Luke Aston of  Carrigaholt Sea Angling has been very busy but he tells us ” The weather has allowed us to fish almost every day and we have only had the very odd day in the estuary. First off, Mackerel (bait). Overall we have been able to get some every day and mostly there are plenty about. Over the last week they have been thick on the ground. Also some Scad have been showing up lately mixed through the Mackerel and of a good size. As I said we have not been in the estuary much, especially since the main run of Tope ended towards the end of July. The few days we were, was mostly Doggies and Ray sessions with the Collage bay proving the best mark. Further down just east of Horse Island we have had some good Bullhuss. Mackerel do seem to have moved up the estuary now but Pollack catches are slow.

Carrigaholt - Conger 2Indeed at the moment,(and I fished all the marks along the north side of the loop to Kilkee yesterday 24th Aug) catches of white fish along the shore are very slow. The only fish playing ball close in are some good Wrasse. At anchor we are getting some good Congers.

Carrigaholt - John Dory fishBut if close in is slow at the moment, the fishing further off is as good as I have seen it an a few years. Catches have included lots of double figure Pollack and Ling and with the overall size of Pollack being very good. Also the catch rate of Cod is well up with some fisherman getting 2 at a time which is happy days! Most of these Cod are still quite small at under 4lbs but happily they seem to go back no bother and we have got some much better sized fish. We are also picking up Haddock, Whiting and Gurnard and even the odd John dory!

Carrigaholt - blueI have also been doing quite a few Shark drifts. There seem to be plenty of them about and indeed you can get plagued with smaller Blues at under 30lbs. On the plus side anything over 60lbs seems to be giving a very good scrap. I wonder is this because there is plenty of food about? There does seem to be a lot of small mackerel and other fry/sprat about this year. A nice surprise the other day while drifting for sharks, was a fine Stone Bass

Carrigaholt - Stone BassAnyway, over all I am very pleased with the season so far. We seem to be busy and the catch rate is up on the last couple of years. This is helped but the good weather we have been getting. So thanks to all who have been fishing with me so far this year and I hope weather and fishing holds up for the fisherman that are due to fish with me over the next month.

Luke Aston
Clare Dragoon

Go fishing…

Although most of my trips are full charters I do put the odd trip together and the 16 to 20 June is open to individuals with 1 or 2 spaces still available on each day.

Clare Dragoon is a LOCHIN 366 powered by 650HP engine that operates out of Carrigaholt Co. Clare.

I have some offers up on my web site www.fishandstay.com and if anybody is interested in putting a trip together please do get in touch. Also I Twitter from the boat on @fishandstay and try to update my face book page www.facebook.com/CarrigaholtSeaAngling fairly often!

To experience some of the best deep sea fishing available in Ireland contact Luke.
Telephone: +353 65 9058209 or +353 87 6367544
Email: [email protected] Web: www.fishandstay.com