People: Myself, JW, JD, Dave Green
Duration: 9.30 (someone, cough, was a little late) cough (me) to 5.30 or so
Weather: Peachy, light westerlys, fine.
Bait: Fresh Mackerel
Rigs: Bloody Big uns involving huge hooks and lots of wire….
Results: 6 Blue shark boated, 2 break offs, 2 dropped runs and 2 spat hooks. Garfish, Whiting, Scad, Haddock.
Report:
Perfect conditions as promised by Met Eireann, a fine day with moderate westerly winds saw us once again climb aboard “The Clare Dragoon”, the finest boat in the Shannon fleet, ably skippered again by Luke Aston. Following the success of our two previous sorties this year aboard the Clare Dragoon, once general reef fishing for an SAI MA comp and the second where we boated 9 tope on our Tope Huggers trip, hopes were once again high of a good days fishing. The usual crew of myself, the 2 Johns and Dave were to be the crew for SAIs inaugural Blue Shark expedition. There had been much debate over tackle and tactics recently, the merits of braid over mono, light gear v heavy gear etc…. For my own part, not that I had any experience with blue shark before, based on the reasoning that 30lb tope were a doddle on a light uptider, I opted for a 20lb class rod teamed with a 525 loaded with 50lb fireline, a kind of mono coated braid. The business end was a trace of around 15 feet to a 10/0 O’Shaughnessy hook. Despite bringing the makings of a few traces with me, I opted to take one of the skippers. That way, there would at least be some bit of peace…..J
Mackerel came aboard just off Loop Head, whilst I was busy in the galley making sandwiches for myself and buttering a few scones….J (A man has to look after himself….) And we steamed off to the mark. The rubby dubby bags were filled with a mysterious, evil smelling concoction consisting of some rather “high” mashed up fish, bran and god knows what else and were deployed on both sides of the stern. JW dropped a line overboard immediately in hope of an early fish whilst the rest of us took a more relaxed approach to getting organised. A mere 20 minutes or so passed before, with only 2 lines in the water at that stage, JWs ratchet made that adrenaline inducing squeal signalling fish on! Hit em hard and hit em early was the advice given and JWs rod hooped around to the tune of a decent fish as he lifted into the run and began the scrap. A few minutes later, we had indeed found what we had come for as a baby blue graced the deck of the Dragoon…. Small, at 14lbs or so it may have been but don’t let that detract from the sheer strength and beauty of these fish. Cobalt blue along the top with an almost iridescent sheen along its back, glistening in the sunshine, these creatures are a sheer joy to behold. A quick tag and release followed and the rest of us set about getting our baits out with renewed vigour.
To while away the time between runs, we had a go at bottom fishing. However, all that seemed to be around were whiting with one scad and one haddock amongst them. Some size these whiting were too, running to well over 2lbs. However, this being a relaxing days fishing and winching up trebles of these from 80-90m of water being a little too much like hard work, we tried different approaches to get past them. So greedy were these fish that even a whole mackerel fished off a flowing trace in hopes of something substantial was being devoured! Garfish were showing in the slick however and it provided some nice handy sport for most of us at one stage or another with some fine fish to 2lbs or so coming to the deck. All that however was an aside and a mere distraction from the job in hand and the serious business of tackling the blues….
The second fish came along and fell this time to Dave Green, a feisty scrap ensued and another small blue hit the deck, 20lbs or so. We had to wait a small while for the third and it was with some degree of joy (you only have to see the expressions in the pics….J) that it fell to myself. A much better fish this time and great sport on the lighter tackle. Twice he was brought to the boat before taking exception and screaming off again, 3rd time however, he was neatly lifted aboard with a sling and set up for the obligatory photo call. 50lbs he went to on the boat scales with his nose on the floor J (don’t think Luke quite had the strength to lift him properly….) 6 feet of sheer writhing power, that beautiful blue sheen masking a body of sheer muscle for these kingpins at the top of the food chain. It was sheer joy to hold one of these fish and every bit as rewarding watching him swim off back into the depths at the end of it all with a shiny new CFB tag in place. Light tackle it may have been but 7/8 minutes had that fish aboard.
With the only one of us left fishless being JD, on my next run I handed him my rod, however, hindsight will tell me if I ever do that again to set the hook first as unfortunately the fish spat the hook and escaped on its first run. I cant recall what the order of the next 3 fish were other than that John got his, a nice one of about 40lbs or so and added another before the end of the day with Dave also (I think) adding a second for himself too. With the time allocated fading, Dave had another run and lifted into something a lot more substantial. Unfortunately, after 10 minutes or so of sheer effort, the fish escaped. Nothing to do with choice of line/rod etc I might add, it spat the hook. Anyone who has fished and caught blues before will know they have a nasty habit of rolling around in the wire and doing that can sometimes alter the angle of the hook hold and act as a lever for them to pull through. Not a lot you can do with that and it was unfortunate, more so as we hadn’t the opportunity to get a look at the fish either. Hard lines Dave.
And so, it came to a close. 6 fish boated, about the same dropped for one reason or another. A fine days action once again from Carrigaholt. Fair play to all for turning up and apologies again for delaying the start… All slagging aside, it has to be said, the most credit for the day has to go to our skipper, Luke Aston. There is no skill required in catching a blue, your lines are dropped out and you wait. Anyone who knows how to play a decent fish can land one with ease. The real work was in the timing, the positioning and the relentless supply of rubby dubby in the water, for all that, the skipper has to take the praise. We have had 3 trips this year with Luke, and he hasn’t let us down on any of those. Blues for everybody aboard was more than we had hoped for. Our trip after tope was a roaring success with 9 boated, the reef fishing we experienced during the SAI comp was as good as you would want too, indeed, on that occasion, we asked to move off to sandy ground so as not to slaughter too many fish! A fine boat, immaculately kept, a strong emphasis on customer service and access to some of the best varied fishing in Europe should see continued success for the Clare Dragoon and her skipper. Fair play indeed.
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