Dunree Beach, Co. Donegal....Secret Reconnaissance mission!

People:Myself and Seaniebo

Duration:About 4pm to 8pm or so

Tide:Up to and over HW

Weather:Calm, Fine apart from odd little spat of rain.

Bait:Wraps, Mummified twigs (seaniebo...), razor, fresh and frozen mack, Sandeel.

Rigs:Various

Results:5 flounder (4 counters) Numerous Coalies (mostly counters).

Catch and Release:: Yes



Report:
Headed here for a quick recce as it had been a year or two since I had fished from the beach and we have an SAI MA comp here next month. Id never fished here in February either for that matter. There was a lovely little roll coming in on a filling tide so conditions were decent. We tackled up with similar approaches, one rod belted out with a larger bait looking for Rays/LSDs and another fished in close for flats.

I managed a flounder on the first cast that matched the biggest fish from Kilmuckridge at 28cm. It was however almost 2 hours later before with the onset of dusk the fish started to come on with Seanie taking a small coalie. Fish came fairly quickly after that with numerous coalies interspersed with the odd flattie coming through the suds. Majority of fish would have made the 20cm limit too.

Strangely enough, apart from one coalie, the rods fished at range failed to produce a thing. A bit early maybe for the doggies and the ray yet, it may be another story however in 5 weeks time.

Finished up with 3 flounder and maybe 7/8 coalies, I think Seanie had 2 flounder and 10/11 coalies. We saw enough to be happy enough that the venue should fish well enough on the day in March. I might try and squeeze in another session in here closer to the time.

For the record, before you lot start clamouring for info.... :D This is Donegal, you only really need two baits up here. Fresh Mackerel for all the smaller stuff, flats, coalies etc and Sandeel for the doggies and ray. Maddies, peeler crab etc are unnecessary and will not catch you more fish....guaranteed.

Now we only have to decide if this is genuine, or some tactical misinformation from the SAI Propaganda Officer. :lol:

Being serious, though, thanks for the useful info. Anything more on rigs? It's clean ground, isn't it? Flappers and clipdowns for distance?

It is mostly clean unless you have the good fortune to get pegged near the rocks on the LHS of the beach where it is mixed. There is some stony (small) stuff near the HW mark but its minimal. No bull on the bait front BTW, fresh mack on Donegal beaches is king.

good report there pete. some good fishing for this time of year up the highlands also

Good to hear you got a few fish pete ,davy and i fished fanad head on saturday and got nothing at all !! :oops: tried all sorts of baits ,rigs ,ranges nothing .maybe go to dunree next time :lol:

Fishing here later in the year, it fishes all through daylight. However, on Saturday, apart from the flounder on the first cast, it was near darkness before the next fish came. Once that started though, they came thick and fast. This is the thing about Donegal fishing, even if you do blank, your blanking in some of the most beautiful spots on the planet which should somewhat soften the blow..... :D

This is the thing about Donegal fishing, even if you do blank, your blanking in some of the most beautiful spots on the planet which should somewhat soften the blow.....

Its not hard to know that your a bleedin tourist angler! Try fishing 4 matches in a row in Donegal and blanking :x ! Sandman will be fit to tell you too that the scenery does not soften the blow :lol: :lol:

Were the coalies of the mini variety Pete?

Fixed it for ya... :wink: Im not a tourist angler, I just dont do blanking in Donegal.... :D

The coalies were small enough but the vast majority would have made 20cm though.

I have always used three baits in donegal, sandeels, mackeral and lug, but the lug only works in some areas, so petekd is telling the truth lads, all you need is mackeral and sandeels

And King rag for the Bass of course...

Bass at Dunree.... :D

Bass at Dunree.... :D

Lovely. I'll have a pint of Bass and a packet of tayto.

A nice session indeed for february and like pete said, mack did the business. Mummified twigs though are a waste of time unless your stuck for firelighters.
Definitely gonna try and get back up before the comp and see if there are any doggies about by then.

People:Myself and Seaniebo

Duration:About 4pm to 8pm or so

Tide:Up to and over HW

Weather:Calm, Fine apart from odd little spat of rain.

Bait:Wraps, Mummified twigs (seaniebo...), razor, fresh and frozen mack, Sandeel.

Rigs:Various

Results:5 flounder (4 counters) Numerous Coalies (mostly counters).

Catch and Release:: Yes



Report:



For the record, before you lot start clamouring for info.... :D This is Donegal, you only really need two baits up here. Fresh Mackerel for all the smaller stuff, flats, coalies etc and Sandeel for the doggies and ray. Maddies, peeler crab etc are unnecessary and will not catch you more fish....guaranteed.

u almost make it seem easy! however...

fresh mackeral in march?! we'd be lucky... :lol: :lol: :lol:

It is easy..... Tesco.... :D

I saw some clonker mackerel in Superquinn last night

nice report petekd it always pays to do your homework :wink:

surprised there where no doggies as they are abundant in the swilly,even at this time of the year they can still be caught in the boat .but there will definately be ones there during march i would say with some thornbacks showing aswell.and pete is right about bait makerel and sandeels are by far the best,but if you want to bring crab ,lug, ragworm and what ever else it,s up to you.do you have to be in the sai club to fish it or can you just show up and fish and meet a few of the guys???cheers john

Nothing stopping you coming up and meeting some of the lads John, or from fishing for that matter but you wont unfortunately be able to fish the comp. Pop up by all means.

Will anyone be fishing before the compo -- I was thinking of driving up on Saturday morning which would give me a few hours to kill ...