East Coast Bream/Triggerfish

Are there any marks on the east coast where bream or triggerfish can be a realistic target?

a couple of years ago i caught a black bream on wicklow harbour just down the side of the wall on the seaward side on a little piece of rag. i taught this was rare, i never heard of a triggerfish being caught on the east coast but strange things have being happening in irish waters in the last ten years or so with global warming who knows what will happen in ten years from now maybe float fishing for tuna off wicklow harbour.

[kieran]

Hi Frank24

Black Bream are definitely being caught around Wexford and Waterford from July onwards, with confirmed reports from the Safe in Rosslare and around Kilmore Quay (the small shingle strand to the east). Equally some of the charter boats have taken them on rough ground around the Saltee Islands. It appears that they are migrants coming in from the Bristol Channel and Cornwall/Devon areas. Triggerfish by contrast are almost exclusively caught on the west coast as they follow the Gulf Stream up from far warmer waters from July through to November (the ocean warms and cools a lot slower than the land). Both need small hooks and small baits, like ragworm or strips of squid, ideally on a long flowing trace. Triggerfish tend to feed near the surface, Bream far lower down, and both like rough ground, be it reefs, rocks or even Wicklow's harbour walls... nice one Paul, there's a lot of us out here that would like to match your achievement. :wink:

Hope this helps...

Last edited by kieran on Fri Jun 25, 2004 9:20 am, edited 1 time in total.

On the extreme seaward side of wicklow old pier there's a reef close in. I presume you caught the bream between the kelp and the wall.

Donagh

Top fiskie, the Black Bream. I love catching them. Use light gear and they scrap like mad all the way in. Yummy tasty too...........

Triggerfish. Never caught one, never seen one caught. Lovely looking fish from the photos. I'd love to catch one.

Try Carrigaholt pier in another month an angler from Limerick caught a few with his kids and Henry Gilby reported them smashing ino his floats at Kilkee.

I'm planning on trying the bridges of ross (Clare) in another month or so to see if I can snag a trggerfish but the only confirmation I have that their there is the shannon FB mark guide. I was planning on using a small hook with a sliver of mackerel float fished just under the water.

Donagh

Donagh,

That would probably be a good tactic, Apparantly in the Gulf of Mexico triggerfish are considered a bit of a pest as they are hard to get down through to bottom fish.

On the extreme seaward side of wicklow old pier there's a reef close in. I presume you caught the bream between the kelp and the wall.

Donagh

just down the side of the wall with a size 4 hook 5lb line and a couple of bb shot and a tiny peice of rag , i was trying to blood my 7yr old son at the time he was catching little pollock and small wrass and along came a black bream about 10in in lenght. i think it worked because i had to drag him back home after about 6hrs and nearly wipeing out the entire population of small fish on the east coast , all fish lived and went back alive. now i have created a monster and he is beating the living s##t out of me in every competition.

triggers will hit most baits, used long shanked hooks and 30lb snood minimum. they can bite thru a size1 B940Kamasan, you have been warned.... Rag, mussel, peeler squid tip cocktails work best in my neck of the woods

There was a trigger fish taken off the Breaches in Kilcoole about 10 years ago in one of our club competitions. This is the only one I have ever seen on the east coast. As reported earlier this year, I did see a black bream taken from Ballinamona in Wexford. The pier in Cahirciveen was full of triggers last year and boats fishing Barrow Harbour near Fenit took quite a few also.

Hi Frank,

What hooks do you use. I was going to try a size 1 or 2 kamazan but now I'm not so sure.

Also whats the best time of day and tidal conditions for these fish.

Donagh

1's or 1/0's B940 Kamasans, most times you'll get the fish on this if you're lucky. usually use 40lb clear amnesia for snoods, 30lb will do, but expect some bite offs.

time of day doesn't seem to matter, just fish in daylight. if they are congregated around a feature then they'll move off at slack tide, high or low, so they can be caught in more open water, otherwise a bit of tidal movement will see them taking baits.

Hi Frank,

Thanks for the info.

Donagh