Mariners SAC 2 day open boat comp, Killybegs, 02/03 August

People:Myself, Pete McG and about 45-50 others

Duration:2 days

Weather:Breezy but hot Saturday, damp on Sunday

Bait:Rag and Mack

Rigs:Usual comp gear

Results:Pollack, coalies, ling, conger, red Gurnard, cod, whiting, Ballan Wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, Pout amongst other bits and pieces.

Report:

Following a really enjoyable visit to this comp last year the call came once again and it was North I headed for my second foray at the Mariners SAC 2 day open boat comp. Pete McG was on accomodation duties and following a pleasant evening of rig tying and fishy talk amidst general slagging and abuse we made our way down to Killybegs on a fine but breezy Saturday morning. We checked in and went our seperate ways having drawn different boats for the 2 days. It was great to see a lot of familiar faces from the previous year and renew acquaintances. Rules for this comp are quite complicated and quotas were in place for most species with only 5 of each wrasse, pouting and dogs allowed and 10 pollack. The ground we were fishing was for the most part, general reef fishing, some on the drift, some time at anchor.

I boarded Assaroe Star, a fine Mullaghmore boat that had made its way down for the weekends proceedings. 10.15 came along and it was lines down and game on! Fishing in general on our boat on the day in question was poor. It was hard going and few fish were coming aboard. I was having some success with the "Mick Barry Special" as I've christened that particular rig given to me by himself. With few fish coming, species were vital and I was managing to winkle out one or two bits and pieces. As the day progressed, I kept working away at the wrasse quotas. A particular rig was murdering wrasse with them coming in on every drop within a minute or two. Unfortunately, they were mostly cuckoos! I had to wade through 20-30 of the little devils to get my Ballan Quota but it proved worthwhile. A stray red Gurnard to size and surprise surprise, a 7lb cod put in an appearance! Using a quivertip rod (more on that later) I could have sworn I was on the bottom as with a quick drift the rod heeled over. Fishing under the boat at the time, I had the rod down the side pulling for a break until after a few seconds realised this weight was actually moving and following a very spirited fight landed a lovely Donegal bay cod. Theres not much else to say about day 1, I had one Pollack to size, all my wrasse, a red Gurnard and a cod for the day. Size limits were large and an awful lot of undedrsize pollack went back along with ling and coalies. A tough days fishing in bumpy conditions but as it turned out, that was enough to win my boat.

Most of the other boats had pretty similar days but there were a few decent bags. I think McG had outpointed me on day 1 but their boat having better fishing meant he'd finished 4th or 5th on the boat for the day. (and got beaten by a girl..... :lol: ) Despite the poor bag I was happy with day 1s proceedings as I'd had a lot of fish and wasn't coming away wishing I'd done things differently.

Day 2 dawned and with the previous days winner (Declan McGettigan) having a damn good total of 320 odd points to my 180 or so there was going to be a mountain to climb to get back in the hunt. Fate however smiled on me as I had drawn a berth aboard "Huntress Blue", skippered by Michael McGettigan. I'd fished with Michael before and one thing was for sure, the guy would put us on fish. What happened after that was going to be down to the anglers.....

One of those days came along for me where a lot of tactics honed aboard the wee Orkney and all the advice and tips and rigs received from much better anglers than I fell into place. One of the welsh lads (Mike Dean)aboard our boat and myself using different approaches beside each other went at the wrasse with gusto. Mike managed his quota of ballans and cuckoos fairly quickly whereas I had the opposite problem to the previous day with Ballan after Ballan coming to the boat. We moved and went to anchor with most lads on fish. I had only managed one cuckoo in the previous couple of drifts so, with no sign of any large numbers of pollack coming, I stuck at them and 20 minutes later had my quota caught with a surprise doggie in the middle of them to help things along.

My turn to go at the Pollack and the Cork Harbour leadheaded shad approach had 3 rattled in successive drops. With the rest of the boat struggling to catch and pollack being finicky, after 3/4 further fruitless drops with the shad, I changed to Donegal style leadheading. Firetail Jelly on a lead head baited with Mack Strip. A half hour or so at this saw another 4 Pollack to my bag with one major surprise. On retrieving my leadhead from a seemingly fruitless drop, i'd lifted it out of the water in preperation for another cast. With the leadhead dangling 6 inches or so above the water a good pollack and indeed my largest of the trip came out of the water like a missile and grabbed my leadhead in mid air! Such a splash and such a run off that fish as from a standing start beside the boat, 20 metres of line were ripped off my reel. Wasn't expecting that, it scared the bejaysus out of me! I've never seen that happen before. With slack water upon us and pollack off the feed, I had a half hour at the doggies and Conger with 3 dogs and an undersized strap conger to show for it.

We moved for the last hour or so and a cast with a baited leadhead saw a fine Pouting (I know yeah...!) and the remainder of my pollack quota come aboard. At this point, I should say a big well done to the junior aboard our boat (Paul I think he was called) who was the only other angler aboard our boat to get his quota filled. The remainder of the time came and went with little to show for it and it was home time and back to the weigh in. I'd won my boat again but with the poor points total from the previous day, I wasn't holding out too much hope of anything major on the results front with the general concensus being that the fishing had been slightly improved from the previous day. At weigh in however, the bags were telling a different story and it was with great interest we watched as the remainder of the boats came in and offloaded their catch.

Following a mammoth Indian takeaway and an hour or two chilling out we made our way back to Killybegs that evening for the prize giving. I knew at this stage I hadnt taken first place overall but was hoping to have made the top 5. It was comical as the results were read out as a Day 2 win, Most species, Most Wrasse, Heaviest Cod and a second place overall having hauled my way back to within 20 points or so of the overall winner Declan McGettigan meant 5 trips to the table and a boot full of silverware to take home. :D Skipper Michael from the "Huntress Blue" has to take the utmost credit for this as you can only catch whats underneath you. If he hadnt put us on the fish we wouldnt have got them and he did his utmost to keep me fishing. Recognising the lighter gear I was using, he was on hand with the net for every fish and unhooked them whilst I rebaited. I didnt lose one fish at the side of the boat thanks to Michael. A constant stream of banter amidst tips and advice about species and states of tide etc kept me constantly into fish and passed the day with a smile. Pete McG had a better day on day 2 and managed a very creditable 6th place overall.

Congrats to Declan McGettigan on his overall win, it was nice to see how much it meant to him and having beaten a field of anglers that contained a couple of Welsh internationals he deserves great credit. A slickly run comp with a fine prize table. Very competitive but maintaining the friendliness that Donegal is famous for made this a weekend to remember. You wont find a better atmosphere at a comp than here.

Gear wise, for the most part, I used a 12' Abu Premium teamed with a Grauvell Zeus z5000 loaded with 30lb braid. Bleeding glowworms in conjunction with a yellow lead murdered wrasse on the 2 days, pollack came predominantly to fish or jelly baits. Rag picked up too many little uns. The "Mick Barry" special rig proved dead handy for winkling out bits and pieces on the bottom and the rag baited flier accounted for that lovely cod. The 12' Abu premium is a great rod and I thoroughly enjoyed putting it through its paces over the 2 days.

Thanks to Pete McG for the accomodation and hospitality over the weekend. Much praise by the way for John McLaughlin in Swilly Flies and Angling centre who provided most of our bait supplies with some of the finest ragworm I've ever come across. Top notch stuff John.

Well done Pete very good fishing and great report. :D

Yappo

Pete, As always a cracking report, and a great read. Well done to yourself and Pete Eile for the excellent placings is such a good field. Fair play to McG for letting the girl win on day 1 :lol: Your a decent sport.

Pete, Is the abu 12 foot long :?: How did it handle on a tight boat??

Kev

Handled really well Kev, plenty of backbone down through the butt section and all the sensitivity of the quiver tips. 12' is fine on a charter, especially with some of the longer rigs I use on occasion but on a small boat, I use my Anaga or Fladen Maxximmus. At 2.7 m long its a little easier handled. Joys of these rods with a FS set up means you can use the same rod for leadheading too.

sounds like a nice piece of kit Pete.... Was more worries about the lenght, than anything.... Nice to see it works on a charter. I have an anaga myself and do like the two tips. This sea fishing is getting closer to coarse fishing all the time.

Kev

I'm looking at the longer rods too at the moment- I need another clearout first!

Nice fishing Pete, a few more scalps...