Wednesday 24th April will remain in my mind as the longest spell of lay-up we had and the 1st real day fishing.
Bernard and his friends from Brittany were out with me. These guys have been coming to Ireland fishing for years and staying with friends in Killorglin. The forecast was good and we headed for Slea Head and fished around this area for a while as the wind changed from SW and settled to the north. This had a cold bite to it and after a few rain showers the day turned mild. The fishing took off to a slow start with the guys trying all different lures. I settled on 3 feathers and foul hooked a Coley. The lads then started to catch Pollack with lures like dead heads but with a long tail about 25 cm, you might be able to zoom into the photo to see the lure.
The 'Lure'
Next thing more Pollack same ‘lure’ different colour, they told me they bought them at the ferryport in France and the guy in the shop told them thst they were the best for Irish Pollack !
The Pink Lure
As we moved around south of Slea Head I came across a great mark on the sounder (Fish finder) this I had seen many times as a commercial skipper and knew it looked like a mark or shoal of Herring. I thought late April is too late for herring in Dingle Bay but we tried in the hope that it would be Mackarel, no good. We had an early lunch in the shelter of the land and then steamed south for the Wild Bank. The wind was a little fresher here but the fishing made up for it. Pollack after Pollack came up until a big fat seal appeared beside us. Nothing for it but move to the western side of the bank and again more Pollack and again a pair of seals. The French for seal is a four letter word we use here F***k, we had to use the word again and move. Everytime we started to get fish they appeared. One of the lads hooked a fish and then he got a mighty pull on the rod, he didn’t know what was happening but I figured the seal took the hooked fish and sprinted away with it, we had to break the line and f**k again. We started back to the land and again came across the large mark so I put the boat right over it and the lads started a few fine Markarel and then lo and behold Herring, what a surprise.
Haul him in.
The Champion Fisherman
We had a few double Pollack hooked and landed to add to the catch.
2 at a time Doubles.
As we steamed for Dingle the gutting crew got busy and even hungry as I know a few of the fish were going to be on the table in Killorglin that night.
Fish Gutters
I had an enjoyable day with the Bretons and Stan their Irish host but the rain came down heavy as I took the group photo.
Rain men !
The group pic looks a little arty but I put it in for the fun. Next week we are out again and I will bring you up to date. Great at last to have something to report.
Rory.
