Various Achill Marks 05/11/14

People: me

Duration: 10am - 3pm

Tide: low to high

Weather: nice to begin then miserable

Bait: soft plastics

Rigs:

Results: few tiny pollack




Report:
Not a great report but anyway...

Had a free pass for of the day but I was pushed for time because i knew the weather was due to turn so I decided to try a few marks and give them an hour or 2 each. I know it's getting a bit late in the year but I thought there might be a few big pollack or wrasse still about before they head off. Anyway, arrived to find a flat calm sea which on the south western shore of achill is most unusual. Decided to try the ship wreck gully first. Not the place I'd usually fish on my own but the sea was flat and I had my trusty auto-inflate life jacket just in case. Fished for an hour or so and then the tide began to flood so I packed up just in case a swell kicked up with the tide flooding. Not a single tap from lures at range to small soft plastics bumped along the bottom.
Next mark was the Purteen rocks which proved fruitless, another blank. To be honest the wind was really getting going at that stage and as per f***ing usual it was blowing from the south which as anyone who fishes Achill knows is a nightmare!
Seen some cracking mullet cruising the harbour so a quick change of tactics. Tried those tiny Japanese ragworm imitations on a very small jid head and managed a few follows from the mullet but no takes.
Decided to try Cloghmore pier on the way home for an hour and managed a few small pollack. Not worth taking pictures.
I've fished it a few times before just passing and bringing the missus out and on these occasions there must have been very small tides because this time it was unbelievable! The tide pushing through there is mind boggling. If you fell off that pier on a spring tide you'd be in serious trouble.

It's a bit annoying when you know the fish are there but just not feeding.
Cloughmore has some tidal race, hard spot to fish, we had a few specimen sized Rockling from it last year.

I think it was a case of the fish just simply weren't there MONKEYwrasse
Achill seems to a shadow of it's former self. The biodiversity around that pier in summer is amazing. I brought the missus out to the pier for a the bit fishing last july and the amount species just hovering around... sandeel, launce, mullet, mackeral, pollack, squid, coalies to name but a few.
I'll have to give the rockling a bash!

I'd agree, achill is now badly overfished and its not just commercial netters, I think it gets too much angling pressure in the usual spots.

I've tried a few more remote places but they are absolute buggers to get to and all very rough ground. Tackle graveyards, I would not mind so much if you were getting a few decent fish in, but it seems to me that the place is in very poor condition. There is one mark I do want to try - west of Purteen on some cliffs, but not a place to go solo or with children. Meant to be very good to a variety of techniques. I also know that a murderously located shore mark on the north side is producing codling (mostly to boats fishing small white feathers) but its a nightmare trek.

I've come to the conclusion that some of the big estuaries and bays inside Belmullet are a better option for the winter for flats and bass. The only other place I would look at are the rock marks in north mayo and Ballycastle beach in low water into darkness for codling (all long walks!).

Hope this helps

I've been looking at other marks around Achill too with the aid of the awl reliable Google Maps and some admirality charts but as you say Kieran most of them are murderously located and not to be fished alone. The north of the island seems to be very unexplored but the marks require some very very long hikes.

the north beaches always fish poorly - is that down to trawlers?

the north beaches always fish poorly - is that down to trawlers?

yes, all the beaches here and in belmullet get 'raped' on the way home by boats headed for local ports, all for a box of mixed flats...

I'd be interested in trying some of the more remote northern marks, even in winter, if people were interested?

PM if you want...