Back in Donegal Bay, 17/18th August 2020

A couple of good days before the weather went badly downhill necessitated a fishing trip.
Monday, 17th. I arrived at the slip with just dregs of water available but with a bit of shoving and coaxing I managed to get the boat off the trailer and afloat. Conditions for once were quieter and calmer than forecast and I was soon out at my first mackerel spot. They duly obliged and after a few drops of the feathers I had 9-10 decent mackerel for the bait box. Off to the first mark where I drifted over the sand in search, if not expectation, of a few thornies. I was to be disappointed as after an hour and a half all I had was a dogfish, dab and a couple of small tub gurnards. Admittedly I hadn’t covered much ground as the drift was extremely slow and sometimes it takes a couple of lengthy drifts to locate the rays. I decided to try another mark which shelves more steeply but it was no better, just a couple of dabs for another hour and a half. Since the sand and the shallows weren’t producing, perhaps a move to deeper water and rougher ground would make sense so after a short spin and a change of end tackle I set up the boat for the first drift. First drop down and almost immediately the rod started kicking. Up came a nice cod and ling double, supper sorted! A couple of drops later another cod of the same size (5.5lb) took the bait. Plenty of fish were showing on the sounder but they were concentrated on one part of the mark so I had to repeatedly motor back up tide to cover that small area. No more cod but plenty of pouting, pollack, poorcod, and male and female cuckoo wrasse in various combinations added to the tally. By now it was time to head in.
Tuesday 18th. A different launching site today as I tried a different set of marks. There was a crab boat tied up but almost ready to leave so I had to wait a short while to launch but I recognised the skipper. I had found a pot marker buoy washed up on a nearby beach last year and was able to trace him from the boat reg no. on the buoy. He showed me the buoy in a corner of his boat, totally flattened. “You didn’t take much care of that, hardly worth my bother returning it “I joked. But it had been deliberately punctured along with every other buoy on a string of pots, “I must have been in some other man’s territory” was the explanation. Anyway, I was soon afloat and underway. About half way to the mark, I encountered a school of dolphins and they were coming out to play; bow riding, leaping and somersaulting all round the boat. With some mackerel left over from yesterday I had no need to search for mackerel bait so started fishing straightaway with two rods with boom and long trace, again hoping for a few rays. Again the rays were conspicuous by their absence but after 2 doggies, 3 dabs, a tub and a red gurnard, finally a small spotty (2lb 5oz) put in an appearance. I decided to try a deeper mark but when I got there, somebody had beaten me to it as a couple of buoys marked either a net or string of pots along the mark. It seems to be the done thing to puncture the marker buoys of anybody with the temerity to invade your territory…….A couple of drifts close by produced only a couple of goggle-eyed pouting so I headed off to a third spot. The rain and cloud from this morning suddenly cleared to blue skies and sunshine in a gentle breeze, perhaps this had an effect on the fish for I had a little purple patch in the next hour or so; starting with a 31cm turbot, I had 4 dabs, a doggy, 6 spotty rays with the best hitting 4lb 6oz, and another turbot, even a couple of mackerel which took the baits on the retrieve. A small thornback rounded off the day. At one particularly busy moment, I was unhooking a turbot, got a spotty on the second rod and then my phone rang, just No. 2 daughter needing a favour (why else do they ever ring me!). Again, it was hometime so I headed in but as I approached the slip, another crab boat beat me to it and I had to wait a short while to retrieve the boat.
A crab boat at the launch, a crab boat at the retrieve, I must have been caught in a pincer movement!

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

As usual, more pics;

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Must be true about the fish feeding hard in the run up to a storm.
Thats mighty fishing .
The wrasse is a cracker.

Nice variety of fish. Nicely done


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk