Achill fri 4th , sat 5th april

People: Me and Gina

Duration:various

Tide: various stages, flooding, ebbing.

Weather: 1st session breezy but dry, night session misty, breezy, rock session dry, light breeze

Bait: lug, mack, sandeel, lures

Rigs: flappers

Results:

Decided to hit Achill for a weekend of fishing and surfing, began first session on Keel Strand, half way into a flooding tide... Lug, sandeel out...not a whisper after 2 hours, called it a day and headed off to cook up a storm of sausages. Headed to Keem strand that evening, as we approached over the headland, there was a basking shark not 20ft off shore, slowing moving along slurping up plankton.. I drove down, hopped out with camera, but by time I'd gotten down the fish had moved out another 10 -15 ft, but still rather close, great to watch. I've a short clip here, - http://youtu.be/hUVy5HMDk-U -
the shark eventually moved off and I setup as before, lug/sandeel/mack, one rod in close where the stream enters, the other whacked out bout 70yards. nothing. zip. but it was a stunning evening, like standing in a Paul Henry painting, fading light, mist blowing in from the atlantic, and with every wave that washed ashore I was given a free lightshow in the form of the plankton glowing on the sand, the stream began to fill up too on the larger waves and that was a magnified show, with the water sparkling greens , blues and yellow greens.
Next morning hit up Keel again, this time mid strand, falling tide... still nothing. so drove around to Purteen harbour to cook up yet another feed of sausages, the stable of any van camping trip. as it was dry I decided to try out the rocks off the back, first cast with a kilty style lure I thought I'd hit weed, it was dogged... but to my surprise I got my first Garfish. after this fellow I changed over to a small dexter wedge and the launce began coming in on that. called it a day after bout 30mins, surfing beckoned. didn't manage to get another session in due to the weather turning hideous, so with one final panfull of sausages over in Dugort pier, took the scenic route home via the atlantic drive..
not great fishing, but two more species , beautiful views and of course all that other nature which you feel is for you only to see, the place is that peaceful and lacking in other humans to spoil it this time of year

daire






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very nice daire
nice wee vid too
looks like a stunning place all right

fishing is normally much better, flats, sea trout, pollock etc but weather was not really playing ball. lovely place though

a lovely part of the country to visit and a few fish too,fair play on getting out into the west nothing like a few days away in the trusty van ,i only have an inca van but have had many a good nights kip in it after bucket loads of fresh sea air

Nice report. Lovely part of the world. Great vid

a lovely part of the country to visit and a few fish too,fair play on getting out into the west nothing like a few days away in the trusty van ,i only have an inca van but have had many a good nights kip in it after bucket loads of fresh sea air

sure don't I live out west now =D I've a transporter, so fits a whole lot, two 8ft boards, all the rods, tripod, gear, cookers, bedding, mats, cooler box and more! doesn't smell the best at the end though, especially when you forget to return the mackeral from your bag to the cooler after a session...

nice result on the garfish - some hours put in - good report

I thought garfish were warm weather species!??


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I thought garfish were warm weather species!??


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So did I. there was also a trawler going up and down between purteen harbour and the island, so maybe they know something too... there were alot of launce about, the garfish after them,

Cool report, the plankton and Shark must have been some sight.
It's a wonder ya didnt pull in a couple of Maks along with the Gar and Launce.

thats a fine gar dude...ive only caught the one meself,pure acrobats!
what did he weigh lad do you know?
i think the specimen weight for them this year is around 2.2 lbs...
nice report lad
just goes to show the water temp. aint really dropped at all...

yeah mad to see a Gar, its early april...! All good signs.

thats a fine gar dude...ive only caught the one meself,pure acrobats!
what did he weigh lad do you know?
i think the specimen weight for them this year is around 2.2 lbs...
nice report lad
just goes to show the water temp. aint really dropped at all...

No idea what it weighed, but it tasted delicious, garfish goujons
Woulda put it back only it had impaled it's skull on the treble.

Cool report, the plankton and Shark must have been some sight.
It's a wonder ya didnt pull in a couple of Maks along with the Gar and Launce.

I thought the same, but time there was limted and tide was dropping, perhaps on a flooding..

Nice report Daire, photos are excellent and the video is an added bonus . Saw a Basking Shark a few metres off the rocks at Galley Head, near Clonakilty, some years ago, a fantastic sight. Must go a bit further afield with the van myself. Nice Garfish,,,,I wasn't expecting that

Nice report Daire, photos are excellent and the video is an added bonus . Saw a Basking Shark a few metres off the rocks at Galley Head, near Clonakilty, some years ago, a fantastic sight. Must go a bit further afield with the van myself. Nice Garfish,,,,I wasn't expecting that

Neither was I! I thought I'd hooked the usual pollock from that mark..
then the launce I thought were small garfish until I got it up the rocks. You just never know , that's the joy of fishing.

Good report and great to see a gar

Nice beard too lad.....


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Nice beard too lad.....


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cheers, I only shaved on the thursday, this is friday growth...

Nice report. Sure we're still hauling them in here in the east. I've lost count at this stage