Duration: 7am to 3pm
Tide: HW noon
Weather: torrential rain showers and winds gusting to 20mph later in the day
Bait: rag, mack and squid
Rigs: 2 up 1 down, 3 hook flappers and sabiki mini feathers baited up
Results: ME 21 coalies, 18 pollock, 2 flounder, 6 plaice, 1 codling, 2 mackeral and a 2 and a half pound doggie
DAWSEY 17 coalies, 14 pollock, 2 dab 1 turbot (new species) 8 plaice, 4 whiting and 2 flounder
Report:
with both my day off and dawsey's happening to be on the same day we hatched a plan to head up the coast for a short notice dawn raid to the spot i got the john dory from last week. as we left belfast the rain was torrential and did'nt bode well for a days fishing. but being the optomists that we are we just looked at eachother and said "aye,, sure it will be better as we get towards the coast,,, wo'nt it
. sadly we were proven wrong as it was still chucking it down as we arrived, but on the plus side we had the place to ourselves as the harbour was deserted 
. so we ran out and set up the tripods claiming our stake to our intended spot and waited for the rain to ease off before setting up. we both nailed out baits at distance and just flicked one off the edge and from the off the wee pollock and coalies were feeding hard hitting anything that moved. i decided to have a bit of craic with the mini feathers, baiting them up with mack and squid and the rod tip did'nt stop all day. the rod i was using was a £5 fiberglass special that was almost buckled with a 1oz lead attached 
. so you can guess the fun i was having pulling in the puckers 3 at a time 
. althow i did get the scrap of a lifetime when i hit into 2 mackeral then a 2lb 8oz doggie on this set up . dawsey was having good success with the plaice and managed some really decent ones fit for the table . the lads who tend to the salmon cages came over for a chat and to see what we were up to and we had a good old chin wag about the fishing available in the bay. i told their boss man about my dory and he thought i was pulling his leg until i showed him the pics and the other lads came over for a look. i'm glad i did thow as we ended up having a great chat about what he'd recently pulled up in his trawls and creels in the area. turns out that not only are there cuckoo ray out there, but also thornies and blondes 
. added to that he'd had quite a few sole as well along with the odd red mullet 
. now obvously these were all in deeper parts of the bay away from the shore, but it reaffirmed my belief that this area has a hell of a lot more to offer than the usual stuff if you just try hard enough and are persistant and lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. so we said our goodbyes and they headed off to the salmon cages and we got back to fishing. dawsey was still pulling some nice flatties and added a few dab and flounder to his tally. i was stuck on just 2 flattie species when dawsey hit the full house and managed a fourth species of flattie with his first ever turbot a new species for him and a pretty decent fish at that. once i had it in the net and up on the ground we let out a sigh of relief as it was pretty lightly hooked . i was made up for him and could'nt believe how lucky he was to get one so close to home as i had jordan the length and breadth of ireland last year in search of one before noel got him sorted with one in galway 
. as we neared lunchtime a few other anglers arrived and got set up beside us and the usual fishy chat ensued . but as we neared 3pm the rain came on heavy again and we decided to call it a day. as i was taking down my wee whopper stopper rod the salt long surf got a good knock and a nice codling came in. one of the biggest i've had in a good while . not a monster by any means at 1lb 9oz. but still good by my recent standards 
. a great way to end the session off. hopefully the rain will stay off long enough next time for me to get my usual battery of pics, so these will have to do for the mean time 
its fishing better in daylight than dark for better stamp of fish.
