Donegal, 18th Jan 2020, Chuckaroo PB’s AGAIN!

Chuckaroo has been itching to break the 40cm barrier for flounder and last time out he managed a new pb at 38cm; close, but no cigar! However it was enough to encourage him seaward for another roll of the dice. Sunday looked to be the better day of the weekend but for a few reasons, Saturday had to be the one. As I started up the car, the ice alarm sounded and the temperature display indicated -2c, the coldest hour is the one before dawn. Heat up, radio on, off we go. Dawn came and the temperature struggled to reach zero but as I drove along the Lake of Shadows it “shot“ up to +2c. Further up the road a light dusting of white on a mountain top reminded me that it is mid January, can’t really expect too much heat. I arrived just before Chuckaroo and stepping out of the car I shivered in the 5c “heat” to the sound of a lively surf. Wrapped up in more layers than a prize onion, I staked my claim on the beach with the tripod and was soon casting 2 and 3 hook flappers loaded with mackerel strip into the hopefully not too lively surf. I could see the foam travelling laterally in the strong left to right pull and elected to use a gripper lead on the far rod. This proved to be a mistake; it held station but the line was soon bedecked with enough weed to topple the tripod. A plain lead certainly swung round but gathered a lot less weed. Chuckaroo arrived shortly and was soon set up. The tide was still filling and we weren’t expecting too much until well into the ebb. I had been fishing for an hour and a half when a small turbot took a bait close in. Almost three hours later a slightly bigger one at 19cm succumbed to a sliver of mackerel, again close in. Chuckaroo had scored with a small turbot too and then, just on half ebb, we had a little purple patch; Chuckaroo weighed in with a 32cm flounder, I had a small flounder and another small turbot in the space of 2 minutes and suddenly I was summoned by a whistle from an ecstatic Chuckaroo. As I approached, he was measuring and claiming a 40cm flounder. Camera at the ready, he positioned the fish on the tape, at which point I had to break the devastating news that the 40 on the tape referred to the line below, not above the figures; it was a mere 39cm! Ah well, still a fine fish and new p.b. This also reduced his 32cm flounder to 31cm but that didn’t really matter. This flurry of activity made us think that the fish were feeding hard but the activity died as quickly as it started. By now the wind had eased and the surf had settled a bit though I would have preferred it a bit more gentle. A bit of sunshine coaxed me into shedding a layer or two, for mid-January it was a beautiful day to be out and about. A period of inactivity was interrupted by a lady out walking her dogs telling me that one of her dogs had recently eaten a baited hook on this beach, shortly after that I had to pull for a break…..on a sandy beach. I must have snagged a particularly large grain of sand. I managed one more flounder which looked familiar; it was the same one I had caught earlier! I know this as it had 3 distinct brown spots on the white underside. Catch and release works. A number of things can make a day interesting, big fish, tiny fish, plenty of fish, new species, but catching a fish twice on the same day, in fact within an hour, is a new one for me. As the light faded Jupiter was shining brightly, competing with the rod tip lights and a few coalies to about 30cm appeared before even the coalies either moved off or stopped feeding, though Chuckaroo did finish with a flourish; a full house of small coalies. Back at the cars, I was surprised to see that the temperature had dropped to zero in preparation for what the Met people were telling us would be the coldest night of the winter so far. It had been a very enjoyable day and despite a new pb for Chuckaroo, Cuba won’t need to scale up cigar production just yet.

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

More pics;

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

I’ve been itching to break that 40cm mark for a long time now. It’s becoming a monkey on my back. One day..
And what a rookie mistake that was to mis-read the measure, doh!
Another good day JW
Chuckaroo
LFC

Well done men!!. @chuckaroo so close.. @johnwest i was wondering what that star was.. could see it turning red as it went over the horizon.. amazing to see the same fish being caught twice.. a bit of groundhog day for him!,,

I’ve been itching to break that 40cm mark for a long time now. It’s becoming a monkey on my back. One day..
And what a rookie mistake that was to mis-read the measure, doh!
Another good day JW
Chuckaroo
LFC

LFC=Little Flounder Catcher! (If this is by any chance some football reference, there is a seat newly available for the coming season in both my sea and lake boat).

C'mon the pool!!!

C'mon the pool!!!

Hey You! Get Offa Ma Thread!