BlackHead Antrim 30th Decemnber

[yngkmd]

People me

Duration 12.00- 5.00pm

Tide LW 1230

Weather Mr Fog, i could never tell which is which

Bait mackeral

Rigs conger, free lining, float, 1 hook bomber

Results coalies

Report: had a few hours to kill but had plans in the evening so couldnt venture far. hadnt been out fishing in ages and got a new fisheagle floatation suit for christmas i needed to test out. ive never had one before but all in all id say that though its bulkier that what i would usually wear having a fishing coat that weather proof enoug to wear on the motorbike was a long time coming. wasnt really cold enough so didnt wear the jacket but love the trousers.
anyways got down and through out a conger bait and a 1 hook bomber then started to set up a freelining rig to mess around with. whilst setting this i up i thought i seen the rod tip of the bottom rod start bouncing about but it was only out of the corner of my eye and by the time id turned my head it had stopped and couldnt decide if it was actually a bit or not, the bait look untouched. so messed around freelining bits of mackerel but not a sniff. come about 3 o'clock the bottom rod started bouncing around merrily so ran over to it just as it stopped and a comorant came to the surface with my line around it wing. luckily it detangled itself and went on its way but i was still disappoint since by this point i still hadnt caught anything. decided to stick on a float but realised i had left my float stops in my pike box. DOH. had some tiny split shot so figured since they fit though the top eye i could use one of them. rigged everything and first cast the shot got stuck, same second cast third cast the shot caused the line to tangle, even having the shot just the right side of the eye was causing casting problems, this went on for a good 10 minutes before i remembered i knew how to tie a sliding floatstop using mono. gave myself a mental slap on the head, tied the knot and was float fishing away. still no bites though till just after 4 when someone flicked a switched and suddenly it was bites every cast. soon was pulling out coalies but had a small hook on and they were swalling it so cut the hook off to put on a bigger one. soon as i cut the line a heard a huge clater, splash and then another splash. turned round to see the tripod on its side, a bird in the water caught on my line and my rod slowly drifting out to sea. went into absolute panic, luckily for me it floats, didnt know that, but now i do. reeled in the conger rig as fast as i could losing the last conger bait in the process and tried unsuccessfully to hook the rod. had to give up as it was now out of reach of that and ran back and quickly tied on the biggest hook i had to the float rod and chuck it out. snagged it first cast and soon had it safely back on dry land again. PHEW!! packed up the conger and bottom rods and went back to float fishing and managed a few more coalies. got about 10 in all before it got dark then headed home. all in all not the most productive session ive ever had up there but still good to get out one last time before the years end.

[tight lines]

lucky man well done on the few coalie

[Al and Jordan]

that was a great save with the conger gear man glad you went home with the same ammount of rods and reels you arrived with . i reckon some of those birds are bloody suicidal same thing happened to my mate at ramore head in the summer .

still no bites though till just after 4 when someone flicked a switched and suddenly it was bites every cast.

same everywhere at the mo man. as soon as the light begins to fade it's like a silent dinner bell gets rung and all the coalies come out to play