Report for march/April 2021
For me, March is always a very lean month in the shore angling game, the excitement of fattened flounders sliding up the beach is over, weather is too cold, mean and miserable to fish the rocks and with restrictions now for a second year in a row I couldn't travel further afield.
One thing I'm always keen for though, the wee brown trout. I'm very fortunate that I have an abundance of small loughs in my 5km and were all greatly appreciated.
First trip to the local lough I was rewarded with a handful of small brownies, all falling to a mepps black fury as the sun went down, I always find a darker lure works great as the light fades.
Early April
Next session out and back on the trout again. Flounder are still off spawning and with the weather slowly warming up time to try out a different lough, a certainly different lough, one of those quality over quantity venues and where the trout rarely lift their head for any sort of winged insect. Lure of choice here is a 12 to 15g Toby and after many hours of casting and retrieving I finally got a take, barely a rods length out. A big swirl and a splash but the trout missed, I just had enough time to let out some curse words and bang! Back he came for a second go. After a short battle into the net he went, a nice 2lb plus brown trout. Definitely the longest trout I ever landed.
Mid April
As much as I love the loughs I actually couldn't wait to get back on the beaches. The thought of a bass had been on my mind as I was lucky enough to get my first ones in January. Bass and Donegal are two words that aren't commonly used together in a sentence but there are some very small pockets of them if one is keen enough to put in the hours and experiment with tides and times.
Off to the beach I go armed with my freshly dug lug, out they go and the waiting game starts.
Rattle goes the rod and the butterflies in my stomach rattle too, but something flat and not spikes came in. A nice flounder of 32cm. Not the target species of the evening but greatly welcomed. Out goes the lug again and quickly swallowed up by another flattie, 34cm this time.
3rd cast and hopefully 3rd time lucky, but alas it wasn't to be. Just a wee turbot. I don’t think I've ever been sad to see a wee turbot, ever!
Late April
Weather finally heating up now. Being a Dad to 3 kids it can be hard to get time to fish and do fun stuff, so days at the beach are a great compromise. Off over west we go. Felt great to be fishing with no waders and wet gear. We went to a new beach I've never fished before which is always great as you get to test things you learn. Looking for gullies and fish holding spots, I spotted a lovely little bank, drop-off and a gully half way over the beach. It’s the kind of place you would see on the sounder when on the boat and just know it’s a fishy spot.
Out went some mackerel baited rigs and it wasn't long before two turbot answered the call, doubles almost every cast, small ones, but like I said before, I've never been upset to see a wee turbot.
I had an expert fish releaser in the guise of my middle child Lyra, great to see kids not afraid to touch a fish. As the tide rose, I moved farther up the bank and was fishing practically right under the rod tip in the deepest part of the gully.
I had about 20 small turbot at this stage and wasn't expecting anything different but when I saw this bite, I just knew what was answering the call, the unmistakable knock knock of the flounder on the short-range rod. Was pretty great to lift and just know it was a decent fish, a couple of winds of the reel and it comes into view. A lovely flounder just below me in the glistening surf. 34cm and not too shabby at any time of year.
I'll definitely revisit this mark. great gradient on the beach and seeing the fish take below your feet is very exiting!
A report by our member Martin
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