Culdaff SAC 08/08/10

[PaddyB]

Culdaff SAC took a break from our usual league trips, and had a pleasure trip aboard the Gemini 2 from Culdaff. After bagging some mac for bait we headed for the wreck of the Myrtle Branch. A British merchant ship torpedoed 9 mile north east by north of Inishtrahull Island. On the steam out towards the wreck a €5 a man pot for the biggest fish of the day was agreed, and the pleasure trip decended into the usual competitive banter!

First drift seen some fine Pollack around the 6 or 7lb mark landed by all angler’s. It soon became evident that the drift was slower than expected, and it didn’t take long for the Ling gear to get sent to the bottom, in search of a prize winning fish. Kevin O’Donnell landed an 8 and a half pound ling and was the early leader. A steady stream of Ling Pollack and Coalies, all came to the surface, but few were above the 7lb mark. I was fishing a baited pirk, fitted with a yellow muppet between it and the hook, after landing several ling all around 6lb/7lb, I switched over to a similar set-up , but it had a booby bead fitted about 6” above the pirk. I had used these rattling beads for ling before and noticed that they seemed to be quite effective. I dropped to the bottom and the skipper gave the call that we were approaching the wreck. As I reeled up a coupled of turns, my rod doubled over, I thought I’d snagged the wreck, but after a few seconds I felt that familiar tug tug as the ling shook his head from side to side. Initially he was going nowhere, but with a bit of gentle persuasion, I got him off the wreck, and great wee scrap followed. No doubt had I been using 30lb class gear , the fight would not have been anywhere nearly as much fun, but on the Daiwa TDX Uptide and a penn 525 mag, it was great craic. When I got him onboard I was disappointed to learn that he was only 9lb, it was enough to lift the biggest fish prize but I was hoping for a double figure fish. Ciaran McGonigle landed a similar sized ling to my own, but I think I got the sympathy vote on the prize front. There was some big pouting landed and Ciaran also landed a fine Cuckoo Wrasse.

We ended the day in around Inishtrahull, Island hunting a specimen Ballan Wrasse, and although there was a few decent fish taken, we sadly didn’t get our specimen.

I came close with the wrasse in the picture which weighed in at 1.8kgs, just shy of 4lb.

All in all it was a good day out, and the choice of fishing ground is almost too vast to be enjoyed in one day, you’d need a week off work, to get the time to cover everything. The excellent inshore fishing is already well documented however there is little known about the off shore banks, reefs and Pinnacles, and of the 30 or 40 wrecks dotted within an hour or so steam, only a few of these get fished per season. They certainly do throw up some fine fish, but are so densely populated with Pollack, Coalies and Ling, that the other species, or double figure fish are hard to get in amongst.

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Last edited by PaddyB on Mon Aug 09, 2010 6:40 pm, edited 6 times in total.

cracker session there paddy, and thats a fine ling, some eatting in that one

Cracking day by the sounds of it Paddy
It broke my heart throwing the ropes off for you guys at Bunagee
that ling must have been good sport on the light gear alright

Cathal

You have to admit that your getting luckier Paddy

You have to admit that your getting luckier Paddy

You had a great days fishing there Paddy, and a fiver of Danno
youl will need a fame for that

Good to see the fishing going again at culdaff,
but is it necessary to kill the wrasse?

No, Im just a bad person.

No, Im just a bad person.

did it taste nice

NICE FISHING MAN LOOKED A GREAT DAY. COULD HAVE CHANGED OUT OF YOUR WORK CLOTHES.(SUPPORT CATCH AND RELEASE ONLY KILL WHA YOU ARE GOING TO EAT)

Great days fishing there.what sort of price is for a days fishing

Depends on how far out you want to go, normally around €450 a trip, boat can take 10 or 11 people. Contact Inishowen Boating company.
As for the workwear its been 4yrs since I worked in FG's, good spot though

Mods please dont delete or edit this next bit, I deliberately didnt answer the Jibe's about killing the wrasse to see if you would do anything about it, but since you havn't I am going to reply to the Jobsh!te keyboard warriors who just cant help themselves but have a wee dig!!!!

Firstly I fish from the boat at least every second week, from April through to October. Most trips everything gets returned, somtimes fish are kept for the plate. In the case of the Wrasse above, both fish were dragged up from a considerable depth, and is questionable whether they would have survived even if they where released.

However these TWO wrasse where kept as it was thought they might be specimen fish. Do I want a specimen fish badge? Not particularly, but believe it or not some anglers, particullary tourists, use the specimen log as a guide to where they are going to take their next angling holiday. A lot of people have commented, after both this years, and last years angling festival in Culdaff, espically those who have travelled from different areas of the country, that they didnt realise how good the fishing was in this area. An area I might add that has seen 2 Pubs and a hotel all close within the last year!!!

I dont make the rules in terms of how to claim a specimen fish, nor was I happy that such fine fish was killed needlessly, but if the records showed that more specimens where caught in the area, and in turn more tourists visited the area, then its a price Im willing to pay!

nice fishing lads i was really surprised at the quality and standard of fishing out your way when we were up for the culdaff comp. truely a hidden wee gem that is deserved of more publicity