Private Boat, Donegal Bay, 17/18 Jun 2014

People:Me

Duration:9hrs each day

Tide:ebb and flow.

Weather:Fantastic, warm, sunny, light winds.

Bait:Pollack, mackerel

Rigs:Sliding boom leger

Results:Pollack, mackerel, thornbacks, dabs, turbot, tub gurnard

Report:
Tuesday and Wednesday seemed to offer the chance to get the boat out for the first time this year so Wednesday morning saw me on the slipway. I spent about 2 hours searching for mackerel to no avail but I was getting plenty of Pollack up to about 3lb. Eventually I decided to keep a couple for bait though I didn’t really have much confidence in it. I was pleasantly surprised after only 10 mins on my first drift to hear the ratchet going and I struck into a nice little thornback, 3lb 12oz. On the second drift I had 2 more thornback in the boat at the same time, these were slightly heavier at 4lb and 4lb 12oz so just as I was thinking this Pollack is damn fine bait, everything ground to a halt; not a bite the rest of the day, (not counting the gull which landed in the boat and took a whole fillet!http://youtu.be/LKywP_kHGMU )
Wednesday morning saw me head out into much deeper water and eventually I managed to get 4 medium mackerel, one at a time and widely spaced in time; half a tank of fuel and 2.5hrs for 4 mackerel! However I headed back to my chosen mark and was immediately into the rays again but this time the action lasted and was fairly steady through the day. At one point I had a ray on each rod at the same time and after unhooking one and dropping the remains of the bait over the side, a dab took it so 3 fish in the boat at once. Some decent dabs took the baits (mackerel strip on 2/0’s) in between rays and 3 nice little turbot also showed up from one quite small area. At one point I topped up the dwindling bait supply with a mackerel and late on in the day, a small tub gurnard took a bait for a bit of variety. So I ended up with 19 thornbacks to 5lb, 9 dabs, 3 turbot and a tub gurnard. Not to grumble but a few bigger thornbacks would have been nice, still it was just the first trip of 2014.

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nice report mackeral still a bit patchy here surely. was out wednesday could of filled a box out sunday hit and miss . very frustrating. hope you hook a couple of bigger thornies. big ones coming from the shore so maybe a couple of drifts towards a shore mark might produce a better stamp of fish. keep the reports coming a great read

Well done great fishing. What was your chosen rig for the flats? I'm hopin to get out and I'd like some advice on a flatty rig. All the best on your next outing.

Great report as always John!

Nice bit of fishing, plenty of fish, mackerel very scarce up this way as well on certain days.

Well done great fishing. What was your chosen rig for the flats? I'm hopin to get out and I'd like some advice on a flatty rig. All the best on your next outing.

Thanks for your comments Dan, I got all the fish on the same rig; a boom and flowing trace, 5-6ft long and a 2/0 hook. 4-5-6oz lead depending on depth and speed of drift. I find that a 2/0 is big enough to cope with a ray yet a decent dab or small turbot can still take it. If specifically targeting flatties, I would scale down the hook to perhaps a 2 and maybe add a second hook on a dropper. At anchor, especially in slack water I would use a simple pater noster rig. Good luck if you get out!

good to get the boat wet JW
some nice pics there, decent fishing
hey that is one game gull )