Maighdean Mara, Connemara-Inishmore, Friday 15-05-2009

Maighdean Mara, Connemara-Inishmore, Friday 15-05-2009

Species: bull huss, lesser spotted dogfish, ling, pollock, coalfish, mackerel, lesser and greater sandeel, poorcod.

Rigs: feathers, shads, flowing trace, pirks, spinners, baited hokkais, jigbaits etc.

Crew: Dom, Donal, Pat, Stevie, Martin.

Tide: HW at 1020

Weather: mix of everything, but mostly wet and very windy

Report:

We were heading out from Spiddal pier at 0915 towards the Aran Islands to check a few marks for Porbeagle sharks, which skipper Kevin has spotted during recent outings.

Unfortunately, the weather gods were against us this time despite the reasonable forecast force 6 S-SSE winds gusting to force 8 sometimes were blowing making up for a rough 2 1/2 hour journey, so we decided in the interest of safety to seek shelter lee-side off Inishmore and drop anchor.

The Garmin showed mackerel shoals ahead and we were into fish almost immediately with full strings of good sized mackerel falling victim to various feather and hokkai rigs, the colour red being the most successful. Great fun and most importantly, bait (and supper) was sorted.

Using flowing traces with fresh mack at the northern side of the island we got bites immediately, a few doggies and 2 bull huss came aboard, pictures were taken quickly and the little sharks swam away happy to grow even bigger.

After loosing our anchor then thanks to a big swell snapping the rope above the chain we decided to drift over a few marks along the Connemara coastline and were rewarded with ling, good sized and lovely coloured pollock, 4 measuring up to 78cm and a few more species which made for very enjoyable fishing despite lumpy seas and the odd crew member feeling a bit ropey

A tame and, at this stage, very hungry heron named Bertie which is a regular visitor on the Maighdean Mara spotted us far from the pier and accompanied us as passenger to get rewarded with a couple of mackerel and leftovers which he devoured gracefully and with obvious delight

A big thanks to Kevin at this occasion he really worked hard to get us in touch with fish making the day a memorable and enjoyable experience for all and I'm looking forward already to our next trip and to meeting all of you again!

Tight lines to all

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nice fishing lads,some nice huss there,pity about the weather,but man thats fishing!!!

thanks for the comments doggie3131, here a few more pictures, the weather was actually lovely upon return, isn't it just typical , well at least unloading gear and packing up cars was done reasonably dry

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good to see a few fish being caught it what i like to see no matter what is put your way plus a few cans on the way back well done men good pics

good report martin,good photos,and yes ,the cans were excellent
Pat

Great post and some good fish there also, almost feel like a can now myself

Cheers lads. we had a cracking time, a new species for me with the huss, good company too , fishing dosn't get much better than that , even the wind and the lumpy seas couldn't deter us , hope Steven's "Scottish medicine" worked to get him settled