Donegal Bay 25/04/2016

I haven’t posted a report since February as I have been targeting freshwater fish recently but withdrawal symptoms got the better of me. I had to drop my mother off home on the way, just as well as I realised on the road that I had only loaded one rod. I picked up a spare rod from my mum’s garage; an old Shakespeare Legend, which I stopped using years ago for some reason. Oh yeah, I bought a Zzippy. The flask for coffee was another omission (I’m going to print out a Checklist one of these days) so I stopped at a garage to get some sandwiches and a good cup of coffee but the machine was being cleaned, (sigh of disappointment) so instant had to do. Hopefully there would be some instant fish to compensate... I got the first rod set up and cast out a sandeel on an “Up and Over “rig. I was a bit concerned that the wind, N according to the forecast, seemed to be blowing straight into my face, looking east, the effect of local topography no doubt. It was gusty and not too strong so no real problem. As I was working on the second rod, the first gave a couple of good determined lunges and forgetting I had a good sized sandeel bait and not a small strip of mackerel, I probably hit it too soon so no hookup. It was a promising start but nothing for the next hour, aside from a good sized brown crab, then the Legend gave two little nods and settled again. I reeled in a short while later to check the baits and was surprised to find a nice little plaice. Half an hour later, the rod gave another couple of nods and went quiet. I hit it anyway and in came a nice turbot, just nudging the 2lb mark and a PB for me. Another half hour later and a quick rattle of the rod tip resulted in a 35cm dab, certainly the longest dab I've caught but at only 12oz, certainly not the heaviest. Spawning really runs the fat off them. This was followed by another 3 dabs ranging from 21 to 31cm one of which was accompanied by another sizeable brown crab. Plaice, turbot, crab; what a shame I don’t like seafood. All these fish came to a 1 up 1 down beaded rig on the Legend, the Zzippy was doing nothing after the first bite of the night so I reeled it in to check the bait. About 4 rodlengths out, the rod gave a kick like an angry mule as something hit the sandeel. A couple more powerful lunges and then the line parted, probably at the leader knot, I have no idea what that was. It was getting quite cold now with my hands red raw at times; I was having to wrap up at the rate of 1 layer per hour, but after a brief lull at high water, the fish kept coming. Darkness saw the doggies move in with 12-13 weighing in during the next 2 hours up to midnight including one double shot and one doggie accompanied by 2 brown crabs, almost an infestation. Reminds me of a supposedly true story from my student days; an acquaintance of mine (no, not me) who was studying pharmacy was in a very busy chemist’s shop to get a prescription dispensed. Eventually a staff member called out his name and as he was making his way to the counter, she called out the name of his medication just “to be sure”. “Oh that’s right,” he shouts, “tell the whole effing shop I've got crabs!”Anyway, back to the present. I was fast running out of both layers for warmth and mackerel for bait and after reeling in one final dab, I called it a night. It was nice to renew my acquaintance with an old favourite rod, the Shakespeare Legend, which in conjunction with the 1 up 1 down beaded rig totally outfished the Zzippy and single hook rig; frozen mackerel also outfished the frozen sandeel. The final tally was 1 plaice, 1 new PB turbot, 5 dabs and 12-13 doggies. Some of our older readers may recall the TV character Charles Endell Esquire who frequently said “Ahhh, it’s good to be back!” How true.

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Cracking report as always JW. Well done on getting out in that North wind.

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Make me want to go
thanks

savage turbo

Some nice fish there JW, particularly the turbo. Wonder what it was that parted the line? A mark to revisit anyway!

Perfect looking turbot. Nice fishing.

Could well have been a bigger turbot hit you on the way in, if they're about... They have been known to bite through line. That's the most fishy story I can think of anyway!

very good Paddy. thats a great wee shore session, nice report.
what a great turbot! very decent dab too.. will have to wet a line with you soon enough hopefully lol

was out myself last weekend for the first in a while too. This is the result of 2 hours fishing:

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that fish that got away was probably once in a lifetime best bass, ah well..

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The umbilical chord is even still attached!

Great fishing, especially on the turbot.
The Legend sounds good. Can't fault Shakespeare gear I have a Shakespeare Omni X light beachcaster and Boat rod that I got as entry level gear and have not found a need to upgrade yet.

Some nice fish there JW, particularly the turbo. Wonder what it was that parted the line? A mark to revisit anyway!

Thanks Sweetwrasse, I've been thinking about that and would discount Chuckaroo' s bass and ninted' s turbot; based on several previous experiences of being smashed on baited feathers and other lightweight rigs, I think it may have been a tope.

great write up JW, its gettin near that time for me to dust the rods down readcy for the season

Brilliant report ! Lovely turbot. Blanked on both my sessions during the bank holiday weekend around donegal bay. Good to hear this report