Portrane Beach Night Session 08.05.2020

When: 08/05/2020
Where: North end of Portrane beach
Duration: 22:00-02:00
High Water: 01:25
Bait: Ragworm tipped with squid/mackerel AND sandeel wrapped in squid
Rigs: 12ft rod and 14ft rod, both with 2 hook flappers with beads and attractors, 5oz grip leads.
Result: 2 spotted dogfish

So finally I can report a catch! 2 spotted dogfish and I'm delighted! Caught the first one on a sandeel wrapped in squid on a 2 hook flapper with beads and attractors (was hoping for flounder or bass) and that was on the first cast. After the first fish it went fairly quiet, until one of my rods bent over like crazy, I jumped up grabbed the rod and slammed it back but I think it dropped off or I tried setting the hook too soon, I'd say it was something big enough though. Then last cast with the last of my ragworm caught another smaller dogfish. Both fish went back safely after a quick photo!

There was 3 other people fishing here, one of the guys caught 2 flounder. All in all a good nights fishing

What I learned: The bites weren't as easy to detect as I thought they would be, might try using lighter line as my main was 30lb mono, might drop that down to 15-20lb mono with 50lb shock leader.

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Well done on your efforts - 30 lb too much as mainline when fishing clean sand - the right job if its weedy or mixed ground when bait fishing however

Good stuff gonzo.. specimen on the way next

Happy days

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I use a fixed spool reel with 50lb braid then the trace itself is 70lb mono and snoods
10/20 lb braid rarely miss a fish
mickser

Congratulations gonzo luveey few doggies!
I use 20lb braid as a main line myself

Try braid as mainline, I use 24lb jof braid(€12 for 500mtrs on Ali Express) and 60lb tapered leader. Never miss a bite I find braid is the only way really sensitive. Love it.

Try braid as mainline, I use 24lb jof braid(€12 for 500mtrs on Ali Express) and 60lb tapered leader. Never miss a bite I find braid is the only way really sensitive. Love it.

Sweet, yeah I have 2 300m rolls of this cheapish 30lb braid ordered from amazon on the way so I'll probably put this on both my beachcasters with 50/60lb shock leader

You can go one further. I'm using 30lb Saratoga braid (0.25mm) with 100lb braid leader. Needs a few extra wraps with the back to back uni knots to hold as firm as mono but a really good strong setup for smooth and mixed ground. From memory I think I'm using 5 turns in the 100lb and 8-10 turns in the 30lb but it's a tiny knot snugged up firm and you can absolutely rip into a big cast with this with no fear of it pinging off into the distance. I find the knot far more reliable than any braid to mono connection where even with tapered leaders I found winding up a bigger cast with any kind of swing, the best case was the noise of the knot clattering off the rings and I had one too many crack offs. In order to match the braid breaking strain you'd have to trim the leader up to where you were dealing with 0.50mm mono anyway and the knots were very clumsy (due to the difference in stiffness between the mono and braid). Since switching to all braid, I've only had one 6oz grip lead join the space programme and that was due to a swivel breaking. Gotten back a small fortune's worth of gear I'd have expected to lose with mono too.