Loop Head- 1st september

Puca
Steven and I
930 - 4.30
High water 9.50 am
Winds sw4,nw5,nw6

Left Kilrush at 9.30 and steamed the 18 miles to Loop head.
The boat seemed very heavy and quite slow, but the engine sounded fine so persevered with a slightly slower trek to the head than normal
6 Weeks worth of barnacles will do that to you

Arrived at the head to find a very sloppy confused seas that had the boat pitching in all directions at once

Feathers duly dropped for mackerel and they arrived quick and fast.
My new boat companion Steve had dropped his all the way to the bottom in 150 feet of water and landed a 6lb cod first drop

Change of tactics called for, and new sets of Shamrock tackle Kilmore Killers were baited with mackerel strips and we targeted the cod.

The next few hours were non stop, not with any particularly large fish , but a whole variety
We landed cuckoo wrasse,pollack, cod,scad,whiting, pouting,coalfish ,mackerel and a solitary haddock.
Lots of codling but with a fine stamp of fish between 5-7lbs. Took some home for the table, first time in a long time theres been such a large number of codling showing right tight on the head.
We caught treble shots of all the above species in various combinations. Exhausting stuff!

A quick comment on the Kilmore Killers from shamrock, I'm not an expert, or a member of any international boat team, just a keen angler with some experience.
The snoods are tied on too light mono. We lost one particularly big fish, possibly a ling, but when the fish had freed itself, we found a depressing curly bit of mono . The hook had pulled. As the snood is so light, if your catching lots of fish, the snoods wrap around the main rig body repeatedly, to the point where they are useless.
I am now retying these rigs on heavier mono snoods.
They are however, excellent attractors in green and did catch plenty of fish

On deciding to return to Kilrush, we set off and it soon became apparent the slow trip out was not due to weight and the run against tide. We chugged back to harbour at 12 knots at full throttle, and used 50% more fuel than normal.In fact we made it back with a milk bottles worth of fuel left. The engine will now be delivered to a shop to investigate, but I fear that may be the end of this seasons boating if it takes any length of time to fix

Hoping this is not my last report
Kev

Excellent report Kev,

During your re-tie of the Kilmore Killers you should think about 25lb Flurocarbon for the snoods. Stren have just launched some new stuff that is not too expensive, and looks the business. They have 3 different tints... The fluro snoods will be slightly thicker than mono and thus less prone to tangling around the mainline on fast deep drops.... Maybe a 40lb Fluro or just 50lb Sakuma for the main body.

Real Pity about the engine..... What did it sound like on the run back.... I hope you have done an head gasket or piston ring...... Sounds like a piston ring When you loose compression on the cylinder you will still get some speed but with much higher fuel consumption.

Hopefully it will not cost you too much and it won't be your last boat report of the year.... Otherwise we'll have to talk you into tiddler bashing beach fishing. :roll:

Kev

Kev

some day next spring im going to sneak down to kilruch marina very late at night, quietly go up to your boat and in about 15 minutes put a quick coat of anti foul on it...

sorry to hear about engine troubles kev .

as for kilmore killers had the same problem with them on Saturday, knots slipping :shock: .
not with 6lb cod but with fish much smaller very disappointing.

Someone should have a word with mickeyfish about these :lol:

If anyone who can suggest why a 2 stroke engine can lose 50% of its power I'm open to suggestion
All spark plugs connected and ok
Engine sounds fine
No unusual smoke, so not piston rings or the like
Just less power

After a crap summer weatherwise I hate the idea of losing the next month while my engine is being serviced

Kev

PS JW: You keep that nasty sticky foul anti foul away from my nice barnacled hull :D

kev 999 out of the 1000 other boat owners who anitfoul the hull can't all be wrong?

you've probably checked this already, but it could just be the fouling, growth rate highest this time of year?

Jetwashed the evil buggers off the hull 5 weeks ago, so not my problem I'm a afraid

Still hate anti foul. Cant bring myself to use it

i might be totally wrong on this, but could enough growth occur this time of year in 5 weeks to affect the hull planing ok?

Normally I wash her every 6 weeks in summer. At the outside, the growth can knock 5 knots off the top speed
That should still leave me at 21 knots fully laden
Last year the boat went 9 weeks between washes, and there was a half inch thick of barnaclegrowth. Amazing!!!

maybe you could try popping a bit of rig glue on the knots before you use them. its like non water soluble superglue (i am led to believe). have used it for carp and catfish fishing and trolling in the med (so it stands up to salt) and it sets the knots rock solid.

http://www.baitbox.co.uk/product.php?xProd=854

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/KRYSTON-ICKY-BRUS ... dZViewItem

might add to the strenght

Kev, very good report and I’m very sorry to hear about your engine troubles. I hope that I turn out to be only a minor defect and you'll get it fixed soon. I wish I can be more of a help. ;-(

i admit i know very little about boats.. but i know a bit about 2stroke engines..

to me it sounds like the air intake isnt letting enough air in.. either the filter could be clogged or the carburetor isnt mixing fuel to air properly.. i had the same problem years ago on a motorbike(every time i came back from shopping it would happen?? wasnt until i realised where the air intake was that a shopping bag was half covering it :oops: )

hope that is of help to you :wink: