North mayo, Sunday 18th December 2016

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North mayo, Sunday 18th December 2016

Postby kieran » Mon Dec 19, 2016 3:47 pm

Myself the two boys and Sean Keane headed off on a nice sunny if chill evening with a LW around 2:30 pm and a tide of 4 metres expected.
Wind was in the south and pushing nice white caps across Clew Bay.

Stopped off to dig some lug, found a decent spot where they were only a foot down (!) and had 50-60 small ones in about an hour.
Trekked north to try one of the sheltered marks in North Mayo, thinking we'd had the wind to our backs and nice shelter.

Arrived on the mark around 3 pm and found it extremely testing. Wind was being channelled down the valley and was creating small water devils around the cliffs on the far side. After a ten minute tramp and slightly hairy trek we decamped onto some decent sheltered rocks and stuck some baits out. Sean was using a new Tronix Pro Cobra and all I can say if anyone that uses a rod that colour deserves a fish! :mrgreen: Wind was bitter and we had a tide versus wind battle happening, not pleasant.

A seal popped its head up early doors which did not help. Not a sausage anywhere until more than an hour in.

Baits were blow lug. Aldi's finest mackerel (which I am going off big time), and frozen sand eel. Bite detection was impossible. Even heavy rod tips were bucking around.

Sean was first up with a treble of small dabs, proving they do school in uniforms sizes. The rig was an awful mess, they'd swum around each other something awful.

Image

The mark is quite scrappy, lots of kelp covered rocks close in before you hit sand. Trying to keep bottom was impossible. 5-6 0z grips were slowing it down but not by a lot! It was a case of cast, wait 10, reel in, get snagged, get out (Sean is good at this and swears by his 80 lb braid main line), rebait, fire it out into the wind, reel in a massive bow, hunker down and wait another 10....

Food came in handy. It was damn cold even in the new army surplus TAD 4.0 stuff (great gear). Sean was in again, this time with a typical shore Pollack, as the light was beginning to go, so around 4:30. I was getting nothing and the younger one was threatening a walk off due to hypothermia. Kids these days! :|

We decided to give it another hour, to get into the middle of the tide and full darkness. Shortly before the tackle down, Sean landed a small pouting, maybe 3/4 lb in old money. We'd had feck all but did agree that its a more promising mark than might first appear. Wind made a mess of it, that and not bringing my head torch.

Still, beats rodding the drains which was what I spent an hour doing in the morning!

Will spend a day over the Christmas building some rigs, never appreciated how depleted my store is... Happy Christmas people, and stay safe. Crap weather coming in.

For this message the author kieran has received thanks: 2
corbyeire (Mon Dec 19, 2016 5:34 pm), MC (Mon Dec 19, 2016 11:11 pm)
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Re: North mayo, Sunday 18th December 2016

Postby seank » Mon Dec 19, 2016 6:04 pm

I think its a great markh. The Wind was a nuisance. Thermals are are a must this time of year kieran the lads should wear there ones they use for sport next time. I couldnt feel it at all n a head torch is a must comfort is paramount. Im ordering a spare on aliex. The fishing is the easy part. It was good to be out thanks again kieran.
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chuckaroo (Mon Dec 19, 2016 6:20 pm)
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Re: North mayo, Sunday 18th December 2016

Postby johnwest » Thu Dec 22, 2016 4:06 pm

Fair play for heading out, I had hoped to get out one more time before Christmas but on seeing the big swells thundering in on Wednesday, I chickened out in favour of watching the jet ski-surfers in action off Mullaghmore Head.
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