This ones for you Dave ( east antrim area)

[yngkmd]

People me and me da and the dog

Duration 4pm - 730pm

Tide HW 8pm (i think)

Weather wind, rain, sun

Bait lug, mack, mussel, limpets

Rigs 1 hook paternoster and float

Results me - 2 wrasse (biggest 3lb), 1 rockling da - blank (again)


oh what a day i had today, the gods were conspiring against me but i succeeded, hurrah.

anyhoo, during the last week of so i have been given lots of valuable information from a man called dave. Dave does not get to fish my way much any more but was very generous enough to give me some of his local knowledge with regards to a few new spots to target decent wrasse in east antrim area, also asked i keep them do myself which is why i didn't post a more specific location.

so, it started on tuesday, rang belfast angling centre and booked some rag, they said it would be in by 10, rang on thursday morning at 1015 to be told the rag wont be in till 4, this made sense since low tide was about 1 but left me with no bait of choice, (1st hiccup), went down anyway to get some weights and went home again for porridge. Dad picked me up at 12 and off we went to dig our own bait. i have no idea where to dig rag so we went to dig lug. dad thought he knew a shortcut from the antrim road to the shore road so ended up leading us down 2 deadends (2nd hiccup) before he finally found his way. got out on the sand, just before 1 and started digging, it was blowing and gale and chucking it down (not so much a hiccup but a real inconvenience) we dug and dug (well mostly i dug and he watched) while the dog ran up and down picking fights with seaweed. dug until near half 2 to make sure we had enough worms to last, grabbed a couple of dozen mussels as well on the way back. and off we set to the mark, on the way there the road was closed (3rd hiccup) so had to take a detour, then find the spot (not that hard) and make our way down. it was 4pm before we got a line wet, 4 HOURS after we left the house. i was knackered from the digging and walking and general unfitness so quickly got the rods out so i could have a sit down. da was rummaging through his bag digging things out until it was finally emptied and then i heard the cry OH NOOOOOOOOOO KEVIN YOU IDIOT!!!. turned out he forgot his tackle box (his hiccup not mine), i said nevermind you can watch me fish but relented and let him gear up with my tackle, da got his first bite within 10 minutes, he was celebrating before he even hooked the thing and much to my amusement he missed hte bite. another hour went by and not a bite between us so i moved over to my right, had the first rod out and was messing around with the second rod when i looked up and watched the rod go from straight to slowly doubled over in the tripod. it was the unmistakable "bite" of a huge lump of weed pulling on the line so picked it and took up the strain. then i felt 3 strong pulls and it went solid....kept the pressure on and got it out of the weed then it went solid again......got it out of the weed again and then back in it went and this time was not moving..kept pressure on then applied more pressure and finally i felt something go ping but i still had a fish on, reeled quickly and got it out of the weed, stil fighting like crazy, and finally up to the surface and onto the rocks. weighed in at 3lb, beautiful markings, so quickly weighed photoed and off it went. within 5 minutes later i had another bite and another wrasse around a pound and a half. that was pretty much it was the rest of the trip, dad didnt get anymore bites at all, 1 got 2 more bites on the bottom but didnt connect to anything. for the last hour and a half i had a float out, it bobbed away unmolested until near the end when i landed a small rockling smaller than the bait we were using.

i did have the crab pot with me and for the first 2 and a half hours i had it out with mussel in the bait pot and had no takes, last hour i used up the mackerel we werent gonna use as bait and got 1 rockling and a crab in it. does this say anything about usefulness of mussel as bait. maybe at this spot it does as all fish were caught on lug. The mackerel, limpit and mussel were all untouched.

all in, it was a lot of effort to get fishing for only a few fish but i still thoroughly enjoyed myself and i know this spot has a hell of a lot more to offer that it did today, i was told there would be big wrasse and a big wrasse is what i got. next time i go it will be a calmer day with no or little wind and i will have ragworm. i have no doubt the fish were there i just dont think they were that keen on lug (others may beg to differ). if i fish there with rag on the right conditions i predict no end of smaller wrasse with the odd lunker thrown in.

if anyone cares, the dog had fun, rolling on everything as dogs do, it even went as far as marking out a nice stinking patch of seaweed as its bed for the afternoon.

thanks a million Dave, cant wait to try the other marks esp the deep one

[Drew]

Nice Session again man!

[Dawsey]

Lovelly Ballen Wrasse there mate, great read as well, always nice when it works out.

[chuckaroo]

all the effort was worth it just for that one fish. cracking nicely coloured wrasse. nice 1

[bingham]

Lovely wrasse

[dave316]

well done mate, awesome fish and great report, especially with the conditions and really unlucky about the bait. lug never seems to work very well at all in those areas especially for wrasse and pollack so at least you still managed a few good ones despite the major disadvantage. i think you'd do far far better next time with a load of rag tipped with squid and especially later on in the summer as it's definitely not where you'd be keen to go too often, lol. the way all the bad luck panned out for you sounds like a good percentage of my sessions, i've felt like never fishing again after a few of those in a row but it'll never happen. a nice fish like that makes it all worth it anyway

[fishy1987]

excellent report/pics/fishing fair play what a belter of a wrasse it is to
tightlines
fergal

[polmac]

brilliant fish mate, all the effort and travelling was well worth it for that

[lincolnedd]

Love the pic of the dog/fish

[billy the fish]

Crackin fish,lovely dog.

[Gabbey11]

what you catch that dog on, must be at least 15lb (sorry had to)
anyway v nice wrasse lovely to see and brilliant markings.

[weedave]

is that a fresh black lug in that pic with rockling?????

[yngkmd]

is that a fresh black lug in that pic with rockling?????

it is

[weedave]

is that a fresh black lug in that pic with rockling?????

it is

mmmmmmm . . top secret i guess?? dug or bought??? any for sale??