Saturday 21st saw Chuckaroo and myself heading to north Donegal to try for flounder, the weather was to become warmer (less cold?) overnight so the roads were in good order even though there were still patches of sneachta on the sleibhte (that’s snow on the mountains for the ignorati!). It was quite breezy but from a friendly direction thanks to the shelter from the dunes at our back. It was actually a very pleasant day with sunshine and a nice surf. Low water was approaching and we could see a few gullies and hollows which would cover in the flood. Unfortunately there was a fair bit of weed both on the strand and in the water and it seemed to concentrate in those features. We had to pick our spots carefully, even so, one of my rods picked up enough weed to cause a line break. The weed slowly cleared but there was little interest from the fish as a couple of hours passed. Eventually Chuckaroo hauled in a nice flounder, 34cm, and saved his blank. I seemed to be heading for the first blank of ’23 (and it’s only January) but while we were discussing tactics I saw a rattle on the rod tip. Waiting to see if it developed, I was rewarded by another good rattle and in came my blank saving flounder, a nice plump 35cm fish, a perfect fit for Chuckaroo’s pan! It had taken two of the three baits on the rig, hence the two separate bites. That was it for both of us, not another bite for the rest of the day.
Sunday 22nd. If North doesn’t produce, try South! So here I was in Sligo at a mark where I was expecting/hoping for whiting and dogfish. Although it was a very pleasant evening I could fish “out of the car” if the action was a bit slow. I soon had two rods fishing, one sporting a 1 up 1 down rig, the other with a 3 boom flapper rig, both armed with prawn and mackerel strip. This would be a high water mark and the tide was about ¾’s in as the first casts splashed down into an almost flat calm sea; bites, if there were any, would be easy to spot. It was a slow start, just over an hour passed before the first tremble registered on the rods, a small poorcod. After a few feeble rattles, this was followed an hour later by another poorcod, also small. A short time later a good, determined bite translated into a nice 27cm dab. A single small coalie took a prawn bait and a couple more small poorcod came ashore; no sign of the hoped-for whiting and dogfish. After 4 hours I had had enough so I packed up and was surprised to reel in a double shot of dabs (28, 29cm) on the last rod. All the fish and bites came to the 1 up 1 down rig, no interest whatever in the 3 boom rig. I know what rigs I’ll be using next time I visit this mark…..
Monday 23rd. With the weather holding I ventured out again and while filling up with diesel, hot grub and coffee I was lucky enough to pick up two of the last three chunky fresh mackerel fillets, all under the one roof. With my own feeding completed it was time to see if the fish were hungry. I was hoping for flounder from this beach mark though it can throw up the odd turbot too. By the time I walked to the water’s edge the sweat was building up and I had to remove the top layer. Sun, sea and surf, what more could you ask for in January. Well a few flounder wouldn’t seem too much to ask. Two rods, 1 up 1 down and 3 hook flapper rigs were soon launched into the surf. There was a strong right to left tow and the plain bombs were soon swept round to the deeper water on the left. I retrieved one rod to find a double of turbot hanging on, good start. By the time I had them CPR’d and re-cast, it was time to check the other rod; same again, a twin turbo attached, Ferrari Fishing! Things slowed down a bit so I replaced the plain lead with a watch lead to try and slow the swing across the beach. This seemed to work as I got a few more single turbot, a switch to a watch lead on the other rod saw it start to produce its share of single turbot including the best of the day at 35cm, 1lb 9oz. The sad thing was that with occasional bits of weed plucking at the line and the strong lateral tow, it was impossible to spot any bites which for me is an important part of the process. The weed seemed to be mainly in the deeper gully to the left and the fish seemed to be “holed up” in there too, I may re-name this mark “Poll na turbard”. Just for a change of species, a sea trout beat the turbot to the bait and came darting and splashing through the shallows. At 35cm length I thought he was a bit lean looking, perhaps it had spawned recently, or was it down to the dozen or more large sea lice feeding on it? I scraped as many of those off as possible and released it to hopefully pile on the pounds. A couple more turbot followed but the size and frequency were decreasing. The 1 up 1 down rig out-performed the 3 hook flapper again though the flapper did produce some fish and watch leads were better than plain leads, something learned for next time. In total I had 11 turbot and the sea trout but not a single flounder, perhaps they have left the shallows for spawning? Ah well, as Marie-Antoinette might have said “The poor have no flounder? Then let them eat Turbot!”
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Last edited by johnwest on Wed Jan 25, 2023 7:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.