Carlingford

Kingfish

What should u expect to catch in Carlingford lough what to use and what to catch I will get anything fishing from boat





Thanks
Kingfish

the evasion_kid

Caught mackerel years ago when I was a kid from a boat on it and there was a lot of mullet around the harbour

bpmurray

Around the #9 buoy there's good Ballan Wrasse - you'll probably need ragworm for these. On the wreck of the Connemara, just outside the harbour, you can try for reasonable pollack on rubber worms. In the Hoskyns channel, outside the harbour a little to the south of the lighthouse, there can be a few tope.

Otherwise it's pretty dreadful. You can catch small pollack, coalfish, dab, whiting, scorpion fish, etc. and I mean small! And, of course, when they're running, you can catch mackerel.

Kingfish

Any mackerel at the moment thanks lads

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Kingfish wrote: »

Any mackerel at the moment thanks lads

Not even a hint of one.

dodderangler

Thought carlingford was a hotspot for tope??

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

dodderangler wrote: »

Thought carlingford was a hotspot for tope??

Years back. Not anymore.

Kingfish

Jasus lads that's shocking what's the story with the tope were they go

bpmurray

There are still tope, just not like they used to be. I blame the razorfish digging - destroyed the bottom so the tope no longer use the area to breed.

Edit: No mackerel yet, although I did see some gannets diving around the blockhouse last weekend.

Kingfish

Sound lads what tackle (rigs) and bait would u use. For the tope

bpmurray

Kingfish wrote: »

Sound lads what tackle (rigs) and bait would u use. For the tope

Tope are funny ould things - I've caught them on small hooks, but the usual terminal tackle is a good size (6/0) hook at the end of either a steel (100lb) or strong nylon (200lb) 6ft trace. This is not to protect from the teeth so much as the skin which will wear off soft stuff like human skin pretty fast.

For bait, fresh mackerel - I have never caught them on frozen although I have heard rumours that it's possible.

All this with a small weight, around 2oz is plenty, suspended a few feet off the bottom by a balloon. Some folk use a matchstick to hold the balloon in place, but I prefer to just tie it on tight when the line is still dry (if wet, it slides).

Just trot it off to one side and continue fishing for everything else while you wait. It is, of course, mandatory to have the clicker on so that you hear the scream of the reel when it tears off for the first run.

I've caught most of mine at anchor, although I've caught a few while drifting back towards Carlingford from the Imogene buoy.

Of course, if you don't have fresh mackerel, then this is something you'll just have to wait to try. In any case, the wind is from the East this weekend, the worst possible for Carlingford - it gets really lumpy then outside the lough.

dodderangler

Only caught 3 tope myself and caught on frozen mackerel. But am told fresh is defiantly the best for them. Also freshwater eels is supposed to be like heroin to a tope.
I caught mine while on the drift. Only small lads one double but barely a double at that.
Hoping to do some tope fishing this summer