An Corraun, the hole July & August 2019

Well...

Just back from Florida where the water off the boat was so clear you could see the fish at 60 feet down (including the %$^£$^ king mackerel that refused every bait and lure thrown at him!)... so came as a shock to wander out to Clew Bay and find the same conditions!

Blue sky. Burning sun. No wind. Watching the wrasse idling about right on the bottom. I'm 20 + years in Mayo now, never seen that before...

Proceeded (all three of us) to fire every kind of bait (lugworm, prawn, limpet, mussel) at the buggers and they would inspect it and wander off. Very skittish, I mean these are wrasse for heavens sake! What the hell was going on!

Several large mullet cruised through at low water and apparently collected in mulranny harbour that afternoon...

Tried some small lures, thinking the bigger wrasse might be guarding eggs or fry. Not a bit of it. All three of us stood there like eejits scratching our heads. Made up a trace of fluorocarbon, small hook, and only BB shot for lead. Dropped it ever so slowly down. The tide was pushing, well sliding, in at this point. No. Just not feeding. the lads tried ground baiting, which attracted in sandeels, sprats, finger pollack and nothing else.

Outside the hole, there was no bird sign, not a ripple, just small mats of torn weed that reminded me of the $£%^&$ sargassum in the Keys (no guide tells you about it eh!).
I will be blogging on the various trips in Florida, and especially on what the guide books and such like don't tell you. If you're going, you'll want to read this...

Ended up firing out a whole selection of hard and soft plastics, tripping them over the rocks and weed, and would you believe it, finally avoided a blank with two small pollack landed on 20 g spoons, from Sea Pesca on Ali Express, which have a fluttering action that perfectly mimics sand eels. Tried sand eel patterns, no takers. Switched to the shiny metals and lo and behold, finally some action. Just goes to show you that the old reliables are the old reliables for a reason.

Lovely day out, really awful fishing.

Methinks farther west and further into the wilds will be required from now on.

Well done Kieran for persevering in difficult conditions and avoiding the blank!

Fished there 2 weeks back only 3 dogs on the conger rod, not a nibble from a pollack using lures and water clear, noticed the bottom has gone very sandy

Hi Joe

Yes, sand clear as day on the bottom, but there were wrasse wandering around near and over it. That said, they may depart for more weedy places...

Kieran

Proceeded (all three of us) to fire every kind of bait (lugworm, prawn, limpet, mussel) at the buggers and they would inspect it and wander off. Very skittish, I mean these are wrasse for heavens sake! What the hell was going on!

Had a similar experience recently while boat fishing, lots of fish on the sounder but difficult to tempt with fresh mackerel, various feathers and plastics. Even dogfish declining baits, might try to post a video though water clarity is not good.

Just thought I would give you all a quick update...

Sunday 28th July 2019

Dropped off at Rosturk to find the lugworm beds destroyed - suspect someone had harvested cockles, whole swathes of the ground has been reduced to a near desert so in desperation (three teenager in tow) we hunted for small crabs amongst the weeds and ended up with about 20, including a few peelers, and some mussels (and oysters!). A local told me where to find firm sand and big lugworms - bit of a trek but I will report back in due course.

Found ourselves on the mark again by 12:30 (with HW set for 2.30 ) and started to tackle up. Based on recent experience i with clear water, I kept the tackle to an absolute minimum using a knocker rig. Normally I have the hook above the weight, but this worked just fine. Sand still evident on the bottom but mostly overcast and dull conditions, so little in the way of visibility. Hooked the crabs through the back, out the carapace, hook well clear so much so it looked like an extra leg. Worked a treat.

Anyhow, we took in about 12 wrasse, all ballans, in quick order. Cathal even took one (the very smallest) on a lure.

The big difference was the size. The rods were getting hooped over, thought the telescopic one was a goner at one stage.
Much bigger stamp of fish, several near or over specimen size. Males and Females. A couple of absolute stonkers. Doubled handed hold required.

Smiles all round: Eoin even picked up a small pollack on a weird little silver lure we brought back which is designed to catch Pompano.

Fishing died off around HW, all the big fish disappeared - reckon they came in from deeper water with the tide. Reminded me of a session in the Danish Cellar in Belmullet when we used crab (frozen crab from a Chinese store) to great effect and landed a clatter of specimens there too...

I also have a theory in relation to the recent rainfall and how that improves Wrasse fishing. Best wrasse marks seem to coincide with freshwater outflows.

So, there you have it.

No sunshine and the species preferred food and an incoming tide (no swells) and guess what... tons of big fish. It can be done!

Some photos to follow... once I figure out how to get them off WhatsApp!

Big male, probable specimen https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipPqK05H-xCzFHeZZ5JpfVjBBuXxfrZzXyptfSJL
Big female, probable specimen https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipNkZnk-KwnHrDH8e64NspJVrFhTgtd_8789N_7n
Small wrasse on lure https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipOneYan_s_TWx0ObPHJLQDyW3WLAxxdCoy5PY5E
"What do I do with this?" https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipPPhcMYYuWIyYbfVJZT5X8QUmhfzPmTfcJWaLyF
"No you have to hold it!" https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipM1cRYMrAtzI583_9awAlXO-v64x1keE7yJK5wK
Heaviest Male (Eoin, 19, needs to work on his photographic skills) https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipMtXqAtJa_ES1JWqARfHQ_4dooGYHsnDDp6sywg

Sounds like a great session, a report worthy of its own topic
Small crabs seem to be the way to go to single out the bigger wrasse then?

Just thought I would give you all a quick update...

Sunday 28th July 2019

Dropped off at Rosturk to find the lugworm beds destroyed - suspect someone had harvested cockles, whole swathes of the ground has been reduced to a near desert so in desperation (three teenager in tow) we hunted for small crabs amongst the weeds and ended up with about 20, including a few peelers, and some mussels (and oysters!). A local told me where to find firm sand and big lugworms - bit of a trek but I will report back in due course.

.

W@*k'rs ! Dug a few times there a couple of years ago ( rented a cottage nearby). We're staying near Murrisk this time, so I hope there will still be plenty of bait behind Bertra Strand.

Got my two grandchildren this time so I'll probably be escaping late in the evenings for a quiet session or two or three or four ! Nice spot at the end of Bertra Strand. Did well the last time. Still kicking myself that I didn't have the spinning rod when the sea-trout were literally feeding at my feet !

Must try and get out on a boat this time. It would be nice to catch something different, but I don't know if I have the patience to sit there all day in the hope of a huge skate ! It would be nice to combine a trip around Clew Bay with a couple of hours fishing in deeper water, I'll see if any skippers can offer something , but taking along the little ones might be problematic.

If I catch anything of note I'll write up a report, but unfortunately the last couple of trips have been nothing to shout about ! Even the decent sized pollack you could always count upon have become scarce. Pollack fetches around 20 euro a kilo in France at the moment which must be helping enormously with their demise.

If we go over to Clare island I'll take a rod..........................

Andy

Great fishing, the pictures don't seem to be working for me.

ok here are the photos - click to enlarge

Lovely wrasse!

Great stuff, love the colours and pattern on the last fish.

A tale of two sessions! Some lovely wrasse there.

Great wrasse fishing. I've noticed that with wrasse aswel, lug will get you small ones but the second you change to crab the bigger ones will hit it. Fair play

[quote="Woulfec"]Great wrasse fishing. I've noticed that with wrasse aswel, lug will get you small ones but the second you change to crab the bigger ones will hit it. Fair play[/quote

With or without the shell?

Small ones with shell, anything up to half the size of your palm.

Ideal size is a little bigger than a 2 euro piece, maybe up to twice that size.
I just put the hook (J not circle) in under the belly and bring it out the top. well out. As it it has another leg.

For the larger ones, that would be your call but I would include shell - the teeth on a big wrasse are something to behold. You might not strike on the first belt you get...

If you can not collect crabs or don't like using live baits (my daughter!) you can also use a box of frozen crab from Chinese markets - usually de-shelled but works just fine.

Session in August didnt start well - flat tyre on new (for me) car to find this model doesnt come with a spare! FFS.

Landed having left the bait in the car with the flat tyre (writing this just realised it is still there, hope its cold tomorrow)... and didnt have time to collect crabs en route, so Eoin kicked a limpet off, stuck it on a big circle hook and five minutes later landed the fish of the day - a stonking fat male orange wrasse. Photos to follow. Specimen.



That's a five ounce / 125 gram lead beside it and it inhaled a 5/0 circle hook.



BTW it wasn't as cold as it looks in the photo, just a nasty chill Westerly which died off later to leave it a stunning evening...

We each landed a few more wrasse, mostly on limpet and nothing close to the opener. Towards low water around 6 pm I switched to a lure and landed a 500 gram pollack.
Aoibheann took over and landed a better fish. Cathal took over and landed something slightly smaller than the lure itself.

After another small wrasse, I took to putting the lure out low on a braid rod and bumping it off the bottom, in brilliant sunshine, just after the tide turned. Low and behold, I landed our first mackerel of 2019. In late August. Unreal. This was followed by several greater launce, all foul hooked, and Aoibhean landed the best pollack of the day, probably pushing 1.5 kilos. Nice fat fish. We took a few more pollack and wrasse, but of mackerel, there was no more sign. Never imagined catching them here on low water, just goes to show you...

With the tide coming, I pushed a 3 hook paternoster out with launce for bait a good 100 metres onto the sand, and shortly afterwards, the last fish landed was a massive LSD. Seriously big. So big I got Eoin to take a few up close ups of the nasal cavities, in case it turns out to be a small huss. Pretty certain it was a big LSD.

5 species is a ncie change for here, had I been there on my own the launce and mack would have been chopped up, but sad to say there is school tomorrow, so it was time to head home. Reckon there were rays to be had over the sand in the darkening evening. Such is life.

PS, Sean, the stonking wrasse was landed on your rod. We're heading out next Saturday weather permitting - from early to late - if anyone is interested.

Photos to follow, cheers

Kieran