Sligo and Donegal, 11th and 12th March

People: Myself

Duration:7 hrs each day

Tide:Last of ebb to full tide.

Weather:Mild, dull, calm.

Bait:Lug and frozen mackerel.

Rigs: 2 and 3 hook flappers.

Results:flounder, pouting, pin whiting, rockling, small codling.




Report:
11th March; Hadn't been sea fishing for a week or two, (giving the trout and pike a go for a change), so I decided to take advantage of a couple of settled days. Pack some mack and dug some lug and tried a beach mark to start. First cast produced a 35cm flounder (to lug for once) and then nothing for the next three hours. This has happened several times at this particular mark so I decided to try somewhere deeper, on reeling in I found I had another flounder but this one was a mere 22cm. The next mark produced 3 more flounder to 27cm, several pin whiting, two pouting and a 3b rockling. Not that many bites in between fish, things were a bit quiet.
12th March; Tried a different beach but this was even slower than yesterday, about 3.5 hours without a bait being touched. A move to a nearby rock mark produced hooks buried in fine weed every cast so a return to yesterday's second mark seemed like the only option. There was practically no swell here at all and the wind had also died away. The fishing wasn't great but I was entertained by a seabird diving close by and catching a succession of crabs and what I think was a blenny, I'd have been quite happy to catch that myself! A few pin whiting showed up eventually, one accompanied by a rather skinny dab, post spawning I presume. (That might explain why I'm not carrying much weight myself....) Last cast with my last lug turned up a small codling so a total of 6 species over the 2 days.

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nice fishing mate a few species to keep you busy over the couple of days but i think thats a dab in the first photo

nice fishing mate a few species to keep you busy over the couple of days but i think thats a dab in the first photo

Thanks Tightlines, assuming you mean the fish on the ruler, it looks a bit "dabby" but definitely a flounder as the scales were smooth tail to head and the underside was a solid white rather than semi transparent as in a dab.

Nice mix of fish there ,reward for all the effort put in happy days
tightlines
fergal

both flats are dabs

both flats are dabs

no there not only the one beside the pin whiting is

Fair play for sticking it out when its so slow but some nice fish there

two days fish'n away from it all what more can a man ask for.........
good report & fish

Nice few fish John

nice mix there john. good to see all that moving about paid off for you with a few fish man
i tried a pike session myself on monday with only 1 run on the deadbait on the bottom for 11 hours fishing
i tried everything with the float and plugging too, but no joy. they still seem to be a bit sluggish at the mo.

nice couple of sessions John, flats aint that great in numbers and size until next winter, but more and more spesies will be up soon
well done John

nice flounder 35 cm is respectible for this time of the year the first flat is a dab defo

seems your a dab hand john, well done mate

nice going ! good few species ther thats deffo a dab first pic ,,,,,,,,,,nice fishing

There's a difference of opinion relating to dab or flounder in my report so can I just state that the only dab I caught is the one pictured with the pin whiting. The flattie on the ruler is definitely a flounder, it was smooth when rubbed from tail to head whereas a dab is quite rough, the lateral line does not have the pronounced bulge above the pectoral fin that a dab has,(see attached picture) and the underside, which I saw but nobody else did, was more opaque than a dab. Hope this settles the matter, regards, JW.

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sorry john i did not read you report right in the first place as i did not see any mention of a dab being caught but your dead right with what your saying sorry again and good fishing