4 day trip to louth / meath marks 18th-21st july

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#1 Post by **Al and Jordan** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 5:15 pm

People: me and junior

Duration: 4 days

Tide: all states

Weather: blistering sun to showers

Bait: rag worm, sand eel, peeler, mack and squid

Rigs: flappers and feathers

Results: me, 9 fish, jordan 5 fish

Report: we arrived at port oriel clogherhead around 11.30pm and got set up despite the rain were ready for whatever came. i put 2 rods out just over the railings in the corner on a 2 hook flapper rig ,on size 1 hooks loaded with rag while jordan wanted to do a bit of spinning with feathers. the first hour was fairly quiet with only a few knocks of interest on the baited rods but this all changed around 1.30 am when the wee spinning rod with the rag bent over :P :P . so i lifted and struck into a nice codling which was duely landed photographed and returned :) . then around 2am i struck into a nice shore rockling but jordan was still spinning to no avail with the feathers. around 3am jordan abandoned the spinning and went on the bottom with the same set up as me. we had loads of bites but nothing solid until around 4am when we both got a whiting each :) :) both were under 8 inches , but they all count :wink: :wink: so we decided to wrap it up and crashed out in the car until 8.30am when we got up for a go in the old harbour for some mini species. i drew a blank and jordan saved his with a wee shanny. we packed up around 1pm and went for a well deserved sleep at our digs

DAY 2 SUNDAY 20TH
after a well deserved rest we hit the mornington side of the end of the boyne estuary to try and bust our flattie cherry :lol: :lol: :lol: neither jordan or i have ever caught a flat fish of any description, so we wer'nt gonna be fussy about what kind we got, just so long as it was a flattie :twisted: :twisted: so we baited up a rod each and cast into the middle to see what was for doing. upon casting out we realised that 4oz of lead was nowhere sufficent to hold the bait static as they were quickly pulled away with the current :evil: :evil: so out came the 8oz gripper leads, which to be honest did'nt really improve matters, but i didnt care as i got a knock and retrieved what i think was a brill or turbot :? :? :oops: :oops: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: hooooorrrraaaaaa!!!! flattie cherry finally poped :lol: :lol: we then moved on down to the shore to try for some bass with peeler but got nothing. but then neither did the other 10 or so other guys on rapalas and surface poppers. a change of venue was in order so we set off to port oriel clogherhead and got set up at the end of the harbour around 6.30pm and fished it through to midnight with jordan getting a wee pollack and i got what i think was a wee dab :P :P :P :P

DAY 3 21st
headed back to the same spot at mornington and set up for 9am with a rod each in the water on rag. the weed was an absoloute nightmare :x :x :x :x :x even with 8 oz gripper leads the rods were near ripped from the rest in 30 seconds flat, not funny :evil: the weed was catching on the slack line and ripping the terminal tackle off the sea bed and quickly became beyond annoying. we stuck it out to 1pm to see if keith was coming down then headed to the rocks behind the toilets at port oriel clogherhead. we stayed there until half five with jordan getting 2 sea scorpions and i got a codling, a pollack and a shanny. we then fished the end of the harbour from 6 to midnight where jordan got a mack on feathers and i got 2 ballen wrasse to end our trip. exhausted and elated we headed home. now it's just jordan who has to get his first flattie, but i'm sure they will be waiting for him when we're back down in august :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

#2 Post by **Al and Jordan** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 5:18 pm

more pics

#3 Post by **immunecfg** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 5:47 pm

nice session there, i c u didnt let the wee fella beat you this time :lol:

#4 Post by **eyesreilly** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 5:58 pm

Well done on the flatties, pity about the weed and the strong tides. Brill or turbot looks like a flounder :cry: . Nice pics :lol:

marshpike · #5 Post by **marshpike** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 6:32 pm

You really put the effort in there lads, well done.

#6 Post by **wayne riley** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 8:04 pm

its always nice 2 get out wit da little lad :D

i fished dat rock mark in clogherhead wit no luck :(

#7 Post by **brianbru** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 8:12 pm

well done lads.
def a flounder :wink:

#8 Post by **keith** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 8:38 pm

Well done lads sorry I couldn't make it down, Some decent fish there that is definatley a flounder with cool markings :D Shame there was no Bass for yiz :cry:

#9 Post by **Al and Jordan** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 3:03 am

cheers lads, it was a cracking long weekend :D :D can't wait to get down again in august. jordan is determined to get his first flattie and bass on the next trip :wink: :wink: i'll have to do a bit of reading up on their identification :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: . i take it that the general consensus is that the wee one is a dab and the other a flounder :? . i got talking to a couple of the guys at port oriel fishing beside me who thought i was pulling their leg when i told them i got a codling there the night before. so i was wondering if they were regular round there or a bit of an oddity :? what did suprise me was the lack of wrasse, the rock marks we fished looked ideal but the only ones i got were from the pier just below my feet. the same spot i got the codling. all the baits we cast at range never got a touch :? :? go figure :?: