roonagh Pier, Mayo 2/11/2017

Hi all

I took the mid term week off to keep the kids in the garden and my wife sane, so had all of us cutting down hedging that turned out to be the size of trees! Well, at least we have enough kindling and logs for the winter!

The plan was to head off to one of the western storm beaches and fish it at night, to see if we could prove there is still at least one bass in Mayo. Alas a full moon and rapidly scudding low cloud (forecast was constant drizzle) put paid to that so we headed off to Roonagh Pier having first checked out a few beaches. If the moon was not enough, the heavy weed and kelp stalks were. Roonagh was nicely sheltered from the rapidly growing westerly so the boys fished into the harbour which I tried to use six ounce grippers and braid to hold a line out past the current line. There is a nasty snag there so I had to cast just short of it, which wasn't easy in the wind, lost one rig.

Tons of small fish in the water, looked like Pollack but more likely coalfish, swimming happily around under the lights. We tried baits on the bottom, out a bit, far out and on the float and got absolutely zip. Tide was falling but now but I thought we might sneak a few fish given the depth. Eventually hauled in some very dark dogs, and decided with the deteriorating weather to call it a night. Was supposed to be in Cork that weekend (had rigs ready to see if we could winkle out a bream) but cancelled owing to the eldest being in his final life guard training. So he owes me a weekend in Cork!

BTW, I can confirm that a large porbeagle was caught and brought to a boat in North Mayo at the end of October. Solid source. Was told it was estimated close to 200 lbs and roughly seven foot long. Only one other run and the rig gave way at a bimini knot without sight of the fish, but they have found a good reef system. More anon.

Cheers

Nice to get out with the kids anyway. Have you come across much bass in Mayo before or anyone you know get many? We thought they were scarce in Donegal too until we figured out their habits and preferences for this really fussy species and found them to be far more prevalent than we thought

Hi R

Yes, its down to being very specific and learning what to do in certain places. So the basic rule for bass in mayo is never in daylight. Not even a bit of daylight. No moon.

Beyond that I have found them to be hungry buggers who will chow down on pretty much anything and the size of bait does not matter. I know others here have commented on the need to use massive baits to single out the big bass, but to be honest, given their scarcity, I'm just delighted to pick up on every now and then...

Great to hear they are more common than previously imagined. Have not done enough fishing recently to comment on that around Mayo, but will try this winter...

There has been a lot of talk of bass in Mayo recently - talk mind you havent seen pics
It seems like all those bass up in Killybegs made their way down south

Ha ha we sent a few down south to ye lads:) WE thought they were scarce in Donegal but have over 90 got since June once we figured them out a bit. After dark. South westerly winds and good surf. Lugworm baits. Alot of trial and error all good fun learning. Mostly schoolies with a few nice fish. Most west coast beaches probably have them if enough anglers worked together to figure them

I can confirm they have appeared further south, they must have gotten tired of ulster lug and were looking for some connacht ones we all get tired of eating the same thing after a while...

Very good to hear that well done. Which county did they show up in? Few Sligo beaches have good numbers and seems to be south Mayo and south Galway Bay but maybe just less anglers in north mayo putting in hours ?