Following on from last weeks theme I will continue to tell you about our holidays to Ireland. As I previously mentioned, our first trip was in 2010, our next trip was 4 years later when Stacey and I headed back there on our first holiday for some time.
This time we wanted to be there a bit earlier in the hope this may give us a chance at the tail end of the summer species. It’s always a bit of a juggle between making hay while the sun shines at home on our own boats but avoiding the autumn weather when we head away. So with this in mind September was the obvious time to book.
This time we drove there so we could take a variety of tackle easily and have the freedom of our own car while we were there. Our first day was spent exploring some of the local area that we hadn’t seen before. We did have an our or so fishing from a small pier and managed to find some lesser spotted dogfish to our delight! Day 2 was our first day on the boat and a fresh breeze meant we could settle some unfinished business with the blonde rays. On our last trip we tried to small area within the harbour best known for them. However we never managed to get through the whiting and codling to actually catch a blonde despite several attempts. This time we were armed with a load of squid which we had bought from home as well as a little more experience. Our first session was successful when we had 7 blondes with the biggest two going 20.12lbs and 21.3lbs! we moved around a bit and had whiting, roker, dabs and loads of mackerel too throughout the day.
The next day we managed to get out of the harbour for a short while where we found some codling. Later we had to shelter in there once again but were happy catching plaice, whiting, tub gurnard, dabs and another 10 blonde rays to 18.8lbs.
By the third day with the boat we had some slightly better weather so we headed out a bit further in search of a few more species. We started off on the drift and had 15 or so pollock, later we anchored up and had conger and ling on baits with a few codling and whiting mixed in throughout the day too.
Of course when the weather wasn’t so good we fished the harbour for rays and mixed species as we did on day 4, by day 5 we had slightly better weather so ventured to the smiths reef which isn’t too far outside the harbour. This reef produces a nice mixture of fish including pollock, codling, launce and cuckoo wrasse. Of course we had the obligatory octopus too.
The next day was flat calm so we headed right offshore to have our first proper try for sharks. We had saved some mackerel from the day before to make up plenty of chum and caught some fresh for bait on the way out. The sea was like a sheet of glass as it reflected the bright autumnal sun at us throughout the day. there wasn’t a breath of wind and consequently our drift was unimpressive. I have since learned that these conditions may seem good but they are not ideal for shark fishing. as the drift was so slow it meant I could bottom fish with a light outfit while we waited. I was hoping to catch a megrim as it would be a new species to me. I had the odd dogfish and whiting to start with then a different fight and rattily bite. Sure enough after winding up the 80-90 meters a megrim surfaced. My co-angler
(Stacey) had nodded off in the sunshine and as I hadn’t woken her yet I tried to lift the fish in rather than bother her for the net. As I lifted it over the side the megrim shook its head, spat the hook, bounced off of the gunwale and promptly disappeared back into the depths! I obviously kept my composure as you may expect.
Soon all was quiet again as we drifted very slowly in the hot afternoon sun. Stacey soon fell asleep again and I continued to bottom fish while we waited for a shark bait to take off. As the sea was so calm there was little noise of splashing or slurping as the boat bobbed but I could hear a funny knocking noise. It was irregular and sounded like something tapping against the hull. This is a pet hate of mine, I am sure most skippers grind their teeth when they can hear a lead knocking against their boat or worry when they hear an odd noise so I stood up to investigate. Just as I was on my feet it became clear what the noise was when the large blue shark that had been nosing our chum bag clamped down on it and propelled its self forwards and upwards out of the water as it ripped the bag open. The first half of it (around 3-4ft) came right out of the water next to me as it lunged forwards while chumping on the chum bag.
This bust the chum bag open and we had to get a new one started as soon as we could. As the afternoon went on I slight breeze picked up and this seemed to help with our drift and give the fish confidence to feed as we managed our first 3 blues before the day was done.
The weather over the next few days dictated that we didn’t head offshore again. Instead we spent our time enjoying the fishing inside the harbour or on the inshore reefs again. We had some great sport and lots of species as we built up our knowledge of what the local marks had to offer. Funny enough one of the most enjoyable sessions we had was last knockings on our last day. we anchored a next to a shallow wreck with reef one side of it and a sandy gully the other side. We had all sorts from here including 15-20 decent inshore conger. The biggest went over 30lbs and was great to catch on light gear in no tide and shallow water. Stacey even managed to winkle out a spotted ray to add another species to our list. Once again we had a great time here and we were keen to head back again the next year. I will take look back at that trip next week, luckily I have a few more pictures than last weeks report.
Back in the here and now, we have had a few bookings start to trickle in since last weeks announcement on the easing of lockdown. As we still havnt had confirmation of anything different I am only taking bookings based on the rule of 6 outdoors including me for the time being. I understand this could be due to change after 17th of May but I am not willing to take bookings for larger groups until the rules have actually been relaxed on this.
That means that until further notice I will taking bookings on the basis of groups of up to 5 people. I
NEXT SPACES
I have plenty of midweek availability from 29/03 onwards. Please contact me to discuss dates. Weekend spaces as follows
04/04/21-5 spaces @ £80pp or boat £400 max 5 anglers
05/04/21-offshore trip 3 spaces @ £95pp max 5 anglers
17/04/21-possible offshore trip 2 spaces @ £95pp max 5 anglers
24/04/21-2 spaces @ £80pp max 5 anglers
25/04/21-5 spaces @ £80pp or boat £400 max 5 anglers
02/05-21-5 spaces @ £80pp or boat £400 max 5 anglers
03/05/21-5 spaces @ £80pp or boat £400 max 5 anglers
08/05-21-3 spaces @ £80pp max 5 anglers
Please call me for more information on 07956411528
Stacey is still operating the ‘lady grace’ on a bookings only basis both mid-week and weekends at the
Moment but and is likely to fall under the same restrictions as me. so please call her on 07791859624
Dad (Stuart) has availability on the ‘Razorbill 3’ please call him on 07850234077
