FEAST FROM FAMINE
The angling legacy of a tragic story.
The potato famine between 1845 and 1852 saw an estimated one million Irish people die of starvation, and a similar number emigrate. With people starving, relief schemes were set up to provide paid work, and one such scheme was the building of piers. A large number of these ‘famine piers’, still remain, especially along the south and west coasts of Ireland. Some are as originally built, and others brought into the modern age, but most provide exceptional fishing for a variety of species.
I’ve fished these famine piers for many years, and, prior to a trip I identify at least a couple to try. Finding the piers is simply a case of buying a large-scale map of the area you intend to fish and studying the coastline. You’ll see the piers marked, and the access points. Access is usually straightforward, but if in doubt ask at a nearby house because the people are usually very helpful with advice.
Piers set among relatively flat land tend to run on to flat and shallow sand or rock. I prefer to look for a backdrop of cliffs or mountain scree, as this often has more varied ground from clean sand to really heavy rock, and offering a wider range of species.
I visited the pier featured, situated on the north side of Donegal Bay, after teaming up with fisheries officer Mike Patton. Being a local, he was my shortcut to identifying a pier with mixed ground and with past form for producing good fish. As it happened, it was one I had also seen on the map and earmarked for future reference.
When approaching these often-remote piers, it’s worth using the height of the land above the pier to scan the water for features. Unless the water is very coloured, you can see the dividing line between dark, rocky areas and cleaner sand, or patchy, rough ground mixed in with sand. Keep this in your head, or even take a phone photo of the ground as a reminder for when you’re on the pier.
The pier was typical, with a high wall on the right to break the prevailing sea swell. Surrounded by rough ground to both the landing side and out in front, there were also clumps of kelp weed close in, which gave way straight off the end at about 50 yards on to clean sand. Out to the left was a tiny sandy bay no more than 70 yards wide that butted up to more rough ground and led to a small rocky headland.
It was obvious what our plan was to be. Setting up beachcasters, we baited up pulley rigs with ray baits, and also put out two-hook rigs with size 2 hooks on to the sand at long range. Mike got off to a flyer with a doubleheader of a dogfish and a dab.
I set up float gear, too, with a wrasse in mind. We’d had no chance to pick any green crabs for bait with the bigger fish in mind, so I’d have to make do with ragworms; it’s a good wrasse bait, but tends to produce smaller fish. First trot through, the float shuddered, thought about it, then plummeted for the depths, and I struck into a 2lb ballan. It was the last of the ebbing tide, and I knew things would hot up during the flood. I had a few more ballans on the float gear, then swapped to LRF kit and began with a series of smaller corkwing wrasse, one small goldsinny, plus tiny pollack.
SUCCESSION OF BALLANS
Mike Patton set up a conger rod and dropped a mackerel head off the corner of the pier, tight against the structure and up against some weed in about 12ft of water. He wedged it in place and left it to fish for itself on a clicking freespool.
The tide turned and started to flood. This was a trigger for the wrasse fishing to really turn on. I had a succession of ballans, plus a few bigger corkwings.
I prefer braid line for wrasse fishing because it has no stretch, so you can maximise the power of the rod through to the fish to help turn it from the snags, or drag it through any snags and weed. I still like a short 30lb fluorocarbon leader to hide the braid colour in the water. I also use 30lb fluorocarbon for the hooklength as, with its harder composition compared to mono, it helps reduce the chance of a toothy wrasse cutting through the hooklength. Don’t go too heavy otherwise the presentation of the bait in the water is affected.
I find size 1/0 to 2/0 Viking pattern hooks adequate, even for big wrasse when using smaller baits, but if fishing crabs, I can go up to a size 3/0, depending on bait size. Try to use a ball-weight under the float to set it up an inch or two, no more, above the surface. This gives better bite indication.
The other thing to note is that it’s wise to keep the line between the rod tip and float as tight as you can without interfering with the float’s behaviour. This fractionally limits the time it takes to strike a fish so you can bully it away from potential snags. I fished the wrasse pretty hard for an hour or so and ended up with a fish on the 3lb mark, but I’ve had bigger here in the past, including fish over 4lb.
HEAVY PRESSURE
We discussed dropping smaller baits inside the sandy bay over to our left, especially now the depth was starting to rise a little. We had lug, as well as rag, and Mike put a three-hook rig in the bay with an assortment of bait on it and left it to fish itself.
I switched back to LRF gear and dinked out more corkwings, pollack, small ballans, a tiny codling, plus a sea scorpion.
We were both engrossed in watching rod tips when the conger rod clicked. The tip nodded a couple of times and line started to trickle off the spool. Mike P lifted the rod and set the hook into a feisty strap that buckled the rod over and tried its best to make the kelp beyond the end of the pier.
Heavy pressure told on the eel, and Mike worked it back to a slipway and slid the beast ashore; it was a nice daytime conger that looked well in to double figures. He followed it up about an hour later with a smaller one taken from the same spot.
Little had happened to the baits inside the bay, but then we noticed a typical flattie rattle on the rod. After letting it develop, Mike P set the hook. There was a pot rope a little way out and he had to bring the fish over the top of this. The rig got caught on the rope and I could see a flattie flapping on the surface. Luckily, the rig came free and he lifted in a 1lb plaice and followed it up with another, and then a flounder.
Wth the long-range rods not producing much other than dogfish and dabs, I dropped a two-hook rig with small hooks into the mouth of the bay. I waited only five minutes before seeing the rod tip rattle a couple of times and pull down. Shortly after, it pulled down again. Lifting into the fish, it felt heavier and there was steady resistance. I steered the fish around the pot buoy and lifted in a brace of fat plaice, the biggest around 1lb. Flicking the rod out again, this time a little tighter to the far side, I caught a fat flounder and a small dab.
Mike P put out a long cast on to clean ground, but more over to the right, taking a dogfish and a dab, and then wound in a female dragonet to add another species to the list.
BEST OPPORTUNITIES
With the depth to the side and front of the pier now well in excess of 20 feet, it was back to the wrasse fishing. It was a fish-a-drop, mainly ballans to 2lb 12oz, but mixed in were some of the biggest corkwing wrasse I’ve seen for a while, with fish of 10oz-plus.
Mike P was legering small rag baits with a light-tipped rod and really enjoying himself with ballans and corkwings.
We’d only had tiny pollack so far, but I drifted a ragworm a little further out and found a few bigger pollack to 1lb, but again I know there have been three-pounders caught
here, especially fishing the flood at dusk. I didn’t bring spinning gear with we, but I’m sure long casts with a chrome spinner would have found pollack.
These piers are also great places to catch rays and huss. The dark hours give the best opportunities for these, and the tides and timing were against us for night fishing. Fishing the piers inside Donegal Bay puts you in with a real chance of taking a hat-trick of blonde, thornback and spotted rays, with an outside chance of a small-eyed ray (called painted rays in Ireland).
Fishing only a few hours, and by using a variety of approaches, we’d caught 12 species, and were disappointed we hadn’t seen a ray or a gurnard. These piers fish right through the winter too, with whiting and codling more prolific. Unless the winter is bitter, the North Atlantic Drift keeps things fairly mild. Wrasse and pollack might thin out in number a little, but are unlikely to disappear altogether.
If you’re visiting Ireland and want peak performance from just one type of mark, choose a famine pier. Carry a beachcaster, a heavy-duty spinning rod and an LRF rod, and you’ll enjoy a variety of species. Twenty species, including mini species, are always on the cards for a single day’s fishing. ■