2 day excursion ,north antrim coast 19/20 th may

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#1 Post by **Ronald** » Tue May 20, 2008 11:50 pm

People:myself day 1 ,joined by nifisher today

Duration:2 days of rock hoping !!

Tide:

Weather:bright and suny then cloudy

Bait:mackerel and ragworm

Rigs:various

Results:ballan,cuckoo,corkwing wrasse . turbot ,dab,doggies ,pouting .

Report:I had a couple of days of work and nothing to do so I loaded up the Ian Golds rucksack packed in my tent and sleeping bag and headed for whitepark bay hoping for a relaxing couple of days on the beach .
On arrival the beach was deserted and there was hardly any movement in the sea ,I plodded on down anyway and got the rods cast out into one of the deep gullies running from the beach ,with the sun beating down I was glad to have the shorts on and was able to walk about in the water trying my luck with the spinning rod ,after 2 hrs of reeling the bait rods in to find the baits untouched a move was on the cards ,so upped sticks and headed another 300m up the beach an hour later I managed my first first fish , a wee turbot about 1/4lb ,by now the wind blowing the dry sand up the beach was starting to annoy a bit so I thought sod this ,I'll head around the coast a bit , so a20min walk later I was on the rocks behind portbradden ,normally theres a swell running onto this area but not today so I spent the next 3hrs working my way around all the islands and gullies ,no sign of any wrasse in there yet but come july-sept there should be some good fishing to be had here weather permitting , one spot was close to 40 feet deep of the edge of the rocks .
I eventually decided to set up camp just past dunseverick and get the cooker on as by now I was starving ,after a good feed and getting the tent pitched ,with 2 hours light left I made my way down to the rocks to try and get a few fish on the bait rods , no sooner had the baits touched the bottom when the first bites registered ,for the next hour it was constant doggies mixed in with a few dabs, as the light went it was time to get the head down so it was back to base for a cup of coffee ,well that was the idea ,I'd forgot to bring it with me :oops:
The next morning saw me being woken about 5.30 by the fulmars on the cliff below ,but managed to get the head down again and got up at 7.30 , still no coffee , headed to meet nifisher in portrush were he was getting stocked up on rag whilst i got stocked up on a cup of coffee and a few sausage rolls :lol:
We headed onto ramore head with the first hour being quite with no bites we made a move to another spot were Imanaged a few bites before connecting with the first wrasse of the session ,about 5 fish later jonny was contimplating taking his worms back as they weren't working :lol: but a few pointers later the jammy bugger landed the best fish of the day with a 2lb wrasse , it stayed pretty constant with a steady stream of wrasse in the 1lb area with alot of smaller fish as well ,then i pulled a female cuckoo wrasse ,which i forgot to photograph for the species hunt :oops: must have been tiredness .
It was a good couple of days and I look forward to trying out a few new marks come late summer , also good to see Jonny getting a new personal best wrasse .

#2 Post by **Ronald** » Tue May 20, 2008 11:54 pm

base camp for the night .

#3 Post by **mga** » Wed May 21, 2008 2:21 am

Nice going lads.

Great pics by the way...

#4 Post by **contender** » Wed May 21, 2008 8:41 am

Excellent report...Very good read and info.

#5 Post by **Tom H** » Wed May 21, 2008 8:53 am

Good stuff 8)

#6 Post by **round_ourway** » Wed May 21, 2008 9:19 am

Great report Ronald. So jealous sounded like a cracking couple of days with some fish to show for your efforts.
I seen you on the telly again on the sunday. I cant remember the title of the show, but it was about all the wildlife around belfast and the lagan

#7 Post by **Al and Jordan** » Wed May 21, 2008 9:30 am

excellent report ronald, i'm gutted i did'nt get up the coast on monday, when we left bangor on sunday my car packed in and my father had to do the long tow home :evil: :oops: :oops: my fishing trips will have to go on the back burner until i get sorted with a new motor (hopefully this week). nice to see davy get a result too :wink:

Rockhopper · #8 Post by **Rockhopper** » Wed May 21, 2008 9:34 am

I've got the green eye too.....that out crop of rocks in the third picture is my ideal setting for a days fishing......mmmmm I can smell it!!

Good report Ronald.....tut tut tut...forgetting the coffee!! I would have been up the wall....probably shipped it in by taxi :lol: :lol: :lol:

Tom.

#9 Post by **fishermannum1** » Wed May 21, 2008 10:03 am

cracker session and report Ronald, love that third pic: 8) looks like a great spot for the wrasse fishing!!

#10 Post by **beachcaster** » Wed May 21, 2008 10:18 am

great report ronald as usual,tom if you had forgot your coffee we all would have to go home mate, thank god there are some shops not far away to get you your fix of coffee.hope you are keeping well mate ???cheers john

#11 Post by **MAC** » Wed May 21, 2008 11:10 am

Nice report Ronald. It has me looking forward to my next camping / bass fishing trip to Waterford.

Kev

#12 Post by **nifisher** » Wed May 21, 2008 5:15 pm

It was a great day out really enjoyed it thanks to Ronalds tips. Between us we must have had around 35 Wrasse on the Monday.

At one stage Ronald shouted a few opsenities I thought he had fallen on the rocks or something serious. He had forgotten to get a pic of his Cuckoo Wrasse for the species hunt and had threatened not to leave until he caught another.

Nice to set a personel best Ballan of 2lb hopefully it wont be too long before I get over the 3lb mark. The difference in colours of the wrasse was interesting considering we caught them all from nearly the same spot.

#13 Post by **Davy Murdoch** » Wed May 21, 2008 5:53 pm

not a bad 2 days ronald,i take your "black" foot is better? it must be to go on a 2 day rock hopping trip :lol:

#14 Post by **Ronald** » Wed May 21, 2008 6:48 pm

Cheers guys , as for the black foot davy ,its feeling better and the swelling has went down thankfully .
I'll def be doing a few more 2 day trips weather permitting ,theres still alot of ground to cover on the causeway coast :lol:

#15 Post by **John D** » Wed May 21, 2008 7:19 pm

I really enjoyed the report.
What a coooool tent. It's like a stealth bomber!

John D.

#16 Post by **eyesreilly** » Wed May 21, 2008 7:33 pm

Great report and pics Ronald :lol: Well done :lol:

#17 Post by **brianbru** » Wed May 21, 2008 10:18 pm

nice fishing ronald looks like a lovely area

marshpike · #18 Post by **marshpike** » Sat May 24, 2008 11:56 pm

My kind of weekend, good report...

#19 Post by **Jonny** » Sun May 25, 2008 7:37 am

Well done guys. Great report. 8)

#20 Post by **wayne riley** » Sun May 25, 2008 10:17 am

super report and 2 great days fishing :D