Monday, October 8, 2012

After work fishing, Fav mark, Co. Limerick, 8th-october-2012

So after missing out on fishing over the weekend I went through my well worn procedure for after work fishing. My rods packed in with my tripod in it's rod carrier and my reels, leads and rigs in the shakey box so they could be quickly lifted into the car in the morning as I headed to work. That morning the bait of frozen Mackerel, Squid and sand eel placed in a cool bag with ice packs along with frozen juice bottles filled with frozen water that so the bait would be defrosted as needed at the mark.

Preparations the night before went well but I was awoken to rain and gale force wind that morning but on checking the forecast the weather was to improve so I continued. On arriving at the mark there was a light NE wind but this gave a wave and tidal rip well past the winds strength. The tidal rip was which may to wave or it may have been due to the Shannon outputing fresh water into the estuary and effecting the tides.

First three casts each gave a dog which I left to long for the bites to develop as they had took the hooks well down, as often times here quick strikes result in missed fish,  but I managed to take the hooks out. After that it went quiet as after low water the tide went dead as the whatever was pushing the water down nulified the neap flood tide rip.

As it went dark my LED head torch showed it's inadequacey as I couldn't see the reflective tape on my rod tips. My expensive Tiga head lamp is still out of action but I have just ordered bulbs off of Ebay. I had debated going for a decent LED head lamp that doesn't have a battery the size and weight of a small child attached to your hip but I hate letting something that should be still functional go to waste.

I managed to see a snatched bite in the darkness on a running ledger that was probably a strap. I felt no weight on the retreive so left the bait out for 5 minutes but the fish did not come back for it. When the trace was reeled back in the bait had been pulled up the snood. I'm guessing the fish may have grabed the bait and the hook was caught on a snag. I had what looked like a shoal of whiting rip apart another bait and tie the 4/0 hook in a knot and a final doggy before 9pm that chin hook itself.


People: Me

Duration: 6.30pm until 9.30pm

Tide: 17:47 1.90m 00:19 3.60m

Weather: NE breeze with a slight surf. Mild.

Bait: Mack, Eel, squid

Rigs: Pulleys penels 2/0 on one rod and 4/0 on the other

Results:
4 dogs

Report:


Monday, October 1, 2012

Co Clare, #fishirl, 30th-September-2012

People: 8 anglers.

Duration: 12.00pm until 4.00pm

Tide: 12:37 0.5m 18.53 5.0m

Weather: south west wind

Bait: Mack, Eel, squid

Rigs: I used pulleys and running ledgers.

Results:
Me blanked. Two winner had 2 dogs most others had 1 dog

Report:

I meant to hit Dunlickey before hand for fresh Mackerel but I slept it out due a mixture of tiredness, a never ending cold, drink and a the wind and rain. I had never fished this mark before but had heard of big ray being caught and deep water. I set up a the first point which was more sheltered with only a slight wave compared to a further out point being hit by the wind and surf. There was kelp poking out of the water so I set up with 30lb SL30 but the water was neither deep nor deperately snaggy once past the first kelp. Where I fished the tide was not strong and the water wasn't that deep.

The lads to the right picked up fish throughout the comp but fishing was very slow. Saying that one of the winners had 9 bites from the middle of the bay with only two fish to show and a couple of big fish were lost. The nearest I got to some action was when my lead was tripped. Maybe a fish or maybe some weed. The top hook of the penel had slid away with most of the bait so if it was a fish it was lost due to this. I just can't get decent penel tubing anymore to hold the penel hook in place and keep forgetting to twist the line around the hook shank for extra security. All in all my first blank of the year and I won't be coming back here in a hurry after my worst session of the year.