Jim Clohessy of TopFisher.eu found the fish on Saturday but getting them to bite was another story…
Wednesday 18 June was one of the nicest forecasts so far this year. My usual victims were all unavailable so I went on a solo run. I do love a solo run from time to time however there’s no doubt that having crew makes the day easier all round. It’s more craic too!
I do like a bit of experimentation and that was part of the plan: to fish some likely ground that probably has never seen a rod and line and then to fall back on some wrecks should the need arise.
What a cracking morning! I had a need for fresh bait (me mammy was also looking for some mackerel). That was a bit of a pain as I found the mackerel to be patchy and scarce. Loads of little herring about. It took too long to get a half dozen macks so I was a bit stressed heading offshore. It was beautiful conditions. I would be relying on the tide for drift until the breeze that was forecast developed.
First stop was a patch of ground with a lovely looking trough in about 100m. The tide meant I could drift along the length. To say I was left scratching my head when all that I produced here was doggies would be an understatement. This is whiting and haddock ground. I moved about trying different ground half expecting spurs as well as whiting but only managed a few small ling. It was a bit of a shock. Similar areas fished like this last year and didn’t produce all year. I would have to say that this ground gets some commercial attention, maybe too much.
I pushed on and fished the first wreck of the day. I had a decent ling on my staging drift so things looked well. I had decent ling and a few smallies on most every drift. Many went back (whether they survive is another matter) but I was having to keep too many. I decided switch to a lure for a few drifts. I decided to try a spare 200mm Black Minnow body mounted on a 150g jig head. I was trying out a Gunki Ocean Tribe jigging rod rated to something like 200g. It’s a dinkey rod that’s great craic (For less than €100). Deffo one to consider if wanting to dip a toe in the multiplier jig rod side of things.
The wreck must be fairly carpeted with ling because I was getting a handy ling every other drift and some small pollack hitting the big lure if I went more than 20 turns off the bottom. I went back of bait for a last couple of drifts. Had my best ling of the day @14lbs and dropped a decent fish on the second to last cast.
You’ll notice my fish pictures are fairly crap this trip! I left a bracket at home so couldn’t mount my solo selfie setup.
I visited another couple of wrecks and drifted with lure only. One was bare and the other had a head of small pollack. Not big enough to hold my interest. The forecast breeze didn’t materialise until I got further inshore. The harbour was actually snotty with wind against tide.
I was wrecked when I got home after a long day and too much filleting. The boat washdown will have to wait…
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Check out Jim’s website, an absolute treasure trove for anyone looking to improve their sea angling game…
