mayo, galway & clare 13th, 14th & 15th january

People: primarily myself, jordan, drew and doggie3131. bit accompanied by others at various venues

Duration: see below

Tide: see below

Weather: see below

Bait: rag, lug, mack, sand eel, razor

Rigs: 2 up 1 down, 3 hook flappers

a lot of planning had gone into this trip with the main event being going over to support the galway buccaniers SAC fundraiser at salthill for the RNLI. doggie3131 kindly offered to put us up for the weekend and a lot of fishing was planned in around the comp on saturday. we high tailed it from belfast at 2.30pm on friday and headed straight to doggie3131's place in ballindine co mayo. being the true gent that he is, there was a big pot of stew waiting for us on our arrival just after 6.30pm . so after a quick munch we got his gear loaded into my car and hit a mayo beach mark for a quick session to see what was about. we got there just before 9pm and got to fishing 2 rods each. the tide was just dropping and i was the first off the blocks with a flounder. but joordan being jordan decided not to let me hog the limelight too long before bettering my mid 20cm flounder with a bloody sea trout just over 1lb10oz
he was made up as it was another species to add to his 2012 list and was quickly followed by doggie3131 getting a bigger one at 2lb on the nose. it was like groundhog day all over again. trout were being caught to my left and right and as usual i did'nt get a sniff . but on the bright side, at least i was catching something. poor drew was having a nightmare loosing a few rigs and not getting any bites. before too long we noticed that it had just past midnight and wrapped it up as we had to be in salthill for the RNLI fundraiser for 11am. so we got back to doggie's place for around 1.30am and made the fatal mistake of having a few drinks. well, i say a few. but after 18 cans and many southern comforts, and a few potato juices we made it into our beds for just after 5.30am drew was first up just before 7am and zig zaged his way up to the garage for a round of energy drinks and and a pint of coffee. he threw a few euros into the slot machine and duely cleaned it out to the tune of 55 euro! i appeared out of bed just after 9.30am followed by doggie and jordan. the coffee went on and we all nursed our heads until after 10.30am when we decided it was about time to hit the road for salthill. drew was a champion and treated us all to sausage and bacon subs and coffee at a garage on the way up the road which went down a treat

SATURDAY 14th SALTHILL NOON TO 3pm
we arrived and got set up for just after mid day and went up the beach greeting old friends we have'nt seen in ages. saltydog, stevecrow, baitdigger and gf kelly1969 and all the rest of the lads were fishing away and we got to chatting about all things fishy. we did'nt expect too much from the beach, but the main concern was to raise money for the RNLI and they had girls with buckets going up and down the beach collecting donations. the session resulted in a single sand goby and the raffle was drawn. the prizes up for grabs were pretty amazing with hundreds of euros worth of vouchers up for grabs for supervalue and fine dining and corrib tackle to name but a few. i ended up with a full days fishing for 2 people aboard the maighdeen mhara skippered by kevin and jordan got a voucher for a free portrait painting by daire lynch artworks. 2 brilliant prizes we all said our goodbyes to the buccaniers and headed to our next mark in co clare accompanied by demented dan off the site.

MARK 3 SATURDAY 14TH 5PM TO 11PM
we arrived on the beach just as the tide was turning back in and discovered we had the cove to ourselves. so we all spread out and filled the spot over the clean ground with me to the far left beside the rocks and drew to the same to the far right. fishing was slow to start with for the first few hours before 2 lads appeared and decided to set up to my left which left me a bit puzzled as i was almost up against the rocks but i just fished on casting straight in front of myself hoping that it was'nt gonna be crossed line city . soon enough noel had a good thump and reeled in a nice bass we all went over to see his catch and get a few piccys and drew was getting some video footage too. after all the excitement i went back over to my rods to discover both of them were slack lined. i was thinking bass!! but after winding in for what seemed like forever i discovered both my rigs were on the shore and the 2 rigs had been cut to bits and missing the gripper leads it was only then that i noticed the 2 anglers who squeezed in beside me were fishing 2 rods each and casting straight across me . the rest of our group came over to see what the score was and i thought, sod it. we were here first and there was another half a mile of beach for these 2 clowns to fish so i was standing my ground. the next few crossed lines we had, myself and doggie dealt with them (scissors and knives in hand). if any more tackle was gonna be lost it sure as hell was'nt gonna be mine . i think the message got across the language barrier and the 2 lads packed up and moved on elsewhere. during all this i had'nt noticed that drew had packed up all his gear. the lack of a single bite let alone a fish and the lack of sleep and a delayed hangover had got the poor fella down and he was fighting to keep his eyes open and was thouraghly peeved off. we fished on and a run of coalies appeared and we all got 4 or 5 each before calling it a day. we said our goodbyes to dan (great fishing with you again man) and headed back to doggie's place. poor drew hit the hay as soon as we got in and myself and doggie had another wee charge at the cans until 3am when it all got too much and we admitted defeat and hit the hay.

SUNDAY 15TH MAYO BEACH MARK 3PM TO 6PM.
we all woke up around 10,30pm and noel got the fry and coffee pot on. there were some groggy heads about when goldwing popped in to say hello. great to catch up man and get all the norway planning into full swing for july. before too long it was time for us to hit the road and say our goodbyes. doggie was a great host and more than looked after us while we were visiting and the open invitation still stands man. if you ever want a session up this way our door is always open we decided on taking a drive out towards clew bay, achill, erris head, belmullet, killala and sligo to show drew a few of the marks he has read about over the years on the site. it truely is an outstanding part of the country with some amazing scenery and beaches. we even decided to give one of the marks a 3 hour throw to see what was available. drew was still looking at a fishless weekend so hopes were high that he would go home having at least caught something. thankfully the fish gods decided to smile on us and we all got a few flounder . drew came into his own ending up with 8 or 9. jordan had 4 and i had 3.
a great way to round off the weekend and soften the blow of the 4 and a half hour drive home all in all by the time we got home we covered 714 miles what a weekend

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last few pics

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Brilliant report Al, Loved every second of that trip, Doggie3131 is a legend for putting us up, and as for driving us everywhere Al deserves a medal, especially after the nights we had! Man, my first trip west was a real eye opener, amazing place and amazing people... Roll on the next one....

The Video

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Nek7cSFiKFU

it was fun as usual al,jordan got his fish,we got drunk...some of us quicker than others...a few fish caught,wait till ye get down in may...the fishing should be better then...heres a few more pics.and i will be up this year,i want one of those cookoos....and i believe there was a few fish caught in salthill after we left...

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Pure class soundtrack on the video and the fishing was'nt half bad either,thanks for sharing

great report Al ,,,,,some nice fish sessions ther.....and beer one,s to lol,,fair play on geting round the west coast, the last beach looks familliar !!! hat of to ya clocking up the miles..nice fishing,

well done on the report, pure dedication!

Well done lads, sounded like good crack, plenty of drink & a few good fish happy days

great report Al and great to see ya all again .brill video drew well put together. see you all the next time your down or im up that way.

Nice report,lovely read,always nice to get a trout or two,was the bass any size?

well Al... fantasic,, glad ye got some fish also.. i think drew is in for a real treat in may..... nice to see noel mention the beer.... Drew love thw video watching it reminded me of the father ted programe when they went to the caravan on holidays.... brillant....... tight lines all.......

Excellent!

Brilliant report, fishing and weekend! Well done all.

Weel done lads, some great fishing, great report and pics, me thinks it could be time to give the old haunts in Clare a lash again to see whats happening, Well done again lads

fishing and bit of drink combined together makes a great craic thought , great report Al, well done lads

Great report al and great video drew,reminds me of our swilly safaris!got the story of drew tonight there,sounded like a mighty weekend

great report al its good to see ye got a few nice fish,it was good to meet you and Jordan and drew as well

2012 is off and running Al! Great stuff, sea trout, bass and flounder, what more could you ask for? Good work and nice pics.

Whats your species count for the year so far? And Jordans?

Well done guys, great results, A+ for effort and sounds like a trip to remember. You guys must have very understanding wives/girlfriends or a very expensive Valentine's Day coming up

great read al and great fishing lads well deserved for the time put in