mayo and galway sat & sun 25th & 26th feb

People: myself, drew and dawsey

Duration: various

Tide: various

Weather: 4 seasons in 2 days!

Bait: rag, mack, sand eel and prawn

Rigs: flappers, pulleys and 2 up 1 down

Results: flounder, coalies, whiting 5 bearded rockling and sea trout




Report: it's been a while since i got the chance to put up a report. with family committments, flu bugs, tonsilitus and a few poor sessions i just have'nt had the chance to sit down in front of the computer and do a report. but here goes,,, and it's a pretty lengthy one .
during the week i decided to plan a trip out west. this worked out well as dawsey called me to say he was heading over to sligo to meet up with zeke to sell him a rod. so with drew in toe we decided to leave belfast around lunch time on saturday. sadly jordan was off school all week with tonsilitus. so he was gonna have to sit this one out
we hit the road an hour or so late as dawsey was in his usual form regarding time keeping i swear, those clocks in comber must run a few hours behind belfast time . but we were on the road and headed straight out to sligo. unfortunately i seemed to get stuck behind every sunday driver on the "A" roads and the long haul from enniskillen to sligo. so it was after 6pm by the time we got to sligo . dawsey shot off to meet up with zeke and our intention was to fish a local beach mark. but dawsey and drew were camping it out and we decided just to head off to our second chosen mark in mayo and set up to fish into the night and get base camp sorted.
we arrived at the mark and got the tent sorted and fished a dropping tide. i love this mark, due to it's seclusion and good fishing. doggie3131 off the site brought us here for the first time a few years back and i always make the point of wetting a line here any time we're out this way as usual it was flounder after flounder and the coalies even made an appearence. drew even managed a wee sea trout which was a welcome addition to the species list . as the tide dropped well off we were chasing the water out at pace. so much so that drew found a crack off he had on the first cast with a flounder and coalie on the rig , some people ehh!
as we got towards low water i lost 2 rigs on a reef at distance and decided that rather than re-rigging i'd just get my head down and make an early start instead. so i left dawsey and drew to it, but they only fished on another hour before getting some sleep. i crawlled out of the motor at 8am and walked onto the beach to see drew fishing away and dawsey truffle hunting in the tent. boy that guy can snore . drew was getting a steady run of flounder so i got the coffee on and decided on a plan of attack for the day. with dawsey up and about we decided to nip down to see the galway buccaniers at their club comp that was due to start at lunchtime out in connemara.
it was a great drive down and we saw some lovely looking marks the whole way down the west coast. sadly we did'nt have enough time to try to fish them but they will be given a go in the summer . we arrived at the comp and got to meet up with some old and new friends and fellow site members. but the weather was grim to say the least . it was blowing a gale and it looked like the rain was'nt too far away. but after getting a good chat with the lads we headed off to our intended mark for a go at the possibility of an early thornie. not much to talk of thow as both drew and dawsey blanked and i only managed 2 tiny whiting between the gales and constant rain . i had higher hopes for this mark as we've done well at it in the past, but sure it's still early in the year and we'll be back again when the weather and fishing improves . we knocked it on the head just before 6pm and headed on home. i knew we were looking at a good 4 hours on the road and we were famished! so we still had to stop off somewhere to get something hot to eat and get home. by 10pm we were back in belfast and the trip was over. there was nothing too remarkable caught and i think we spent more time driving than fishing . but it was good to get dawsey and drew out west to fish a few more new marks they had'nt been on before. and it was good to catch up with the galway and mayo lads. all in all we covered over 800km over the weekend but sure we'd do it all again in a heartbeat (we do enjoy our fishing)

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Nice going lads, its a hard ol drive, looking forward to wetting a line with you's all soon, now the weather is changing! give it another month (April the Irish Summer month!!) and we should all be back in top form!!! Al you bring your lads and I'll bring mine will have a great ol meet up somewhere!!

good man kevin just hope the weather and fishing picks up soon so we can get back down the east coast to see all you lads

jesus al thats some round trip yous did pity yous did not get more fish but as you well no you cant win them all but the good days will return soon it only a month or so b4 the hounds start to show so i might see yous down on 1 of the wicklow/wexford marks soon enough

Good Going glad ye had results for all the effort put in!jaysus 800k (for a good cause though) Hardcore!

tightlines
ferg

good man kevin just hope the weather and fishing picks up soon so we can get back down the east coast to see all you lads

Yeah we'll plan a big meet up get all the lads together and head for either Wickla or Wexford (if the Dodger lets us!!, ya know what he's like and his hounds & rays.... "They are ALL mine!!" and we'll need someone to keep Fishface and Eyes from throwing stones at each other!!! But it would make a great report!!!

my god thats some amount of milage you put up.dawseys snoring proberley kept any wild beasts away from the tent but id say the craic was great.your committment to your angling is amazing and i salute you well done on a great imformative report

sorry i didnt got a chance to chat with with you Al cuz we're bit late for the bus but there'll be a next time .great to read your report as good as always,and hey give as ashout if you guys heading this way again.tight lines and stay safe

great report as always - that was class luck drew getting your crack off with 2 fish on it later!

still doesnt beat pete davis losing a rig and then hooking it later in the session - 6 flounder on!

nice one lads..

A great weekend away with the guys, Al has no fear when it comes to driving long distances to find fish, absolute legend. Dawsey has the time keeping skills of a 4 year old, but is great craic, even though his snoring woke me at 6am and forced me to go fishing. Absolutely fantastic weekend away with the lads again!

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well done guys the miles were worth it when u catch fish like that

Well dun lads Great report as always U got some nice fish there
Tight Lines

AAAAAAA AL the forum has not been the same in a while i always looked forward to reading your reports,,, and this one makes up for the missing ones..... nice going lads.......... it was a pitty i missed out on metting the other lads,,, but ha maybe next time............

good stuff lads some fine looking fish and a nice sea trout

That's some bit of driving Al At least ye caught a few, we'll have to organize a session next time ye down this neck of the woods work always seems to get in the way

great fishing lads, well done

jesus al thats some round trip yous did pity yous did not get more fish but as you well no you cant win them all but the good days will return soon it only a month or so b4 the hounds start to show so i might see yous down on 1 of the wicklow/wexford marks soon enough

cheers man. yeah we'll deffo be doing a good bit of east coast trips once the weather and fishing improves . i might even get a decent smoothie this year instead of just pups
hope to see you lads this year when they come on the feed again

:P Good Going glad ye had results for all the effort put in!jaysus 800k (for a good cause though) Hardcore!
tightlines
ferg

cheers ferg. i don't mind the driving when it comes to fishing. a few mates of mine would rather sit for 2 hours on a fishless beach watching motionless rod tips instead of packing up and driving an hour to another mark that you know is fishing well. about a fortnight ago we all headed up to tr na rossin on the nw corner of donegal for a session. it was pants to say the least so i just decided after 4 hours to get the lads to pack up and we headed to a tried and tested harbour mark on the antrim coast and it saved the weekend . sure what's a few hundred kilometers and a few hours driving among friends

good man kevin just hope the weather and fishing picks up soon so we can get back down the east coast to see all you lads

Yeah we'll plan a big meet up get all the lads together and head for either Wickla or Wexford (if the Dodger lets us!!, ya know what he's like and his hounds & rays.... "They are ALL mine!!" and we'll need someone to keep Fishface and Eyes from throwing stones at each other!!! But it would make a great report!!!

sounds good kev. i'll bring down a couple of matching crash helmets for fishface and eyesreilley and their stone throwing antics the jealously between the chuckle brothers is something else
but sure, we would'nt have them any other way

my god thats some amount of milage you put up.dawseys snoring proberley kept any wild beasts away from the tent but id say the craic was great.your committment to your angling is amazing and i salute you well done on a great imformative report

thanks man. you just never know where we'll pop up around the country at the weekend
and as for dawsey " the truffel hunter ". i'm surprised we did'nt have a few of the 4 toed locals down to see what all the racket was about the sides of the tent were vibrating like the outside ring of a sub woofer with that boy

sorry i didnt got a chance to chat with with you Al cuz we're bit late for the bus but there'll be a next time .great to read your report as good as always,and hey give as ashout if you guys heading this way again.tight lines and stay safe

same here zeke with dawsey's sense of time keeping and the traffic we should hacve been there earlier. but it's early days and the better weather is hopefully on it's way. so there are still loads of trips out to sligo in the pipeline yet . see you then man

great report as always - that was class luck drew getting your crack off with 2 fish on it later!
still doesnt beat pete davis losing a rig and then hooking it later in the session - 6 flounder on!

jeese brian, and there was me thinking that drew was flukey . you should have give pete a few euro that night to do your lottery for you with that one!

nice one lads..

thanks tom. good to be back out again

A great weekend away with the guys, Al has no fear when it comes to driving long distances to find fish, absolute legend. Dawsey has the time keeping skills of a 4 year old, but is great craic, even though his snoring woke me at 6am and forced me to go fishing. Absolutely fantastic weekend away with the lads again!

your more than welcome drew. hopefully we'll have even better luck this weekend

well done guys the miles were worth it when u catch fish like that

thanks fagan. we're gonna hit it hard this summer . lots of new marks to try out this year and rathlin is gonna get a blast this year. i'll keep yourself and wee dave informed about that one. it would be good to get a group of lads from the site over there for a weekend as i have a few excellent spots to try out over there that i have been gathering info on for the last few years

Well dun lads Great report as always U got some nice fish there
Tight Lines

thanks zud. we'll have to get a donegal thornie session sorted for the summer again this year. it was good craic last year and with the way this weather has been, i reckon they should move in earlier this year

AAAAAAA AL the forum has not been the same in a while i always looked forward to reading your reports,,, and this one makes up for the missing ones..... nice going lads.......... it was a pitty i missed out on metting the other lads,,, but ha maybe next time............

sorry we missed you alan. we saw the lads at the comp and were undecided as to where we were gonna fish. it was a toss up between where we did fish beside the dive center or round to the spot you and mike fished that day overlooking the estuary at the caravan park. on reflection we should have headed round to that spot instead . but sure, it was dawsey and drew's fist trip out that way. so they got to see a few of the marks and fish one. just wets our appetite for the summer . hopefully see you then man

good stuff lads some fine looking fish and a nice sea trout

cheers man. there was'nt nothing out of the ordinary to talk of on this trip. but at least there was plenty caught by everyone on the saturday

That's some bit of driving Al At least ye caught a few, we'll have to organize a session next time ye down this neck of the woods work always seems to get in the way

cheers brian. jordan has me tormented to get out with you this summer his target from the shore this year is a specimen ballan and a pollack over 3lb. so a trip out your way in the height of the summer should sort that. we recently found a new king rag spot that is untouched by any one. 30mins digging over low water got us almost 3lb of the big snakes 2 spring tides ago . so we can supply the bait and you can supply the mark there'll be plenty of well fed wrasse that day

great fishing lads, well done

thanks man. we'll have to meet up again soon out in donegal. i have a few trips planned for the end of the month, so i'll keep you in the loop

Great report well done enjoyed reading

Great report well done enjoyed reading