Common Skate off Donegal. Day 2 of 2

Yes after a good days craic with Mike fishing off killybegs paddling after tuna and catching all sorts it was back to Inishowen for day 2.
It was back to Malin head area to see what could be caught.
It was a great morning and I was mad keen to get out. So with a speedy loading the kayak was ready for launch.
I had the usual monster fish gear 2 heavy rod set ups. Along with 2 light rod set ups for some fun while I wait.

On the usual marks.
Again it was great to be out and you never know what's going to pop up here.
I think that's part of the draw here for me, oh and the possibility of anything from fish well over 100lb to multiple species.
All from the one spot surrounded by excellent scenery,

Some general bottom fishing.
I have scrapped the idea of carrying a camera rod now, which was a reel loaded with 80lb braid and a very heavy wind on leader. As it ruins the fishing and takes up a rod holder and adds to clutter.
So I have upped the line on one of the rods to 50lb braid and a 150lb leader so it is fishable with the camera.
On the way out it was a bait searching session with not a lot of mackerel to show for it.
But I did hit some nice Pollock on the white euro champs on the way out and I managed these 3 in one drop.

So with that it was general bottom he fishing with the camera down as well. A shark rod out in the distance and a skate rod  off to one side while the light rod with the camera got a session on the bottom.
The bottom fishing was just ok, with lots of scad, gurnard and small ling.

I had this grey on the silver eurochamp as well, a fine grey for this area.

There where lots of scad about and when I changed to squid to get away from the doggies I started getting a good few more as the doggies where not as fond of the squid as they where the mackerel baits.

The general bottom fishing was keeping me busy when the rod with the camera got a long slow pull that was quiet strong and as it took off it straightened the fine wire hook.

And for once the one that got away was on  camera, its about half way trough you'll se it.

 

 

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Soon after that that the skate rod got a pick up and the line began to peel off.

So the light rods where reeled up very quickly and I lifted the skate rod and it was still there and taking some line. It didn't feel as it was on right as when I lifted there was a poor connection. Sure enough 5 seconds into the lift it was gone.

I let it settle and gave it 15mins with no return so I reeled it in too check it out.

I had a coalie and a scad on lip hooked and the coalie was gone and the scad had to very interesting tooth marks in it. They where 2large single tooth holes about 1.5" apart. It wasn't a skate or tope that done it so maybe a pogie not sure really, it may have been he grabbed the 2 at once and that's the reason for the wide gap in the tooth marks. Didn't get that lad on camera unfortunately.

 

Another hour of small stuff and doggies.

It was good craic at the scad and gurnards and not a lot else to be honest.

But thankfully after an hour the skate rod started to go again.

ZZZZZZ the reel went and I reeled down and sank the hook into him.

Oh he didn't like that and he took off he gave a great scrap. shooting all over the place.

Its a special feeling when you have a 50lb class rod bent like a banana when fishing from a kayak.

It really is brilliant fun.

So after a good scrap wondering what sort of size it would a modest 60lber common skate came up.

I was quiet surprised, I was expecting bigger but I take a better scrap of size any day.

 

 

 

 
 
 

Get in here the bugger lol. 

This brought an end to a couple days of great fun afloat.

It's not all about big fish, it's the fun of getting out catching what's there and having what's there frustrate you trying to catch it.

 

Well tight lines for now make the most of this month, it's lining up for a tough winter.

The video is below of the action, plus some other interesting under water stuff.

If you like what you see hit the subscribe button please.

 

 

 

 

Next week there will be some epic new stuff coming to the angling world from Fish Dynamix.

So watch this space.



 

Two days fishing in Donegal.

Hi all,
Where to start,  mad weather, tuna jumping all over the place and hard fighting skate.
All in 2 days fishing.
If you have never been afloat around the Donegal coast line now has never been a better time.
If there isn't dolphins and porpoises about there's monster blue fin tuna leaping all over the place at the wright time of the day.

The fishing,
Mike Sherwood and myself had planned to hunting shark at a deep mark off killybegs.
The weather was not the best but it was good enough to give it a try.
So we headed out off st.johns point and paddled to 209ft of water, ye its deep off there.

Anchoring.
Anchoring in 200+ft of water is never fills me with excitement, the thoughts of hauling the anchor all the way back up is a torture.

But lucky for us we saw a crab boat shooting his pots out deep so away we went and he was shooting his pot ends as we got there.
He did looked surprised to see us lol, he even got the camera out for a pic lol.

Yes, that's st.john point light in the distance. Don't think to many kayak anglers get to see it from out here.

We tried the sharks for about 2 or 3 hrs but the weather was brutal and I keeping full lumps of water over the side of my kayak every few swells. So with that we headed back for the shore. While we where out there we did give the bottom a try. Mike had a cracking whiting the first drop and the rest of  the time it was doggie, doggie, doggie.

A run for shelter.
So we paddled for shelter to try along the point and in no time Mike was into all sorts of small stuff and some good ones while after wrasse.
 I was still being plagued with doggies while looking for ling etc.
While we fished cracker of a tuna jumped about 200 yards off the shore, so with no time to waste I was away for a paddle with them.
But he was the only one at that time.

Poor enough fishing.
The fishing was quiet poor for the point, the mackerel where not a patch on what they are normally like for this time of year.
But we where doing not to bad compared to the shore anglers.

Mike had 2 good codling and I was getting a few squid.
We had a good days craic and about 11 species between us and it was great to be out. I was heading for Malinhead in the morning and Mike was in work so it was we headed for home about 3.40pm.

TUNA TUNA TUNA, foooooooooook.
That was the call from Mike as several large tuna came hurtling out of the water.
If you never seen it your going to have to try. It is unbelievable to see it.
So away we went paddling like mental trying to get near them as they came up every where.
There where busts all over the place.
It started with 1 bust then 2 and in the end up there where 5 separate busts happening at once.
As we paddled between the busts 3 tuna came up beside Mike no more than 20yards away.
Epic stuff.
So that was that, after 2hrs chasing tuna get a good look at them it was time for home. Heres a pic of Mikes fine codling.

Here is a video of the squid action below. The tuna busts where close to us but no close enough for the gopro.

Day 2 is coming soon.
Good luck and tight lines and beware of flying tuna while paddling out there lol.

Teardrop camper, the build.

This is a diary of my progress making my own teardrop camper. As  the colder weather creeps in camping up this end of the country becomes more of chore than a pleasure. So a few youtube videos later it was time to make one myself.
Well I think there will be more tears than a camper lol. But sure I'll give it a go and see how it works out.
I have the main frame made and the dimensions of the living space are 5ft wide by 4ft high and 8ft long. I am making this in 2 parts, a base and the upper frame.
WHY , well it is so I can add a water proof layer under the living area and add insulation with out compromising on axle strength.
Here are the pics so far.

I started off with chalking my design on the concrete and bending the bar bit by bit. A slow arduous task but it is worth taking your time.  

The over all length of the outer bars is close to 14ft 6" so I cut it 15ft and trimmed the excess to allow for the curve of the bar.

 

In this pic you can see I tacked the 2 bars together so the 2 sides would be the same.

 The budget didn't allow for a hire of a benders so a lamp post and some concrete for purchase worked a treat.

 The very basic frame to check out size and was it going to be worth while.

 At 5ft wide theres even room the bait bucket in there lol.

 

 Here it is all the frame bars added, cross bars and supports in place. Some metal paint and it's time for the next stage.

 It is obviously upside down here for painting. There's seven lengths of 3/4" box in it, weighting 95lb

 Time for the base trailer frame to be made. Two 25ft lengths of 2.5"x 1.5" box iron. Two lengths weight 150lb

 

 With this build I am concise of the overall weight and will be keep a close eye on it. I hope to have and end weight of 700lb to 800lb.

 So axel, draw bar and trailer frame is a total of 207lb, add the sprung hubs and wheels you could add about 70lb.

So as it sits now we have a grand total of 375lb. So not to bad considering that's all the metal major metal work done. Just hope the cladding is light lol.

 Here is the apprentice bodger, a great help but don't tell him I said that lol.

Dam it I nearly caught him smiling.

 

The outer covering/cladding

Well between the rain and wind and when there was no wind we where eaten alive by midges, Donegal is not the spot for an out door project lol, but we are stubborn buggers up here and don't give up easy.

So between the and the vicious onslaught of ravenous midges got some cladding done.

As said before I was fortunate enough to get some stainless sheet scrap. They where 7ft x 4ft. Not enough to do the whole lot but enough to do the roof and back door,

Dam it's heavy stuff.

I got 2 sheets of .9mm galvanised tin and that was a lot easier worked than the Stainless.

So here's some pics of how things have progress.

After getting it lined up, it had to come off for painting.

 An improvement, painted and wheels lined up. I am using 3/4 ton sprung hubs.

Ready for the plywood base, when that paint eventually dries.

Here I have added a seem of CT1 to stop any rattle and for added security for the roof sections.

 Adding the first sheets, nerve racking stuff. Here's where you find out if everything is as square as you thought lol.

I had a pain in my backside trying to work out proper rams to I made up some handy self setting catches which lock in place when you lift the rear door all the way up.

Shit weld, I know I was being slaughtered by midges at the time.

 Here the door in the up right position. Will it stay up with a a heavy sheet of Stainless steel on it.

The stainless sheet is stubborn stuff so it need a bit of pre bending before applying. So a gas bottle was a similar size curve and it worked out well.

 The rear door is only temporarily done, and will be fully riveted soon.

So all covered except the very front which I will sort soon. Then it's time for the window, door and vents before insulating, inner cladding and electrics. Fook this is one hell of a project lol.

The chief bodger in the photo for some scale.

More up dates soon.

 

Update 3

Well more up dates and not so soon.

Its easy starting. Its the finishing that is the hard part. Brining it together to make it look half decent.