Donegal Bay, 22nd and 23rd August 2012

People:Me

Duration:6 hours on Wed, 2.5 hrs on Thurs.

Tide:1 hr ebb and 5 hrs flood on Wed, 2hrs ebb, 0.5 hrs flood on Thurs.

Weather: Sunny, warm, windy on Wed, duller, cooler, calmer on Thurs.

Bait: Mackerel, lug.

Rigs:2 hook flappers, 1 up-1 down, float.

Results: Dogfish, pollack, 4 types of wrasse, flounder.




Report:
Day one, Wednesday, was spent on a rock mark where I was sheltered from a fresh west/south west wind. I cheated and bought a couple of mackerel fillets from the supermarket in case I was unable to catch any myself (not unheard of this year). I cast out a double flapper of mackerel strip and after only 5 mins got the first bite of the day resulting in a doggie. I thought that was a good sign but that was the last bite on mackerel or lug from that particular spot for the day. I left that rod with the reel on ratchet to fish itself and tried various other nearby spots with floatfished lug. This was instantly successful in that it produced non-stop bites every cast until I ran out of lug. Next time I’ll dig more than 50 no matter how much my back complains. The fish were a bit on the small side though, apart from 2 small pollack, the rest were all wrasse. They were of 4 different species, 2 of which I had never caught before (and I will stand correction on my identifications) so plenty of variety. I ended up with 4 ballans up to 30cm, 10 corkwings, both male and female, 3 small mouth wrasse and 2 goldsinny wrasse, a total of 6 species for the day. Worm no. 50 (out of 50) produced what would have been the best fish of the day, almost certainly a good ballan wrasse, which fought like a demon. I hauled it out of one weed snag but it dived straight into another from which there was no return. I will be back....

Day 2, Thursday, I had some mackerel left over from yesterday so I headed for a beach to try for a few flatties. I didn’t bother digging lug as I have found mackerel usually outfishes it on this mark. I set up 2 rods, one rigged with a double flapper without any beads or sequins and the other with a 1 up-1 down with beads and sequins. Six flounders, the biggest at 22 cm, turned up, all to the bead/sequin 1 up-1 down rig. Both rods were fished close in as no bites were obtained at any distance over 25yards. So what made the difference, the attractor beads and sequins or the 1 up-1 down rig? I’ll have to tie a few flappers with beads for my next visit there. Six small flounder is hardly a record breaking catch but it was 6 more than the last time I tried there during the red tide episode. Thank God to see clear water again.

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Very nice verity of Wrasse John & your right the your i d,the first pic is a rock cook wrasse also known as a small mouth wrasse & the second one is a goldsinny wrasse nice species to add to the list I hope you pointed them in the sligo direction when you were letting them go!!!!

Class wee fish the rock cook, well done.

great report and brilliant pictures man, well done!

Cracking photos of the wrasse,,nice 1.

Class wee fish the rock cook, well done.

Thanks Pete, I thought the corkwing was a handsome fish but I think the small mouth beats him.

Very nice verity of Wrasse John & your right the your i d,the first pic is a rock cook wrasse also known as a small mouth wrasse & the second one is a goldsinny wrasse nice species to add to the list I hope you pointed them in the sligo direction when you were letting them go!!!!

I pointed them towards Sligo but they swam off in reverse!

nice to the Donegal coast is starting to make a comeback, nice selection of fish

Great report and pics , thanks for sharing

Great report there John and excellent photos, you seem to be a bit of a nomad ..west cork one week , donegal bay the next , good on you pal . Two more weeks and I,ll be doing the same ..tight lines John

bet you had a pain in the wrasse pulling all them in

bet you had a pain in the wrasse pulling all them in

I expect those smoothounds are a doddle in comparison?

nice session with wide variety of wrasse spesies, well done

Great Variety of Wrasse. The thing I love about wrasse is every single one looks unique. I love the colours on the Corkwing Well done, great session!

Nice report John why dont you come over and try for the hounds when you get fed up pulling in the lovely wrasse??

Nice report John why dont you come over and try for the hounds when you get fed up pulling in the lovely wrasse??

I think I'll have to do that!

Great report there John and excellent photos, you seem to be a bit of a nomad ..west cork one week , donegal bay the next , good on you pal . Two more weeks and I,ll be doing the same ..tight lines John

You're quite a nomad yourself, how is the Salmon Fishing in Yemen?

bet you had a pain in the wrasse pulling all them in

New Avatar, did the Jaundice finally clear up?!