Wicklow Boat Charters – Angling Report 2021
SOME KEY POINTS
TOPE fishing was exceptional this year with at least 338 recorded, and a minimum of 23 Specimen fish caught. Some fine Big Tope were recorded Oct & Nov to 70lb and 173cm long.
SMOOTH-HOUND dropped in numbers as did the Big ones, over 600 caught, and 22+ Specimens recorded, there were many un-recorded but not near as many Hounds as 2020.
SPURDOG numbers increased again this year while the number of specimens recorded were less. Its clear the Jan to April no-fishing period had a massive impact as this is prime pupping period.
On the IRISH SPECIMEN SPECIES front we made 2 great achievements;
Our first ever Corkwing Wrasse went in for Allard van Dijk, a regular of 8 years from the Netherlands.
And 2 fine Specimen Black Bream were recorded, one for avid specimen hunter John Millerick and one for my good self.
WRECK FISHING proved to be more widespread and more productive than ever, from May thru to end September some big catches were made, October produced some numbers but weather and short days hindered trips into November.
SHARK FISHING was hampered in a big way by weather and also commercial fishing pressure on the species. We only manged 5 trips, most shark 4 one day, biggest a 150lb Porbeagle. I don’t know what will happen to the Shark Angling if the government don’t stop the slaughter of Shark.
Jan to end April Shut down, No angling due to Covid.
May started well with our first Tope on the 2nd, this was followed by another 9, including 2 Specimens recorded on the 30th for Mark Ardelean’s crew. The Smooth-hounds were there but in smaller numbers than usual, 10 to 15 per trip with the first Specimen recorded on the 15th for Gerard Allen, a very quiet but keen angler.
Pollock & Pouting were taken on our regular wrecks to 8lb, while many Bullhuss & Ray were landed with the odd Conger and Ling.
June with a settled period of weather everything increased in numbers, especially the Tope with 111 noted incl. 9 specimens. 244+ Hounds caught with 12 specimens. Not record numbers for Hounds but the Tope made up for it. Huss and Ray numbers got better also our first Homelyn. Black Bream, Codling, Wrasse, Pouting, Conger and Ling came off the inshore marks. 2 Specimen Black Bream were recorded at 36.5 and 37.5cm among a lot of juvenile fish. The wrecks produced more and bigger Pollock to double figures, plenty of pouting, a few Coalie and Ling.
July brought another increase in numbers of Tope with 117 recorded plus another 4 specimens, Smooth-Hound numbers dropped slightly but still produced 8 specimen fish to 20lb. BullHuss numbers more than doubled and Thornback Ray numbers trebled. Wreck fishing got better as did the weather, plenty of good pollock were caught to double figures along with the Pouting & odd ling. There were plenty of fish inshore on the broken grounds including many strap conger and one at approx. 30lb for Dan O Reilly, these fish and many more species are resident and show a growing population.
August seen more Tope, less pack tope but more big females showed up inshore. Bull-Huss became more plentiful inshore & offshore with a few very close to specimen length. Hound catches dropped off while our Shark season began, albeit very late. It was a bad month for wind, we only fished 3 days and boated 4 Blue Shark Although it was weather as much, Ireland and the UK have definitely been affected badly by the commercial fishing of Shark, I don’t know whats in store for shark angling going forward.
Wreck fishing continued out of Wicklow with just 1 trip, we managed plenty of Pollock to double figures, one Ling at 9lb, and many small coalie and pouting.
Inshore fishing continued with the usual species plus a solitary Black Bream, a few 3-Bearded Rockling, Dab, Whiting, Plaice, codling and even a Red Mullet.
September saw more SW winds which hampered the shark & wreck fishing while we still managed a lot of fish inshore. Tope, Huss, and Hounds still showed at Wicklow, while the Ray dis-appeared as expected. We had 2 shark trips with best fish a Porbeagle at 150lb for Darren Gallagher, and old name coming back into the game. The wreck fishing was exceptional in September when we got out, with plenty of Pollock between 6lb and 13lb and a few Pouting to nearly 3lb plus the odd Cod and Coaly. One specimen Pollock was taken by Dutch angler Anne Hojienga, a regular visitor to Wicklow. No doubt these wrecks will fish better next year with the introduction of our 38’ Catamaran we’ll fish more wrecks and extra days with more speed and stability.
October marked a start to our Spurdog fishing and inshore Big Tope trips. The Spurdog came on our first trip out deep and got better thru the Month, a red letter day on the 29th saw at least 55 Spur including a specimen of 117cm for John Mc Loughlin. Inshore the Big Tope arrived, with 7 Tope and 3 fine specimens, best a 173cm, 76cm girt, estimated around 70lb. Not bad considering we only had 7 days and most days we fish 3 hours inshore and 3 hour out deep.
With the shorter days we managed just 1 trip to our 20Nm wrecks, producing Pollock to 8lb and a few pouting, everyone got a good feed for the freezer.
November weather didn’t play ball, with only 6 days out which produced big numbers of Spurdog, a few BullHuss and a few Tope inshore. There were good numbers with 25+ Spur and 7 Huss, plus 3 Specimen Spurdog on one day. Inshore produced a few big Tope with 1 Specimen recorded for Dave Canny at 166cm, 63cm girt, estimated 50lb.
To sum it up we had a lot of wind this year which hampered the shark & wrecks, but the inshore fishing was on fire. Hound numbers were down, but Tope numbers were a record high with planty of specimen fish recorded.
BIG thanks to all our customers for their support this year and I look forward to seeing you in 2022, along with our New Vessel.
Kit Dunne
www.wicklowboatcharters.ie
info@wicklowboatcharters.ie
