Kincasslagh 10th July 2016

2nd Trip of the season on board Caitlin Marie, with Skipper Paul McGonnagle. The forecast was not good early in the week for this trip, and we were pretty sure it would be called off. But a lucky break for us in the weather systems meant the trip was back on, and we set off with pretty high hopes for a good day afloat. 7 members were on the trip,

Gerard Girvan

Alan Buchanan

Roy McCoy

Stephen Montgomery

Dan Boyle

Alan Campbell

Bill Bannon

Skipper Paul had told us before we arrived that the early part of our day might be a bit lumpy until the wind settled, and accordingly we spent the first part of our day fishing inshore marks. After a few moves we found a huge shoal of Mackerel which soon filled our bait box, a welcome sight as they have been very scarce everywhere this season, and we soon had enough to start fishing properly for targeted species. Coalfish and Pollock were first to show for us on an inshore reef, nothing big, around 2lb, but plentiful enough to keep the boys occupied. Gerard Girvan also took a nice Grey Gurnard of 15oz, and Roy McCoy a nice male Cuckoo Wrasse of 1lb, both safely returned. 

As the wind eased we moved out to offshore marks. Although the wind had dropped somewhat, a big rolling swell did make life a bit uncomfortable for some of us, with a couple of the lads calling for “Hughie and Ralph”. Fishing here was much improved with a much better stamp of fish showing up. Dan Boyle did very well with his spinning rod, using a luminous savage gear sandeel, and taking a succession of nice Pollock, the best pulling the scales to 5lb 8oz. Stephen Montgomery used a rig of big red Norway Squid type lures to great effect, taking a load of Pollock. He then hit into something more solid, and caught the day’s best catch, a nice ling of 6lb 10oz. Stevie also took a nice codling of 3lb to add to his tally. Bill Bannon had a good day also, with some decent Pollock and Ling to around 4lb.

We then shifted to a more sandy bottomed mark, where we found plenty of whiting to around 1lb in weight, as well as a couple of red gurnards.

With the swell not really easing, we decided to make our last move of the day, back inshore, where we would get some respite from the swell, and hopefully some Rays and flatfish. Fishing here was a lot more comfortable. First to take a fish on this mark was Alan Buchanan, who took a nice Thornback Ray of 5lb 6oz, followed shortly after by another smaller fish. Gerard Girvan also took a small ray, followed by a Thornback each for Bill Bannon and Stevie Montgomery. Dan Boyle brought a better fish to the surface, which spat the hook as the net was being reached for.

All too soon it was time to call it a day. A good days fishing in challenging conditions, but once again, Kincasslagh didn’t let us down.

As a footnote, Kincasslagh is this year’s chosen venue for the “Tom Hamill Cup”,  awarded to the best fish taken from a specified port. Stevie Montgomery moves into the lead for this competition, with one more visit still to come.

1st place   Stephen Montgomery  6lb 10oz Ling                 15 points

2nd place  Dan Boyle                        5lb 8oz Pollock             10 points 

3rd place  Alan Buchanan               5lb 6oz Thornback Ray  5 points