COUNTY DOWN ROCKS!!!! wednesday 7th october 09 (UPDATED)

[Al and Jordan]

People: just me

Duration: noon to 7pm

Tide: high to low

Weather: glorious

Bait: mack sand eel and peeler crab

Rigs: 1 up 1 down, 3 hook flappers, feathers, kilty lures, eddystone sand eels, mepps spinners and tobys

Results: 5 pollack to 3lb, 1 ling 1lb 8ozs, 1 doggie, 1 corkwing wrasse, 1 mackeral and a cuckoo wrasse




Report: i decided to give this mark a go as i've not been able to fish it all summer and i was truely amazed at how well it fished 2 new species and pollack that were bigger than my measure . a fellow angler put me onto it at the start of the year and swore me to secrecry not to divulge it's location we fished it once at the start of the year and i blanked at it so almost forgot about it, but with a favourable forecast at hand i decided to give it a go today travelling light with only a backpack and 2 spinning rods. it turned out to be one of the best sessions of the season so far for me getting 2 new species to add to my ever growing list and pollack that almost made off with one of my rods and reel . i decided to fish one rod with bait and spin with the other. it's about time that our ever growing selection os lures got put to use. i gotta admit that i'm like a fecking magpie when i go into the tackle shop, always thinking to myself " oh look at that one it's got sparkley bits my other (many) similar lures don't have" and end up buying so the plan was to nail out a baited trace and spin while waiting for hits. the first fish of the day was a mackeral who hit the mini feathers intended for the sand eel shoal who were mulling around the rocks at my feet. there were hundreds of them all that free bait and i could'nt even foul hook one of them soon enough the baited rod got a knock and i struck into something that was odd to the feel. it had a bit of weight and i got dead excited when what i thought was a specimen rockling broke the surface. but i was even more made up when i realized it was a ling. another new species for me. so he was quickly unhooked form the sand eel bait which he snaffled with gusto and put onto the scales weighing in at 1lb 8ozs could the day get any better the next fish was a male corkwing wrasse who fell to peeler crab followed by a wee dog who had taken a liking to a chunk of mackeral. so i re-baited with a bigger chunk of mackeral and cast back out. a quiet spell followed with nothing more on the lures and i tried spinning some frozen sand eel with an instant hit. a good fight followed and i landed a 38cm pollack a good change from all the wee fish finger sized chaps that we're used to . i'd no sooner photographed and returned him when i saw the bait rod tear off across the rocks like a bullet i bounced across the rocks after it with all the dexterity of a mountain billy goat in heat after a female and struck into something that almost pulled me over the rocks a 10 minute fight ensued and the biggest conger i've ever seen broke the surface 10 feet below where i was perched this thing was about 5 feet long and had a head as thick as my thigh i was literally shaking with fear or adrenalin (take your pick). how was i gonna land this thing on my own when the snood length was only 15lb . it went into a frenzy of spinning and splashing until TWANG!!!!! the snood gave and it returned to the depths i honestly could have cried i was that broken up about it. i could'nt even realisticly guess what weight he was, but i'm guessing that i missed out on a shimano specimen cap and badge from the sea angler magazine heartbroken, i baited up and cast out again but did'nt have too long to dwell on what could have been when a pollack smashed my sand eel and a good scrap began i safely landed and weighed him and he came in at just one ounce under 3lb as the afternoon wore on i'd no more hits on the lures i tried and ended up putting on a set of feathers as my bait was almost done. i thought another mack would provide me with a bit of bait to fish into the darkness. but that was put to an end when i realized i'd forgotten to lift my spare bag of leads and was left with only the one on the end of the feather trace . so the last few slivers of mack went on the 3 feathers and cast out for the last time. i packed away the rest of my gear and was about to reel in to strip the rig when it got a knock. i reeled in and saw a wrasse break the surface about 20 yards out in front of me. as it got closer i thought i was a very long sort of wrasse almost like a big goldsinny wrasse. you could'nt have believed my joy when i got it in my hand and realized it was a female cuckoo wrasse another new species for me so after a few quick pics she was returned to fight another day and it dawned on me that i had'nt weighed her so all i have to go on was her length on the measure, but i know a specimen is'nt that heavy to begin with so if anyone has ever caught one that was 24cms before and weighed it could you let me know what it weighed as i'd love to know. i could'nt get over how well this place fished and i'll be back at the weekend with jordan and a load of worms as i'm sure there are a few specimen wrasse knocking about just ripe for the taking oh,,,, and i'll also remember to bring the conger gear and i might get to find out how much the beast weighed

thursday 8th 0ctober
loosing that conger yesterday ate away at me last night so much that i lost sleep over it so i returned today armed with 2 conger rods, a spinning rod, a half dozen big macks and a pound of rag the conger and wrasse did'nt stand a chance . i'll keep this short but i ended up with 9 decent ballan wrasse, 1 dragonet (a new species for me), 1 sea scorpion, 2 pollack and 3 conger eels. one of which was a new p.b. weighing in at 13lb 8ozs i also think i hit into the daddy conger again my reason for thinking this is that my conger reel handled my 13lb'er no probs. but i hit into something that gave me the scrap of my life on seriously heavy gear when i struck him to set the hook he went ballistic stripping line off the reel so much that i could'nt stop his run i had the star drag tightened as far as it would go and he just kept pulling so hard that i had to sit down for fear of loosing my rod. when i put my thumb on the spool to stop him he made mince meat of the rig and broke free . my conger rigs are all tied with 150lb mono and he just munched it so it's off to the tackle shop tomorrow for some 250lb mono and 10/0 hooks that's twice i've lost him now and looking at my 13lb'er he was at least twice the size of him if not mabey 3 if jordan hooks into him i don't know what the hell we're gonna do as i was having serious diffs controlling that one today . might have to bring a length of rope with us at the weekend to tie round the rod to a rock or something. it's bad enough loosing a fish but jordan's mum would'nt be too pleased if he got dragged to the bottom of the sea by a big eel . and jordan's like me that way. he'd get dragged in before he would let go roll on sunday i just hope the weather will play ball as it's been like a pond there over the last 2 days

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Last edited by Al and Jordan on Thu Oct 08, 2009 11:26 pm, edited 2 times in total.

last pics

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What a session, some lovely fish there, shame about the conger
Presume that's the area I am going to on Friday.....

Hi Al, that sounded like some session. Well done on the 2 new species. Also have that "new shiny things in a tackle shop have to be bought" syndrome Pity about the conger, sounded like a right clonker of a fish better luck next day with the conger gear..

Well done Al

Regards

Seamus

Congratulations on a brilliant session mate . Jordan must be gutted that it was school day.

Mighty session Ling & Cuckoo Wrasse nice one thats what Im after hopefully sometime soon

Nice one Al, that was surely a great session. I'm made up for you about the new species,and its great to get a session full of decent sized fish,well done

What a session mate, them's no fish fingers was well pleased when ya called to tell me, shame about that conger but hey he'll be there at the weekend, maybe jordan or myself will get it That species list must be well up now?

cracker of a report there al and pic's, great reading pity about the conger, but i'm sure you will have another go for him, or the wee man will anyway, he must be kicking himself for missing that trip and that looks like a good size doggie as well nice one.
and congrat's on the two new species mate well done

nice fishing al,unuasul getting a ling from the shore,great report as usual,and if ye want a go at turbot come on down,we will sort ye out

Nice one on your first Cuckoo Wrasse Al and the Ling sweet

not a bad wee spot that one fella. cracking report and brilliant days fishing! well done sir

as usual great report and luvly pics well done al

well done man, that was a fine session mate . looking forward to meeting up with you on sunday, with a bit of luck
bet the wee man was'nt to happy being stuck in school.......but i'm sure he'll make up for it this weekend

well done days like that are few and far between hope you get the big one at the weekend although saying that jordan will probably be the one to get it

Al,

Great session mate. Lovely to see a nice variety of species. Would love to bag a ling and cuckoo they look class!!

Jonny

great report,very nice fishing

What a session, some lovely fish there, shame about the conger
Presume that's the area I am going to on Friday.....

you got it in one man but the weather is gonna be foul on friday just keep an eye on the swell

Hi Al, that sounded like some session. Well done on the 2 new species. Also have that "new shiny things in a tackle shop have to be bought" syndrome Pity about the conger, sounded like a right clonker of a fish better luck next day with the conger gear..Well done Al
Regards
Seamus

thanks man. we gotta get round to useing some of our lures soon as we've got around 300 soft rubber shads and worms to get through at some stage. i'm not even gonna mention how many hundred spinners and plugs we've got too but i just don't feel right unless i've got a bait on the end of a 3 hook flapper trace when i'm out fishing . what can i say,,,, i'm a creature of habit

Congratulations on a brilliant session mate . Jordan must be gutted that it was school day.

he's just saving himself for the weekend

Mighty session Ling & Cuckoo Wrasse nice one thats what Im after hopefully sometime soon

cheers FK. if you're ever up this end of the world just drop me a line (pardon the pun ) and i'll do my best to put you on them

Nice one Al, that was surely a great session. I'm made up for you about the new species,and its great to get a session full of decent sized fish,well done

thanks dave, i was back up there today armed with conger rods and rag worm. i'll amend the post and add all the pics tonight

What a session mate, them's no fish fingers was well pleased when ya called to tell me, shame about that conger but hey he'll be there at the weekend, maybe jordan or myself will get it That species list must be well up now?

thanks dawsey. i'm making a point of not tallying up our fishing diary until the end of the year. so it will be as much of a surprise to me as it will for shorty. but we're well on our way as today made 107 sessions so far this year (keeping in mind that we do'nt count blanks as a session )

cracker of a report there al and pic's, great reading pity about the conger, but i'm sure you will have another go for him, or the wee man will anyway, he must be kicking himself for missing that trip and that looks like a good size doggie as well nice one.
and congrat's on the two new species mate well done

thanks don. no doubt junior will pull some funny wonder outta the bag at the weekend he'll end up landing a specimen or something that i have'nt had this year just to put me back in my place

nice fishing al,unuasul getting a ling from the shore,great report as usual,and if ye want a go at turbot come on down,we will sort ye out

thanks very much noel. we might just take you up on that offer when shorty is off school for halloween we'll be in touch. he's still drooling over the pics of your big mayo huss

Nice one on your first Cuckoo Wrasse Al and the Ling sweet

cheers conor. at first i thought it was a massive record breaking rockling but was just as made up when i realized it was a ling

not a bad wee spot that one fella. cracking report and brilliant days fishing! well done sir

cheers stevie. it makes a difference from all the wee fish fingers we chased around bangor and donaghadee all summer

as usual great report and luvly pics well done al

thanks zeke. i usually take about 6 pics of every fish and pick the best one for the report i'm like a feckin fish papperazzi or something after 6 close up flashes of the camera they must go back dazed

well done man, that was a fine session mate . looking forward to meeting up with you on sunday, with a bit of luck
bet the wee man was'nt to happy being stuck in school.......but i'm sure he'll make up for it this weekend

cheers minty, you got mail

well done days like that are few and far between hope you get the big one at the weekend although saying that jordan will probably be the one to get it

cheers paul. no doubt he'll pull something outta the bag. honestly,,,, he's got more jam than hartleys and robinsons put togeather

Al,
Great session mate. Lovely to see a nice variety of species. Would love to bag a ling and cuckoo they look class!!
Jonny

cheers jonny the dragonet i got today was another new one for me too

great report,very nice fishing

thanks man. how did you do over the summer??? did you get out much?

Wel done pal, you deserve it for the effort and hours you put in but I cant see that being a monster conger when you weigh 52kilo, 5ft4in tall and legs like matchsticks

day 2's pics

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