Ballyvaughan / Fanore 12-SEP-2009

Ballyvaughan + "Secret" Fanore rock mark*
Tide: OUT. Argh!!! (low water at about 17:00)
Rigs: Lures, Float rigs.
Results: 4 baby pollack.

With perfect weather for a change, packed wife,kid + dog into car and headed up to Ballyvaughan. Somehow had managed to get the tide times totally ass-wise( had assumed that since HW in Galway City was 17:00 it would be the same in Fanore - apparently it's the exact opposite) so that it was on the way out when we arrived. Not looking good.

Hit the rock mark but we knew it was a lost cause; it only ever fishes the two hours either side of high water. Lost every single lure I tried (including a brand new bass plug ). Then managed to have a fall on the rocks which miraculously left me with only a few scrapes.
Had some great fun trying to entice the HUGE mullet that were swimming about under our feet though, these things were easily several kilos - at first I thought they were bass but the water was so clear that you could actually watch them and see all the features as they turned on the bootom.
No luck getting them to bite although they were following every lure and checking out every float fished bait we tried( including rashers, heh) By that stage we had eaten all the bread (nothing like sausage and rasher sambos cooked on a driftwood fire!) so we gave up on them.

Met a fellow there who was going spear fishing off the reef, a couple of hours later we were leaving and his gear was still on the shore but no sign of him - if you're reading this I hope you made it back! Oddly enough, saw neither hide nor hair of mackerel except one shoal just off Fanore beach itself. I wonder did anyone have any up there this weekend?

Stopped off in B.V. to get the lads a couple of pints, whilst they were drowning their sorrows I went out the end of the pier, put on a 1g float and size 16 hook, tiny sliver of limpet and started catching the tiniest pollack I ever saw** One was only about an inch long! Felt that maybe I was traumatising future generations of fish so I packed it in after 4 or 5 of them. Saved a blank I suppose

*near where the dolphin used to live before it went to the white strand.

**When I originally walked out to the end of the pier, I looked down into the water and saw a shoal of these little fellows. "Hmm", I said out loud (to myself) "I wonder what they are?"...A tourist standing right beside me looked at me and said, with a dead straight face, "They're fish". I nearly fell in.

I looked down into the water and saw a shoal of these little fellows. "Hmm", I said out loud (to myself) "I wonder what they are?"...A tourist standing right beside me looked at me and said, with a dead straight face, "They're fish". I nearly fell in.
.

just a pity that was the high point of the trip man made the same mistake with tides in the past myself sorta knocks the heart outta you knowing you get there at the absolute worst cycle of the tide but fair play for having a go at it any how man

had assumed that since HW in Galway City was 17:00 it would be the same in Fanore - apparently it's the exact opposite so that it was on the way out when we arrived. Not looking good.

Howdy not sure where you got your tide info but HW in Galway on the 12th was @ 23.54 LW was @ 17.24 the tide at Fanore / Blackhead would only be 5 / 10 mins earlier than Galway...

"They're fish" priceless

Hindsight being 20/20, I now realise that I misread the tide times in the Indo, and got them back to front.

How I managed it, I don't know.

Still at least I know that they are the same so when I learn to actually read properly I will be OK the next time..actually I reckon I might give the BV pier a more serious go in future as well, really nice looking water there.

actually I reckon I might give the BV pier a more serious go in future as well, really nice looking water there.

You'll get Wrasse, Pollack and Coalies there and the odd surprise too

Thanks for the info; I presume it would be best fished on the bottom, or using float gear?

...misread the tide times in the Indo....

better use this here: http://easytide.ukho.gov.uk/easytide/Ea ... onLength=7
always spot on

Thanks for the info; I presume it would be best fished on the bottom, or using float gear?

You can use a float or better again size 6 hook little strip of mack of squid lob it a out a few feet with the lead off the bottom and let it fall back intowards you feel them hitting it straight away....fish a second rod on the bottom out further size 1/0 or 2/0 whole sandeel or good chunk of mack few surprises be thrown up there...

well done at least you got some fish,for the tide times for galway you can use http://www.sailing.ie/inside/default.asp?pageId=522 i would not trust easy tide as i found it to be wrong a lot of the time,it was out by 2 hrs one time i checked

Thanks for the tips and words of encouragement guys, I now have a proper baseline for the tides. Roll on next weekend!

And now for the thrilling conclusion to "how he managed to read the tides wrong", I swear this is what happened, your honour:

We were sitting in the kitchen on Sat. night, making plans for the next day. I asked my missus to fire up the laptop and check the indo website for the tide times in Galway.
After a minute she said "oh yea it's about half five".

I said "is that In or Out?", to which she replied "In". "Awesome", I said, "we're gonna catch fish tomorrow."

I really should have known better. She's from Bulgaria and in the Black Sea, there are practically no tides (+/- 6 inches except once a month when they have a whole foot of tide). And to her, "in" meant "out in the sea". Ha bloody ha!

But it's really my fault for not checking, darling. If you're reading this, please don't take away my rods.

And at least I got to see something I never saw before - those little pollack were actually leaping out of the water at the red float tip, really funny.

Made that very same mistake before with the tides, was subjected to some amount of slagging from the lad i fish with Would have loved to see the look on your face when the tourist pointed out the obvious Best of luck next time out

Regards

Seamus

Next time you are round that way call in to Fanore post office and ask Mick for a tide table, they are about 2 euro but they are useful for planning a trip and you cant go wrong with them.

If you are fishing the pier watch for snaggs close in as the Potter there keeps growing on cages tight to the walls. Weve seen conger and thornbacks hanging around there. If you look across the high wall back towards Monks pub you will see a deep trench from the New pier to the old pier, its always worth throwing a bait in there.

Oh, there are NO secret rock marks in North Clare

Thanks baitdigger, will do.

Just to clarify something; the "old" pier is the one directly outside Monk's?

Just to clarify something; the "old" pier is the one directly outside Monk's?

Yup that's spot on