Luke Aston reports on the charter boat season in Carrigaholt where after an early start in April Luke decided to give the water a chance to warm up a bit, and when he was next out there was a big change…
We got strait into big shoals of Mackerel, all of which were a very good size. Then when we moved out onto the deeper reefs the whitefish were really on the feed. It was a case of never reaching the bottom as Pollack and Coalfish were taking every thing on the drop!
Over the last few weeks I am only out a couple of days a week, due to the weather or not having fisherman booked. But when I am out the fishing has been very good with the fishing settling into its season. Mackerel are not thick on the ground but we seem to get plenty at the same time, with a little patience. But deeper on the reefs the fishing seems to be well up with lots of Pollack and Coalfish. If we can get to the bottom we are picking up a few Cod, which is nice to see, along with Ling and Whiting.
My last trip a couple of days ago was with a mate and I got a days fishing in myself. This was very enjoyable! We started off looking for a few fresh Mackerel for bait and when we had enough we did a couple of drifts close in using Rag worm and trying for Wrasse. This was great fun although it was noticeable that the wrasse are still in slightly deeper water than they will be as the season moves on. As it was a lovely day we decided to anchor up on a deep mark where we have had great mixed fishing, including an odd Six gill. So this was a cue to put down a big bait on a heavy rod. We also fished some “conger” traces and then passed the time with spinning rods. This time nothing hit the big trace but everything else was all action. We had Congers to 20lb, Bullhuss to 10 and lots of them and even a 40lb Skate!
White fish coming in included black and white Pollack, a nice Cod, a couple of Ling and lots of fat Whiting. We finished the day with an action packed drift with Pollack and Coalfish to 9lbs although mostly around the 4lb mark and then some fresh Mackerel for dinner. All in all a great day and I will be hoping as the season moves on that the average size of the Pollack will improve.
Luke Aston
Clare Dragoon
Go fishing…
As I have said bookings at the moment are quite, so if anybody is interested do get in touch as from June on it already looks very busy. As of now June and July are over 60% booked and August and September only have 2 or 3 days free in the month. 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
