ballylumford marina co. antrim sunday 19th july 09

[Al and Jordan]

People: me, windy(new to the site), his wife, son and father

Duration: 11am to 4pm

Tide: dropping to low

Weather: 4 seasons in one day

Bait: rag lug squid mack bluey

Rigs: pulleys and mini rigs

Results: me : 2 ballan wrasse to 2lb 3ozs, and 2 corkwing wrasse and windy's wife 1 corkwing wrasse




Report: i arranged to meet windy and his family at ballylumford marina for a bit of a wrasse hunt as they are all new to sea fishing but keen to learn. we cast a rod out each at distance and me and his son tried 1 in close to the kelp for the smaller wrasse. we were only there for an hour before a few jet skiers turned up i had a chat with one of them and showed him where we were fishing at, and he was decent enough being an angler himself and told us he would keep clear of us to let us fish uninterrupted. as it transpired i wish the other 3 jet skiers had the same decency, as they kept racing across where we were cast out at. i had a bad feeling that it was only gonna be a matter of time before one of them would come a cropper across our lines . and 2 hours in i saw my 13ft beachcaster catapult 20 foot in the air from the tripod and get trailed up the harbour in the sea behind a jet ski . the shouting and yelling commensed with me ready to bury the guy and him looking to the shore wondering what everyone was waving and shouting about. thankfully it is a 3 piece rod with sealed sections, so it floated to the surface. the jet skier who i had the chat with earlier could'nt have been more apologetic, but it was his moron mate who proclaimed " i did'nt think you were cast out that far". he was sent back out to retrieve my rod and reel which thankfully was'nt damaged and quelled my anger a bit seeing as no real damage had been done. but i gave up on the rod at distance and just fished at my feet for the remaining time. the ragworm seemed to be working the best with me getting 2 corkwing wrasse and 2 ballan wrasse. one of them was respectable enough at 2lb 3ozs (good to see my luck was changing). i was explaining to windy's wife how to keep her rig off the bottom when she got a hit and landed a corkwing wrasse so i was glad to see at least one of them get a fish. then the banter started about how windy, his son and his dad did'nt catch and they were fishing all day. but his wife had one cast and it resulted in a catch quality stuff. so what started as a bit of a nightmare ended up being a bit of a laugh. i'm just glad that there was no damage to my rod and reel as things could have ended a little uncomfortably for the moron on the jet ski . but lesson learnt on my part. from now on when jet skiers turn up i'll make sure they know where our gear is out at instead of thinking that they would have enough common sense to avoid it

[brian perry]

well done alan,,,jetskiers nice to get your rod back in one peice

[mrjed]

Nice session, Ballylumford was the first place my old Granda took me fishing when I was wee Used to catch wrasse all day

I dont understand why the jetskiers were there its not the cleanest of waters down there especially with Browns Bay just round the corner. I guess you have to put up with people around this time of year. I remember last year round at the rocks in portmuck with kids jumping in right beside where I was fishing fouling my line, its hard to keep calm!

[minty]

well done al , at least i had only one jet-ski to contend with , think 80lb braid would stop them if they hit the line, cos they would'nt be to quick to cross it again... .

[seanie35]

Least ye got some fish, pity about the morons

[dan]

plenty of wrasse about, john, my brother and myself are going wrasse bashing tomorrow for the day, spent today gettin rigs tied and bait dug.

[Dawsey]

Nice wrasse mate, i'm glad you didn't loose any gear Fools on jet ski's, nothing wrong with them having fun but a bit of common decency is required at times.

[thelegend]

well done on the wrasse al lucky jetskier id say just as well your tackle wasnt damaged

[eyesreilly]

Well done Al, some nice wrasse there, and fairplay for passing on the knowledge. You should have given the moron the "Eyes" stare, it always works for me. At least no real damage was done. I wouldnt like to have been him if the rod was gone and you only back fishing this week.

[rustyhookthomas]

had my rod eyes and reel smashed at greystones harbour due to knobs on jet-skis
i was livid and the guy knew to keep going, he was passing by right along the shoreline!
great fishing by the way.

[boyler]

Well done on the Wrasse,Thankfully you got your gear back undamaged.The size of the Ocean and it seems that some people are not happy untill they are right on top of where some people are fishing

Paddy

[round_ourway]

good couple of wrasse caught pal. seems to be silly season round there. good to hear you got gear back

[crazyfish1983]

nice wrasse there. Jet skiers can be a pain in the bum esp at this time of the year- try fishing portstuart beach on a sunday.......

There are a couple of good marks on the antrim coast fishing well for wrasse at the min.

[fishermannum1]

nice one on the wrasse al glad you got your rod & reel back undamaged.
a lot of these guys dont give a dam, they even come right in front of you even thou they know you are fishing (Mod Edit)

[Al and Jordan]

cheers lads,,,, this is the third time i've tried to reply to your comments. wrote out individual replies and 3 times they would'nt up load still some issues with my computer with certin websites with this stupid internet explorer 8 on my xp version of windows anyone else have this problem it either wo'nt post them or posts multiple times .
any way the long and the short of it is that from now on when jet skiers turn up i'll go over to inform them that our reels are loaded with 60lb fine spiderwire braid. effectively this stuff is like wire and should they hit into it, it will certinly slice through their wetsuits and cut to the bone, so for their own safety cross our lines at your own risk the thought of a spell in casualty to be stitched back up like a sunday roast outta make them very weary as to where we are fishing at also the risk of decapatation is pretty high that outta scare the poop outta them enough to give us a wide berth

[KERRY1]

Well done, that's a nice Wrasse you caught.
I was down at Bangor Pier last night and there was loads of mackerel being caught off the back, just thought I would say incase you are interested

[boyler]

Al try this http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/?utm_s ... 4wodeVWp5Q its better than explorer and much safer

hope this helps

Paddy

[bigsod]

nice one al and you got your gear back. I honestly think some people get a kick p*****g off fishermen and do it on purpose.Braid all the way

[Al and Jordan]

Well done, that's a nice Wrasse you caught.
I was down at Bangor Pier last night and there was loads of mackerel being caught off the back, just thought I would say incase you are interested

thanks kerry. i was there myself last night. was that you and k2 float fishing?? i was on up at the bend chucking feathers and hunting minis i left at 9pm as i had been there from noon. i was'nt hard to miss in the luminous green wet bottons now where did i leave my lollypop stick

Al try this http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/?utm_s ... 4wodeVWp5Q its better than explorer and much safer
hope this helps
Paddy

cheers paddy. it's firefox all the way now

nice one al and you got your gear back. I honestly think some people get a kick p*****g off fishermen and do it on purpose.Braid all the way

i can't wait to see the reaction of the jet skiers when they hear about the spiderwire i'd say they'll not give us any hassle in the future not unless they want to be sliced and diced

[KERRY1]

I wasn't fishing, my mate and his wee brother were. We stood with them in the inside of the pier at the steps about half way down. They where both float fishing for mackerel as well as having the rods out for the congers.
It's a shame I didn't see you, I could have introduced myself, maybe next time. I'll just look out for someone who looks like my old school lollipop man