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Donegal Bay, 19 May 2018; flats, dogs and Pollack.

PostPosted: Sun May 20, 2018 5:58 pm
by johnwest
The Bro was game for a bit of fishing and with wall to wall sunshine forecast, freshwater seemed out. So with the beachcasters loaded up we headed for the sea. As usual we made a pitstop for diesel, coffee, grub and some fresh mackerel fillets to add to the frozen bait and having eaten and drunk our fills, we marched off to the front. The last of the ebb awaited us and within minutes of casting out, the Bro had a good positive bite which he hit a bit too quickly, result; 1 surprised fish and 1 disappointed angler. He didn’t have long to wait for the next bite and having learnt a lesson, he allowed it to develop before reeling in a nice little 25cm turbot. Meanwhile, my 3 hook flapper and single 1/0 pulley rigs were doing nothing. After an hour I reeled in the pulley once more to check the bait and could feel some extra resistance but the fish, probably a flattie, came off just over half way in. By now it was low water and things were very quiet. On a brief stroll along the shore I came across a group of eider ducks, 2 males, 1 female and 5 ducklings. The 2 males seemed to be having a minor confrontation, no doubt a paternity dispute. I expect to see them on the Jeremy Kyle show soon for DNA results. It was three hours before I saw my first bite which was a very welcome doggie which took a fancy to what was supposed to be my ray bait. Better to catch a dogfish than no ray, in my book anyhow. Suddenly I was on a roll, another doggie on the 3 hook flapper 15 mins later and then after another 15 mins, a third doggie on the pulley rig. The Bro decided to strike back with another nice plump turbot, 33cm and registering 1lb 6oz on the scales, a p.b. for him. He followed this up with a third turbot at 29cm. The tide was filling nicely and it seemed like the fish were coming in with it but the action slowed down, my roll came to a grinding stop with a 34cm dab, skinny at that, on the pulley rig. The Bro had a small dogfish on his large bait rig and we both set up float rods to while away some time. He stuck to mackerel strip which produced a few small Pollack while I tried shell on prawns to try for wrasse, sadly not a bite for me. The fishing petered out completely and I didn’t have a bite the rest of the session, or so I thought; I awoke this morning to find lots of itchy lumps around my ankles where something had been biting lumps out of me. The weather was changing and earlier spits of rain were developing into fully fledged rain, no point in getting soaked for nothing so back to the car and home. It was an enjoyable day out but with no rays or wrasse showing, a reminder that summer isn’t here yet.

Re: Donegal Bay, 19 May 2018; flats, dogs and Pollack.

PostPosted: Sun May 20, 2018 8:56 pm
by MC
Nice fishing sir pity no Ray maybe next time

Re: Donegal Bay, 19 May 2018; flats, dogs and Pollack.

PostPosted: Sun May 20, 2018 11:21 pm
by rushnaldo
Better reading than any magazine well done men great stuff

Re: Donegal Bay, 19 May 2018; flats, dogs and Pollack.

PostPosted: Fri May 25, 2018 7:20 am
by Sweetwrasse
Some fine flats there and a an excellent report!