Away Ray Weekend, Rathmullan Pier, Donegal - 25/26 June 2011

[Drew]

People: Dan, Gabbey, Drew

Duration: 7pm - 2am, then 6am - 1pm (14hrs total)

Tide: Various

Weather: Gorgeous, bit of wind, 9am was the start of a couple of showers but mostly great.

Bait: Mackeral, Sandeel, Squid, Ragworm, Lugworm

Rigs: Loops, DDPS, Flappers, Feathers, 3 Hook Clipped, Running Leger

Results:
Gabbey - Tub Gurnard, 4 Thornback Rays, Dogs
Dan - Dabs, 3 Pollack, A Mackeral, A Launce, Dogs, 4 Thornback Rays
Drew - 5 Thornback Rays, Too Many Dogs!

Report:
Man, where do I start with this one? The beginning I suppose! We weren't expecting to leave Millisle until 4.30pm as Sheppey got out of work then, sadly at 11.30am we were notified Shep wouldn't be able to make it. So a rethink was in order. We decided to leave at 2pm, so we'd hopefully be able to catch a few of the guys on Leenan Beach for the SAI meet. Indeed we made it with 10 minutes to spare. Good to finally meet Fishermannum1, Bigbadtom, Zud and various others. Seemed to be a gathering in the true spirit of SAI meets of old!
At 5pm the guys were scattering to the wind, we were told that Rathmullan pier had been fishing well recently, so a quick jaunt over on the Ferry and we arrived at the venue, Fishing for 7pm there were plenty of Anglers, We nestled ourselves in beside fishingquinn off the forum and the fun began. I was first off the mark with a 3.5lb Raymond, PB, Happy days, Who's next? Our Dan got a good bite and lifted into it, Fish on! Was great to see him get something which fought back, hugging the bottom and flapping its wings to make its way uptide... after a couple of minutes we'd handlined up another ray, similar in size to mine couple of photos then released.
Now, this is where it gets slightly controversial, a while passed and Dan had to head up to the car, while he was gone he got another positive bite which was arching the rod violently, since Dan and I had both had fish I suggested to Gabbey that he should hit it. He did and the fish made its presence felt, exerting pressure steady enough to test any unsuitable knots! It all held, and the fish (which we decided was Gabbeys), weighed in at an ounce under 5lb. One very happy camper got a couple of photos taken and the fished was released to kite away in the tide.
In the meantime Dan returned and got his gear into the water again, managing the first of many Dogs for the night, I won't bore you with the details of anymore! Gabbey did manage a nice little Tub Gurnard, a first for him, Happy days! Zud and his Bud arrived, immediately hitting into Rays, including a new PB of 8lb (No doubt they'll have a report up over the next while so I'll let him tell you about it!). After a while the rays tailed off for us, and the dogs came out in force... Time to get the BBQ on, Sausages and Burgers cooked by Chef Drew!
At 2am Zud was leaving and left us some lovely fresh bait! Thanks very much mate, it served us well in the morning, Great meeting you and hope its not too long til we all fish together again! We decided to retire to the car at this point for a couple of hours kip before resuming the session. Finally got over to sleep at about 3am (3 Men in a Clio wouldnt be in it!) Only to be woken at 4.30am by a random phonecall from my Dad! So, now awake but not fishing til 6am Dan and I decided we'd go out for a while and give Gabbey some peace to sleep. Walked the Length of Rathmullan Beach, plenty of Razorfish shells in various states and.... 4 Drunk people with wine still in hand staggering all over the show... Needless to say I was slightly envious... Back down into the village for a bit of exploring and before we knew it, it was 6am and time to wake Gabbey, back to the fishing....
Fishing start off infuriatingly slowly, with Dan picking up a couple of Dabs amongst the buoys. It was easily 3 Hours in before I finally had a positive touch from a Ray... The big loop rig did the job, and instead of one Ray I managed a double, one of 4lb and one of 3lb, Happy days, target species reaquired! We had run out of Mackeral again, but luckily Dan came to the rescue with feathers managing a small Launce then a Mackeral, Dan hit his ray for the day on a big squid and sandeel wrap, Happy bunny.
Now for the ROTFLMAO moment of the trip... Gabbeys Rod headed for the hills at high speed, coming off the tripod at a rate of knots, he managed to grab it before it disappeared, but a partially straightened hook on the returning rig indicated something big and hungry had taken a liking to the bait.. maybe a Tope?
Double Dogfish followed for me, Damnit, thought it was a ray, its ok though, rebaited and 5 minutes later had a Doggy/Ray double up onto the pier!
Dan was back on the Dabs and managed a couple along with a couple of Pollack down the side, But finally what we'd been waiting for, Deans Rod went and he retrieved his Ray for the day, Happy man, we'd all had at least one ray for the day, mission accomplished... A cherry for the cake maybe, yep, last cast and Dan had one more Ray to contend with, eventually he got it unhooked but not before it took a slice out of his finger, Daniel learns the hard way that rays can extend their mouths.
Packed up, and 3 Happy Campers made their way home to Co. Down, All craving another dose of Donegal magic...

[Drew]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNzE5kqGtXg
Zuds 8lb Ray Vid!
Pics

[Drew]

More Pics

[yngkmd]

if only you got ray like that at the dee eh?

[bigsod]

Great trip lads, great when you spend hard earned money and time travelling and your rewarded with your target species

[Shambo]

Seen yous as we were heading out on the Enterprise, yous had better fishing than us nearly If I knew it was going to be as bad as what it was I nearly would've joined yous on the pier! Great fishing, well done!

[eyesreilly]

Nice report Drew, pics and video are great . Nice to be catching decent fish regularly like that I didnt recognise Dan without that big wooly hat on him Nice gurnard too, lovely colours

[bigbadtom]

It was great to meet you Dan and Gabbey at Leenan Beach yesterday Drew. Am delighted that your trip to Rathmullan was well worth the long journey for you. A really great session there lads. Well done. When you are coming over again hopefully we can meet up and have a session. Once again lads well done to you all.

[zud25]

Well done Drew U and the lads try everything on the pier for the best result-fair play to ya
U wrote"maybe Tope"-yes coz i leaved my top secret mackerel fillets just for the Topes
Great result-great team thanks lads

[Drew]

Seen yous as we were heading out on the Enterprise, yous had better fishing than us nearly If I knew it was going to be as bad as what it was I nearly would've joined yous on the pier! Great fishing, well done!

Not good man? I only ever have good memories on that wee boat... Always prefer it to the Explorer as the gunnels can be a bit too high....

[fishy1987]

nice one lads good share of thornys for all
good read and snaps happy fishing tightlines

[Al and Jordan]

sorry we missed you's over at rathmullan drew. like i said in zud's report we got into buncrana just as the ferry was leaving so the thought of driving round through letterkenny went out the window when we spotted that our favourite mark on fahan was empty,,,, in fact we had the beach to ourselves . i even chucked out a tope bait on the tope rod on our far left as we had the place to ourselves. a whole joey on a 8/0 pennel pulley. sadly no tope showed, but i did get a double on the pennel with a thornie and doggie on each hook . we ended up with me getting 6 thornies to 6lb and 5 doggies. jordan had 2 thornies to 6lb (a new PB) and a flounder. and dawsey had a few thornies to 6lb. a nice average size to them with us all getting a 6lb'er each . but by 1.30am my eyes were beginning to cross eachother as we'd been on the go from 5am saturday morning and all the red bull in ireland was'nt gonna keep me awake i think it was only the pain from the sunburn that kept me awake on the drive home i've already put our pics up on zud's report but not wanting to leave anyone out i'll add them to yours too

[Al and Jordan]

last few pics

[fishermannum1]

great report and pic's there Drew, glad the pier worked out for you's, and good to hear that you's all got your ramonds and a few other species as well, well done lads sorry to hear of the biggie getting away, this sort of thing happens every so ofen all up this way, you never know whats lurking about out there. so glad you's all had a good and successful trip up, and was nice to finally meet up with you and have a chat, hopefully we will have a session togather soon, again well done and nice fishing

[bigbadtom]

Some very nice Ray there Al well done. Congrats to Jordan on your new PB the first of many more to come for you. It was great to meet up and fish with you guys again.

[round_ourway]

well done lads. some job.. great report and pictures

[doggie3131]

fantastic fishing lads,well done on the ray.and al,even jordan looks tired in those photos!

[fishermandan007]

last few pics

nice report Al some smashing fish mate, think ur we lad is one to watch in the future mate lol. wonder would he swap his log book for a load of sweets Al, def worth a watching, take it easy mate.....

[Shambo]

Seen yous as we were heading out on the Enterprise, yous had better fishing than us nearly If I knew it was going to be as bad as what it was I nearly would've joined yous on the pier! Great fishing, well done!

Not good man? I only ever have good memories on that wee boat... Always prefer it to the Explorer as the gunnels can be a bit too high....

Wasn't great no, I'd say if I managed 70 points I would have been lucky. But sure that's the way it goes. Only a matter of time before there's another tope landed on the pier I'd say, no doubt Gabbey will have an 8/0 hook on next time around

[alannelson]

thats good fishn lads well done