Galway Bay Otter Fishing 25.07.09

People: Nige & myself

Duration: 17:00 - 23:00

Tide: HT @ 20:26 5.26m

Weather: Dry to begin Raining later winds rising to Gale Force SSE

Bait: Mackerel, Squid & Sandeel

Rigs: Animal Gear, Simple Ledgers size 4's and Feathers

Results: Ballan Wrasse, Gold Sinny Wrasse, Tompot Blenny, Pollack & 95 Mackerel




Report: Was due to head out for Blue Shark on Sunday but the gales hitting tonight and staying around all day Sunday put paid to that. So in need of a fishing fix arranged to meet up with Nige. We set up animal gear for congers and started ledgering for minis in close. I was first in with a small pollack followed by Nige with a Gold Sinny Wrasse... then i'd a couple of Tompot Blennies another species of the list and Nige had another Gold Sinny while i got a Ballan... Nige and myself picked up a few small pollack. Nige then had a rattle on the conger gear but lost the fish on the way up... I dropped a conger too... Nige then tried a sandeel out further and when he went to check his bait hit got hit my a mackerel on the retrieve. With us in need of some fresh bait we both clipped on feathers.... i've never seen such activity with mackerel jumping clear of the water all around us sprat and sandeel every where it was complete madness we caught 95 mackerel in under an hour the weight of the catch was 45lbs. So with bait sorted for the foreseeable future it was back to ledgering another few pollack later the rachet on my conger rod went picked it up and struck fish on Nige grabbed the drop net and we both looked down waiting to see the conger appear.... next it was "what in the name of Jaysus is that??" an otter hooked in the mouth and up out of the water dangling on the end of my line.... stood there in a state of shock wondering how am i going to unhook this thing.... he thankfully shook himself free and dropped back into the water.... thank God for that i said then to our amazment he came back out of the water and started climbing up the rocks to try and grab what was left of the mackerel head cheeky or what.... earlier red had a post up wondering what was nicking his fish and i said it's sounds like otters and that we had them in the Bay but they've never bother us before today... I lost another good conger after that felt like a double with the rain and wind getting heavier we called it a day.

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thank god the little critter got away safe they are beautiful creatures and lets face it better fishermen than all of us still i,d say you had fun with all them macs and will save a few bob in the tackle shop this year shame about your sharkin bet your skipper was drunk too

im delighted about that otter but glad he got away unscathed, at least i know im not goin mad. only yesterday you said ye had plenty up there but they never took fish .
ive asked a few people down here about them and they said they would see them occasionaly but also never had them take a fish.
wonder what made it take it??

Sounds like a great session Conor, plenty of variety and a few new species , then you get to fill up the freezer with mack,, and to top it off you get a rare glimpse of one of our rarest mammals at close hand, dont you just love fishing . Had a run in meself with some wildlife over the weekend, but these were drinking cans of cider and effing and blinding

good nights fishing never seen as many mack about. hopefully the fishing might pick up from now on. As for the otter thankfully he fell off. Would not have being nice trying to unhook him.

jesus connor,is an otter a new species? ye are rubbing it in now!!when i saw the weather this morning was glad we did not go out hope the mackerel are in for good now.

Well done lads great session.

Paddy

nice session there lads loads of the mackerel

well done lads great bit of fishing,often seen the otters and heard them in the night around spiddal pier but i am lucky i never hooked one,will have to head down that way to stock up on bait

I heard something similar happened during the daiwa pairs a few years ago. A Dublin lad was fishing for conger during the specimen day and got a run, struck it and when it was on top of the water he asked his mate what it was, a classic reply - "it's a fcukin beaver man"

Connor

I witnessed some horific conger fishing at that wrasse mark in North Clare, Six large conger ( looked between 10-15 lb) all gaffed and put in bags. The auld fellas that fish for them in the competitions were nearly in tears.

Cheers lads... i'd say the Otters were in a bit of a frenzy with all the mackerel, sandeel and sprat activity. Hopefully there won't be a reoccurance definatley wouldn't fancy tackling an otter!!

Connor

I witnessed some horific conger fishing at that wrasse mark in North Clare, Six large conger ( looked between 10-15 lb) all gaffed and put in bags. The auld fellas that fish for them in the competitions were nearly in tears.

That place is being destroyed seems to be getting worse each year juvenille pollack & coalies nothing is safe was it the same lads as before?

Fair play on the macks. I've yet to see them caught in any number in these parts.

Jany, I'm not madly keen on unhooking a dogfish, I'd say an otter would be some fun!

just one question conor------------if you had landed and dehooked the otter, would it have been classed as a new species
hi conor great report and fishing mate, well done. you must have got some shock to see that thing on the end of your line

Well done - a nice variety there including an otter

That place is being destroyed seems to be getting worse each year juvenille pollack & coalies nothing is safe was it the same lads as before?

I have to stop fishing North Clare for a while as there are two groups of them who have become my shadows. Wherever I stop in my van, even the obscure marks it, wont be long before the scout comes down then he is on the phone and the rest of the posse turn up.

They have learned to fish rotten bottom and fair play to them I was only there for about two hours on the mackerel and they had that many eels in that time using whole mackerel flapper. I think they have had the wrasse aswell Ive done a few sessions there and not managed anything bigger than a pound. The good pollack have gone the same way.

your serious neil - they are actually following you!!!

unbelieveable

what you need to do is try south galway bay - youll blank - theyll blank and theyll stop following you

Just curious...are they Irish ? I've seen similiar carry-on in North Clare recently.

Good fishing. Does the otter count as a species

nice one on the tompot conor . otters can be fearsome wee critters when stressed,,, it would have been some task to unhook the wee chap and retain all 8 fingers and 2 thumbs