People:Me, Fishface, Mitch, Mitch's daughter and son.
Duration:7pm-10pm
Tide:LW 7pm approx
Weather:Beautiful mild calm night. Bit cooler later
Bait:Mack, lug and squid
Rigs:4 hook flapper, 2 hook flapper
Results:Hordes of whiting, a scorpion fish and a dab.
Report:Fishface did a recce on Friday night and with him getting 17 whiting in an hour we decided on a whiting fest for Saturday in Wicklow Harbour. It was nice to be heading further than Greystones for a change as i've been keeping close to home since this recession left me with long pockets and short arms

. I got there first and set up 2 rods, one with a four hook flapper specifically designed to beat Fishface's tally of whiting

. The other rod had a 2 hook flapper attached , dropped just off the edge of the pier. Both were baited with mack tipped with squid, or lug tipped with squid. I had a full house of 4 whiting on the first cast, with another whiting on the second rod, and this was the way the evening went, doubles and trebles all night . Fishface and Mitch arrived, along with Mitch's son and daughter, and soon everyone got in on the act and were hammering whiting. Mitch had a Dab, which along with my scorpion fish, were the only fish that were able to beat the whiting to the bait, as the sea was alive with them. To be honest, I needn't have bought lug as the whiting was doing the business on it's own, and here's me with long pocket's and short arms

. Although you do get fed up catching them, it was nice to see both rod tips twitching away on such a mild, calm night, just a pity they weren't a bit bigger . Fishface wasn't too impressed with my 4 hook flapper and he attached 2 x 3 hook flappers together in a doomed attempt to outfish me , with which he deservedly got into an almighty tangle

. I had better luck with my 2 rig, 6 hook, concoction,,,,and with Mitch on hand to authenticate my catch, I reeled in to see what was on the other end . As the shock leader came into view I could hear Mitch saying " There's one,,,,,two,,,,,three,,,,,,,four,,,,,there's more,,,,,,five,,,,,,well done Dave six whiting,,,,,,,,,,,that's Neil well and truly beat"

. And on his home ground too . Well,,,,,I know it was just whiting,,,,,,,,,but it made it a bit more interesting and hopefully it heralds the start of better things to come ,,,I might even try my first daytime fishing session of the year today to use up my lug .We eventually got fed up catching pin whiting and the larger 20 cms ones and once Fishface had finished his litterpicking of the pier, fair play to him, we headed home.
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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! --