THE SILVER ASSASIN!! n/w donegal 23/02/2013

People: myself and junior

Duration: about 15 hours in total

Tide: all states

Weather: sunny, calm but freezing in the wee small hours!

Bait: rag, lug, sand eel, mackerel and razor

Rigs: 2 up 1 down, pennel pulley and assorted soft plastics and lures

Results: coalfish, flounder, sea trout and BASS!!!




Report:

with another weekend upon us it was time to sit down on friday night and scower the internet weather forecast sites to see where we were gonna end up at for a spot of fishing . with a mixed pound of rag and lug in the fridge we decided to try a beach in donegal we have had success on in the past. the forecast looked perfect and the car was quickly stripped of back seats and the fishing and camping out gear was loaded up in quick fashion and we were on the road donegal bound!
we arrived to find the conditions almost perfect with a small surf and gin clear water all along the shore for as far as the eye could see and no real wind to talk of. we both set up our 2 rods each and got to it. but things were fishless until we lost the light, which is normal for this time of year. i was first to get a fish with a flounder taking the rag i had slipped up to the top hook of my pulley pennel and thought that this was gonna be the start of a busy session. but as it turned out the fish were few and far between
2 hours must have gone by and i started to hook into rotting 4 foot long lengths of kelp stalks on the incomming tide while junior had'nt got so much as a nibble. but at least he was'nt having to deal with the kelp which was fast becoming a nuisance for me .
i was standing with my back to jordan untangling more kelp from a rig when i heard him let out a yelp of " fish on! ". i ran up the beach just in time to see him land a nice wee sea trout of about a pound on his in close rod. he was jumping with joy and took great pleasure of reminding me that it was his second trout of the year while i still had to get a single one yet
he was lightly hooked so returning him was'nt gonna be an issue, but the poor wee chap was crawling with lice. we removed 28 with the foreceps before returning him none the worse for his dry land adventures. he gave jordan great pleasure catching him so the lice removal was our way of saying thanks before he returned to the deep blue yonder.
i returned to my rods to see a nod on the one i had that was still fishing a reeled in a tiny coalfish. nothing special, but still a fish none the less
sadly thats where my fishing ended for the night as i never got another single bite. but junior on the other hand was out to show me up again and was at his antics. we were standing talking to each other at his rods when his in close rod gave the rythmic nod, nod, nod of weed in the line. jordan reckoned it was a bite but i dismissed it as weed. well the next thing you know it got thumped by the unmistakeable bite of a fish. jordan struck into it and after 10 or so turns of the reel proclaimed he had a bass on
i thought he was winding me up, but a nice little bass was soon on dry land and jordan was revelling in the fact he told me it was a bite and identified the fish just 10 turns in . his first bass of the year and another species up on me again. (no surprise )
so we got him unhooked and a few piccys were taken and off he went back to grow up a bit bigger for another day.
jordan was made up and we stuck it out to 3am in the hope of more silver fellas turning up. but it was'nt ment to be. by now it was properly freezing and our worms were beginning to crunch when you tried to thread a hook through them added to that, the mackerel, razor and sand eels had frozen in the bucket so we called it a day and went up to the car for some kip.
after 6 freezing hours of broken sleep we got up and put the kettle on and warmed ourselves up with a pint of coffee each and a packet of orieos ( breakfast of champions). the tempreature during the night had dropped to below -5 and the condensation inside the motor had frozen in the inside of the windows
not for the faint of heart
but we were spurred on with jordans success and tried the same spot for a daylight session to see if it would yield better results. but it's still early in the year and as expected we did'nt get a single nibble. so by 4pm we packed up and headed home.
on this occasion the fish were few and far between, but jordan did his usual and made up for it by getting a few of the more unusual species that we encounter on our adventures. not a bad way to round off the weekend and we'll deffo be back to this spot to try for more silver fellas in the coming weeks

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Great report, that's a nice little session for February. Fortune favours the brave!

Bonus fish!
Any lice on the Bass at all?

Class Session Lads, getting about rightly!

Great report, that's a nice little session for February. Fortune favours the brave!

thanks rob. you just never know whats out there

Bonus fish!
Any lice on the Bass at all?

no man. he was a solid wee lump of a bass in fine condition

Class Session Lads, getting about rightly!

the fishing itch is getting a good oul scratch drew

Well done

by now it was properly freezing and our worms were beginning to crunch when you tried to thread a hook through them added to that, the mackerel, razor and sand eels had frozen in the bucket so we called it a day and went up to the car for some kip.
after 6 freezing hours of broken sleep we got up

You are more dedicated than me - sleeping in the car at this time of year is not for the faint hearted !!!!

well done lads!
nice to see a few different species in a sess
Did the van camping myself in lahinch on thursday- 2 sessions, no fish- both daylight though.. BUt I used the blanket of Guinness to keep me warm in the van.

Bonus fish!
Any lice on the Bass at all?

no man. he was a solid wee lump of a Bass in fine condition

Interesting, just about what I'd expect too. Without giving away your mark, I bet the sea trout came from one direction where there's a load of fish farm cages and the bass came from the opposite direction where there's open water......

28 lice on a 34cm trout! The poor wee feckers are really up against it, aren't they.

It was cold up here alright...
Good to get a few fish..and a good read as always!..
I hope to get out at the weekend for a few hours!

Good reporting there Al & Jordan.

It's always great for the the younger guns to strike fish. Nothing worse than the "teacher" catching all the time.

good to see a bass so long since i have seen one fine sea trout as well

Good fishing lads, and nice read as usual. Well done

Fantastic fishing lads, love to see Bass being landed

Enjoyed reading that report,
Martin

brilliant sessions lads, a bass in donegal is worth 3 or four in waterford but jeez AL get the finger out ,
the young lad is really making ya look bad lol

well done lads, bass to go with the sea trout what more do ya want.lol.

cracking report .

cheers fagan

great report Al
great fishing Jordan

nah seriously, thats a good result two fine fish there
and thats deadly kippin out in that cold. i reckon i would have kept the car running all night with the heat on! fair play

Great report Al, he's gone and done it again to you, Jordan will be giving you fishing tips soon haven't been out ina couple of weeks and itching to get out after reading the report, will have to build up the brownie points with herself

why to go lads nice one... so the bass are in cork,kerry,clare, skip skip galway , sligo mayo and donegal,,, hum,, there must be a bass circle around galway west coast.... anyway ,,nice session......

Well done

by now it was properly freezing and our worms were beginning to crunch when you tried to thread a hook through them added to that, the mackerel, razor and sand eels had frozen in the bucket so we called it a day and went up to the car for some kip.
after 6 freezing hours of broken sleep we got up

You are more dedicated than me - sleeping in the car at this time of year is not for the faint hearted !!!!

well, in all honesty frank if i had known it was gonna be so cold we would have just went on home
i think there is a fine line between dedication and madness

well done lads!
nice to see a few different species in a sess
Did the van camping myself in lahinch on thursday- 2 sessions, no fish- both daylight though.. BUt I used the blanket of Guinness to keep me warm in the van.

ahh daire, a blanket of guinness would have been lovely
sadly our only blankets were of fleece
it's amazing what the prospect of getting a few silver fellas will make us do

Bonus fish!
Any lice on the Bass at all?

no man. he was a solid wee lump of a Bass in fine condition

Interesting, just about what I'd expect too. Without giving away your mark, I bet the sea trout came from one direction where there's a load of fish farm cages and the Bass came from the opposite direction where there's open water......
28 lice on a 34cm trout! The poor wee feckers are really up against it, aren't they.

thats the one man. mr trout came from the right and and the schoolie from the left
the only thing going in the trouts favour was that even thow he was crawling with lice none of them left him with any open sores like we have seen on them down around belmullet. but half of the lice were concentrated around his anal fin and second dorsal. jordan tried straight mackerel on his pennel pulley for a few hours to see if the thornies had moved in yet, but no sign of them as yet.

It was cold up here alright...
Good to get a few fish..and a good read as always!..
I hope to get out at the weekend for a few hours!

cheers man. hoping to get out ourselves. this is the most settled spell of weather we've seen in ages!! long may it last

Good reporting there Al & Jordan.
It's always great for the the younger guns to strike fish. Nothing worse than the "teacher" catching all the time.

ahh, theres no worries of that rory
it's usually the other way around when it comes to our fishing trips
you'd think he'd take pity on his oul fella once in a while sniff, sniff,,

good to see a Bass so long since i have seen one fine sea trout as well

cheers man. that whole area always seems to get a good run of bass during the winter months. which is odd as you'd think they would head south for the warmer water temps

Good fishing lads, and nice read as usual. Well done

thanks man

Fantastic fishing lads, love to see Bass being landed
Enjoyed reading that report,
Martin

cheers martin, and even better to see him go back. a farmer came over for a chat and told us we should have kept the bass for the pan. as soon as i mentioned the bass regs he just gave us a bit of a rye smile. so i take it he was'nt too fussed on the regulations

brilliant sessions lads, a Bass in donegal is worth 3 or four in waterford but jeez AL get the finger out ,
the young lad is really making ya look bad lol

i know davy
but sure i'm used to playing second fiddle to him by now

well done lads, Bass to go with the sea trout what more do ya want.lol.
cracking report .
cheers fagan

thanks man. do you and the lads fancy a run over to rathlin this year?
if we get a few days of settled weather we were thinking of going over for the weekend and camping it out. i think wee dave was interested too. so it would be good to get a group of us togeather and fish it for a few days to see what it throws up

great report Al
great fishing Jordan
nah seriously, thats a good result two fine fish there
and thats deadly kippin out in that cold. i reckon i would have kept the car running all night with the heat on! fair play

cheers charlie. we knew it was gonna be cold, but did'nt expect it to drop below -5
it was mad seeing the ice on the inside of the windows

Great report Al, he's gone and done it again to you, Jordan will be giving you fishing tips soon haven't been out ina couple of weeks and itching to get out after reading the report, will have to build up the brownie points with herself

cheers man. get those brownie points gathered up
god only knows how long this spell of good weather will last for

why to go lads nice one... so the Bass are in cork,kerry,clare, skip skip galway , sligo mayo and donegal,,, hum,, there must be a Bass circle around galway west coast.... anyway ,,nice session......

cheers alan, they must have all gone west for their winter hols

cracking stuff lads as always.

we had a few on the north coast in jan but they seem to have went walkies again - must have went up there

i take it you two are for the leenan meet? - drew was tellin me to be prepared to be out fished by jordan.....so I'm leaving my rods in the jeep

dave