13.2.11 -First decent pollack of the year.....

[cathalger]

John please dont tell me you binned a working Mitchell 410A? Dont know what you mean re the anti clockwise rotation?

yep i binned it

what i mean is on most fixed spools when you turn the handle the reel will rotate to the left,
with that mitchell when you turn the handle the reel rotates to the right going anticlockwise

Got you now, I never ever noticed it was different! Pity you chucked that reel, some people really like those old mitchells, but in fairness a good shimano is a better reel to fish with.

[JOHN1]

some of the old mitchells were and still are great, i have a 498 that i use every now and again a beast of a reel

[Conger]

Cracking fish Cathal,

[chuckaroo]

nice fishin there cathal. good report.
crackin wee reel. i have a couple of them in bits somewhere. i'll have to hoke them out, see if they are salvageable!
wouldnt mind gettin a go at it mesel. gis a shout if your headin up that way again. ta!

[cathalger]

some of the old mitchells were and still are great, i have a 498 that i use every now and again a beast of a reel

Cheers Conger, I was well pleased with them, No bother Charlie, yeah it should be worth a visit or 3 in the Spring. Yeah theyre great reels, hoke them ones out, would like to see them.

John, this is a Mitchell 300 that needs a bit of attention but its workin fine. Not sure of its age but I'm pretty sure its 30 years plus, it was my uncles, its still on his old rod but he hasnt wet a line in years. He used this in the river only. The last fish he ever caught on it was a 5lb salmon, in Cushendall river, something Ive never managed yet. It was his first ever and he was 45. This rod would have taken many a sea trout all the same, he just couldnt ever get his salmon.

This aint the one I was talkin about earlier, its a similar but much younger reel. Youre right, theyre a lovely old reel.

Edit, John I just noticed, this one winds the same way as the blue one I have.

[gfkelly1969]

well done,great result for this time of year,if the mark is this good now i cant wait to see what it produces later in the year

[cathalger]

well done,great result for this time of year,if the mark is this good now i cant wait to see what it produces later in the year

Cheers Ger, it is a good mark alright if a bit out of the way but atleast there isnt too much walking involved to get there. Its a useful one to know cos it can fish well at low tide and at high tide. It can fish very well at times with good sized pollack, sometimes small coley but there are times you get nothing whatsoever. I think its most productive in the Spring, from what Ive experienced. Ive lost big ones there before, what I probably need to do is get a stout 12 foot rod, and a bigger reel loaded with 30lb braid, with the drag set tight. Then you could be as ignorant as possible to try to stop them getting their head down into the kelp. Light tackle is no good to those diving pollack.

Double figure pollack are taken regularly by boat anglers in that area but to land those from the rocks would be a tall order, virtually impossible. But if the kelp wasnt there the fishing probably wouldnt be there either so...

[onur]

well done mate ,hope we will get some of them soon too,

[cathalger]

well done mate ,hope we will get some of them soon too,

Thanks onur,
Its definitely getting to the time now, hopefully we'll be reporting some nice fish soon.

[Al and Jordan]

great fishing firstly cathal. stonking fish mate . good to see there are still some nice fish to be had up the NE coast man . also good to get a chat with you on sunday. sadly none of our catches got close to your pollack or that fella's big flounder fishing to the left of us. but what we lacked in quality we more than made up for in quantity and species . i'll get a report up today