Mayo mark 04.04.2020

People: Myself

Bait: macks, sandeels and herring. All frozen a few times over

Weather and Tide. Gusty southerlys . LW@10:am

Fished a mark of mine from 10am to 14:00pm. Was itching to get out over the last few days. The mark is from a platform onto sand with reefs closer in.Depth of water can vary from 5 to 10 meters depending on casting area and tide. Possibly deeper.
Sand was extremely quiet however i managed a half dozen of pollock all similar to the one in picture.
Desent and ascent are applicable to fishing this Mayo mark so not for the faint hearted.

Still nice to get out and land a few fish even if the fishing is slow. Hopefully we can get restrictions lifted soon and start to see more of the spring fish reports on here

Cheers
Brian

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Desent and ascent are applicable to fishing this Mayo mark so not for the faint hearted.

Hi Brian,
Are you able to offer some guidance.
Having recently arrived here from South Africa (all our stuff arrived but is now locked up in Storage unit...aaargh!) we are not traditionally exposed to and familiar with fishing such high cliff terrain, as most of our fishing would be off the beach/surf or shoreline rocks (not itself without danger due to high surf).
I presume the logic behind your approach is to fish less intensively fished marks. So..
I noticed you had adopted a near direct rope assisted decent/ascent approach - in these sorts of areas, is just not possible or totally unsafe to track progressively lower at an angle along some of the ledges. I get it that without a rope, one slip would see you in serious trouble, especially if weighed down with rods and tackle.
Do you use full-on mountaineering equipement - harness, caribiners, cleats etc to clip onto your rope, or do you just use the rope and your gloves as a backup in case you slip? What's your anchor point at the top - I presume just some seriously sturdy rock formation.
How long is that rope? Looks to be in the region of >50m and is it proper mountain climbing braided nylon?
My boys and I are not scared of heights so just need to figure out if we need to start acquiring some serious climbing equipment in addition to all our fishing gear. Missus won't be pleased!!
Thank you,
Gareth

Hi Gareth

Yes you are correct about the area i fish..it has an array of good species such as plaice,turbot,flounder dab,coalie pollock,seatrout etc..im sure many more i have never caught

Tbh i could go down at an angle slowly and i have done but i just feel the rope is just an additional security..its an angle of about 45 degrees the terrain. The last day i used the rope going down i barely had any tension on it but it was there if i needed it..
My rope is 60 mtrs so i have about 10 left slack so you are right in saying about 50 meters.
Regarding equipment i dont use the heavy mountaineering stuff...too much hassel and i am not into absailing.
I used my fisheagle fishing bag rather than a box as the box is dangerous when descending due to it being solid and hitting the terrain behind you once going down on your honne...i bring as little as i can for weight purposes. My ian golds tripod is shortened and put horizontally on top of the bag and held by the overlap cover etc

Rods are halfed and taped together via selotape or insulating tape
Doing all this frees up one hand for the rope

My anchor is reebar that is hammered into the ground deep with a lump hammer and in at a slight angle. I have one 12mm in at the minute but i will add another soon. The thicker the reebar the better but 12mm is all i could find. Still does the job once its down far enough. I have gone down about 2 feet.. dont go any less but more if you can

Also i find a good decent pair of hiking boots is vital too.

The rope i use is just blue polyrope that you get in a good hardware. I use 8mm and i payed 11 eure for 2 x 30mtr coils
Its perfect for what i need it for....i would prefer braided nylon but harder to get and more expensive...as i said earlier its just there for additional security.
I coil up the rope after every session so it is not left out to the weather elements to be impaired

Hope what i have written will be off help

Regards
Brian

Fair play to you Brian!
Looking forward to getting back out soon myself.