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Sea fishing is flat out and as good as it gets

Report dated August 31st, 2010.

Fishing is flat out here at the moment and with weather cooperating, fishing on the drift 8 or 9 miles south west of Loop Head is as good as it gets. Pollack are feeding well and are full of some swimming crab and small Mackerel and sprat. Fishing for them on shads is providing great sport. With slight changes in tactics and ground, Ling, Haddock and Red Gurnard are all available and even a few Codling are to be had.

Indeed fishing all over the grounds are good and a bit of effort anywhere west or north of the Loop are producing a variety of fish. We had some fine Ballan Wrasse off the reefs at the Loop and Cuckoo Wrasse are plentiful.

The estuary is producing more mixed fishing. While there are plenty of Mackerel, targeting any other species is more problematic. There are some fine Thornback Ray between Scattery and Hog Island and also at the other normal marks but it does take some patience to get them. However we have had some up to 11lbs over the last days. There are also some Bullhuss, Dogfish and Congers about. Just below Kilcredaun there are some handy Pollack about and surprisingly, a few small Codling.

The Shark fishing is picking up and the last drift saw 4 sharks on the boat the best a 130lb Blue. The sharks do seem to be lively and are giving a good scrap. The 130 pounder took 60 minutes to boat with a 30lb set up!

 Lively sea fishing with good variety of species showing

Report dated August 17th, 2010.

Sorry I have not been on with a report for a while, as I have been very busy fishing! The boat is out every day now and although the weather has not been perfect it has been giving us some good windows and we have been able to fish right out to the outside marks.

The fishing in general has been very good. Mackerel are now to be had right up to Kilcredaun although they are more reliable in the morning. There are also lots of small Pollack up to 2lbs up the estuary. Further down the marks around Horse Island are fishing ok with some days better then others. We have got quite a lot of species in this area though including some Codling and even a John Dory. Around the Loop can be very spotty with Mackerel sometimes playing hard to get. This area is also loaded with lots of small Coalfish and Pollack which can make any thing else hard to catch. If you do put in the time you will be rewarded with some bigger Pollack. There are also some Scad starting to show and lots of small Whiting and Haddock north of the Loop at the Black Rock.

Further off the Fishing is now very good with as many Pollack to 10lbs as you might want to catch. There are also lots of Ling about. With a little work and on the right marks and technique the number of species you can meet is very varied with one group recently getting 12 different species on the drift. We have had Whiting up to well over specimen size and some good Haddock to 5lbs. There are also lots of Red Gurnard to a pound and a half.

I have done a few Shark drifts now and we have had sharks up to 120lbs but there is still no great numbers about. Hopefully this last few hot days will help and the surface water temperature on Sunday was up to 17’C which is about as warm as it gets here.

That’s it for now, good fishing to you all and hopefully see some of you on board sometime soon!
 

 Fishing in full swing in the Shannon District

Report dated July 28th, 2010.

had some good fishing over the last week. The weather was kind to us and we could get to fish on marks that had been hard to get to over the last while.

Close to the loop the Mackerel were about in numbers. There was also a good selection of fish to be had within a mile or two of the head. Farther to the South West the fishing was very good with big Pollack and Ling about. This fishing did seem to be best on the filling tide. On the north side of the ground the fishing was a bit slower but there was a better selection of fish, with Haddock, Whiting, Gurnard and even the odd Codling to be had among others.

At anchor the fishing was good once there wasn't a swell. A mark east of horse Island produced a good session with Bull Huss to 12lbs and Conger over 20lbs.

I have not been fishing in the estuary this last week.
 

 First Blue Shark of the Season

Report dated July 21st, 2010.

I had a party of lads in last weekend who wanted to do a Tope and Shark Trip. All week I was keeping an eye on the forecast to see which day I should do the Tope and what day would be suitable for a shark drift. From my experience the best conditions for shark fishing is a light to moderate breeze, preferable with a bit of westerly in it and reasonable sunshine. As it turned out last Saturday was a windy day with a strong westerly wind blowing so we had to make the best of it and try the estuary for Tope. A session at Beal yielded 2 Tope to the boat and 2 dropped runs. In the conditions I was reasonably happy. We spent the rest of the session in Collage bay where we picked up 8 species!

By Sunday the wind had dropped and we had just a light breeze from the SW. It is still early here on the west coast for Blues so I wanted to be set up for a long drift so we had lots of rubby dubby with us on the boat going out. Just as well as it turned out as Mackerel at the Loop were not obliging. However, half an hour here saw more than enough for bait and we headed for open water. Once set up on the drift some of the lads fished the bottom and were catching some fair sized Whiting and a couple of Red Gurnard. As the day went on it looked like the shark were going to let us down when after 4 hours we had a dropped run and almost straight away had a shark on another rig. This turned out to be a female around 75lbs.

Other trips during the last week included a session at anchor off Horse Island that produced some good Bull Huss and a Tope of 37lbs and an estuary trip where a few Ray to double figures were caught close in.

Another Giant Six Gilled Shark Hooked

Report dated June 30th, 2010.

I had a group of German fisherman in over the last week and with mostly fine weather we had a great week. Their trip started off with one of those days, 10 miles off Loop head, where the calm sea sparkles under a perfect blue sky and the wonderful coast line from the Dingle peninsula to the cliffs of Moher is a perfect back drop while steadily catching a range of fish, including Ling, Pollack, Cod and Haddock.

Over the rest of the week we varied the fishing areas and had a day in the estuary where we targeted the Tope and also tried out some Ray fishing. The Tope are still obliging and we had good fishing at the right stage of the tide. The Rays proved harder to get with only a mark off Querrin yielding a Thornback of 9lbs. Doggies were on the prowl however.

Out at sea we did some more fishing on the drift and some fishing at anchor for Conger, of which we had some to about 25lbs.

On Saturday, which was the last day of these lads trip, the weather was starting to change with a freshening southerly breeze. With these conditions I had decided to head north from Loop Head and take advantage of some shelter from the land. The lads wanted to do some mixed fishing on the drift but with the freshening wind the drift was getting very fast and it was hard to keep the hooks fishing on the bottom. So I decided to anchor up in 60 metres of water at a good mark. We had some nice steady fishing and then one of the lads called Helmut Lieutenant had a heavy bite. Fishing with 30lb line on a 20lb rod he made no progress and the line eventually parted. With a sign of a good fish about I rigged him an 80lb rod with a heavy trace and a good lump of Mackerel bait. With in 15 minuets the fish had taken this bait and once Helmut put on the pressure with the 80lb gear we knew we were into something big. After a struggle that went on for an hour and a half we were not at all surprised to see that Helmut had hooked into a Six Gilled shark of similar size to others that have been caught from this boat. This shark was about 4.5 to 5 metres long and going on the shark we had last year I would say about 450 to 500 kg. It was very lively at the surface and while we held it getting some good photos and film it at one stage rammed the stern of the boat breaking one of my trim tabs! After a good shake of his head the trace finely parted and the shark swam off. So good memories for this group to bring home.

On Sunday the wind had freshened some more and I did a day trip in the estuary. The fishing was very slow with unfortunately no Ray and just some small Whiting and Doggies to report. We did however get a few mackerel as far up as Carrig Island.
 

 The Tope are in!

Report dated June 22nd, 2010.

Since my last report the weather has stayed fine with just a couple of breezy days. We got a chance to try out the Tope marks and we have had fish on all occasions, with the best at 39lbs and falling to my rod! This has given us something to do if it is a little rough out to sea but really there has only been one day when the weather was not co-operating and then it was from the North West so we could fish in comfort under the shelter of Loop Head. On that day there was good mixed fishing mostly of Mackerel and Pollock, which luckily was just what the group wanted. It is fair to say that most of the Pollock were on the small size at around the 3lb mark but there were some better fish. Otherwise the fishing close to the loop has quietened down and even the Mackerel can be hard work. There are still lots of small Saith around, close in, with most less then a pound.
However with all the fine weather I am spending most of my fishing time well off the land and out there the fishing is very steady. There are as many Pollack in the 5lb to 7lb range as you could want to catch, with fish coming to the boat at almost every drop. Through this are a steady catch of Ling in the 10lb to 15lb range and also some good Haddock, Red Gurnard and Whiting. There is also still a steady catch of small Codling. We did try a few drifts for some Turbot but unfortunately this only turned up some Haddock to 5lbs.

One of the groups I had out included some young members of the well known fishing family, the Ryan’s from Kilkee. The youngest, Sam, caught a fine Ling of 12lbs which was a pound for every year as he was just 12 years old! Both himself and his big brother Ben fished all day and caught a lot of fish. They both said they enjoyed themselves very much but said they will find it very hard to go back shore fishing (Sorry Bill!!).

 Sea Angling in full swing with a steady catch rate

Report dated June 7th, 2010

Fishing is in full swing now with lots of fine sized Mackerel to be had at Loop Head and with a steady catch rate of whitefish on most marks. Over the last few weeks I have been mostly fishing at weekends with a few charters during the week and most of my fishing has been done on the drift.

Around Loop head, the Mackerel are so quick to take the lures that it is hard to catch anything else. We have been doing a few drifts tight on the rocks for Wrasse and sometimes this is very productive, while at other times you get plagued by small Saith or it is just quite. North of the Loop there are some big shoals of Saith. Many in the 1lb bracket with a few bigger ones. If you can get clear of these there are some good Pollack, Haddock and Ling to be had. Also, and this is a pleasant surprise, there are quite a few Codling also around 1lb. After the last 2 years when Cod where harder to find than hens teeth this is a very encouraging sign. Hopefully over the next couple of years these small fish will get a chance to grow into Cod. The reefs off Ross are producing steady Pollack and Mackerel fishing.

Further out to sea the reefs west of Loop are producing some fine fishing. While you might have to move a couple of times to find which mark is fishing well, once on the fish the action is very steady. We have been catching Pollack to 10lbs, Ling to 15lbs and a steady showing of Haddock and Whiting. We have also been running into shoals of the Saith at the Loops bigger brothers! When we come on these shoals the action is fast and furious with 2 and 3 fish in the 6 to 8 pound bracket taking at every drop. Also it is lovely to see some bigger Codling around the 5 to 6lb mark and a few fine Red Gurnard.

I have not yet tried the Tope marks but hope to do so over the next week and would expect this great sport fish to be around now.

Good weekend fishing after a slow start due to lack of fresh Mackerel bait

Report dated May 3rd, 2010

We had good fishing over the last weekend with some fresh Mackerel and good ground fishing.

I have been doing just a few trips over the last couple of weeks. To be honest with no Mackerel around and the water temp still in the 9 to 10’C range the fishing had been quite poor. Indeed I had put off some trips hoping that things would soon improve. With 4 or 5 days between trips I was sure that every trip would be the one where Mackerel would show up and with them as fresh bait I thought that the general fishing would take off.

This last weekend came after a week when the weather had changed from all the fine weather we have had this April. Gone was the light Easterly wind to be replaced with a good blow from the south followed by moderate North West winds. I was sure on Saturday morning we would have Mackerel at the Loop. However all that a half hour spent at all the normal spots produced was 1 Mackerel. I decided to move off a few miles and this did the trick! Soon we had fresh bait and this was quickly followed by a steady catch that produced some fine Pollack, Haddock, Whiting and a few fine Ling with 2 over 15lb.

By Sunday the weather had freshened a bit but by now there were Mackerel and some Pollack just south of Loop head. I pushed off the land a bit but while this produced some good fishing some of the crew also found the going a bit hard! so we came back into the shelter of the land.

Good session on a mark to the north of Loop Head

Report dated April 15th, 2010

Back fishing last weekend with 2 day charters. There was no sign of any Mackerel so we had to settle for frozen bait, some Rag worm and Peeler crab.

We had a good session on a mark just to the north of Loop Head for some Wrasse. Lots of Ballan Wrasse from 2lbs to 3 lb were about. Further off the fishing was mixed with some quiet periods but overall there was a steady run of Pollack to 5lbs. We also had some handy Ling and a few Haddock to 4lbs. The second day we covered more ground looking for Whitefish. Again we only had frozen bait. The fishing was ok in the morning but got very slow in the afternoon.

Out again at the end of this week and we will be hoping that some Mackerel show up as this always has a good effect on the fishing.

 A new season approaches for the Clare Dragoon

Report dated March 10th, 2010

As the days get longer and the start of another fishing season approaches I am busy getting the boat ready. After trying a few fishing trips over the last few years I have come to the conclusion that February and March are very poor fishing months in this area. Which in many ways is strange because, when I was commercial fishing, they were often the best months of the year when fishing for whitefish. Maybe it is because the water is so cold or maybe the fish are just busy spawning! Anyway for what ever reason and even though they are showing on the fish finder it is very hard to get fish to take a hook.

So now I have got into the routine of lifting the Clare Dragoon out of the water early in February, doing whatever jobs and maintenance need to be done and being ready to go early in April. My season will start after Easter which is in early April this year and the bookings are now coming in.

This is also a good time to look back on last year. Unfortunately the weather has to come in to any comment on 2009 and what turned out to be the 3rd poor summer in a row. Well the old lads always said that poor summers come in 3s, so let’s hope they are right and that we are in for a “scorcher” this year. With the broken weather it was hard to get into a routine and steady fishing. We did have some very good days fishing but also spent days just looking for some where comfortable to fish and hoping for the best. However because of the large estuary we have here we did not lose many days to weather.

The highlights of the year included catching the first fish over 1000lb ever caught on rod and line in these islands. This was a Six Gill Shark of 1056lbs and was landed in mid June. Surprisingly I heard of 7 or 8 more of these sharks caught in nets in this area last year, some of which were bigger than the one landed on my boat. Other highlights were the catching of quite a few Specimen Red Gurnard and Whiting. Indeed the biggest Whiting caught on the Irish coast last year fell to a very lucky “yours truly”! Another fine fish caught was an Angler fish of 24lbs.

So that’s it until I get started and have some new fishing reports for you. And hopefully we will see some of you out on the sunny seas off Loop Head this year!