many Hours

Tide: All stages

Weather: BBQ stuff

Bait: Peeler Crab, Mackerel, and the biggest Sandeels i've ever seen

Rigs: 3/0 pennel pulleys, 3/0 pulleys, 1 up 1 down, and animal gear

Results: Dabs, Dogs, starry smooth hounds in Wexford, Pollack and Mackerel in Clare




Report: With a couple of comps coming up over the next couple of weekends i decided to hit Wexford to try and get my first smut of the year.

Friday 29th North Wexford 23:00-04:30
Got down late Friday evening and set up on a North Wexford mark which throws up decent smuts i'd only one pack of crab with me and was getting dogs from the the off on the crab as well as the other rod with the fish baits, went through the crab fairly quickly and so with it my chances of a smut for the evening.... fished on as was getting decent doubles of dogs which were a bit of craic and a wee dab at distance on the last bit of crab of all things.

Sat 30th South Wexford 21:00-23:30 North Wexford 00:30-04:30
With no joy on the smut front i decided to try a spot down south which had been producing decent smuts and the odd Tope... set up some animal gear and got fishing i was alternating between the animal gear and a 2nd rod at distance loaded with whole crab.... weed was a problem from the off with the animal gear being worst affected. I was getting dogs on the animal gear with half mackerel but nothing on the crab. Bumped into Danny M off the site and his mate Brian two sound fellas will have to organise a session next time i'm over. I packed it in after a couple of hours as the weed got worse and headed back to try a different mark in North Wexford the dogs seemed to be following me everywhere as i picked up double figures again despite two rods at distance with whole crab no smuts were showing...

Sun 31st South Wexford 21:30-02:30
Headed back down to the coast with panic setting in as my chances of getting the target species were slowly evaporating.... arrived at the mark and bumped into adam2040, shamoo0804, and eric off the site nice to have a bit of company for the 2nd night running... there was a North Easterly blowing and plenty of weed in the water so things didn't look to promising... we all fished on regardless and just after the tide had peaked i got my first starry smut of 2009 small but perfectly formed the relief was like sipping a rare whiskey fished on and got another starry slightly bigger than the first and a doggie just letting me know they hadn't forgotten about me... dropped a couple of fish also....packed up and headed back to base for a celebratory beer... just a note all the doggies i caught over the weekend were male which i thought was a bit odd as i must've got over 30 of them? anything in that i wonder?

Mon 1st Clare 20:30-00:30
shamoo0804 kindly gave me a load of rag which after a 3hr journey in the car heading back West couldn't have been feeling to good so a quick call to the crow to see if i could temp him out fishing for the 2nd time in 2 weeks (we tried and failed recently for mullet ssh don't tell anyone ) with the mention of rag he didn't need asking twice so into Galway to collect steve and then off to a Clare rock mark... arrived to see fish jumping out of the water it was some sight shoals of mackerel and pollack bubbling the surface... game on I was first in with a couple of pollack followed by steve who hit the mackerel and pulled out a dozen nice ones over the next hour or so... i got another couple of pollack. Then we turned to our attentions to fishing the bottom to see if it would turn up any surprises.... nothing showed on the bottom so we packed up and hit Galway.... after a quick tour around Eyre Square, Cross St and the Prom to see what was shaking in Galway i dropped Steve home and heading for my bed pretty shattered after a long weekend of fishing....

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some more pics...

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excellent weekends fishing salty, say your wrecked, lovely pics well done on the starry

cracking report mate. thats a good proper fishing session. well done getting your targer species

well done connor thats some way to get the fishing in

my first time fishing (properly) in about 5 months was good to get out and clear the head.. and the cobwebs of the gear too
knee is still a bit swollen, and being out the last 10 nights out on the beer (well there volvo ocean race doesn't happen every year) didn't help it either, a well needed break from it was required and the opportunity arose

good to get out.. and start stocking up for when ever i can get back to it properly.. whether before or after the surgery i'll be back fishing like it has never seen me fish before

well done conor! notchin up those species..
I'm going hunting Smuts next weekend meself, let's see if I can bag a few too

Nice fishing Conor. Hope to be back on the scene next week. Will give you a shout. Good to see the Crow about again.

Congrats on the smuts Conor and a great weekends fishing .Some hours spent fishing ,,,, you must have slept in a coffin filled with your native soil during the day to recharge. The red eyes and the shades to protect you from daylight give it away
Dave

ps,,,,whats animal gear

that was some going conor,,,, respect man i think your notching up as many species as miles mate . good to see steve got out with you too fair play lads and i hope we'll see you over the summer

well done mate nice 1 on getting the couple of hounds was that black head you fished in clare looks like the burren behind u i have fished it myself with some good results.

Hi Connor

Not much happening on the bottom baits in the North yet. Joe had a good huss of about 10lb not far from your photo.We fished the following night and could only manage dogs and mackerel.

Good to see you and Steve having a few

NEIL

Good to see you again Conor, really pleased you got your intended species, Galway would've been a long old drive home if you hadnt.

Gimme a shout next time your heading down that way and I'll try get out again

well done conor,nice fishing and well done on the smuts that must have been some sight in clare

well done connor on the smooth hounds,some nice pollack,great to see them back

excellent weekends fishing salty, say your wrecked, lovely pics well done on the starry

Cheers was absolutley shattered yesterday evening, but fully recharged now just plotting the next species to target

cracking report mate. thats a good proper fishing session. well done getting your targer species

Thanks was a relief to finally pick up the smoothie in the end did you get down to wexford yet yourself?

well done connor thats some way to get the fishing in

Cheers Sean if only we got smuts on the West coast a few nice spurs taken down in Clare alright might be worth a go for them soon

well done conor! notchin up those species..
I'm going hunting Smuts next weekend meself, let's see if I can bag a few too

Thanks Dáire getting there slowly but surely on the species have 27 to beat from last year so fingers crossed... good luck with the smoothie hunt i'm sure you'll pick one up

Nice fishing Conor. Hope to be back on the scene next week. Will give you a shout. Good to see the Crow about again.

Thanks Steven it'd be great to see you back at it... give me a bell anytime your thinking of heading out

Congrats on the smuts Conor and a great weekends fishing .Some hours spent fishing ,,,, you must have slept in a coffin filled with your native soil during the day to recharge. The red eyes and the shades to protect you from daylight give it away
Dave

ps,,,,whats animal gear

Cheers Dave Haha yeah i turn into a creature of the night anytime i hit Wexford animal gear = large hooks 6/0 7/0 8/0 etc and wire for the big toothed fishies

:shock: that was some going conor,,,, respect man i think your notching up as many species as miles mate . good to see steve got out with you too fair play lads and i hope we'll see you over the summer

Thanks AL no more than yourself and the weeman travelling around in pursuit of fish and sure i still need to get up your way for the mini's at some stage ... yeah steve was like a kid in a candy store with the fish jumping clean out of the water around us think he's been bitten by the bug again now

well done mate nice 1 on getting the couple of hounds was that black head you fished in clare looks like the burren behind u i have fished it myself with some good results.

Thanks yeah it was over that direction lots of shoals around with the warm snap

Hi Connor

Not much happening on the bottom baits in the North yet. Joe had a good huss of about 10lb not far from your photo.We fished the following night and could only manage dogs and mackerel.

Good to see you and Steve having a few

NEIL

Thanks Neil surprised we didn't get even some of the pollack to feed off the bottom I thought i was into a Ray at one stage dead weight that dropped half way in but in reflection it was proabably a big spider crab as no pull out of it at all... planning going after those big boys again this Saturday HT @ 16:15 - 4.7m highest tide of the week if your interested the recent high pressure and abundance of bait fish might give us more of a shout this time

Good to see you again Conor, really pleased you got your intended species, Galway would've been a long old drive home if you hadnt.

Gimme a shout next time your heading down that way and I'll try get out again

Cheers Mark, nice bumping into to you again... i'll give you a shout next time and thanks again for the Rag much obliged

well done conor,nice fishing and well done on the smuts that must have been some sight in clare

Thanks Noel yeah it was some sight i haven't seen that much activity in a long time was great to witness

well done connor on the smooth hounds,some nice pollack,great to see them back

Cheers Gerry aye it was nice to see the pollack hopefuly the Wrasse won't be long showing there too