People:me
Duration:7-30pm - 10pm
Tide:rising
Weather:not bad, breezy but dry
Bait:frozen lug, mack, and squid
Rigs:2 hook flappers
Results: Codling, pollock, shore rockling
Report: With a gaggle of girls, my daughter's friends, coming to the house for a " Baby Shower",,,whatever that is

,,,,,,,I decided to abandon my 6 day old pledge of "not going out till the fishing gets better" and headed for the solitude of Bray Harbour. I just about got the gear packed before the first of the scantily clad young ladies arrived

. I concentrated on images of cod and coalies and exited stage left

. In no time I was reversing down the Harbour and was soon setting up the gear. It was only when I put on my headlight that I noticed the doggie doo dah's that were strategically placed all around my fishing area. It was like being in the middle of a minefield and I decided that it was only a matter of time before my diminishing eyesight placed me in danger of setting off one of these bad boy's

I took a dustpan from the back of the van and did a bit of "mine-clearing" before I could relax into the fishing. I lost a rig in the snags on the first cast,,,,, but that's not the end of the world and on the second attempt I had a small pollock, blank saved for another night

. I set up the distance rod,,,but this was to prove a fruitless exercise as i didnt get a nibble on it all night

. In close I had a couple of shore rockling, so I was happy enough with this mini session. I had the small rod in close, baited with frozen lug/squid while I was baiting up the distance when all of a sudded I noticed the small rod buckling over

,,,,,,,,,,bang,bang, bang,,,,it was going ballistic and when I lifted into it I knew there was something decent on the other end. I eventually got it to the surface after about 5 seconds,,,,the water is not very deep here you see

,,,and my heartbeat went up a notch when I saw a fine Nodder thrashing about on the surface

. Luckily for me my small Tubertini reel was up to the job and the 20lb line held and the size 2 hook that was barely in the corner of his lip didnt straighten out,,,,,,,,,,,,everything was going right for once,,,,,,,,and I soon had him up over De wall and onto my dishcloth for a nice piccie for the lads at SAI

. Even better,,,,,,,,there were a few witnesses walking by who were suitably impressed by my achievement,,,,,,even more so when I told them this was a rare occurrence for me

I returned the Nodder as I decided it would have ruined the moment if the 2 elderly ladies saw me bash him over the head with a hammer,especially as I had told them they were so rare

. He floated around for a bit and I was nearly sorry to have let him go but then he gave a big splash and charged off back to the depths,,,,well it's not very deep

,,and I was glad. The next one won't be so lucky, if I ever get one. He was 41-2cms,,,,let's say 42 as we're all anglers here

. I couldnt wait to tell Fishface so I sent him a text

before packing up and heading home to tell the tale again,,,,,i'm easily pleased as i've said before

. I seem to get one good fish per year from Bray Harbour so i'll see yis in 2013 for my next report

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Species '20 (14) 5 Beard Rockling, Shore Rockling, Codling, Whiting, Pollock, Coalfish, Pouting, Corkwing Wrasse ,Ballan Wrasse, Poor Cod, Dab ,Smoothhound,Flounder, Thornback Ray
For the rich, there is therapy. For the rest of us, there is FISHING! --