| Archive for countrytalkandtips.myfreeforum.org ........................ smallholding, crafts and country life ................................................... IN IRELAND ....................................................... |
| blowin |
the first mackerelI actually got a bit of fishing in this evening . Only had 3/4 of an hour while playing chaufeur but my mate had 3 good sized mackerel on pink shrimp rig and I had 2 small pollack on the same . The pollack were returned but I am afraid that the macs got whacked !
Easky pier , but don't tell the whole world  .
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| greentree |
Well done on the mackerel!
We hired a boat off Kilmore Quay (Wexford) yesterday. Caught about two bucketfulls of Pollack and Cod. The Cod averaged about 4lbs. Had a lovely fish meal this evening. Mick |
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| wayland |
Hey Greentree. kilmore Quay is my stomping ground! Well done on a good days catch. If it is not too much of a secret Which mark did you fish?. Nice one blowin.
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| greentree |
Don't know the marks, the skipper just brought us around to different marks that he knows. Was a nice day out! Mick |
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| blowin |
 I simply cannot catch cod !! Or Bass for that matter 
The macks looked in really good condition but all 3 of them had an alarming number of worms inside the stomach cavity . Common enough in pollack etc but I have never before seen many in mackerel . A bit off-putting but not harmful to humans .
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| greentree |
Seems like worms in sea fish are fairly normal. A good description is given at: http://www.fao.org/wairdocs/tan/x5951e/x5951e01.htm
I was talking to the skipper and all the marks are well kept secrets. Their GPS devices tell them exactly where every mark is. We caught fish at nearly every mark. Mick |
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| wayland |
I well understand the need for secrecy by the skippers of fishing boats. I would do the same myself . I could take out a hand held GPS and secretly make a note of the positions 
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| admin |
Had another short try for macks today . Warm offshore wind , calm sea with nice ripple , high tide early evening , even a flock of terns feeding off the surface within casting distance .......... but not a single fish !
Conditions were perfect so it must have been MOH's fault for relying on me to catch something for supper ! |
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| blowin |
Steve's boat , Sligo bay this afternoon , mackerel widely distributed but in very small shoals except for tight up against a turbulent reef a good way north of the usual hotspots . Deeper water there . Better quality fish than before . Pollack still quite scarce and fickle . Tried earthworms for flatties but they are definitely no good as a sea bait -- wash out in minutes . | ||
| lofty |
ya have to use only the blue heads as bait they are far firmer than the red earth worms | ||
| blowin |
I thought they were the blueheads but I am not very familiar with them so they could have just been particularly dark earthworms . Definitely not the orange stripies ( tiger / brandling ) . My mate tried them when we were well out in the open sea ( likes a challenge , does Steve ), and we concluded that they might have been ok well up the estuary but lug would be better all round . Thanks for the advice tho' -- I will give it a go from the shore
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| lofty |
i just know that the blue head is far firmer on the hook than the the other ones on another note it seems killala bay seems to be cleared of mackerel there is very few in it for what ever reason, got great fishing earlier on but it has gone dead | ||
| blowin |
That's bad news . We haven't been out that way this year because the boat is now moored in Ballysadair / Sligo bay . Killa and thereabouts always used to be a good area for them . I have just remembered that the fishing suddenly went really slack a couple of years ago . I went to dig lug in that big sandy bay just south of Killlala . The sand was literally covered in them , dead and dying . I did a bit of research and found that it was a particularly bad plume of "Red Tide" which is a phytoplankton or something . Called red because it makes the sea that colour -- like reflection from a sickly sunset . Can't remember exact detail but I think there are @ 6 main types . 2 can be highly toxic if they get up the food chain ( so definitely don't eat filter feeders eg mussels but there was lack of guidance about shrimps & crabs . Fish should be ok but see next -> ) . 2 can cause fish gills to clog with mucus so they died too . No food + bad water keeps the shoals offshore . The others are just along for the ride . This phenomenon is common all around the uk and IE but I had never heard of it until then . There used to be an Irish Fisheries Board open website with up to date info re toxicity levels ( for the shellfish farmers ) but it seems to have changed to subscription only . I wonder whether that explains it . |
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| lofty |
i havent seen anything like that i know earlier on this year the water went very green the locals said they never saw the sea that colour i thought it might have been a bloom of some sort | ||
| blowin |
Out from Ballysadare Bay & round to Aughris again yesterday pm . Fishing still not what you'd expect at this time of year . Mackerel shoals still very scattered tho' a better size of fish this time . Took a while to find them then several on every drop then suddenly quiet for the rest of the day .
Saw a tall ( ? 18" ) fin , quite narrow and very curved . Dark coloured but with a pale band up the back . Almost like a gull's wing stretched up into the air . Definitely not the dolphin or harbour porpoise which are fairly common . We have no idea what it was . Don't know whether that had anything to do with the macks going off the feed . Could have been for any number of reasons . Pollack very difficult to find altho we don't normally have much trouble in that area . We eventually tried tipping both jelly worm and shrimp rig with thin strips of mackerel and had an immediate change of fortune but mostly smallish fish ( < 2 lb ) so returned alive . When I cleaned the 3 I did bring home I found that the stomachs of all of them were clogged with a ball of what appeared to be parasitic worms but not the normal tough round type which burrow into the flesh . These were more like earthworm with segments . Quite delicate . 2 - 3" long . None in the body cavity or flesh tho' ( and they are not harmful to humans anyway , for those who don't know ). |
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| lofty |
could that fin have been a sunfish i think that is there name real weird looking thing | ||
| blowin |
I hadn't thought of that . Have just been googling images -- the sun fish fin is wider and less curved than the one we saw . It did, however, look very much like the tall fin on the back of a bluefin tuna and it was within 3/4 mile of the shore  .
Here is a pic off the net http://www.coastalthings.com/55%20inch%20Bluefin%20Tuna.jpg That would be pretty amazing but perhaps should not be too much of a surprise because I understand that there is quite a thriving tuna industry based out of ? Killibegs or thereabouts ( in the north of the bay we were in ) . Bref told me some interesting yarns about it so it must be true  .
I do hope Steve the Boat isn't reading this because , as I said , he really does like a challenge and we'll be trying to catch the bloomin thing next time we go out . I had enough excitement trying to tail-drag his *shark into the boat last year . ( Then he let it go again ! ) .
* Tope about 35 lbs . Nice fish . Catch & release . |
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| lofty |
could very well have been a tuna they are getting them frequently in donegal and down south somewhere as well i think they were yellow fin down near kerry. | ||
| blowin |
Do you need a licence to fish for them , I wonder ?
And what method ? |
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| lofty |
trolling some sort of lure at a fairly quick speed is about as much as i know. I wouldnt imagine you would need a license | ||
| wayland |
A few have been caught from the north Norfolk coast over the last few years. Apparently they were caught in the wash 150 years ago. I had a short session with the feathers yesterday. 1st cast two mackerels. 2nd cast four mackerels. The next two hours produced nothing. It was nice to get a few anyway.
cheers. |
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| lofty |
the mackerel have returned to killala bay thank god and some big dogs as well | ||
| blowin |
It's great to hear that at last . Is there any chance that you could keep us posted ? I promised to take a mate to the coast if the fish ever came in ! . Might even meet you there ? Send your phone number to me via pm if you fancy meeting up sometime ( you aren't in much danger of being out-fished by us ! ) . Good luck .
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| lofty |
i love the way this thread has evolved from talking about mackerel to algal bloom to bluheads to tuna and back to mackerel priceless | ||
| wayland |
Talking of Blue heads . I got the guff from the min of ag today warning about Bluetongue. So hows the MIDGE problem in the west?
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| bref |
Sory for redirecting the thread again but I went on a bluefin trip in 02 and we had some luck, I've been looking for the photos for months and finally found them this morning. Photo of fish alongside with the skippers hands holding the leader to give you some idea of scale.
This was after a 2 and a half hour fight.. 
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| dara |
Went out from Killala (north Mayo) on Saturday with a lobster man and really bagged up. Couldn't get through the macs at some stages and came home with good red cod's, big gurnys, you name it - and even ling off the rocks at Ballycastle - just a stones throw from the beach.
A great day. Went out beginning of july from Westport and fished clew bay. A boat of eight - we only caught 11 macs between us. The skipper originally promised to take us round clare island but reneged - he was more interested in saving derv - that's my third b.s. trip from Westport - never again Killala is The Place. |
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| blowin |
Nice fish , Bref , what do you reckon it weighed ?
Dara -- do tell me more about the cod . Were they far offshore and what method / bait were you using ? Cheers
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| wayland |
Wow!
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| bref |
The skipper reckons it was about 700lb. Unfortunatley this is the only view I ever got of the fish (I never actually saw it myself) as I had to stay in the chair with the rod in case he made another run. Even more unfortunatley, as the skipper was holding the leader(as you see) the connection where the leader joins the mainline was slack, and because of the stupid links he was using that could just open when the line was slack on the deck, the fish gave a little kick, skipper let go of the leader and off the fish went. Grrrrrrrrrr......
Still get annoyed about it..... |
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| dara |
Hello blowin. we fished the drift off downpatrick head, ballycastle. There's a big stack called dun briste 100yds off shore - just a stones throw off this we got into cod and ling. | ||
| blowin |
Many thanks for that The mate I go out with has an uncanny knack of finding fish and we headed out in that direction from Inniscrone on several occasions . Turned back when we got to that high headland ( ? Downpatric Head ? ) because there was nothing much to be had for the last 1/2 mile of the approach to it . We should obviously have pressed on that little bit further !
Do you know if there are any decent shore or rock marks up there ? I'm b#ggered if I can catch anything anywhere at the moment . Only one small mac from 2 sessions up at Easky last week despite conditions appearing to be perfect . Did witness the stunning sight of 2 pods x 3 large dolphins doing acrobatics and running the waves within a few feet of the surfers tho . Absolutely amazing . Must get out more !
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| greentree |
Was out off kilmore Quay again on Saturday.
Lots of small mackeral. A few nice size cod, a few Ling and numerous pollock.... |
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