Wanted- Pictures from 2003 :)

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#1 Post by **JimC** » Wed Feb 15, 2012 9:15 pm

http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/bull ... =1&t=38366

There's a bit of discussion about the age of the site.

See if you can find any fishing pictures from 2003 and post them here.

#2 Post by **JimC** » Wed Feb 15, 2012 9:20 pm

Found one! I think it might be 2002 though:

#3 Post by **Seaniebo** » Wed Feb 15, 2012 11:23 pm

Funny looking bass jim!

#4 Post by **JimC** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 1:29 am

Seaniebo wrote:Funny looking Bass jim!

That's the lesser known "Labrax Coalieus"

A memory from 2003
I was looking for a picture when I came across that one above. The earlier 2000's was the "coalie time". There were a couple of wrecks about 40 miles out and they held massive coalfish. It was case of arrive at the wreck (after a long blast in the 175) and once you had located the fish you could just about catch your quota of three specimens in successive drops.

What a fish to fight....the first run of a fish that size is unstoppable. In fact the second and third runs were unstoppable. You would eventually get your fish to the side of the boat and just sit back and marvel at the sheer power. The downside was that from the depths and the fight the chances of the fish going back were slim. Therefore you caught three and no more. There was no high grading (looking for a bigger one) allowed on our boat. There was a new record set in 2003. 15.1kg – 33.29lb. It was bettered in the couple of years after. My best coalie in 2003 was 26.1lbs.

I remember there was a particular shad that did the business more than any other for me. It was a blue Storm shad. You mounted this on a short leader attached to a boom and 8oz lead and let fly. If you didn’t have a cod snatch it as it touched bottom you wound like mad until you got to about 90 turns off the bottom and around that time you would get hit and all hell would break loose!

Probably one of the most satisfying fish around that time was the fish of 23.95 pounds for James Guerin. James was one of the true gentlemen of the sport, a lovely man. He had tried a good few trips with charters but failed to get the magic specimen. He travelled with us on SKUA on one particular day. We travelled at lunch time and we planned to fish into the evening before the long steam home before dark. There were fish around but James could not contact them. He worked like a Trojan. We were approaching deadline time and the “let’s take one more drift” time began. On what was the last drift before heading for home James struck into his dream fish of 23.95lbs. The look on his face as the line screamed from his reel was classic. What a fight! even with jelly legs and the fear he would lose the fish the battle was unreal. The sense of delight and relief on the boat when the fish was on the deck was brilliant. We had stayed longer than we should have but thankfully we arrived back in Kinsale just as it got dark.

Good times for the best part! We will probably never see their like again.

#5 Post by **JimH** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 10:34 am

fish (48).jpg

My first week with an International magazine - Voyages des Peches during July of that year. It was the real start of the guiding business for me and theres a story - later!

Pressure....this is the crew and journalists making photos - probably some of the first to work here with the bass product.

#6 Post by **Donnyboy1** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:29 am

WOW! What a story Jim... Are the fish still there? I suppose tuna is the new coalfish these days

#7 Post by **MAC** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 12:48 pm

Fish have been hammered by the netsmen Donny. There are a few Coalies about, but pickings are slim. A very quick scan at the specimen book will show the decline.

Kev

#8 Post by **yappo** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:15 pm

Trolling through old photos brought back some great memories of fishing with Brian Byrne on Lagosta II out of East Ferry. Unfortunately Brian retired in 2008 after some of the lads had been going out every year for 14 years with him. Anyway found 1 photo from 2004 of a 6lb bass one of the lads caught on the bank. We had just pulled in a fish which threw up a sand eel and lad at the back of boat reels in his lure puts eel on treble hook and re casts, few casts later and bang. None of us were expecting that lol.

Sea bass 2004 Cork (600 x 450).jpg

Yappo

#9 Post by **JimC** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:28 pm

JimH wrote:
fish (48).jpg
My first week with an International magazine - Voyages des Peches during July of that year. It was the real start of the guiding business for me and theres a story - later!

Pressure....this is the crew and journalists making photos - probably some of the first to work here with the Bass product.

Nice baptism of fire there Jim.....I'd say you wanted to kiss the first bass they caught

#10 Post by **JimC** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:31 pm

yappo wrote:Trolling through old photos brought back some great memories of fishing with Brian Byrne on Lagosta II out of East Ferry. Unfortunately Brian retired in 2008 after some of the lads had been going out every year for 14 years with him. Anyway found 1 photo from 2004 of a 6lb Bass one of the lads caught on the bank. We had just pulled in a fish which threw up a sand eel and lad at the back of boat reels in his lure puts eel on treble hook and re casts, few casts later and bang. None of us were expecting that lol.

Sea Bass 2004 Cork (600 x 450).jpg
Yappo

Nice one Pat!
Brian Byrne was the first charter skipper I ever travelled with.
He certainly pushed the boundaries back in the day.
Edit ( Brian's 70th birthday is this month)

Sea Angling Ireland

Wanted- Pictures from 2003 :)

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