As per title I fitted some new rod holders to my trident 13.
It comes with 2 rod holders built in, but I like to have my 2 main rods and a bait rod for searching for extra bait while the tope rods are fishing. So I needed the extra rod holders.
It never use to be a problem but I have stopped using my old tackle box to cut down on the weight and that had 2 rod holders on it.
So I got a pair of feel free flush mount rod holders from Bantry Bay Canoes and they work out nicely for the flat area behind the original rod holders.
They are a good set, It comes with screws, rod lanyards and clips so they are good value.
Opened and ready fitting.
Abit of lining up here and making sure it will work before I starting drilling big holes in it lol.
A trial run in a piece of timber first, to be sure the drill is the wright size.
Nerve wrecking moment. First hole drilled, I moved it back 20mm to allow for any errors.
Hole drilled and the rod holder dropped in place. Work out perfect. Ideal size for the space available.
Time for the next one before screwing into final position.
A good wallop of Tech 7 and add the screws.
That's them in and angled slightly out the way. To stop the rod tips hitting.
Job done, I am happy with them at the moment and they should work out fine.
Hi everyone.
It has been a while since I have been flat out between work, holidays and of course fishing.
Well this one is all about a very special trip that finally went ahead after many attempts to get it done.
It started back last year when I tried to book a charter to take us out to the blue sharks and most said they would but then back tracked due to safety etc.
But we are big enough to take responsibility for our own actions and I contuined to try and get one booked, with not much luck.
But last summer I met James Leahy who although was new to kayak angling he was mad to give it a go. Its common for people to say they want to fish shark from a kayak but not many will really try.
But this year was different with a good head of tope about to test the lads and some more experience I was confident of getting a good crew together for the challenge.
Would it ever happen.
So a plan was hatched to get as many as possible out together.
But again on the Wednesday before the boat rang to cancel due to unforeseen events.
I was very disappointed. But James had an ace up his sleeve that I knew nothing about.
He had been talking to one of Corks finest shark anglers Kieran Ring and he was actually keen to see blue shark caught from a kayak.
I was a bit taken aback and I still had my doubts if it would happen.
But the plans where made and myself and James and Kieran met in Youghal co.Cork.
2.15pm The launch/loading
Now we met Kieran and he was a very decent man and told us to load gear as he had to nip back for something.
Well myself and James where loading away at the kayaks on to Kieran's warrior style boat and I turned to James and said he does know we are bringing kayaks doesn't he lol. James said I hope so lol. I was expecting Kieran to come back and shout get that lot off my boat lol, thankfully he didn't
Kayaks loaded and we waited for Kieran and there wasn't much room left for any of us but he never batted an eye lid and said as long as she gets up on the plane we are laughing.
2.45pm Out we went.
Engine started and off we went, the engine revs getting higher and higher, would she plane I wondered. What do you know she did, no bother to her.
We where skipping across the chop at an impressive rate. Covering the 15miles in reasonable time.
First stop was bait which we got plenty so out we carried on with enough to do the day. So with massive expectations out we went.
On the shark grounds.
The engine slowed and the excitement rose as it was time to launch the kayaks.
I was busting to get out, mackerel chumed and baits readied we where set for action.
I was first on the water soon followed by James.
You could have cut the atmosphere a knife the excitement was much.
I lowered my bait and sent my balloon out to wait for some action.
The wait.
We sat there and Kieran offered not to put a line in at all to give us a chance but we couldn't do that and he had a line out very close to the boat.
We where out about 40yards in the chum slick waiting for something to happen.
First signs of life.
Fourty minutes passed and not a sniff, that was until Kieran's bait got a take.
A half hearted take resulted in a miss and soon after another miss for Kieran. He said it must be a small shark. Small or not I was on the edge of my seat with the excitement.
My chance.
About 10 minutes later, my line got a pluck, then another and after seeing how he hit Kieran's I let him have a good go, until the balloon started to go down.
With 2 or 3 good strikes the hook was set and great fight ensued.
We new it wasn't a monster but it was the first blue from a kayak in Ireland or the Uk that we new of, so it was a special fish what ever the size.
The fight was like that of a smart mullet, he let me get him close several times and when you think you have him beat he would scream off in a powerful run. I was having the time of my life.
Blue shark in and photo I was over the moon it was around 35lb to 40lb.
Now to say I was delighted is an understatement. I couldn't thank Kieran and James enough.
More surprises to come.
Things went quiet for the next few hours and James chances of a shark where fading. But we don't give up easy.
About 9pm we where sitting there and Kieran said this is the last bag lads make the most of it.
With that about 20mins later James rod took off and I mean took off. Reel screaming and James screaming with delight. It was a dam good fish.
But it wasn't to be. As the shark poured off the line the pressure sank the braid into the reel and jammed it, and as James tried to free it the shark got a small bit of slack line and headed for the horizon. With that his 40lb snapped like it was thread.
Oh it was a killer to see him loose what may have been his only chance for this trip.
But Kieran said rig up again I'll stay until dark.
No sooner had Kieran said that he got a hit close to the boat. What do you know a small porbeagle for Kieran a shark he has been after for years.
9.30pm Hook up number 2
No sooner had Kieran released his Porbeagle I was thinking should I change my bait. But no need as I just got a small hit, then again something along the lines of a pike gently taking a bait and in no hurry. As the balloon started to head away I again struck hard 3 times and the shark answered with a power full run, and run and run, there was no stopping her she poured line off as I upped and upped the drag until she was dragging me every where. By this time James had gotten himself re-rigged and was fishing again.
And very soon after he was in also, to a good shark.
So picture it 2 lads being towed around the place by good sharks with no land for at least 15miles and the 2 of us quoating various lines from jaws, Including the one we need a bigger boat lol.
10.10pm
James fought his fish for around 30 mins and got his in and was estimated around 80lb to 90lb.
Mean while I was still making little progress on the beast that was attached to my line. It was a serious battle and when ever I thought I was making progress she would head for the bottom, all 250ft of it.
10.30pm Up she comes.
Eventually after an epic fight up she came as it was getting dark 1hour and 5mins to be exact, the most fantastic shape of a shark appeared under my kayak. It was near dark and the massive white belly could be seen coming to me, head shaking and rolling all the while.
I was busting to get it on my lap for a trophy pic but was wondering how the hell that was going to happen. I got the wire trace in my hand pulled the beauty onto my lap as much as I could. But I couldn't get it on all the way.
I shouted to James if he held the wire I could grab its pectoral fins and haul her up. But when James was met with this [Picture below] He reckoned Kieran could get a better hold lol.
I couldn't blame him, she had a mighty set of teeth.
Thankfully Kieran came over and helped me to land the hark on my lap and then brough the shark into the boat for an accurate measurement.
At first we believed she came in at 133lb but a redo of the calculation seems she was 99.7lb. To me a monster and I was over joyed to say the least. Very soon after she was returned to the water, just before she nearly rolled me over, as there was a lot of weight on one side of the kayak.Then off she swam and that was the end of our epic journey.
A massive thank you to James Leahy and Kieran Ring as with out them it never would have happened. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the video of it all below.
Hi everyone.
As per title we had another in Donegal.
Since the last one was a great success some of the lads couldn't wait to get back at the tope.
So I organised another meet for some to get here again and for some who couldn't make it the first time.
Meet up point,
We had Fergal, Anto, Tony, Oliver, John H, Macker, and myself on the Saturday.
The lads where all there in good time and ready to hit the water for 12.30pm, I pick this time to launch as it gives the lads time to travel here with out having to leave in the middle of the night. The days are long now and we would still get 8hrs or 9hrs afloat.
On the water.
Out we went in search of some fresh bait, The mackerel where feeding on plankton so the standard feathers where not catching them but a small green rig worked very well. I had about 20 in a short time.
With that we head out to our first spot in 95ft of water. There where some fish there but not what we where after. We had doggies and Macker pulled a bullhuss out of no where.
With that we moved out to 105ft of water near a 1/3 of a mile further out. Again no tope but lots of small ling and some red gurnards. I had 3 and 1 even took my tope bait a whole mackerel fillet. Here's the greedy bugger below.
Here's another fell that took a whole mackerel fillet.
But there wasn't much fish of any real size. But it was a good sign as it meant that we had not missed the tope as these tasty snacks would have been devoured by the tope.
So that was the height of it. No tope and not much fish of any real size. we where having great craic and the chat of big tope was flying.
We had a chat about what to do the next day and it was decided to try this spot again the next day as I was hopeful of the tope coming in but I had another venue with tope but you don't much else there so we decided to stay at Dunaff.
In we paddled and got more bait for the next day and as we landed on the shore we where met by John with chilled bottles of beer, it was the perfect end to a day afloat.
More beer and big fish story around a fire finished the night off. I think there where more fish caught around that fire than anytime in history lol. Tony and fergal had to go home but myself, Anto and Macker camped out and John headed for the comfort of a B&B and announced he'd be having a lye in and get up to a nice pre cooked breakfast, Jammy bugger lol.
Sunday, while you where sleeping.
Sunday morning came quickly especially after several beers. Up we got about 6.30.Soon after Bob and Joe from Buncranna landed. They got rigged and as our kayaks where already to go we just had to jump on the kayaks and out we went.
We again got some more fresh mackerel and headed for the second mark we fished on Saturday.
All the while John was in the B&B having a lye in.
Joe and Bob stayed inside for Pollack and mackerel and we went on out.
Anchors down and the wait was on.
Let the fun begin.
Macker and I where fairly close together and Anto was further away down the tide.
It didn't take long for me to get a tope hit on spurdog rig not meant tope. I ad it half way and some great powerfull runs but one good run broke the trace and he was gone.
Next thing Anto roared fish on and another epic battle commenced. Anto was half way trough his fight when my tope rod started to go, I let him go a small bit and set the hook, he fought like a demon. Very very strong fight from him. he was about 25lb but he was a bugger to shift in the tide he was wired altogether. Myself and Antogot our tope in and we where delighted.
Macker was loving seeing the first tope being hauled in and was set for his own. With that his rod got the old zzzzzzz then zzzzzzzzzz rod picked up and the hook set Macker was in to a very lively tope.
He was in his element line flying off the reel and I swear with every yard of line that came off that reel the smile on his face got bigger.
He had a great fight from it and just before the tope came to the surface the anchor slipped the cleat and the tope took Macker for a short tow down to Anto so I couldn't get a pic of his tope.
All the while John was snoring in his luxury accommodation missing the action. I did try and phone him after 3 tope landed and 2 lost but no answer.
We where not holding back and the tope where hitting us hard. Macker got back up and he was no sooner anchored than he got another hit and fish on. This was just great craic his second tope ever on the kayak.
Again his anchor rope slipped and he got a good tow around the place and as he got back over to me to give a hand to get a pic my rod got a nice take and started taking line. Macker got his fish in and landed but I had my hands full.
This fish was very heavy, he took about 20 yards of line but didn't seem to speed up or get excited when I applied big pressure. He just stopped solid. Then I realised it wasn't a tope but must have been a skate. 2 more times I got it moving but with it on a 12lb class rod and 30lb braid it wasn't looking good. I heaved and heaved but I couldn't shift it.
I was afraid the rod would break. So I pulled the braid by hand and I did get it to move twice more and the second time I got it lifted a small bit and I was taking the slack on the reel as I pulled it up. But no sooner was I going to lift the rod and it just dived the 8 or 10ft I had just gotten him up. Again I heaved by hand and this time there was no moving him and the braid broke.
I was gutted. But it was a great day and the sun was shining so it wasn't to hard to get over.
With that Anto had lost 2 tope and was mid fight with another and like the rest, an epic fight. They really are hard fighters this year.
But it wasn't over yet, I got a half hearted nod on the rod and after a minute or 2 I reeled down and struck, I had something small on and began to reel it up and less than half way up it really fought back. But then stopped and more line reeled up easily and again a charging dive but it went light again definitely no hooked tope. It came to the kayak easy then and as the mono leader came to the kayak it screamed away.
I thought definitely tope on and 2 good strong runs and pop tope was gone. In I reeled but there was still some thing on the line. Up it came a 48cm ling. A tope had hit it several times on the way up. The poor sod had a bad day, here he is with tooth marks in his head.
It's hard t see in this photo but he had lots of heavy marks in his side but in good shape for being hit many times by a tope. With that Anto had headed in and myself and Macker had stayed on to see what we could get. Also we wanted to wait for John. But by then the weather kicked up and it got rough quickly So home went and we where a mile out and gently surfing home lol.
We had an exciting paddle in and john was on the beach side ready to go.
But it was to rough to go back out so we where slagging John telling him we had all the action while he was sleeping lol. Maybe next time John. He did get out for a short run in the bay but it was ebb tied and the fishing was slow.
Thanks to all the lads for traveling, the company on the water just adds to the craic and excitement. And a big well done to Macker on his first kayak tope.
Until next time thanks for reading and tight lines.
Heres a vid from last year of a tope taking bait in 90ft of water.
Here's a write up on the lead moulds I used all the time and ones I should have not wasted my money on.
The majority of moulds are excellent and will save you a fortune over the life time of the mould.
I have one mould which I have had the last 21 years and I still use it and it has no signs of it giving up yet.
The bomb weight 2.5oz, 3.5oz. 4.5oz and 5.5oz
I'll start this off with my oldest mould it is an Adjusti-mould and it makes bomb leads from 2.5 to 5.5oz.
I bought this mould in the ABC fishing tackle shop on Caple street in Dublin. It's a great shop and from memory, it was an Aladdin's Cave of fishing tackle. I think I paid 18 punts for it at the time.
With this mould you make the wire loops and set them in place and put the mould together and then just pour the lead.
You can also make grip leads by adding wire strands to the holes you can see at the base of the lead.
This mould is easy to pour into with a generous opening it's hard to miss. The lead does not have to be super hot just molten is enough. You can get about 12 pours before this mould gets very hot.
I find this an excellent all round lead that can be used from shore, boat and kayak in many areas and situations, I would highly recommend this style of lead. It drops quick with no much flutter on the way down. Also it is a good lead on the drift with it's slim design it is less likely to get stuck.
The dumb bell weight from 1oz to 2kg
Another old classic,
This style of lead is really only suited to boats and kayak angling, I find this an excellent mould for making a huge range of leads weights, with a massive opening for pouring, it's a breeze to use.
I find it excellent for fishing at anchor as it holds very well and doesn't catch the tide. Also it's excellent for trolling feathers for bait fish from your kayak, it stays down with out having to have a huge lump of lead on.
But on the bad side it can be a catchy lead for drifting on hard ground and seems to find those sticky spots more than other slimmer lead patterns.
Bank weights 4oz,8oz and 12oz
These are handy a handy mould when your stuck for time this mould all you have to do is melt and pour. No wire needed as it makes the eye as you pour the lead. This mould was an ebay job and only cost about £10.00 a bargain
Although the mould quality was not great it does the job. The eyes where the most annoying part as some where open when taken out of the mould. An easy solution was to add a bead of blue tack
where the eye should be. It does the job easily.
This mould makes 4oz, 8oz, and 12oz leads.
This is a trickier mould to use as the pouring hole is where the eye ends up. so your pouring lead on to the eye stud. So you need the lead to be very hot or the pouring hole blocks very easily. But very hot lead sorts that problem.
This is an excellent lead for fishing at anchor or on the drift with it's slim design. Unfortunately it is brutal for trolling feathers and jigging as it flutters and shoots off to one side a lot when dropped. When trolled at a reasonable pace it spins like a helicopter blade and can hinder fish hitting your feathers. So at anchor and drifting it's a good lead trolling no good at all.
Bank weight leads 1oz to 3oz
This another mould fast becoming one of my favourites, no wire need and an excellent design.
The only problem is they are harder to tie on but it's a minor problem and easy sorted with a loop of line. They are a little small for my use but I would rather a mould with more 3oz spaces in it.
This mould is easy to pour with the eye at the bottom and a large pouring hole that's is easy to use.
These leads are of use to us all from shore, kayak or boat.
Articulated jig head mould.
This mould makes 4 sizes from about 25g to 106g
I came across this mould while watching Jim Cloughesy's video's from the Bella Vista self drive boats where they where catching fine bass, cod and Pollack with them.
Jim told us where he got them and I had one bought as soon as possible lol.
The mould landed and I was not overly happy to be honest. the head seemed very big.
I prefer to fish as light as possible. But as I went along I found more and more uses for them and also wanted to catch a tope on one for some real sport. Thankfully I did it on my first try and I had a great scrap from a tope of about 23lb. It was so good I will be doing it all summer.
This mould also has a handy pouring holes. They look small but I have no problem pouring them.
At the moment I am using galvanised tying wire to good effect.
The only problem I had was getting the eye to stay in place the wire was hard to get in shape. so I drilled the eyelets bigger and to stop any blocked eyes I added some blue tack. They are perfect every time.
Jighead mould 9g to 26g.
This is an excellent mould an it opens a world of lure fishing for many many species, from perch in the fresh water to pollack, bass, codling and even flatties on the smaller ones.
I picked this up on ebay, my most exspensive one to date at £31.00 including postage.
The only draw back was the hook eye holes where large, but a dab of blue tack sorts that and the heavier hooks don't need the blue tack.
You can see above the mould was tight for some hooks so a rub of the grinder with a sanding disc sorted that.
This mould comes with wooden handles and can be used even when very hot. So be careful not open it before the lead goes hard. The eye holes on this mould are good and easy to use.
Pirk moulds 3.5oz and 4.5oz
This mould was an impulse buy as I couldn't get the one I really wanted.
It also was an ebay job and was a poor choice. I was very difficult to pour so I had to bore the pouring hole out a bit bigger. They did come out well after that but on a few try's I had no luck at all, I tried them on Pollack, coalies and ling with not a fish to show for it.
It may very well work for you but I won't be a hurry to make any more soon. It could work on the wrecks so if you get a chance try it but you where warned.
Another pirk mould.
This was another mould I bought from the same place as the mould above. Again the pouring hole was very small and difficult to use, again the pouring holes needed to be drilled to make it useable.
These perks where really to big for me and I never gave them a proper go for ling and Pollack on the wrecks. some day I'll give them ago.
Hi everyone.
I went out after work yesterday as it was to good an evening to miss, the tides where all wrong but I was going in any way.
I finished work at 1pm and grabbed a bite to eat on the way out.
Again it was my old haunt in the north of Inishowen.
I was heading out and I hardly contain myself with the thoughts of specimen spurdogs and tope devouring baits as hard as I could put them down, but a dirty big black thunder storm soon appeared as I arrived at the launch site.
A huge black cloud unleashed a monsoons worth of rain in no time.
I wasn't giving up and sat it out in the car waiting for it to pass.
And sure enough it did. With that the kayak was loaded up and I was away across a flat calm sea delighted at the prospect of a fantastic evening afloat.
Time to find some bait.
As I went out all I had in the line of bait was 10 whiting, some small and some bigger ones for the tope.
I dropped the dark green glow worm rig down in 40ft of water and also dropped a feathered rig and began to troll but no sooner had I started I got a hit, oh yes mackerel, just 2 at first , next drop another 2 then 5 all on the dark green glow worm rig, and not a sniff on the feathered rig. I am assuming this is because they where feeding on plankton rather than fry. Also they where tight to the bottom, not the usual spot for plankton on a nice day.
Anchors away.
I got to my anchoring spot in 90ft of water to see what was happening there.
It was desperately quiet, I fished for an hour and only managed a few doggies.
But some where a good size the best I got later on it was a tad over 2.5lb and measuring 71cm.
Time to move.
It was very quiet for this spot and being the ebb tide didn't help.
So I upped anchor and headed about 3/4 of a mile west into 100ft of water,
Things seemed better here and the rods got some interest fairly quickly.
But it was mostly doggies but I then started to get some small ling and the fish below was the best of them, he was about 3lb and went very nicely with a few chips today. They are a very under rated table fish, if you catch one have a try you should like them.
I fished away and although things where quiet it was great to be out as don't I get many evening sessions in.
The 2 rods where down a tope pulley rig on one and a mickeyfish rig on the other.
But still there where no tope or spurs about so I went for the glow worm rigs with the yellow blades on them. They where down a while and getting more doggies and again when I dropped the rod went quiet. I guessed they robbed my bait so I went to lift it and there was definitely some extra weight, I thought it was a crab or spider crab but half way he decided to object and gave enough of struggle to be certin that it wasn't a crab. Thankfully it was my first bullhuss of the year. Ye he was a tiddler but great to see him.
But that was the run of it, some more small ling the best of them was 40cm and not much else so I thought I would head in for some more macks.
It wasn't easy leaving an evening like this behind. Oh I would have loved to do an all nighter, but it gets very cold out here until about 1 hour after dark and it normally warms up a bit then.
In for some bait
So in I went in search of bait for the weekend.
As I trolled my gear in behind me I could here what sounded like water rushing by. I was expecting mackerel on the surface but it was actually 2 tides running alongside each other.
My favourite place to find bait. This tide was running in 70ft of open water. So I dropped the glow worms with the yellow blades down expecting mackerel or gurnards on the bottom.
Down they went I thought all the way to the bottom and as I went to reel up bang a nice Pollack on. I was delighted. Line down again and another but not as big but great fun all the same.
Very few mackerel about but I had 6 Pollack, 2 coalies and a few big mackerel for a short dip.
Pity I wasn't there all day lol
So on in I went leaving this fantastic view behind me.
Don't worry it won't be long until I am back lol.
Myself and around 6 of others will be here the weekend, the 14th and 15th of june so if you like come along and enjoy what Donegal kayak angling has to offer.
So until next time tight lines and thanks for reading.
