Donegal Bay - Mariners SAC open boat comp

People:Me and Petekd and about 50 others

Duration:2 days

Tide:

Weather:Rough as a badgers &(*&( on the saturday and lovely and sunny on the Sunday

Bait:Macs and rag

Rigs:

Results:Pollock, cuckoo wrasse, ballan wrasse, red gurnard, dogs

Report:Myself and Lord Davis headed to Killybegs for the Mariners SAC open boat comp. Himself arrived on Fri night along with the usual mountain of tackle and proceeded to laugh and poke fun out of my own, claiming that my boat rod wouldn't look out of place fishing for shark :evil:

Saturday morning dawned wet, nasty and blowing a force 7 southwesterly. Joy of joys! Even heading out past the new pier there was a big swell rolling in and by the time we got out past the lighthouse it was bloody dreadfull. The swell thrown up was massive and at times staying on your feet was a job in itself. With access to the outer bay now of the cards it wasnt surprising that the fishing was very poor with most anglers failing to bring more than 5 counters to the stick, pollock were very small and not one came aboard the boat I was on. Petekd was getting pollock but none were making the size. Wrasse then were the main counters for all of us. It was as one man put it, "like watching teddy bears in the washing machine". Got so bad that I even chundered at one point, setting the previous nights mushroom tagliatelle free :oops: By the end of the day Pete had four and I managed ten counters. Legs were covered in bruises by the end of it, being bashed around and generally trying to stay upright :shock:

Day two was the complete opposite, the wind had died completely and the sun came out. Whilst there was still a groundswell we managed to get out to the better grounds and both of us managed our quota of pollock. It was then a case of feeling around for wrasse to put some more points on the board. It wasn't easy fishing by any means and aside from a spell in the last hour the pollock were really fussy and it was a job winkling the out, I think Petekd might have had them feeding a bit better on the boat he was on. Pete finished with 18 that day whilst i put 15 together so overall that gave himself a 12th place and myself a fifth. So all in all it wasn't too bad a weekend out. I think both of us learnt a stack over the two days and there was a fair bit of slagging too :) I even had the laugh on the Sat night of watching Blobby demolish an Indian takeway which would normally have fed a small family :lol: :lol:

À very reasonably priced (€100 for entry fee and 2 days charter..) and slickly run competition I must say and although the weather on day 1 was abysmal, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. Day 1 was heartbreaking, I had to put back 18 pollack and 2 pouting over the course of what was a very, very scratchy bit of ground that didnt make the stick. We were fishing to 43cm for Pollack and 30 for others. Actually had 3 counting pollack that day along with a couple of wrasse but contrived to drop one over the side as I was trying to put him in my bag....On the day that was in it, it was heartbreak :oops: :evil:

Day 2 was virtually the polar opposite with lovely weather and much calmer seas seeing us hitting the better ground much further away. Very enjoyable fishing but struggled a bit to fill my quota for Pollack with tons of undersize again. Rattled through the ballen wrasse quota inside a few minutes but struggled for the cuckoos, managed 1 and a couple of Pouting. Lost 2 fish to the measure on the way home, a pollack and a pout that had shaded the stick when caught but an afternoon on a hot deck did them no favours. Hindsight again would have had me getting another pollack or two for insurance reasons but sure we live and learn.

Fully enjoyed the 2 days afloat, despite feeling like someone had taken a bat to my legs after day 1. Well done Pete on your 5th place, that was a damn good achievement in a good field of anglers. Day 1s fairly fruitless pollack hunt and silly mistakes cost me dear but I can take away the fact I learnt an awful lot from the weekend to bring to the Masters in 2 weeks time. A top ten slot would have been nice but sure next time....

Im going to ignore the fat jibes once again, that Indian was fantastic. All 2 starters, main, extra chips, rice and Naan bread of it... :D

Im going to ignore the fat jibes once again, that Indian was fantastic. All 2 starters, main, extra chips, rice and Naan bread of it... :D

Ah jaysus Pete, you didn't have to eat McGroary's dinner too! :D

Arra Kev, in fairness, that fellas not hard to feed.... :lol:

You wouldn't want to be living of the scraps at Jabba's table Bradan :wink:

Pete, just to confirm things you stuffed "the fat one" in the comp and he stuffed himself after. Bragging rights my ass "the king is dead long live the king".

There you are Donal, you can glean a little bit of hope from that for the next comp...... :D

There you are Donal, you can glean a little bit of hope from that for the next comp...... :D

2 boats for the next comp! with the luck of the draw and a spin to the Terrace, ops did I not give that mark :o , it's a 100% a man again. Have you ever fished Brandon before. Will give you a few marks for there at the end of Oct. :lol: :lol: :P :oops:

High time that the luck of the draw ran out and we got pegged together again.... If only to raid your crab box and copy everything your doing :D

High time that the luck of the draw ran out and we got pegged together again.... If only to raid your crab box and copy everything your doing :D

This time the cigar stayes in the car and the last guy who tried to seperate me and my crab had words with Harry. He didn't speak english but then neither did Harry but I think they understood each other :lol:

I look forward to watching you two boys battle it out :lol:

This time the cigar stayes in the car

I'll bring a spare box, just in case you change your mind.... Is there any particular brand that makes you ill? :D