Disappointing Donaghadee and Portrush Plaice

[nialk]

People:Me and Monty

Duration:!2pm to 9.30pm

Tide:Both rising to full

Weather:Hot , sunny and glorious

Bait:mackeral, rag worm and sand eels

Rigs:various

Results:1 plaice and sunburn




Report:
We decided to try somewhere different and after checking the tide times we decided to goto Donaghadee. So after a good fried breakfast in Ballymoney we started our roadtrip to Co Down.
We made a pit stop in a sweetie shop in Belfast ( also known as ...the Belfast Angling Center ) , before entering I made Monty leave his credit and debit cards in the car along side mine to avoid any temptation ( plus the wives can see the statements ). Cash purchases in hand off we headed.

We arrived about 11.45 walked to the end of the pier and got ourselves set up.




We waited, and waited , and waited and nothing happened not even a crab attack, as all baits kept coming in untouched, a local came walking down ( or as Monty put it " the village idiot" )and asked had we any luck, to which we both said no, and he said yeah, nonone ever seems to catch anything here .

After this everything was quickly packed up and the road trip back home started.
We arrived about half 4 and headed for our usual spot, we met 2 guys packing up who said they hadnt had a bite all day, the omens werent looking good, but we headed to our usual spot and got set up

glorious Portrush evening



The casts went into the water and we waited, and waited , and waited a severe case of deja vu was occurring

I thought monty was sleeping but he was sorting out a rig





Nothing happened until 7pm when I noticed a knock on my rod, and watched it nod a couple of times then nothing happened, I kept watching and sure enough noticed another couple of strong nods so decided to reel it in.
I was convinced I was caught in the weed until to my surprise a lovely plaice broke the waters surface ( my first one ) I quickly got it landed and measured 35cm


Me and my first plaice







After this nothing, apart from the whole crusty the crab family appearing on the scene, that was it ,any bait that went into the water was quickly eaten.
So at half 9 we decided to call it quits ( plus we had used up all our bait )

So its back to Waterfoot next week then the beaches are getting a bash again to see whats about

A disappointing day fish wise but a cracking day weather and company wise.....cheers

[chuckaroo]

nice report nialk. a few good pics too
pity about the fishing, it seems to be the story around most of the north coast at the moment..
crackin looking plaice al the same, nice one. hope it made up for things a bit..

[nialk]

We were disappointed with the lack of fish, but I have to be honest and say that the wife loved the plaice tonight for her tea ( earning myself brownie points ), usually all fish are returned to fight another day but I couldnt resist taking this one home lol
But it was a cracking day to be out and enjoying the sunshine, I just hope this past few days wasnt our summer....

[Drew]

Sorry to hear the Dee didn't fish for you lads, it's a pity cos over the past while the Coalies have been back in style as well as a good few flats and smaller species.... give it a couple of weeks and come back and try again... if u like I'll meet up with ya's down there... Well done on the Portrush Plaice mind!

[fishy1987]

fine plaice there :Dit looked like a cracking day for it,unfortunate the fish werent playing ball,great read and report
tightlines
fergal

[weedave]

very nice fish from the that mark -well done, pity there wasn't a few more but still nice to see.
dave

[scrob]

Lovely plaice, not something you see too often these days so I guess that kinda makes up for the lack of quantity!

[Al and Jordan]

hard luck lads. donaghadee is blowing hot and cold from day to at at the min. we went down at the weekend to meet up with drew and tom and only saw 2 fish taken between 8 rods over almost 5 hours
but the plaice from the shore is a cracker.

[fagan]

nice plaice man, ive been after 1 myself but they have disqluded me so far.. that plaice makes up for the lack of fish m8, well done

[Monty156a]

Sorry to hear the Dee didn't fish for you lads, it's a pity cos over the past while the Coalies have been back in style as well as a good few flats and smaller species.... give it a couple of weeks and come back and try again... if u like I'll meet up with ya's down there... Well done on the Portrush Plaice mind!

Thanks Drew, we will give you a shout next time we're down. Its a lovely place to fish, the weather was probably just a bit too bright that day.

Monty