Donegal Bass 6/10/2017

[johnwest]

“On and on over the hills in the jam-jar” wrote Van Morrison about his trip to Coney Island (Co. Down). It was something similar for JohnWest; on and on over the hills of Donegal to a beach I last (and first) fished about two years ago. On that occasion it was a bright sunny day with an almost flat calm sea, not the best conditions for judging a beach. The replay was under grey skies with intermittent rain, a strong breeze, thankfully from the south, and a bit more surf than I would have preferred. It was too long a drive to simply go home and besides Chuckaroo had swung a day off work to join me (he didn’t look that sick to me!). After a quick chat over coffee, we set up on the ebbing tide, as usual I had the standard near and far rods baited with mackerel strip and sandeel on smallish hooks, 4’s and 2’s, while Chuckaroo, in specimen hunter mode, fished whole squid on one of his rods. It wasn’t long before the first flattie, a very small turbot at 16cm, succumbed to the mackerel strip followed by a better 27cm flounder. Another small turbot preceded a small turbot and 30cm flounder double and then another small turbot weighed in. There must have been a shoal of turbot, all at 15-16cm in front of me. Up until now, I hadn’t actually spotted a bite, the far rig was being dragged from right to left while the suds rig was swept from left to right, combined with the wind catching the rod tips, bite detection was impossible. At last came a definite rattle on the far rod and in came a turbot and seatrout double. Once he had been de-loused, he eventually swam off strongly into the surf. The accompanying turbot was my biggest though nothing like those in my last report and he was eclipsed by the seatrout which was a welcome addition to the 2017 species list. Meanwhile Chuckaroo landed a decent turbot and a few flounder, no doubt he’ll add a few pics of his own, but nothing on the whole squid. Just behind us was a rather lonely and forlorn Brent goose, they are usually in small groups so I think this one must have got separated from the rest in the recent stormy weather which probably hit them while migrating here for the winter. Things went quiet for a while so we returned to the cars for a pitstop to refuel ourselves and discuss tactics. We moved further up the beach where the water seemed a good bit deeper thought the surf was a bit stronger. I switched to lug on one rod, upping the hooks to 2/0’s in the hope there might be something bigger lurking in the fading light. Bites were actually easier to spot here as the high dunes behind gave shelter from the wind and there wasn’t the same lateral tow. The first quivering rod tip advertised the presence of two small flounder hanging by the lips on the large hooks; they looked like twins. As it got darker, the first of two doggies took a liking to the lug as did another 30cm flounder a while later. It was at this point that the coalfish put in an appearance with both myself and Chuckaroo getting them along with dogfish. I then pulled in my best double shot of the evening, a coalfish with a silvery spikey thing hanging on to the bottom hook; my first Donegal bass. In fact it was my first bass in quite a while and another entry for this year’s species list. A few more coalfish followed before the rain started in earnest and with a long drive home, we called it a day. Yep, a long drive but a beautiful location, enough fish to keep us busy, some nice flounder, a seatrout and a bass; how does that Coney Island song finish, “Wouldn’t it be great if it was like this all the time?”

[johnwest]

As ever, more pics...

[johnwest]

Lovely Fishing..

[zeke]

Congrats on your 1st Donegal Sea bass JW.

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[kieran]

cracking sea trout JW but the BASS takes first prize. All things etc....

[chuckaroo]

Think the highlight of the day was when I was up to my knees in the suds and gave Paddy's line a good yank. It was the casual walk that turned into an urgent little jog that gave me a little giggle The old ones are the best, eh!?
yeah, congrats on the bass Paddy! A good day

[lucky13]

cracking stuff lads! that sea trout,stunning looking fish! congrats on the donegal bass john west nice mixed bag for yourself and chuckaroo...as always a decent read too john west...

[johnwest]

Nowwww boyyyyy... well done on the first Donegal basss, to target a fish and get it is just great good man Paddy. A fantastic session there well done lads lovely turbot and trout also. Is Donegal the new bass mecca lol

[johnwest]

Congrats on your 1st Donegal Sea bass JW.

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Thanks Zeke, now for a Sligo bass!

cracking sea trout JW but the BASS takes first prize. All things etc....

Agreed!

Think the highlight of the day was when I was up to my knees in the suds and gave Paddy's line a good yank. It was the casual walk that turned into an urgent little jog that gave me a little giggle The old ones are the best, eh!?
yeah, congrats on the bass Paddy! A good day

Can't believe I fell for that false bite, be warned Chuckaroo, I have a great memory!

cracking stuff lads! that sea trout,stunning looking fish! congrats on the donegal bass john west nice mixed bag for yourself and chuckaroo...as always a decent read too john west...

Thanks lucky13, shame to see so many lice on the sea trout.

Nowwww boyyyyy... well done on the first Donegal basss, to target a fish and get it is just great good man Paddy. A fantastic session there well done lads lovely turbot and trout also. Is Donegal the new bass mecca lol

How many bass to qualify as a Mecca?

[zeke]

Sure! Set a date and give us a shout then.

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[corbyeire]

that turbot is hardly a brill?

[chuckaroo]

that turbot is hardly a brill?

pretty sure none of them were. which one?