Wayne's ABU fishing in Ireland
June 2017
This year saw my wife Anne and I return to Ireland. It was 18 years since I last visited and fished there out from Howth Head, Dublin.I met up with Anne's family both old and new, and reconnected with Chris, a fishing friend that I have known for 35 years.
My piscatorial passions were sated well and truly this time by getting to indulge myself 5 times in the month.
My sister in law Marie, facilitated all by contacting relatives and friends to assist me .
Whilst I travelled to Dubai UAE, and Iceland also, I merely accessed the fishing potential with a long time angler's eye.
The fishing in Ireland, was around Elphin, Co Rosscommon, around West Cork and back in Dun Laoghaire, Dublin.
# 1
Lough Garra, Co Rosscommon
Brendan Sharkey of Predator Fishing, took me out on his lake boat.
The pike we caught ranged in size from 3lbs up to 10 lbs.
The lough holds pike up to 25/30 lb as well as big brown trout. Maybe next time the day will be not so bright and fishing conditions will be better
Fishing needs fuel, venison burgers with Guinness Sauce in this case.
Lures are large and heavy, requiring one to keep the rod tip down and not strike upwards as I am used to as this causes the lure to be ejected very quickly when the like jump and tail-walk consequently one is soon looking for another fish to battle.
# 2
River Ilen, West Cork
This saltwater estuary just outside Skibbereen was where we rented a delightful cottage.
At low tide the river was a muddy estuary with little in the way of structure like rock bars, fallen timber, deep holes, in short nothing to hold or slow down the upstream movement of Salmon and Sea trout the river is know for. My casting here was fruitless and predictable.
We had only one morning interrupted by showers, by as we were driving an hour or two to Skull, Mizen Head, it was of little consequence.
# 3
Castletownsend, West Cork
I went sea-fishing on Flor's boat to Stag Rocks and numerous other coastal locations.
We fished from a 20 foot diesel-powered, displacement-hulled cabin boat which traveled at about 6 knts to the quite close fishing locations.
The bait was artificial and consisted of a string of feather or foil covered 2/0 or 3/0 hooks.
A dozen small mackerel ranging in size from 300 to 400 mm were caught from various locations in depths of 15 to 30 feet..
Later out at Stag Rocks, up to 30 Pollock were caught, most of which were released that were under 3 to 5 lb size. Locations were changed frequently as it was difficult getting the bait feathers down through the smaller fish to the bigger fish down at 100 foot depth.
A great late afternoon in the sun.
We kept 15 fish, releasing about 25, 8 mackerel for entree, a 4 and 5 lb Pollock for baking to feed our 6 hungry mouthes and the rest to the Murphy and Donovan families.
#4
River Ilen
This section of river is a freshwater stream traversing Derry Donovan's dairy farming properties.
A bright sunny day did not help me snare a Salmon or Brown trout, along with inexperience with style of fishing.
I persevered for 7 hrs , fishing for 55 minutes each hour. Fly , spinner , spoon and floating worm methods were utilized with no results other than seeing some splashing salmon. Another time I hope.
Peter who writes the permission tickets for River Ilen Fishing Club, and myelf meet at his home.
All in all a memorable series of fishing opportunities, provided by Derry in Skibbereen, for which I am very thankful for and I hope to expand upon on my next trip to Ireland.
#5
Dun Laoghaire
Catching up with Chris after 30 something years was just wonderful! We had a lot in common with recent loss and both have loved fishing all our lives. He was very happy to be my mentor for the day and I learned a lot of local info, from tides, baits, terminal tackle, and connecting with fish.
Thanks for a wonderful day mate.
If you are a person that has significantly had an effect on design/development/testing of ABU equipment over the years please contact me wayne@realsreels.com if you wish your contribution documented for posterity and the immediate interest of the ABU fans worldwide!