3 days in donegal 29th to 31st may

People: over the 3 days me, jordan, mark, rodbender, fishermannum1 and bigbadtom popped in to say hello

Duration: too long

Tide: all states

Weather: glorious

Bait: squid, mack, herring, lug, razor and rag

Rigs: flappers and pulleys

Results: conger, coalies, flounder, turbot, doggies and a wee ray




Report:

DAY 1 SATURDAY 29TH 8PM TO 3AM

with jordan off school for the bank holiday on monday we loaded the car and camping gear and headed off for a few days in donegal to try new marks. as ever with all my fishing trips recently there was a minor disaster before we even got a rod in the water . we'd just passed derry when i hit the breaks approaching a roundabout and got very little in return other than a loud grinding noise and very little in the way of breaking . i quickly slowed down using the gears and pulled in for a look to see what was up. so a quick check showed that my pads had delaminated from the lining and instead of the pad biting into the disc it was bare metal . needless to say i took it very easy on the way to the first mark to meet up with the lads. we arrived to see rodbender on the beach and bigbadtom was having a chat, but fishermannum1 had already headed on, but we'll see him soon enough again . from all accounts the fishing was pretty poor but we needed our fix and got set up. fishing was slow to say the least and rodbender decided to get the head down for an early start at first light. we fished on until after 4 am with mark getting a wee flounder and turbot. jordan had 2 coalies and a flounder and i ended up with 2 wee coalies, 1 wee flounder and a nice 4lb strap conger who went like stink on my light bass rod . we decided to call it a night and got a bit of kip before getting back up at 9am to try another mark.

DAY 2 SUNDAY 30TH MAY 11AM TO 3AM

we decided to try a rock mark in tullagh bay and perched ourselves on a very fishy looking outcrop of rocks and got to fishing. it looked like it should fish really well, but over 7 hours went by with me being the only one to get a single doggie. so a rethink was in order. we packed up and headed for another beach mark to fish into darkness. we got set up on the beach with rodbender fishing to our far left and it was looking pretty grim as there was'nt much about added to that we had a pod of porpoises working the gully we were trying to hit about 150 yards off the shore . did'nt really help the fishing but was good to watch a bit of wildlife anyhow . by 1 am i had a single turbot and flounder and jordan just 1 nice turbot just under 1lb so we decided that another move was in order. within 30mins of driving we found a wee deserted peir and got set up again and the dogs saved an otherwise quiet session with me getting 3, mark getting 2 and jordan getting 1 and to think some people hate these wee guys with a passion . if anything they saved the session for us . the highlight of the trip was mark getting his first ever ray . a wee thornie. so he was made up . by 3am the lack of sleep was starting to get to us and we wrapped it up and got our heads down for another morning session.

DAY 3 MONDAY 31ST MAY 9AM TO NOON

we arranged to meet up with rodbender on a wee peir for our last session of the trip and he kindly cooked us all a big fry up and a few mugs of coffee which went down well in the back of his wagon while our rods fished away. a true gent if ever there was . sadly there was nothing to report as we got diddly squat but the craic was mighty and it was great to wet a line with him again. by noon we called it a day and carefully headed for the long (and slow) drive home. i had no option but to nurse the motor on the way back as my breaks were gonners and the journey took almost twice as long as usual, but we made it home in one piece.
not one of our more productive sessions, but we had a great time with good company and we even got sunburnt and found a few new marks that we'll be back to try in the coming months

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last pics

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fair play to ye lads - great dedication as always!

Well done Al and company,,,,,,,,,,,,great way to spend a few days,great photos too

well done to yas lads great sessions and nice pictures too, good job done

good man al.jordans fairly catching the turbot now

Well done everyone. Great results and report as always Those turbots are a really decent size, nice one.
I'm really pleased that Mark has caught his first ever thornie, I hope it is the first of many for him. Nice pictures too Al.

Brilliant reports and photos as always Al. Glad you all go home safely cause I wanna go fishing with you guys for many many years to come.

Nice to meet Mark and Jordan and catch up with Al again. Congrats to Mark on the Thornie, hope its the 1st of many. The catch rate wasnt as good as hoped but the crac was mighty and made up for it.
Hadnt much choice on cookin breaky, Als supplies were dwindling and Jordan and Marks tongues were hangin out and their sides collapsing so it was breaky for 8.

great report and pic's al', sorry i never got to wet a line with you mark and the wee man, i pulled my back out before i even got my first rod in the water but battered on regardless, suffered it out to around 6.30 but it was getting the better of me so had to pack up. but there will be plenty more sessions as was said the fishing was a bit slow but the banter and crack made up for it ......and the grub

well done lads a nice few days fishing and well done mark on the ray also some nice turbot there hope my trip up there goes as well in 2 weeks

ah, ya see i know what went wrong! wheres the hat? you left the lucky hat at home and poxed the trip!! still the craic was good i'd say!

Good Stuff Al - nice report and photos.

Mick

fair play to ye lads - great dedication as always!

cheers brian, just a pity it was'nt fishing better, but sure, at least no one blanked

Well done Al and company,,,,,,,,,,,,great way to spend a few days,great photos too

thanks dave. the weather was lovely and made the whole trip a lot more enjoyable, even if the fishing was'nt great

well done to yas lads great sessions and nice pictures too, good job done

cheers man, we were'nt giving up easy

good man al.jordans fairly catching the turbot now

i know brian, and to think about all the mileage i did last year to try and get him one and he's now pulling them out every where

Well done everyone. Great results and report as always Those turbots are a really decent size, nice one.
I'm really pleased that Mark has caught his first ever thornie, I hope it is the first of many for him. Nice pictures too Al.

cheers paula, just a pity the mullet were'nt playing ball last night . but sure it's early days yet

Brilliant reports and photos as always Al. Glad you all go home safely cause I wanna go fishing with you guys for many many years to come.

us too man. we'll have to get another session in soon again

Nice to meet Mark and Jordan and catch up with Al again. Congrats to Mark on the Thornie, hope its the 1st of many. The catch rate wasnt as good as hoped but the crac was mighty and made up for it.
Hadnt much choice on cookin breaky, Als supplies were dwindling and Jordan and Marks tongues were hangin out and their sides collapsing so it was breaky for 8.

sure we're all fading away to mere mountains craic was mighty and we'll have to do it all over again jordan has been throwing some not so subtle hints at me that he wants to give cruit island a go after hearing us talk about it . looks like another camping trip on the cards for the summer then

great report and pic's al', sorry i never got to wet a line with you mark and the wee man, i pulled my back out before i even got my first rod in the water but battered on regardless, suffered it out to around 6.30 but it was getting the better of me so had to pack up. but there will be plenty more sessions as was said the fishing was a bit slow but the banter and crack made up for it ......and the grub

not to worry don we'll be up that way again soon enough

well done lads a nice few days fishing and well done mark on the ray also some nice turbot there hope my trip up there goes as well in 2 weeks

cheers man. i hope you have a bit better luck than us, but you'll be fishing a better set of tides than what we had to contend with

ah, ya see i know what went wrong! wheres the hat? you left the lucky hat at home and poxed the trip!! still the craic was good i'd say!

you might be onto something there noel, and i could have done with the hat as we got toasted again

Good Stuff Al - nice report and photos.

Mick

cheers mick. i got your pm, just flat out at the moment, i'll send you a wee reply later man