This great report from Jim Clohessy of Topfisher.eu who finally made it out on Sunday:
Hallelujah, a run-out at last!
Yesterday’s forecast was well signposted. As it was, I was just about semi-prepared for a run. I decided to make SKUA “passable” for a trip but not deep-cleaned for the season. So a decent spray of hypochlorite inside followed by a quick wash had her in shipshape. Emmet and myself headed for Paddy’s Point. It was -1°C in Glanmire when we were leaving, but the sun was up and the temperature was rising.
Lovely morning on the Harbour exit.
We were soon on our way. Our plan? We haven’t been out in so long we decided to have a sniff around some offshore reefs to see what we could eke out on lures. We did bring a bait rod in case we saw signs of mackerel or herring.
Conditions were lovely and only forecast to improve as the day went on. We cruised at a handy 24 knots at 4,500 revs. It’s comfortable steaming, and you’d gobble up the miles to the first mark. We could see that we were going to be in for a tricky time – the water still has that milky tinge that you see in winter after prolonged rough periods. We were also looking at a 4.1m tide, and tide has a big effect on the first area we would fish. It showed as we caught very little.
There was a little bit of heat in the sunshine on what was a hazy day.
We decided to move back east and fish the ling rocks and maybe gain some clearer water and less tide. We hit fish on our first drop here. We moved further up the reef, and it was clear that the local population of seals were just delighted to see us! Basically you’d get about 10-15 mins of peace before the seals would arrive and steal your fish and probably your lure. Pain in the backside, this craic!
You know when you’ve been sealed!
We moved about from area to area in super conditions. And we actually tried a few drifts with bait that yielded only dogs and poor cod. So, our catch of the day was largely pollack. Not a sniff of a cod (we don’t mention them much these days). We fished lures only on the reefs. I was on Black Minnows and Crazy Paddletails for the most part. Emmet was doing well on Biscay Minnows and M Shad copies. 60g was good enough for the most part.
Emmett with what was the typical stamp of pollack.
There was incredible life about today. An amazing array of sea life around. Whales and dolphins and birds on the hunt all over the place. We even had a chiffchaff on its way from Africa land on Emmet’s rod for a breather!
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Lots of fish showing…. Poor viz made them a difficult capture.
Mad shad copy with 60g V2 jighead
Getting the bend for the first time this year should not be underestimated
All told it was a good ‘proving’ run. All gear worked well. The Suzuki was humming, and the new trailer was impeccable. It was a good run – for March.
You must remember, marine winter is only just about coming to an end. The water temperature is low, and looking at the forecast – we’re not clear yet!
