co antrim harbour mark sat 26th feb 2011

[Al and Jordan]

People: me, mark and jordan

Duration: 1.30pm - 10.30pm

Tide: HW 6pm

Weather: mainly dry and really nice. sea was flat calm at times. short showers

Bait: lug, maddies, pissers, squid, prawn, mussle and mackerel

Rigs: 3 hook flappers and 2 up 1 down

Results: coalfish, plaice, doggie, codling, long spined sea scorpion, whiting and a 5 bearded rockling

Report:

well the weekend was here again and still no sign of an op date for my dad. so another chance to get a final bit of fishing in before we take a break for a while. so it was up the antrim coast to see how many species we could add to the 2011 tally . i sat for an hour on friday night planning where we could go to that we could get some shelter from the 5 meter swell and 25mph winds that were forecast for the weekend. we decided on a harbour that sits inside a wee bay with high hills behind us and large headlands to our left and right. this would hopefully provide us with comfortable fishing without getting the heads blown off us. as we made our way up the coast everything seemed erierly calm . no mad winds, calm seas and the sun was shining brightly in the sky . both me and mark reckoned the weather would detereriate as the day went on, but apart from the wind getting up for a few minutes with a few occasional showers it was a great day and god only knows where the 5 meter swell went to as it was only a slight swell where we were . anyhow back to the fishing. we all did our usual, fishing 2 rods each, i at distance and 1 in close. as we expected it was dead for the first 3 hours with not so much as a nibble. another angler came down to us for a chat and he had much the same results getting diddly squat all day. but the usual fishy conversation ensued and we shared some marks and info for the area . he had some unusual notions and reckoned that any fish caught around the salmon cages in the bay are ruined by eating the surplace feed intended for the salmon . i've never heard of this before, but he reckoned the feed taints the flesh of any fish who eats it except for the salmon. well i suppose you learn something new every day, but i'd like to hear what other anglers think about this as it was news to me. but in saying that i've been out on boat trips with anglers in the past who reckon pollack, pouting and coalies are pure muck and not worth eating as they taste so bad. absolute rubbish, as we've had them all in beer batter in the past and provided they're fresh (eaten within 72 hours of capture) you could'nt tell which was which but each to their own i suppose . the first fish fell to mark around 5pm and a half hour later i got in on the action with a wee plaice . jordan was still waiting for something but the bites were few and far between until the light was almost gone after 6pm. so he put the blank to bed with his first long spined sea scorpion of 2011 . the other anglers packed up and went on and we got ready for a rod twitching session that never really transpired. we had 2 or 3, 40mins of frantic activity. then mabey an hour of nothing . even the coalies came in spurts until a run of wee codling pushed in 2 hours into the drop. they sat in front of us for 30mins or so and i changed rigs form size 2 hooks to 3/0 in hope of a bigger cod. sadly they never came and the last hour was dead so we packed up and headed for home at 10.30pm.
we did well enough in the end with us all getting a nice mix of species and i even managed a nice doggie just over 2 and a half pounds. but after being spoilt on our last few trips this was a quiet session by recent standards.
i almost forgot to mention that mark had brought his shrimp net with him and popped a few mackie skeletons into it and dropped it over the edge for a few hours to see what was about. when we pulled it up at the end it was stuffed with wee 5 beardys and the biggest shore rockling i've ever seen . honestly, we've caught hundreds of these wee guys over the years and i've never seen one this big. it was just shy of a pound and almost 35cm when straightened out. i would love to have been able to say i got one like him on rod and line, but it does give us hope for the future

the final count was:

MARK - 25 coalfish 7 codling 1 whiting and a 5 beardy
JORDAN - 11 coalfish 2 codling and a long spined sea scorpion
ME - 14 coalfish 4 codling 1 plaice and a doggie

[Al and Jordan]

last few pics

[Der Baron]

Some result Al, given that we were on the rock mark to the right, on Weds, and struggled all day, only ending up with a dozen small fish, for 9 hrs fishing, well done mate!

[FISHYFINGERS]

Nice result Al, you did better than Paul and I up that direction on Wed, after we left you at Harry McKees, though we did get a few tiddlers!

[chuckaroo]

Al I worked on that fish farm for a while. Yes, its true that red synthetic carotenoids (the chemical dye is called astaxanthin) are added to the feed on most salmon farms to redden the meat up but I have never seen evidence of any of the other fish around the cages having red or pink meat.
I caught many coley from around the cages, and many of the resident mackerel, but absolutely none of them had pink flesh. Its definitely true that these fish feed on the excess salmon feed but i can assure you that the flesh in all coleys was perfectly white.
It might be a case in other salmon farms around the country/world but i havent seen evidence of it in redbay - but then maybe they dont use as much of the dye in the red bay feed, im not so sure.
I reckon though that it would be reasonably harmless in the other species anyway. I reckon that this guy you were chatting to was getting a bit carried away

[tight lines]

well done lads great session and a good mixed bag of fish for all also a well writen report as always alan

[Drew]

Jesus Christ @ the Shorey mate, Epic fish! Great to see.... (May be forced to go Dangling there some day! )...
Great to see you 2, and Mark out and about, we'll have to arrange a session somewhere when your dad gets better!

[gerryl]

well done you all...that last rockling is super...

[zud25]

Well done Al nice mixed species there

[polaris]

good variaty of fish ther,,,,the t towels in the wash al !!! nice fishing

[FisherKing]

Great session lads nice mix of fish, I forget what its like to catch a fish at this stage between work & the tides but hopefully will get out for a sneaky cast during the week

[gfkelly1969]

well done lads,lovely mix of fish,hope the op goes good for the dad

[saving private brian]

well done al.i must start fishing harbours from now.they always seems to give good variety.my local 1 here would probably throw up a few road cones and stuff

[Al and Jordan]

Some result Al, given that we were on the rock mark to the right, on Weds, and struggled all day, only ending up with a dozen small fish, for 9 hrs fishing, well done mate!

Nice result Al, you did better than Paul and I up that direction on Wed, after we left you at Harry McKees, though we did get a few tiddlers!

cheers lads. good to finally meet you both i did'nt expect anything from that area during day light, but as soon as the light went it did pick up . we'll have to do a bit of rock hopping in co down this summer

Al I worked on that fish farm for a while. Yes, its true that red synthetic carotenoids (the chemical dye is called astaxanthin) are added to the feed on most salmon farms to redden the meat up but I have never seen evidence of any of the other fish around the cages having red or pink meat.
I caught many coley from around the cages, and many of the resident mackerel, but absolutely none of them had pink flesh. Its definitely true that these fish feed on the excess salmon feed but i can assure you that the flesh in all coleys was perfectly white.
It might be a case in other salmon farms around the country/world but i havent seen evidence of it in redbay - but then maybe they dont use as much of the dye in the red bay feed, im not so sure.
I reckon though that it would be reasonably harmless in the other species anyway. I reckon that this guy you were chatting to was getting a bit carried away

i thought as much charlie he seemed like an oul sea dog as he was well into his 60's. but it's funny what notions people hold in their heads at times. i've eaten coalies pollack and mackeral from round the cages in the past and to be honest they were lovely. i just did'nt want to press the issue with the fella so just let him ramble on . i knew something was up with the guy when he told me adamently that during the winter months there is no difference between day time fishing and night time fishing in that area . something i know from experience to be a croc of mad dog do do . but like i said, mabey the oul fella was just set in his ways with preconcieved notions of how things are in his head . so who was i to burst his bubble . but sure, would'nt life be drab without all sorts of characters in the world

well done lads great session and a good mixed bag of fish for all also a well writen report as always alan

thanks man. it was good to be out and catching again

Jesus Christ @ the Shorey mate, Epic fish! Great to see.... (May be forced to go Dangling there some day! )...
Great to see you 2, and Mark out and about, we'll have to arrange a session somewhere when your dad gets better!

thanks drew. i was really surprised at the size of that fella . never seen a shorey that big before. but being territorial wee fish he'll likely be in the same spot the next time we're down. so i think i'll drop a bait down into that gulley to see if i can tempt him outta his hidey hole and onto a hook

well done you all...that last rockling is super...

thanks man. yeah deffo the biggest i've ever seen

Well done Al nice mixed species there

cheers zud

good variaty of fish ther,,,,the t towels in the wash al !!! nice fishing

i have a wide selection of fishing towels for backround shots i thought the blue would be a nice change as the white one we had was covered in blood and guts from filleting the mackerel for bait. would'nt have wanted any of the PC brigade to have accused me of doing harm to the wee fishies with all the blood on it

Great session lads nice mix of fish, I forget what its like to catch a fish at this stage between work & the tides but hopefully will get out for a sneaky cast during the week

thanks brian. the weather is looking up man time for you to annoy some fish me thinks

well done lads,lovely mix of fish,hope the op goes good for the dad

cheers gerry. i'll just have to take time out to look after mum until he gets sorted and back on the mend again. with any luck we'll be back out at it for the wrasse and mackerel returning in may or june

well done al.i must start fishing harbours from now.they always seems to give good variety.my local 1 here would probably throw up a few road cones and stuff

you would be surprised at just how well some harbours will fish at this time of the year brian . some of the ones we fish have anglers who head straight to the mouth or have a chuck over the walls and out to sea with poor results. but you would be surprised at just how many fish are sheltering up inside the harbours

[fishy1987]

jesus hardcore fishing great haul nice session for bumping up the species list plaice and all well done

[Trojan]

Hopefully your Dad will get sorted soon there is nothing worse than having to wait for an Op.When my Dad was in a few years ago all i did was fish with my brothers it was the only place i could stomach.Great report and a fine selection of fish there.Best of luck to your dad.

[Al and Jordan]

jesus hardcore fishing great haul nice session for bumping up the species list plaice and all well done

cheers man. it was one of those sessions where you did'nt notice just how quickly the day got in. great fun, espically for the wee man

Hopefully your Dad will get sorted soon there is nothing worse than having to wait for an Op.When my Dad was in a few years ago all i did was fish with my brothers it was the only place i could stomach.Great report and a fine selection of fish there.Best of luck to your dad.

thanks man. got told yesterday he'll get an op date in the next 2 weeks. so this weekend might be our last outing for a while