We had designs on hitting a particular beach beach but looking at the forecast a day or 2 before we thought it'd be 50:50 as to whether we'd get fishing it with the swell.
Leaving Belfast in the morning was mildly sunny, very temperate. By the time we met up and headed to the spot and got the customary look over the dunes, there was a brisk wind, at our backs but still chilly. The swell was maybe 35:65 against a the prospect of a decent session. Now I'm not renowned for my on the spot decision making so I was glad to see one of the band shake his head and I think we were all agreed that it was best to try Plan B and a more sheltered spot. I was disappointed not to get fishing there but at the same time excited to try a beach I'd never fished before.
By the time we relocated and got set up it was roughly just the end of LW slack (always a bit of a guessing game with these remote beaches). Indeed it was much calmer. I say remote but the beach was bunged with pleasure anglers by Irish standards with oh maybe 6 or 7 on it : ) "Small flatties" they reported as I asked how they were doing on the way past. Not giving much away I felt.
After getting set up and over the usual curses of unleashed dogs trying to eat baits and their idiot owners trying to walk through 2 sea-bound lines, we got down to business. I seemed to have drawn the lucky peg insofar as the early going went and had a fairly steady stream of 4 flounder with a nice one at 38cm and just over 1.5lbs and a bonus wee white trout of 35cm and about 3/4lb. Lovely wee fish in great nick for the time of year. Thought the flounder would've weighed more as it felt chunky.
As darkness fell and the tide pushed over midway, the beach got deeper and we all started to get into pretty steady coalie action. It was quite good fun as opposed to the normal 1/4 lb pin coalie-fest. We were getting fish in the 30-35cm bracket mainly, between 2/3 - 3/4 lb. Not monsters but enough to move a lead, detect a bite, bend a rod and put up some fight on the way in. We all had several coalie each with the others adding whiting, flounder and the 1st 5 bd rockling I've seen in the flesh this winter, another sign for me that water temps are really lagging.
The plan was to pack up around HW which we did, I packed up slightly earlier due to a complete tangle-feck when 1 coalie hooked on a long 3HF kindly swam into the other long 3HF on my 2nd rod. Cut-off and bunged into the box, I'm still trying to find motivation to untangle them, they're way too pretty to chuck out : ) and only did me 2 sessions.
All-in-all it was a very enjoyable session,great to get some fish on a new mark. Just sitting on my hands now waiting for a gap in this wind. Hopefully it'll bring the long lost cod up North.
Ta,
G
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