specimen rockling hunt causeway coast sat 6th feb

People: me and jordan

Duration: 8.30pm - 4.40am

Tide: HW 1am

Weather: cold, calm and dry

Bait: mack, squid, lug, razor and sand eel

Rigs: australian suicide rigs

Results: JORDAN: 1LB 13OZ 3 bearded rockling and a lobster. ME: 3 pin whiting and a micro coalie




Report: we decided to change things up a bit and went on a specimen rockling hunt on the causeway coast. our usual session would consist of chucking out 2 spinning rods each, with 3 hook flappers on em. but last night we set ourselves the target of bagging a specimen rockling . we researched a mark where it might be dooable and special suicide rigs were tied (thanks to lee reighner and paul worseling ). i dusted off our summer boat rods and reels as we would be fishing tight to the sea bed on seriousley rough ground. there was also the chance of conger too, so anything lighter could end disasterously . so 2 boat rods each were baited up and cast and we sat back and waited for that tell tale click, click, click to begin . the first run was almost instant , but sadly i was baiting up jordan's rod at the time, and by the time i wiped the mushy mack off my hands and hit the rod the fish had buggered off and left me a lovely bird's nest to untangle . but undaunted, i rebaited and cast out again. 30 mins or so passed and jordan got a thumping run. he struck into it with all his might and an epic battle of "tug of war" began with him and a hefty eel. at first it was stuck solid, so he let some line out and freed it up . but for every 5 turns of the reel he got back on it, it was taking 10 back in return . 3 mins of deadlock passed when the enivetable happened,,,, twang!!!! the hook bent out and jordan almost ended up on his butt. the eel made off with his prize, an entire mackeral fillet . i was gutted for jordan, but at least it ment there were fish out there . by now we were 3 hours into the session and we still had'nt landed a single fish yet . jordan looked at me, and i at him and we both came to the same conclusion........ it was time to break out our trusty spinning rods and 3 hook flappers . so 5 mins later we were both fishing 2 boat rods and a spinning rod each. we had to get something now . i was the first to get a knock on the spinning gear with a wee whiting who was almost the same size an the 1/0 hook he had impaled himself onto . but hey,,,, blank saved . another followed soon after with loads of bites that we just could'nt hook into. (probably due to their small size ). then jordan's spinning gear got a hit and he reeled into something with a bit of weight on it (bearing in mind, these are 1oz cast weight 6ft rods 0). to our surprize larry the lobster made an appearence and was hooked in the chops fair and square on a bit of mack . jordan carefully landed him and he went into a bucket of sea water to go home with us for lunch the next day .
after all the excitement we chilled out with a coffee each and a choccy bicky . all the rods were reeled in and re-baited and to be honest the next hour was pretty quiet with just the odd knock on the spinning rods from the micro whiting . then jordan got a slow and timid click, click on his boat rod and hit and hooked something . he knew by the weight it was'nt an eel, but there was something there . we were elated to see a massive 3 beardy break the surface!!! our hearts were in our throats as he swung about on the end of the line as there was a 20 foot drop below us to the sea. but jordan got him on dry land and we both began jumping about like 2 giddy school girls . MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!!!! not only was it a new PB for jordan, but this thing was a monster . he was 42cms long and had a girth of 21cms from behind his head i had to weigh him 4 times as he was only coming up at 1lb 13ozs on the digital scales, and to be honest i thought he looked a lot heavier but if that was all we had to complain about, we were still the 2 happiest fishermen for miles around so after lots of measuring and photographs he was returned to swim another day. he was none the worse either, as he shot off like lightning back to the murky depths from which he came . i'm not sure if they have the rockling in the sea angler's shimano mission comp, but i'm gonna send in the pic any how to see if it get's him in the april edition. by now it was 4.30am and we called it a day as we were both shattered. jordan had got his target species and we went home 2 very happy campers

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A big well done to the wee man, thats a cracker of rockling, measurements wise your not far wrong for the weight, it's pretty similar size to some of the ones I've had from bangor.
I take it there were no freaky waves knocking around to wash you's from your perch this time

Sweet Sesh A&J!!!

GREAT FISH THERE JORDAN

Thats a fine Rockling Jordan & nice surprize to get a Lobster nice one guys

thats a cracking rockling jordan,outfishing the "ould man" again and a nice lobster for tea, what size is a specimin rockling?

crackin rockling !! looks more like a monster catfish thats escaped the ebro river and got lost : -)

and seriously jealous over the Lobster - I think I must have worms all i can think about is food LOL


davy

WOW that's a proper rockling, catfish sized even and a lobster to top it off, brilliant fishing, well done lads, class report too Al, congrats

as always great report Al and big well done to you Jordan.that's huge rockling you got there and where is the micro coalie i can't see it

nice rocka, ive still to catch a nice three beard like that. lobster too, yum yum

well done excellent rock ling and supper to great session
cheers
mike

Nice session there lads.Thats a monster of a rockling and the lobster looks yiammi
Big well done..

Outdone again al thats a fantastic rockling jordan well done that
lobster looks very tasty .great report al keep them comming

great fish jordan, still beating dad, well done

god stuff lads, thats some rockling ,a monster

Brilliant report Al, i could here the excitement while reading it

Thats a fantastic rockling jordan well done on the PB

Great report lads.Crackin fish, well done!

Jordan that is one stonking fish Im sure you are over the moon. I bet Dad is as jealous as I am but so happy you got what you headed out for. The reasearch obviously paid off. I am going to have to get out sometime soon for a session with you and maybe you can share some of that good fishing(Jordan that is!!).

Well done J nice rockling and I bet the lobster wasn't too bad either.

I haven't been out as much as I would have liked over the past few months however, your reports have provided some consolation and I have kept up to date with your adventures. Keep up the good work - its better than some of the stuff in Sea Angler without the need to pay

Tight Lines
Stevie C.

Well done Jordan, what a fish ,,,,,,,,,,,,couldnt be more pleased for the pair of ya .