A couple of sessions locally in the fine weather.

Hi all,
I was lucky enough to get a couple of days to myself in a scenic bay in Inishowen.
The first day I woke to blazing and calm inshore, it looked lovely out there.

That was the view from my bed.

Soon after I was afloat and paddling across the bay trolling a small fiish lure copy and a micro plug.
I wasn't halfway across the bay when the fiish lure took a screamer of a hit with line pouring off the reel at such a rate the I had trouble getting it out of the rod holder.
Whe I finally did the fish went a few more yards and burried into the kelp. I held fast and pumped the fish hard and until unfortunately the 18lb fluro carbon leader broke.
I was gutted, had to be a good bass or a savage wrasse. The spot was no more then ten feet deep and Its rare to hit pollock over 3lb in that section of the bay. Though I'll never know now.

I trolled on and had a half dozen pollock to 2lb and then headed across the bay out to open water which was over a mile the tide was running quite strong and the was a decent swell running, so it was back in to mess around with the wrasse and pollock.

The fishing was slow on the ebb tide and I was having no luck with the better pollock and began trying for wrasse on the black coloured z-man lures.
The bigger pollock soon switched on to that and hit it every time. I just gave it a few bumps along the bottom and a slow lift off the bottom and BANG, they would smash it. Great sport and a great laugh on the light gear.
I didn't hit and wrasse on the lure but had a few small but well-marked fish on lugworm

Great colours in them at this time of year.

 Some reasonable pollock gave a great fight,

After a while, I decided to give the sand a try as the tide was now flooding and I was hoping for a plaice, ray or if I was very lucky a turbot. 

I had lugworm on a three-down flowing trace and a jighead with a strip of fresh mackerel. Well I may as well just threw the bait over the side as it was devoured in seconds by hoards of pin whiting.

So I persevered with the three-down rig with worm baits and I put on the one bait pin whiting wouldn't eat, small whiting. 

I managed a few dabs mids the constant rebaiting and a short while later there was some drag on the light rod with a jighead. I reeled it up only find a little beauty of a small turbot, I was delighted.

A quick picture and away it went like a little flying saucer under the water, Very funny fish to see swimming off.

The day was getting on and I wanted to try the shore along the inner bay as it got dark and I wanted to use the white feed shallow but didn't fancy losing such an expensive lure in the weed.

So I trolled a silver and gold savage gear seeker lure and a strip from a large squid since it's also white and I hoped it would get a good response as the feed shallow can.

That's similar to what I used.

Well as soon as I started to troll it was pollock after pollock on the squid strip, they smashed it every few yards while the seeker lure didn't get one hit. I had about 15 pollock again to a max of 2lb, though it was great craic.

DAY TWO.

The next day was almost a carbon copy of the previous day, lovely weather and the main lure that worked was the z-man and after that, it was all mackerel strips and squid that done the damage.

The only difference was the dolphins, at first there was about ten going by, then thirty minutes later a pod of at least fifty young and old, some were very small swimming tight to their mothers.

Again I came in along the shore this time a few hours earlier as I was after garfish and as I haven't seen any sign of them this year a strong effort had to be made.

In I went, one rod out with a size 1/0 hook and a 4inch long thin strip of mackerel trolled behind me very very slowly and as I went, the rod got a tap so light you'd think it was a tiny pollock. 

I saw that tap and just stopped dead, take the rod out of the rod holder, point the rod at the fish and as it takes up the slack and "FISH ON".

I was delighted, a few minutes trolling and I had one.

I carried on and had another seven in just over an hour.

Heres a photo of the best one.

Two very enjoyable days away, though no spectacular fish the ones I had I was very pleased with.

Although I have my eye on a spot for bigger turbot but the winter weather may creep in before I get a chance to hit them.

Well, thanks for reading and paddle safe out there.

Dog day and strong tides.

Hi all,
Thankfully this year has been as good as last year in regards to sunny days and warm weather.
While on the shore or near the beach it's great, though it is causing havoc for us inshore anglers that are vulnerable to strong sea breezes can be quite fierce.
Though I'm getting the odd session in sheltered areas, mostly chasing pollock and tope.

Fantastic scenery. 

The pollock have been fantastic, to the point they were unavoidable at times when trying for garfish in open water.
I even tried to use a micro plug which I find excellent at times, I was just paying out the line as I paddled and as I put the bail arm on the microsurface plug was stuck some 30+ feet down. A sneaky pollock shot up in clear water on a sunny day and grabbed it off the surface.

The pollock was from a previous session, that fish was about 5lb.
The last day the majority were not great average of 3lber a few 4lbers and a good few 2lbers. Even bigger lures didn't improve the pollock size.

So on this day, I fancied a crack at the tope. Though the tides were strong enough and it was quite breezy it was worth a shot.
At this stage of the year, most tope have headed out of the loughs and can be found less than a mile offshore. As weather conditions could be better I just went half a mile off.
On my tope rod I had a pulley rig which consists of 1ft of 100lb wire to 150lb swivel which is tied to 150lb mono body that has a 150lb swivel between two beads that stay in place by stop knots on the main mono body of the trace.
The other rod had a two up and one down rig.
I use a pulley rig for tope around donegal as I get plagued by dogfish. Though on this day it didn't matter no matter how many baits I put down or what they were it was devoured by dogfish.
I even tried holding the pulley rig off the bottom to no avail.
 As a last resort, I tried head and shoulders of decent mackerel despite that when most lads come to fish here I always say to avoid the heads as it can result in a lot of dropped runs.
I still caught dogfish, but a lot less, and eventually while I was really in my other rod, the tope rod went from sitting there to almost shooting off the front of the kayak.
Ah, it was fantastic. Scared the crap out of me but it was great to have the line peeling off the reel and an impressive rate. For a moment I thought it was a small porbeagle as there seemed to be no stopping it. Though eventually it did and it gave a great fight, a handy tope of 30lb came in with the usual thrashing and splashing, a quick picture and away it went back to the depths.

Over the next thirty minutes, the wind freshened and it became quite rough with multiple white tops landing in the rear well of the kayak so unfortunately, it was time to go.
As always it was great to be out and I was looking forward to tomorrow would bring.
Until the next time, paddle safe.

Common skate, a fantastic day and fantastic weather.

Hi all,
The good spells in the weather have come like buses, one for ages and a bunch come at once.
Thankfully this calm spell was perfect for an offshore attempt for common skate.
This day, Michea'l Bates was keen to get out so he was up in good time and a plan was hatched to get up at silly O'clock being 5am and hit the road.

It was flat calm and were raring to get out.
Yeah , it was a perfect day and we were launched and fishing for bait by 7am.
Though the bait fish seemed to have missed that memo and were very scare.
We did have a few nice pollock but they are poor bait for common skate. Eventually we managed eight mackerel between us so that was enough to get started.
Out we went out to an area I have fished before, though it is littered with large boulders so it can be pure pot luck if your bait lands in a bare patch or in between some boulders where large species can't reach it.

Thirty minutes later,
We were doing alright, red gurnard, ling all the usual stuff when Michea'l shouted I think I am getting a bite. He was getting the tell tale signs of the skate settling on his bait. With using a short trace you can feel the skate rubbing the mainline as it takes the bait.
Soon after he reeled down and heaved like hell to set the hook and the fish took off.
A good fight saw a nice male skate of at least 120lb, Michea'l was delighted and after a few quick pics the Skate took off back down to the bottom none the worst for its few pohots.

AGAIN, ANOTHER SKATE TAKE.
Sitting there fishing away I had some nice bits and pieces and unusually for this spot a bullhuss of 7lb 10.

Though no sign of any skate for me and I was not expecting one either as I only ever see one a day here, and Michea'l and I were laughing about as I was calling him a bugger for nicking my skate when his skate rod took a good hit.
Rod bent ninety degrees and heaving hard and after a 20 minute fight the beast was only a leader lenght under the kayak when all of a sudden NNOOO, the rod went skyward and a bullhuss came flying out of the water.
Turns out the skate was not hooked at all. When the huss took the bait a large skate jumped on it immediately ate the huss. The bull huss was not small either it was a hefty 12lber.

Move or hang tight.
It was obvious by now that I was in the boulders, I had a at least three ling by now, a good coalie, ect.
                                     

Though the tide was picking up by now I was hoping that my baits would land on a clear patch, though Michea'l could feel his gear sliding down the side of the boulders as the lead reached the bottom so he up anchor and moved.
General bottom fishing was not bad apart from the endless stream of dogfish.

Though on two occasions they vanished, so I was watching the skate rods closely as normally they scatter when a skate comes near.
The third time it happened was mid tide and the top of my rod started to get some action, I was hoping it was not a huss. I gave it a minute then gave it a lift to see what happens.

Fish on,
I thought I was not going to get the chance to yell those words out that day. The fish was on and putting up a cracking fight, though it took the rod with the fin nor offshore reel on which some how had a very damaged wire on the bail arm.
The fight continued for about 20 mins and it was using the full of the tide so as it came to the top to came up under Michea'l's kayak and its wings actually slapped off his kayak, lol.
So I just let my anchor go and in no time I had a nice female skate alongside that was a good 150lb, again a few nice pics of fantastic animal and away she went back to the depths.

We were elated, two skate in the one day for the area was a cracking result.

Though we hadn't finished yet.
Back on our anchors the general fishing kept coming, I managed another surprise bull huss again just over 7lb followed by a 10lb spurdog. Plus more gurnards red and tub.
With a nice ling for this spot of 4lb10.

                                               I know eyes closed, lol.
By now the day was getting on and the forecast gave a breezy evening so we would soon have to leave despite the sea being near flat calm.
Again, I was sitting there out of the corner of my eye my skate rod began to nod. At this stage I normally hold the line in my hand to get a better idea of what is happening.
It had seemed to stopped so I lifted the lead of the bottom to try gauge if the was anything there.
I lifted it at least 5ft off the bottom to be sure but no nothing there, when WHALLOP.
Something grabbed it and yanked it out of my hand. The rod was grabbed but nothing happened unfortunately and I was about to shout to Michea'l what just happened when I could see he was lifting into a heavy fish.

Fish on,
Yeah he shouted in a strained voice fish on. Another good fight saw a fine male skate on the better side of 150lb. More photos and video of the goings on and away the beast sailed to the bottom.
They actually look like they are flying, cool fish.
 What a day, good company and great  craic and fantastic fish.
Fingers crossed for another chance to get out where monsters swim.

     Thanks for reading and paddle safe out there, the current forecasts have been very changeable.

From blank to an excellent session,

Hi all,
Thankfully we're getting a few breaks in the weather that are fishable.
So one day towards the end of last week I hit lough Foyle looking for tope.
Not only did not even get a take from a tope I couldn't even tempt tiddlers with chum.
The river was full of long strands of muck and dirt.
So it seems it completely ruined my chances.

A blast along the sea shoreline.
Since the Foyle was out of action I decided to try some rocky shore marks, first a short session of spinning along the shore then a drift across the bay and a rock mark on the other side of the bay was the plan.
Ten yards from my launch spot I began trolling a metal lure that works well while paddling at a decent rate, so I wouldn't be all day going across the bay. Halfway across the pollock were interested and I caught three pollock between two to three pound. Which was a good sign as the tide was in the first hour of the flood tide.

Happy enough I neared the end of my troll when I got some more interest in the lure, about four light taps then the rod arched over into a very energetic fight which had to be a trout or a coalie.
Thankfully it was a seatrout which after a quick pic was released.

Again I started to troll and I watch 3 good swirls come from the area where the lure was and as I reeled the lure near and a figure shot after it but missed it. I thought it was gone but it turned in a heartbeat nailed the spinner and done a backflip out of the water onto my leg and shot off with the spinner not attached to him, lol.

Time for the sand.
By now it was time for a drift on the sand towards my last intended mark.
I drifted for a good half of the bay with only 4 dogfish for my efforts.
So lines up and headed for some wrasse and pollock bashing, with a chance of a run out for some tope.
First I tried for the wrasse with my favorite rig two up and one down. Unfortunately, the wrasse were playing hard to get and the wind was making things very tricky.
So I went behind a huge rock to shelter from the wind and the wrasse rig went down and I began to spin with a 22g Sandy Andy from westin. The pollock were a fish a cast, the lure absolutely hammered the lure bumped along the bottom.

I was hoping for wrasse with this technique but I was only getting pollock. Although I was getting a lot of plucks as it bounced along the bottom.
Sure I wasn't worried and I was having a blast with thhe pollock testing my gear to the limit.
Since the pollock were feeding well, I thought I'd try and get some pollock takes on camera.
Boom rigged with camera 4ft of line and 8oz lead to keep it down as I trolled.
Well I didn't get far and the rod lurched over and although it's great to see, it is a bit of a squeaky bum moment until you get that fish clear of the bottom with your camera.
Clear of the bottom I thought great but no sooner had I thought that he was away back down again. Thankfully and to my extreme delight I had my first wrasse on a lure and it was a cracker, a lovely red colour and just over 3lb.

Happy as I thought I could be I the pollock action continued culminating in a mega-powerful take with multiple very strong runs a fine pollock of 8lb surfaced by my kayak and the hook was just sitting in the roof of its mouth. The soft part of the lure came off in its mouth and its mouth was big enough to put my whole hand into get it back lol.

I was getting the impression I may need to go soon as the breeze was freshening, despite the forecast saying different. I just glanced at the point of the rocks to see what it was like and the corner was pure white tops, not very big but a pure bugger to paddle in,. Seemed more water was coming over the top of me than under me lol.
Some extra exercise going home but didn't bother me paddling back with a big dopey grin on me with the days fishing.
Love those days afloat.
Thanks for reading and paddle safe out there.

Technology saving the day even with strong tides

Hi all,
With the supposed good spell in the forecast, Micheal and I decided to have a crack out deep for some early beasts. The tides were obviously big but it was worth a try to see what we could catch during the few hours when the tide wasn't so strong.
So out we went but not only was the breeze a lot more than the forecast we could see a huge swell running were we wanted to fish. So we anchored up and fished for bait and whatever else was about.

Very quiet.
It was quiet where we were trying so we decided to try a spot which I believed to be a steep rise on the edge of a reef. So I hauled anchor and dropped on the mark some 3/4 of a mile from where we were.

This mark was 105ft deep so I was hopeful of some spurdogs and all the usual hard ground species. Though like the other mark it was very quiet and with a bitter cold breeze holding us across the tide it was far from pleasant out there.

GOFISH camera.
As said above it was not to nice out there so I thought I would try the Gofish camera down to see what was knocking around down there. I put 6ft of line from my camera to an 8oz ball lead with a small coalie flapper about 2 ft off the bottom to see what I could attract into the view of the camera.
The idea of this was that I'd give it ten minutes take it up and since this camera has WIFI I could connect to my phone to see what was down there. Now, remember I thought I was on a reef and on the `Navionics charts the nearest symbol to it marked rock, I was sure I was fishing a reef.
The pink circle is where we fished and the yellow circle is marking the nearest bottom type. R means rock so we were surprised what would soon happen.

Well when the camera came up, and when I checked the camera we were on pure clean sand although I could clearly see a few decent flat fish attacking the collie.

Rig change.

With that, I changed my rigs more suitable for flatfish and I was instantly catching dabs, I had a decent few in a short time. I didn't notice at that time that one of the better dabs on the gofish camera had a distinctive piece out of his side fin I had actually caught.

Conditions not getting better.                                                                                                              

With conditions not calming or warming up, we decided to cut our session short as we had an early session planned for the next day. So in we went, some new knowledge of a mark that could be very fruitful in the warmer months. There is bound to be some nice rays and possibly an odd turbot on it later in the year.

Day Two.

The plan for day two was to get out early and see what we could catch with the promise of calmer weather. Though that was before a kind offer of a BBQ with Mark and Tommy of seafishingNI.

Very nice it was too, thanks lads. With no alcohol consumed, we were fresh for the next day lol.

6AM,

Six am was not long coming and we were up and out catching bait by seven o'clock. 

Thankfully the wind had eased but the tide was roaring past our proposed mark so I decided to anchor out of the worst of it again. Though the tide had come and gone the fierce tide had not settled enough for us to get near the marks we had planned to fish.

By now the tide had seemed even worse so it was time to move somewhere safer as we were not holding bottom with 8oz of lead. 

Hauling a stuck anchor in a fierce tide.

It was time to haul the anchor but as usual, the anchor was stuck solid and after many tries, it was not coming. I normally haul it across the sole of my shoe but this time with the tide so strong and the swell the anchor line sawed threw through the sole of my crocs. 

No big deal really but the anchor was not coming up so, unfortunately, this time one I had the reel in my hand the anchor chord had to be cut.

We had caught plenty of mackerel and most of the mackerel were really good ones except for the one I took a photo of, losing the anchor brought our day to an abrupt end. It is too risky offshore without an anchor off the northwest coast of Ireland.

With kayak angling, there is always something to make the paddle home seem shorter, its either gannets diving, guillemots bobbing about or strange sunfish slapping its unusual fin around as it suns itself on the surface.

This time we were lucky enough to paddle past three basking sharks.One beast and two smaller ones.

Unfortunately, they didn't stay on the surface long enough for us to get any photos, but it was great to see them.

Thanks for reading and until next time paddle safe.

Lures rigging for porbeagle sharks

Hi all,
It's been a while as I have been posting on mad4yak, I still will be posting on mad4yak but I plan to keep this page up and running also.

Back to fishing.
It is that time of year again when we start think about porbeagle shark and tope. Though the tope will not really show up until May it is nice to get some rigs made and be ready to fish when the chance arrives.
The unforgiving Porbeagle Shark has by now landed on our shores leaving us all very keen to get out there and have a go.
I as always will be fishing from my kayak which currently is an Ocean kayak Trident 13, 2018 model.
This kayak is well able to do battle with a Porbeagle shark, as long as you are.

Though the biggest disadvantage is hauling large blocks of chum as most boat anglers do.
Instead I drop a shark bait halfway down and fish for what ever bait fish are around me at the time, this can be pollock, coalfish, herring, mackerel, whiting or cod. My favorites are coalfish and whiting, preferably around 3/4lb mark.

Saying this, nothing gets the adrenaline going more than a Porbeagle chasing a lure to the surface. It is a pure adrenaline rush. Literally I do be shaking with the adrenaline.

So heres how I have rigged a Westin Shadteez and how I plan to fish it.
First off was hook placement, as using large hooks will change how the lure swims.

 I am using 300lb single strand wire with 10/0 mustad catfish hooks. I had a little mess about with rigging it with the hook on top like you would if was a giant jig head. Though with the hook being so big it would no doubt swim upside down.

 I was convinced it would work with adding weight to the belly so I decided to rig it through the belly.

 With the wire re-positioned to the belly I wanted the hook tucked out of the way and not put the sharks off from taking the lure.

 With a sharp knife a slit was cut in its belly to allow the hook to be held in place and give a more natural presentation.

 Hook in, all that was needed was some glue and I was happy.

I added just one ounce to the nose on the wire before making the eye in the wire.
The shadteez though not weighted sinks quite well and the area I will be fishing will be no more than ninety feet deep the lure will have more natural when rigged as light as possible.

Two Porbeagle shark in one session.

Hi all, yes you read that right.
I was out last sunday the 28th of may chasing jaws and family.
Its hard for me to believe I posting about 2 porgies in a session, as at one time I was thinking they where a myth and would be over the moon at one per season.
But hey new tactics and new stratagies have payed off.
Sunday was my third trip after them and using the Vanstaal 80lb to 130lb class rod and a Dam quick royal 990 I am well equipped to tackle near any beast out there , well I hope in anyway  .
Sunday came and the fore cast was to settle down about 1pm and I was busting to get some good under water video of sharks so I went out at eleven with the intention of getting video first and then go after sharks.
As I paddled out it was very lumpy out side the shelter of the land with the boat men getting a hammering. I hugged the shore trolling a live coalie all the way with no interest from sharks. 
I got to my mark and all was quiet I lowered my camera and coalie down to try and get a shark to chase it to no avail. 5 mins later the radio crackled into life with Alastair saying he had a double hook up and they were decent fish.
I was shaking with the excitement and although the swell had not died down yet I was baiting up the shark rod. 
As I was rigging my shark bait(takes a while when your shaking like a leaf  ) my rod with the camera on bent over and began to head off then POP the top of the rod sprung up. I grabbed it praying my camera was still there and thankfully it was, but as I reeled it in I could see a large shape coming up. 
  believe me your heart nearly stops every time they do. coming up like a torpedo and turning at the last second under your kayak and then circle you. It is a class experience.
I flung a mackerel flapper over the side and let it down about 20ft. He went after it and looked at it, poked it and swam away. I gave it a big lift and dropp and back he came like a shot and grabbed it. 
What happens next is always an unknown, will they run on the surface, dive straight down or knock the hell out of you before peeling off a 100yards of line.

This one run like hell under the surface and as he was about 120lb I could tighten the drag and let him tow me all over the place. Unfortunatley this lad found a crab buoy rope so I had to heave like hell to keep him from wrapping.

Thankfully after a very tough fight I got him up to the surface.

That shark was released in a blaze of white water and it was still very early. I was wondering will I try for another  and began to paddle back to my mark, but 100yards into the paddle as the adrenaline subsided my right should started to spasm like mad and was a tad sore for as I went and was putting me off trying again, but as I got closer to the mark I am not sure was it the excitement at trying again over powered it or it faded but hell I was going to try again  . 
Again a bait went out and I began to chunk away with bait fish and didn't see any sharks until I went to move away and out of no where came a nice 150lber powered up and grabbed my bait. Rod still in the holder it poured line off the reel with me being towed side ways, as is becoming the norm these days  .
I got the rod in hand and another epic fight was on. again lots of drag and a really tough fight forced the shark up to the surface in good time. But this bugger was mental. I had the trace in hand holding tight for the 3rd time and with a swipe or two of it's tail near filled the kayak cockpit. All in the video below.
I was just glad I didn't get whacked with it's huge tail.

Another good tussle saw a fine 150lber released and then that was me done, battered, bruised and couldn't be happier. Just recovering for the next session