The graveyard mark, The Estuary, Co. Clare 27-September-2010

People: 6 anglers from Shannon town angling club

Duration: 12:20pm until 4:20pm

Tide: 13:59 (0.9m) 20:17 (4.8m)

Weather: S light wind. Cloudy mild

Bait: Eel, Squid and mackerel frozen

Rigs: penel clip downs, up and overs and running ledgers

Results:
First place: Ger: 9 fish with a mixture of dogs and huss all around 1kg
Second place: Me with a 2.2kg huss, a 1kg huss and 3 dogs.
Third place: Peter: 1.7kg and 2.2kg huss and two dogs

Report:
I'd only fished here once before a few years back and came second in a comp with 11 anglers with the smallest huss I've ever caught, so expectations weren't great. Though the winner that day Neilus had a 12lb stinger. I had memorys of some snags but was unsure of how the ground would be on the day as in the Estuary marks can change so I had few different line strengths. I finally got time the day before to make up some namix 6 oz leads so that I wouldn't be risking expensive leads. In the end I only lost one.

I was in the middle and started casting about 70 or 80 yards. The lads to my left were getting bites from the start so I gradually moved closer in but should of done sooner as the best fishing was to be had 30 yards out as I eventually learnt. I was getting bites at 50 yards but no fish while Ger and peter to my left were bringing fish regularly over to me to be weighed and released. I also tried a 3 hook cascade rig which did give a slack line but no fish. As it came to low water I finally hit into a weight after waiting for a few pulls on my rod tip. This produced the best bend on my rod in a while, partly due to the shallow mixed ground, but also due to fish fighting all the way in. It turned out to have been a doggy on the top hook and the 3.2kg huss below on the lower hook.

 This was the third huss around the 3 kg mark this month but as I have never caught decent huss in numbers it was a welcome tally. All these huss fell to the below bait combo of sand eel wrapped in squid below.

As the flood came on fishing went quite but Ger was still getting bites though less regularly with alot of missed fish. I did get another dog to the penel rig with the above bait combo but nothing after that to them. I switched over to a ledger bolt rig with a 4/0 single hook that I cast 30 yards out with muppet copying Ger's tactics and fished off the rachet with the line wrapped around the back of the multiplier with mackerel squid wrap as bait. This produced the huss and dog out of two bites giving 100% hook ups to bites. The 30 yard casting distance was bit more snaggy so obviously had better fish holding potential. After that though no more bites and it was quite down to the left as well. For the last I went with the pulley a bit further out but nothing and another dog came into my left showing it was the wrong thing to do.