Duration: 21 hours over 2 days
Tide: all states
Weather: 15mph sw occasional rain
Bait: rag mack lug sand eel
Rigs: 2 up 1 down. pulley. 3 hook flappers. 2 hook mini rigs. 8/0 conger rig.
Results: doggies, codling, plaice, pollack, mackeral, pouting, poor cod, conger, whiting, flounder, goldsinny wrasse, ballan wrasse, shannys, dab and CUCKOO RAY!!
Report:
SATURDAY 30TH JULY CO ANTRIM ROCK MARK 5PM TO 2AM
i got a message mid week from saltydog asking what the chances were of being able to get into contact with a cuckoo ray for his shore species hunt. pretty good i reckoned so long as the weather was going to be settled. so a quick check of the forecast and plans were hatched for a co antrim ray hunt
. so before long it was saturday and we met saltydog in a town close to the mark and set off. we have'nt fished with him since last summer so it was good to catch up and reaffirm old friendships and get the chance to wet a line again. as we got to our intended spot it turned out that there was a group of anglers already fishing it 
so we resigned ourselves to having to do a bit of rock climbing and find another spot to fish from that would be big enough for the 3 of us to fish from in safety. so after a 15 min rock climbing session we found a suitable spot and set about getting rigged up for our session. as we were doing this i noticed that the people fishing in the spot we wanted to fish had packed up and moved on . so as quickly as we'd set up we were set back down again and rushed to our rock of choice. by the time we got there we were dripping with sweat from the race over and huffing and puffing like 3 mad things (sorry about that conor 
). but we were now at a spot where we've had the ray from before so hopes were high apart from the wind getting up a bit. conor was first into a fish landing a wee flounder, but he seemed more interested with my plaice as he had'nt got one yet. but i told him he should get one over the weekend and it was early days yet. so he should get one at some point 
. all in all it was a pretty quiet session with the fish coming in every now and then, but not in the numbers this mark usually throws them up in. but conor was happy enough as he got a few doggies and a plaice and a few codling. so that was 2 new species for his 2011 club hunt notched up . i was starting to lose faith that any ray were gonna show up for us as we hit midnight, but then in typical fashion jordan yelped out " i got a ray on over here ". we bounced over the rocks as jordan got it in and up the 10 foot drop from the surface. he was made up and it weighed in at 2lb 12oz. this spurred us on as we now knew for sure the ray were in the area . we fished on hard spurred on by a feed of burgers and hot dogs in our bellies, but alas to no avail. the fishing died off a death and at 2am we decided to call it a day as we had a day of mini species hunting planned for bangor at lunchtime. so by 4am we were back at our place and had a few magners then hit the hay. sadly conor did'nt manage his ray this time, but there was always tomorrow .in the end the tally was:
ME - 4 doggies 1 codling and 1 plaice
JORDAN - 2 pollack 2 codling and a cuckoo ray @ 2lb 12oz
SALTYDOG - doggies codling plaice and flounder
SUNDAY 31ST JULY BANGOR HARBOUR MINI HUNT 4PM TO 6PM
we all woke up bleary eyed at around 1pm and i got the coffee and a monster fry on the go. with a good intake of caffieen and half a pigs worth of pork in our bellies we hit the road for bangor. the main aim of this session was to try and notch up as many species of fish as possible for conor to gain a lead in his club's species hunt. we went to our tried and tested spot and he was amazed at how quickly the bites were coming. new species after new species were landed, duely photographed and returned. the sheer variety of species from this one spot is really amazing and the old species tally was growing fast. i was'nt fishing as i was looking after conor, but jordan was spinning for some fresh mack for us to use as bait in the evening and was rewarded with 7 in the end
. all of which were caught on some of the feathers in the goody bag of tackle conor kindly gave to jordan when we met up yesterday . before too long we'd lost track of time as we were having so much fun messing with the minis. so we packed up quick time and headed back up the antrim coast to try a different mark i had a bit more confidence in where we could get the ray from. in the end the tally for 2 hours in the harbour was:JORDAN - 7 mackeral 3 pouting and 1 poor cod
SALTYDOG - countless pouting 2 goldsinny wrasse 1 shanny and ballan wrasse.
SUNDAY 31ST JULY CO ANTRIM ROCK MARK TAKE 2 8PM TO 3AM
well it was gonna be death or glory tonight. conor had to head back to galway tomorrow and i was determined he would get his ray at this mark. we even brought a conger rod to share amongst us as it looked very eely
. the fishing was very patchy again as the fish slowly came in with us all getting a few. we decided that jordan had first dibs on the conger rod, followed by me then conor. i'd just re set it when the rod got a screaming run with the bite alarm bleeping away like a mad thing. jordan lifted into a nice conger of 8lb and conor carefully climbed down the rocks and landed it for him . we got him weighed, photographed and returned in quick time. while i was sorting the scales conor got some lovely close ups of him on his digital SLR that came out really well 
. amid all the chaos my distance pully rod was bouncing away on the tripod with a lovely big doggie just shy of 3lb on the end of it followed with a pollack on the other rod. after we'd all calmed down a bit i got the rod baited up and cast out again. conor had a dab and a nice double shot of codling furthur boosting his species tally for the weekend by a few more when the conger rod went screaming away again 
. by the time i ran across the rocks there must have been 15 yards of line stripped off the reel. i flicked the switch and set the hook into a nice eel who gave a really good account of himself on the 20lb class boat rod. conor safely landed him for me and we no sooner had him up onto the platform we were fishing from when he threw the hook 
. so i was lucky enough to land him. (top man conor!). i had no sling to weigh him in so tied up a barbless 8/0 hook on 80lb mono with a loop at the top for the scales. as we were weighing him he went mad and bent out the 8/0 bronze o'shaunassy hook. thankfully the scales leveled out before he got free and he weighed in at 13lb. i was made up and after a few pics he went back into the sea to carry on his buisness. i'd no sooner sorted the conger rod with fresh bait when jordan announced he reckoned he had a ray on 
. we went over to see what the score was and to our surprise instead of a ray breaking the surface, old larry the lobster made an appearence and had managed to impale himself on jordan's size 2 hook while getting a free feed of mackeral. jordan landed him and we checked him fo eggs or a "V" notch in the tail. neither of which he had, but we let him go as he was'nt big enough to take home for the pot. if he'd been a pound heavier it would have been a different story thow 
. so a few quick pics with him sporting a flashy nemo necklace and he went back probably wondering what the heck had just happened to him . we had no more runs on the conger gear but jordan, being jordan landed another cuckoo ray! this one weighing in at 2lb 8oz. so our hopes were raised again that conor might still pull it out of the bag in the last few hours. i was starting to get a bit of a sweat on but at around 1.30am i heard conor shout " i think i have a ray on al!! ". i shot across the rocks and slid down the platform to water level and sure enough a really nice cuckoo ray broke the surface at my feet . i quickly grabbed it and hopped up the rocks where we all broke into dance MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!! conor got his ray and my reputation was still in tact . and it was a nice cuckoo ray weighing 3lb 8oz. not a bad way to burst your cuckoo ray cherry . a decent fish that was within the sea angler shimano big fish awards target size . i was so relieved that it all came together, even if it was at the last minute . even the torrential rain could'nt dampen our spirits now. conor got a load of new species and the icing on the cake was his ray . after many piccys she was released none the worse and the smile on conor's face said it all. a very happy camper indeed . as we got towards 2am the bites just stopped and we called it a day around 3am. other than the conger and cuckoo's it was another pretty quiet session by this marks standards. but the target species was achieved and we all went home very chuffed with ourselves (for some magners and guiness) . well,,, we finally had something to celebrate . i was so happy that conor had a great weekend and all the boxes were well and truely ticked on this trip. i now know how fishface, eyesreilly, doggie3131 and fishermannum1 feel when we come to visit. you fell a bit of pressure to produce the goods when a fellow angler comes to visit targeting a particular species. and god only knows how fickle fish can be at the best of times you could be catching a particular species from a mark all week. then a mate comes up to get one and they all sod off . so there was a sweat on for a bit but conor pulled it out of the bag in the last 2 hours brilliant!!in the end the tally was:
ME - 4 doggies 1 codling 1 plaice 2 pollack and a conger eel
JORDAN - 1 whiting 1 conger and 1 cuckoo ray
SALTYDOG - 2 codling 2 doggies 1 flounder 1 dab and the elusive cuckoo ray!!
