Under a mackerel sky, a painter dabs spots on t’back of dogs
Thu Aug 13, 2015 5:45 pm
At last, a chance to get afloat again in Donegal Bay.
Day 1. First stop at my usual bait spot and the sounder showed plenty of fish, mackerel first drop. So it didn’t take long to gather enough bait for the day. The mackerel weren’t big but were plentiful, later in the day I saw several shoals boiling at the surface around me simultaneously. On to the bait fishing and with a light breeze the boat drifted nicely over the sand covering ground at a steady rate. It wasn’t too long before some interest was registered and the first of 16 thornies weighed in. Most of them were quite small with the best reaching 7lbs. 7-8 doggies also got in on the act but with the rays beating them 2:1 I didn’t object too much. Surprisingly there wasn’t a flattie to be seen, usually a few dabs, or on a good day, turbot show up. I tried out my water wolf underwater camera today but the water was very dirty, lots of sediment and a dark brown colour obscuring the view. I was still able to garner something out of the footage. I saw several thornies swim up to the lead skipping along kicking up sand; most of them came in from the side, not from “downwind” of the bait. The commotion caused by the lead bouncing along is obviously a powerful visual attractant. After following the lead and actually mouthing it, sometimes 2 rays at a time, a ray might eventually take the bait. One painted ray followed and tested the lead, actually swimming right over the mackerel bait, before swimming off. I’m wondering whether to use a trace of about 6” long behind the lead instead of the usual 3-6 ft.
Day 2. Again, plenty of mackerel about so no problems getting bait. This time I went to a different spot hoping for a bit more variety. I wasn’t disappointed as 1st drop produced a spotted ray, 1st of the year. Next drop brought a painted ray, again the first of the year and weighing in at 7lb 8oz, best fish of the 2 days. Things went downhill a bit as next cast turned up a dogfish, followed by a 10oz dab. 4 species in 4 casts, along with the thornbacks from yesterday and the mackerel, you can now perhaps see what the title was all about! Surprisingly, there were no thornies from this mark, only another couple of dabs and dogs. The breeze had died completely now and at high water the boat was just sitting in one spot so I headed off to yesterday’s mark which was a little less sheltered from the wind. This paid off as over the next couple of hours I boated another 2 spotties, 11 thornies and 5-6 doggies. One of the thornies showed signs of mutilation, possibly a tear by a net?
Day 1. First stop at my usual bait spot and the sounder showed plenty of fish, mackerel first drop. So it didn’t take long to gather enough bait for the day. The mackerel weren’t big but were plentiful, later in the day I saw several shoals boiling at the surface around me simultaneously. On to the bait fishing and with a light breeze the boat drifted nicely over the sand covering ground at a steady rate. It wasn’t too long before some interest was registered and the first of 16 thornies weighed in. Most of them were quite small with the best reaching 7lbs. 7-8 doggies also got in on the act but with the rays beating them 2:1 I didn’t object too much. Surprisingly there wasn’t a flattie to be seen, usually a few dabs, or on a good day, turbot show up. I tried out my water wolf underwater camera today but the water was very dirty, lots of sediment and a dark brown colour obscuring the view. I was still able to garner something out of the footage. I saw several thornies swim up to the lead skipping along kicking up sand; most of them came in from the side, not from “downwind” of the bait. The commotion caused by the lead bouncing along is obviously a powerful visual attractant. After following the lead and actually mouthing it, sometimes 2 rays at a time, a ray might eventually take the bait. One painted ray followed and tested the lead, actually swimming right over the mackerel bait, before swimming off. I’m wondering whether to use a trace of about 6” long behind the lead instead of the usual 3-6 ft.
Day 2. Again, plenty of mackerel about so no problems getting bait. This time I went to a different spot hoping for a bit more variety. I wasn’t disappointed as 1st drop produced a spotted ray, 1st of the year. Next drop brought a painted ray, again the first of the year and weighing in at 7lb 8oz, best fish of the 2 days. Things went downhill a bit as next cast turned up a dogfish, followed by a 10oz dab. 4 species in 4 casts, along with the thornbacks from yesterday and the mackerel, you can now perhaps see what the title was all about! Surprisingly, there were no thornies from this mark, only another couple of dabs and dogs. The breeze had died completely now and at high water the boat was just sitting in one spot so I headed off to yesterday’s mark which was a little less sheltered from the wind. This paid off as over the next couple of hours I boated another 2 spotties, 11 thornies and 5-6 doggies. One of the thornies showed signs of mutilation, possibly a tear by a net?
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Re: Under a mackerel sky, a painter dabs spots on t’back of
Thu Aug 13, 2015 10:10 pm
Some nice rays John, interesting re the weight.
Good to see your reports.
Good to see your reports.
Re: Under a mackerel sky, a painter dabs spots on t’back of
Fri Aug 14, 2015 11:16 am
Good report JW. Some nice rays there and a nice bit of poetry too 
Re: Under a mackerel sky, a painter dabs spots on t’back of
Fri Aug 14, 2015 1:49 pm
Nice fishing JW and a nice wee report to boot.. a few fish caught!
Like the different species of ray there and interesting to read about the observation regarding the lead - defo worth considering a hook and bait attached to the lead when drifting along the bottom, by the sounds of it
Those water-wolfs/go-pros are providing more and more insights all the time. Soon enough there will be nowhere for the fish to hide!
PM sent. Ta
Like the different species of ray there and interesting to read about the observation regarding the lead - defo worth considering a hook and bait attached to the lead when drifting along the bottom, by the sounds of it
Those water-wolfs/go-pros are providing more and more insights all the time. Soon enough there will be nowhere for the fish to hide!
PM sent. Ta
Last edited by chuckaroo on Fri Aug 14, 2015 3:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Under a mackerel sky, a painter dabs spots on t’back of
Fri Aug 14, 2015 2:32 pm
Great fishing John, a nice haul of rays!
Re: Under a mackerel sky, a painter dabs spots on t’back of
Fri Aug 14, 2015 3:27 pm
Any theory on what happened the ray in the last pic?
I had a small painted ray a few years back with a similar mark. Some people reckoned it was a birth defect, others an old wound from a net or something like a seal!
I had a small painted ray a few years back with a similar mark. Some people reckoned it was a birth defect, others an old wound from a net or something like a seal!
Re: Under a mackerel sky, a painter dabs spots on t’back of
Sat Aug 15, 2015 10:35 am
red wrote:Any theory on what happened the ray in the last pic?
I had a small painted ray a few years back with a similar mark. Some people reckoned it was a birth defect, others an old wound from a net or something like a seal!
Hi red, your Ray has an identical "defect", like I said in my post, I think it was probably caused by a net, probably a mono one. My Ray was well healed as yours seems to be. Perhaps the injury was inflicted when the fish were a lot younger, I doubt if it was a seal as there doesn't seem to be any flesh missing.
[white="Sweetwrasse"]Good report JW. Some nice rays there and a nice bit of [b][b]poetry[/b][/b] too
On my hands I've too much time,
But not enough to make things rhyme!
birdseye wrote:Some nice rays John, interesting re the weight.
Good to see your reports.
Thanks birdseye, I was quite surprised by the fish's response to the lead weight, I was using a fluoro yellow one if that helped attract them. Sometime when the water clarity is better I'll record again and put up a video .
Re: Under a mackerel sky, a painter dabs spots on t’back of
Sat Aug 15, 2015 11:01 am
A lot of folk reckoned it was a net alright, the spot i caught him at was netted bad 300yards off shore the same year but it was perfectly healed so it would have had to have happened the previous year at least.
Re: Under a mackerel sky, a painter dabs spots on t’back of
Thu Aug 20, 2015 10:13 pm
red wrote:A lot of folk reckoned it was a net alright, the spot i caught him at was netted bad 300yards off shore the same year but it was perfectly healed so it would have had to have happened the previous year at least.
That weird boy, same same.......