county antrim rock mark sunday 4th oct 09

People: me and junior

Duration: 11am to 7pm

Tide: high to low then rising again

Weather: 4 seasons in one day

Bait: rag, mack and squid

Rigs: float set ups, 8/0 conger traces and single hook rigs with rotten bottoms

Results: ME: 1 doggie, 1 conger (10lb 11ozs
new p.b. ) 4 ballan wrasse and 2 corkwing wrasse. JORDAN: 1 conger, 3 corkwing wrasse, 2 ballan wrasse, 3 pollack and a coalie


Report: after a long break away from fishing i was able to free up an afternoon for me and shorty to get out and terrorize the fishies for a bit . thankfully my father's back on the mend and home again so it was time to get our fishing fix on the day started off on a bit of a downer as we had intended to fish over the back wall at ballycastle harbour for the big conger, wrasse and pollack. but when we got there at 10am all the gates we normally go through were padlocked shut i don't know if theres been some sort of incident there over the summer or something, but anglers usually got a by-ball so long as you closed the gates behind you . so plan B was hatched and we made our way over to waterfoot pier which was unfortunatly packed with guys fishing elbow to elbow we moved on up the coast to another popular rock mark that was suprisingly deserted,,,,, game on!!!!! we hurridly unpacked the car and scrambled to our favourite spot and were set up in no time . and in usual form junior had landed the first fish before i had my gear in the water . jordan opted to fish the float on rag while i fished the bottom. one rod at distance and one in close. i then got the 2 conger rods set up and in the water and sat down to relax and chill out for a bit. i noticed my close rod getting a few knocks and kept reeling in bare hooks i had to make a decision and drop down from a 2/0 hook to something smaller to get the wee guys who were stripping my hooks or stick with it and hold out for a big wrasse or pollack. needless to say my greed got the better of me and i dropped down to a size 2 hook instantly hooking a corkwing wrasse i think jordans float was spending more time under water than on the surface as he was being robbed too. but at least the bites were coming at a good rate. then my distance rod with mack and squid got a knock and i reeled in a wee doggie i was lucky to land him as he was'nt even hooked. he just had a bite of the bait and did'nt let go until he was at my feet on the rocks . then that magic click, click, click, click noise came from my conger reel and i struck into something that had a good bit of weight on it. mr conger duely popped to the surface and weighed in at 10lb 11ozs. a new p.b. for me and my biggest shore caught fish to date i unhooked him as quickly as possible, got a few pics and sent him on his way. the pics were interesting to say the least slippery muscular gits at the best of times but covered in slime or not i was on cloud nine and got back to fishing with a big grin on my face.
we then decided to fish close to the edge of the rocks which increased the bites and hook ups no end with us both getting some wrasse and jordan landing a few pollack and a coalie. the day flew by all too quickly and it was soon time to pack up and head for home. i noticed that jordan's conger rod had a bit of slack on it which was odd as we never heard the wratchet go and he wound in the slack line only to discover he had a conger attached to the other end RESULT!!!!! not as big as the first, but a conger all the same so a few pics were taken and the wee fella was returned to grow a bit bigger and give someone else a bit of fun in the future . an end to the day that did'nt go as expected to start with,,, but we came good in the end and had a blast of a time catching a few fish. what more could you ask for

by the way,, i know a lot of the lads who fish the antrim coast will know exactly where this mark is, but i've just called it an antrim rock mark as we got a few conger at it and i would'nt like to think they'll all get lifted out and bumped on the head like so many other marks around the coast that have been cleaned out recently of conger by certin sections of certin communities. i'll leave it at that and say no more, but any regular anglers on that stretch of coast will know exactly where it is as i have'nt mastered that photoshop programme yet

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last few pics

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Great session and report and well done Al on the PB Conger! Don't know the coast too well up there so could you PM me your best marks for future trips? Thanks

Nice to hear from you guys again, glad to hear your Dads on the mend Al,we were all thinking of you down here ,and im sure everywhere else . Great report and great results, i'll have to get me a conger . That looks like a nice mark, is that caravan in the background for rent????
ps,,,,,,Jordan youre a great example to us all with your floatation vest

Good to see you guys back doing what you do best cathing fish well done on the new PB and great to hear your fathers on the mend

Great session and report and well done Al on the PB Conger! Don't know the coast too well up there so could you PM me your best marks for future trips? Thanks

you got mail

Nice to hear from you guys again, glad to hear your Dads on the mend Al,we were all thinking of you down here ,and im sure everywhere else . Great report and great results, i'll have to get me a conger . That looks like a nice mark, is that caravan in the background for rent????
ps,,,,,,Jordan youre a great example to us all with your floatation vest

thanks dave, we're just about getting to that time of year again when they all head back out to deep water so we're trying to get as many of them as we can at the moment. now our mission is to get shorty into a double figure eel, so he can hit the 2 rods now as i'm made up to have got what i wanted that mark was oddly quiet today with none of the bigger wrasse or pollack showing but fish of 3 to 5 pounds are not so uncommon there it was just in our rush to get out the door this morning i forgot to lift a packet of sand eel outta the freezer deep spinning them there can be deadly for pollack,,,,,, that is if you remember to lift the dam things . and never mind the caravan,,,,, i wonder would they hire me the wee boat for the day . i made jordan put his RNLI crewsaver vest on before venturing down the rocks as in his excitement during conger fishing has shown before,,,,, his fear goes out the window and any remaining hair i have left on my head starts falling out at a dramatic rate it must be great to be 10 and fearless

Good to see you guys back doing what you do best cathing fish well done on the new PB and great to hear your fathers on the mend

thanks conor. i forgot to thank everyone for all the kind messages i recieved by p.m. and text while my dad was in hospital. just goes to show how many decent people visit this site i'll repay you all by keeping a steady stream of reports and pics coming in until we're back to our usual fishing form

Well done pal. Bet you two are glad to be out and about again. A slow start but a great finish. Congrats on the conger but I reckon shorty will better that before the years out

great report good to see ye back where ye belong (on a rock somewhere)

hi al great fishing, no one told me about your dad but glad to hear he is on the mend, , dont you feel sorry about davesblank in kilcoole

Nice session lads must feel good to get back with such a productive session.

Great to see you guys back in action.

Daniel & myself have had a relatively quiet season. We might squeeze in a few trip to D'dee over the next month.

cracker of a session al, and well done on the pb conger
great report and pic's al did the wee man get his new rod Christened ?

Well done the both of you That was some day's fishing you's had!
Al, did Jordan have you up as early as you had said he would then?
It was great seeing you on saturday for a session and catching up on things.
I'll not mention our near disaster if you don't mate, eh? What a laugh!
I think the next time we should come better prepared!
It gave Dawsey and Norman I laugh at least!

Great report there man. Some excellent pic's too! You do look a bit dubious in the conger pics But ya's must both be over the moon, getting back out and straight into the fish again. Hope ya get a few huss today man

Haha, peering over that fence and seeing you 3 having a swim in the river was definitely a sight to remember!

Haha, peering over that fence and seeing you 3 having a swim in the river was definitely a sight to remember!

You couldn’t have timed it any better!
Typical, I felt really wick and you standing laughing at us didn’t help matters much. I’ll get ya back just you wait.
It was a close call, we nearly had to send for the coastguard!
It was just as well we headed for high ground when we did although we still ended up getting wet!
Norman was o.k., he had his thigh waders on.
It was Al and I who didn’t come prepared although we didn’t expect such a big tide. Nightmare!

Great session, well done on the conger

Great report lads good to hear ur dad is feeling better

Great Congers lads well done, mighty session & great Pics. Glad to hear your father is on the mend

Glad to hear that your Dad is on the mend

Another great report, and a great session to boot. Well done on the Congers