Rock fishing around Hook Head

Well has anyone fished around Hook Head/Slade? I caught a few macks down there the other day and I was wondering could ya bait fish there with the rough ground? When I was there I put a strip of fresh mack on a hook and I caught a few rockling on the bottom, great craic on a spinning rod with a 1 ounce lead!
I know there are wrasse to be had on the float and I might be heading down soon to have a crack at them but has anyone bait fished there?
Thanks in advance!

Hi Teegerstk

It is easy to catch wrasse on single hook rigs cast into pools that fill on the tide... never tried anything else owing to how foul the ground was... nothing huge but lots of them and good constant fun. No need to cast very far, in fact, better than you don't...

Hi Teegerstk

It is easy to catch wrasse on single hook rigs cast into pools that fill on the tide... never tried anything else owing to how foul the ground was... nothing huge but lots of them and good constant fun. No need to cast very far, in fact, better than you don't...

Ok, thanks for that. I'm gonna throw out a mackerel strip on a pulley just in case. I'm going to use finewire hooks and a cheap bomb lead. I've read the results from Menapia SAC's comps around there and they got conger, dogs, rockling, wrasse and pollack.
Just a question about the wrasse, I'm heading down there today to try it out, I'm using ragworm so how big should the bait be on the hook? They're big enough, not maddies so do I cut them up or what?
Thanks

Any size rag on a hook below a float can be good for the wrasse. Set the float depth depending on the depth of water. Don't have it too close to the bottom as the wrasse will bully their way back to the rough stuff. Fish a very tight drag.

Any size rag on a hook below a float can be good for the wrasse. Set the float depth depending on the depth of water. Don't have it too close to the bottom as the wrasse will bully their way back to the rough stuff. Fish a very tight drag.

Thanks, the area I'm fishing has a reasonable depth, at least 5m from the shore and slopes down to about 10m

I went down yesterday to Slade, to a mark called the Black Channel, I fished off peg 14 into the inlet beside it. I tried legering with rag, floating with rag, even tried retrieving rag slowly but nothing. People around me were feathering with nothing doing, although the fecking mess left by the bashers was unreal. Mackerel rig packets, vodka bottles, beer cans, the whole shebang. I'm not pointing fingers at any nationality but it happened to be Eastern European people who had a lot of mess near them. It p!ssed me off because I had fished this mark a month prior and the place was spotless, it's a beautiful spot but there was mess everywhere!

I went down yesterday to Slade, to a mark called the Black Channel, I fished off peg 14 into the inlet beside it. I tried legering with rag, floating with rag, even tried retrieving rag slowly but nothing. People around me were feathering with nothing doing, although the fecking mess left by the bashers was unreal. Mackerel rig packets, vodka bottles, beer cans, the whole shebang. I'm not pointing fingers at any nationality but it happened to be Eastern European people who had a lot of mess near them. It p!ssed me off because I had fished this mark a month prior and the place was spotless, it's a beautiful spot but there was mess everywhere!

Unfortunately, this story is repeated up and down the country. It is the most disgusting behaviour and makes me sick. There is a common factor to all these reports that is unavoidably obvious.

I went down yesterday to Slade, to a mark called the Black Channel, I fished off peg 14 into the inlet beside it. I tried legering with rag, floating with rag, even tried retrieving rag slowly but nothing. People around me were feathering with nothing doing, although the fecking mess left by the bashers was unreal. Mackerel rig packets, vodka bottles, beer cans, the whole shebang. I'm not pointing fingers at any nationality but it happened to be Eastern European people who had a lot of mess near them. It p!ssed me off because I had fished this mark a month prior and the place was spotless, it's a beautiful spot but there was mess everywhere!

Unfortunately, this story is repeated up and down the country. It is the most disgusting behaviour and makes me sick. There is a common factor to all these reports that is unavoidably obvious.

Agreed, I've read discussions on it before and I didn't think it was that widespread but f@cking hell the place was a tip. Very upsetting to see a place where I often go to walk the dog, never mind fish, covered in rubbish.

I'm so sorry lads to hear that. I'm polish and this is pissing me off too. I'm so embarrassed and my apologies for this dickheads.

I'm so sorry lads to hear that. I'm polish and this is pissing me off too. I'm so embarrassed and my apologies for this dickheads.

I have no doubt that an Irish person could do the same, it's not tied to your nationality. Some people in this world are just pieces of s**t, no matter where they're from.

Any mackerels yet or they gone already?

Any mackerels yet or they gone already?

Was down about a week ago and got 9 in 2 hours, a few good sized ones. I fished Arthurstown pier a few nights ago and a fella came down to throw out mack guts and heads into the water and he said he got a few down the Hook. Slade seems to be good, plenty of bashers down there

Hi I was rock fishing at hook head and slade Friday .... Was spinning and lost a lot of lures new to this hobby ... Sadly caught nothing only sunburn.... Any advice appreciated think grong to rough for spinning cheers

Fish at dusk during a high tide. Same place

Hi I was rock fishing at hook head and slade Friday .... Was spinning and lost a lot of lures new to this hobby ... Sadly caught nothing only sunburn.... Any advice appreciated think grong to rough for spinning cheers

Try using weedless lures, don't know much about them myself but I do know that you can spin them very deep with a little chance of snagging up, have a poke around in the lure section of the site...dusk is good as said above.
EDIT: Just a second thought, replacing a treble hook with a single hook can prevent snags a good bit too, I've also heard of tying a small piece of line weaker than your mainline between the lure and the hook so if you snag up you lose the hook rather than the whole lure!

Thank you both for the replies I'll learn from my mistakes cheers

Hi I was rock fishing at hook head and slade Friday .... Was spinning and lost a lot of lures new to this hobby ... Sadly caught nothing only sunburn.... Any advice appreciated think grong to rough for spinning cheers

For pollack and wrasse try float fishing with some Ragworm. Pollack a size 1 hook
This set up has been working well for me

FLOAT FISHING RIG.jpg

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Excellent diagram.

If you leave out the top swivel, you can adjust the depth at which the float / is fishing a lot more - using powergum for the stop knot means you can reel the knot up (even onto the reel) and fish far deeper, which might be needed off rock marks. I don't bother with the stop knot below the float either, but that's just a personal thing...

By fishing deeper, you can often pick up wrasse (less so Pollack) that would otherwise not come up the water column, especially on bright sunny days.

Thank you all for info one more question how about spinning from the rocks is it effective or better to float?

Excellent diagram.

If you leave out the top swivel, you can adjust the depth at which the float / is fishing a lot more - using powergum for the stop knot means you can reel the knot up (even onto the reel) and fish far deeper, which might be needed off rock marks. I don't bother with the stop knot below the float either, but that's just a personal thing...

By fishing deeper, you can often pick up wrasse (less so Pollack) that would otherwise not come up the water column, especially on bright sunny days.

The top swivel is there so the rig can be wrapped around the float and put away as a fixed unit until I need it again.

The “stop knot” is made using telephone cable and can be moved up and down when required.

Under some wind conditions I find the snood can get tangled on the float when casting. I use the bottom “stop knot” to keep the float further up the main body