A nice mix.....

Well where do I start the weather has been fantastic for the past week or
and i have tried to get out as much as I can.
Firstly I went up to Sam Roche and Dave Fitzpatrick of
http://www.lurefish-ireland.com/ we met up in Dun Laoghaire Harbour
and fished for a couple of hours where the two guys picked up a couple
of fish Sam with a nice goby and little scorpion and Dave with a nice pouting
We moved on to another mark where Dave picked up a nice pollock

The fishing was incredibly slow so we moved on to another mark to see if the fishing was any better
and Sam picked up a really nice looking Long Spined Sea Scorpion

A  few hours spent lrf with a couple of great guys unforunately I blanked but after all its called
fishing not catching.
Anyone looking to get into lrf around the Dublin area should get in contact with the lads they are always
up for adding more to their growing lrf crew. I know I'll be up again during the year once the fishing picks
up.

Not to be dettered by the dreaded blank i made it out a couple of times over next
few days once with a mate of mine Ryan who has recently gotten into lrf and is slowly
becoming addicted to this form of angling he is getting some great results with scorpions,blennys,
corkwing and ballans all under his belt anyway photos can tell the story better than i can

So a cracking few sessions with some new species starting to show for the first time this
I suppose down to the unseasonal good weather that we've been having lately certainly not
something that I'll be complaining about with water temp up around the coast to around 9.5 -10.5 celcius
and some great reports coming in from around the county if the start of the season is anything to go by
its certainly lookinng good well thats all from me for now until next time.......

Tight Lines

Jay

A Top Knotch session

Havent been out a whole lot lately with work taking priority
over fishing not by choice but necessity.
I went to a local mark on Sunday 11th initially to try for wrasse
which have been proving very elusive lately. I fished for an hour or so
into the rising tide without so much as a touch using a variety of lures
so back to the car and out with my trusty Solpara and Caldia for some
lrf i knew the fish were about as i had seen a few blennies and scorpions
moving in the various tidal pools and gullies so this is where i decided to start and
straight away i got a long spined scorpion on my trusty Jackslrf worm

 Had another few Scorpion fish and a few Blennies. The tide was starting to push so I headed
over to a large pool about 4ft deep switched lures to another favourite the Power Isome and began
work it around the edges and various ledges in the pool it got interest from a small scorpion fish
which was darting around the lure so i stopped the lure dead on the bottom and to my amazement
a nice sized flatfish came off the wall of the pool and inhaled the lure. I couldnt believe it firstly because
i hadnt seen it and secondly it was the last thing i had expected to catch!!

 At first i didnt have a clue what it was so out with the phone and onto google which promptly informed
me it was my very first Topknot  and my very first flatfish on a lure. The Topknot is the only member of the
flatfish family to live in, on and amongst rocks and is considered quite a rare catch so needless to say I am
a very happy angler.
I packed up and went home after that catch figuring that i had used all my luck for that session
I headed back out that night to a local quayfront and began dropshotting down the quaywall
had nothing for the first half an hour but my hopes were high as i could see baitfish moving all around and could see fish taking from the top so i continued with the dropshot and picked up a small coalie

 I continued on with the dropshotting this time casting and allowing to pendulum back in towards the
wall while slowly retrieving this worked a treat with coalie after coalie succumbing to this method

I then began to see silver flashes in the crystal clear water which i initally thought were school bass

but i now know to be herring 

The best of the herring coming in at around 12 inches long and great fun on the lrf gear I havent laughed as much on my own in an age they were coming thick and fast for a good 2 hours and some were even 

tailwalking across the surface very funny to see and certainly not something i thought i'd ever see a herring 

do 

I packed up around midnight and headed home a very satisfied angler after the best days lrf I've had in a while things are certainly looking up with some new and exciting species showing their faces. I really cant wait to see what the rest of 2012 has in store.

Tight lines

Jay