Glens of Antrim Sun 23/2/20

[guernica84]

With eyes glued to the forecast for a break in the storms and after much deliberation and reorganisation of plans, myself, SNARFF and Kingloudog found ourselves out on the rocks for a full flood session last Sunday night. We had intended to meet Dane at a different venue earlier in the day but the weather and the weeded out beach we'd planned to fish stuffed us all.

Sea state in the Glens was quite flat. Weather was dry, stiff W 1st couple of hours but died away as forecast.

Fished best for maybe 90 mins at start and 90 mins at end, slowed in mid tide period. Main catch were coalies, very plentiful and decent average size (for fishing over sand) in mid 30s (about a lb) with my best a 37 and SNARFF getting a 42, easily 1.5lb. Not brutes but enough to put a bend in a beachcaster in Feb and make a pulley rig with a 5oz lead work as it's designed to. 

SNARFF on the left had loads of coalies, mostly on fresh lug baits and 3/0 PP rigs. He also had a pout, a poor cod and a shore rockling which had been mullered by summat bigger that hung on a good part of the way in, putting a hell of a bend through his rod until that dreaded moment when everything went loose 15-20 yards from home. STINGER rig needed! I keep telling myself to fish a stinger on a 3rd sleeper rod but never get round to it. Hard enough to get motivated to set up 1 rod nevermind 3 in this weather : )

Louis took the silver medal on the right. Not as many coalies as SNARFF but he had a dog, a good shore rockling which I was very close to call8ng a 3bd, and a 5bd. 

I brought up the rear (the dreaded middle peg ). I had maybe 5 coalies and a pin cod. All on 3/0 PPs.

Alas another failed attempt at the much sought after cod but my feeling is that they are just not coming this year. Whether we're hit by the newly reassigned critical endangerment of the species in GB this year or something else is at play I don't know. That being said, the coalies are about the area in bigger numbers and size than I can remember at this time of year and with this type of fishing (i.e. bait over sand and not spinning in the rough). I wonder if the coalies are thriving in the absence of cod.

In any case, always good to get out with fellow forumites, a good night's crack and plenty of fish (not the dating website this time).

Ta,

G

[Teegerstk]

Nice fishing guernica84, especially for this time of the year