Dingle 28th and 29th of August 2006

People: Me, Eoin and My da

Duration: Day 1 2pm-9pm, Day 2 11am- 6pm

Tide: Flooding both days

Weather: Not too bad, breezy but mostly Dry

Bait:Crab,rag,lures,mackerel,sandeel

Rigs:slider float mostly , spinning and feather rigs.

Results: Over the two days : 50+wrasse to 5lbs +, 40 Pollock to 7lbs. About 30-40 macks,5 coalfish,doggies and one garfish.


Report:

Day one: We fished a rock mark near ballydavid for wrasse and pollock, and also tried for macks.

Eoin and I mostly fished slider float with rag and crab for the wrasse and sandeel for the pollock while my da spun and did the odd bit of bottom fishing.

First cast after reaching the mark with rag and crab on the float i had a 6lbs pollock, which was a good scrap on the braid and spinning rod. Got him in and landed and eoin was into another one on sandeel, about 4lbs. The wrasse came on after that and we had consistent (but not spectacular) sport for about two hours.

we finished with about twenty wrasse for the day to 4lbs 15oz (for eoin).
My dad hadnt had much on the spinning gear up till about 5pm, just a few macks so we broke for lunch and popped out the bottom rods. Had a few doggies while we waited for the tide to fill a deep gully in front of us.

At about half six we got back to the lure fishing to try for macks and pollock and what folllowed was the best pollock sport we have had for a long time. My dad stuck to the feathers (hokkais) ( i clipped a small flasher pirk to the bottom) and had plenty of mackerel and pollock on the flasher to 6lbs, he even had a triple shot of 3lbs pollock when he let the rig drop down into the gully.

eoin and i were casting spoons and tobys about thirty feet out and closing the bale arm as they landed, causing them to fall slowly in an arc back towards us fluttering to the bottom. for about an hour we had a crashdiving pollock hit the lure on most casts. i had the best at just over 7lbs and we had about 30-40 between us, all three of us had a fish over six.

Day two: we fished the rocks west of brandon creek for wrasse and did a bit of lure fishing. On the lure it was a bit quiter than yesterday but my dad still had plenty of macks,some coalfish, and pollock to about 4lbs and a single garfish. i had a 6lbs pollock on a toby.

The wrasse fishing was much better than the previous day. Eoin and i started by fishing a deep hole in between two kelp covered reefs and had some great scraps with wrasse diving into the kelp. We were using stinger rigs and it helped greatly with the finiky wrasse bites. over the two days about 15 of the wrasse were hooked only by the small treble and not the main hook. Best bait for the big wrasse was crab, i gave up using rag as it was bringing too many small fish.

the bigger wrasse showed up now and then and eoin and i both had fish over 5lbs, the best was 5lbs 3oz (we cant seem to get over that weight) and the total for the day was about 30. my dad had one of 3lbs, said he had enough and went back to the lure fishing.

it was a good thing that the macks were still showing because at lunch time we discovered that my dad had left the sausages in the car back at the creek (a long way back and he had already lit the barbeque when he noticed) but the mackerel came to the rescue and mack sambos were a good sustitute for sausages.

we returned all the pollock over the two days and any unwanted macks were shaken off the hook without being touched.

i will add photos tomorrow once i upload them

adam

Smashing report mate....well done. That is some serious fishing. Is the specimin weight for Wrasse not 5lb?

Kev

Cracking fishing adam ,wish i was getting as many good fish ,I've been trying for specimen wrasse for a couple of years now :cry:
4lb 12oz is the magic weight Mac .

hi

Thanks both.

Ronald - yeah we fished dingle for ten years without a big wrasse until we started fishing around ballydavid and the creek. it just seems to be crawling with big wrasse, we havent gotten them anywhere else on the penninsula.

we didnt start to get them here either until we found a few exact marks and started fishing crab exclusively instead of worm

The Wrasse fishing on the penninsula is unbeleiveable. I had my first taste of it in early august and it was nothing less than spectacular. I fished behind Dunbeg Fort & Famine Houses to the left of a small island into deep gin clear water and had pretty much a fish a cast on small hardbacks for 2 hours. first 2 fish, one a few ounces under 5lb and the other 4lb, were caught on ledger gear but all the rest caught on a sliding float rig and 4/0 hook, I missed one fish! The smallest was well over 2 lb, the biggest touching 5lb, 12lb mono and spinning rod, one of the greatest sessions I've ever had.

It was so good, I did very little bass fishing because of it, what a place! Am going back in October Adam to have a crack at the bass from the storm beaches.

Excellent fishing.
I might give it a go myself as I am off work for a while 8)

Just to add the pics

Me with a pollock:

[img]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/adamsalbum79/ding/DSCF2941.jpg[/img]

Eoin with a good wrasse:

[img]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/adamsalbum79/ding/DSCF2986.jpg[/img]

another nicely coloured one

[img]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/adamsalbum79/ding/DSCF2944.jpg[/img]

me with a nice wrasse:

[img]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/adamsalbum79/ding/DSCF2981.jpg[/img]

Eoin and my dad with a wrasse double

[img]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/adamsalbum79/ding/DSCF2952.jpg[/img]

a pollock for me

[img]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/adamsalbum79/ding/DSCF2968.jpg[/img]

one for eoin

[img]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/adamsalbum79/ding/DSCF2969.jpg[/img]

me with a double shot and eoin with one on a toby

[img]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/adamsalbum79/ding/DSCF2976.jpg[/img]

pollock triple shot

[img]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/adamsalbum79/ding/DSCF2972.jpg[/img]

Some nice fish there well done....mean looking wrasse :D

Aye they are quality wrasse alright

Nice pictures Adam.

What size trebles are you using? Do you leave them barbed or is it easier for unhooking if they are barbless? I will be heading that was tomorrow so I will be looking to make a few rigs up.


Kev

Hi Mac

We use size 3/0 black aberdeens with size eight trebles tied either on a loop or knotless knot style, with a rubber bead or shrink tube on the shank of the aberdeen to keep the treble hanging below

i will try put up a diagram