antrim & down 26th & 27th nov

People: me, jordan and grady

Duration: see below

Tide: see below

Weather: 26th MENTAL!! gale force winds and horizontal rain. 27th sunny, calm but bitterly cold

Bait: rag, lug, maddies and mackerel

Rigs: 3 hook flappers & 2 up 1 down

Results: whiting, pollack, coalies, doggies, pouting and 5 bearded rockling




Report:

SATURDAY 26TH NOVEMBER PORTRUSH HARBOUR 2PM - 5PM

after grady's trip to the west coast to wet a line with fisherking got scrubbed due to the weather we invited him up to get out with us on the north and east coast. we have'nt fished with him before so it was good to finally put a face to a name . we met up at belfast angling center and got a few bits and bobs and headed up the coast to the first mark. as we got out of our cars the wind was gusting to about 30mph, but not as bad as we were expecting. so the rods were baited up and fishing began in ernest. it was pretty quiet with us only getting a few coalies and whiting between us with the biggest coalie coming in around the mid 30cm bracket. as we were rounding off this part of the trip the larne club arrived for a comp so we wrapped up to give the lads room to fish and headed on to the next mark.

SATURDAY 26TH NOVEMBER EAST ANTRIM BEACH 6PM - MIDNIGHT

on the way up to the next mark i got a phonecall from liam off the forum to say he was fishing on his own near our next chosen venue. the weather was a bit rough, but not unfishable. so i told him i'd give him a shout when we got to the mark to see if there would be enough room for him to join us. we got there and i nearly lost the car door when i opened it because the wind must have been blowing a good 50mph!!. if it had'nt have been for the fact that it was blowing from behind us and out to sea we would'nt have even fished it. unloading the car was fun to say the least because i had the boot open when jordan opened the front door creating a wind tunnel inside the car sucking the wet jackets, hats and cd covers out the boot!. but with the reflexes of an international goal keeper, and a few quick saves thankfully nothing was lost and blown over to scotland . grady was having the same problem as his rod bag loaded with all his beachcasters and aluminium tripod blew across the grass at the carpark and he set off after it .
this was serious wind by anyones standards i gave liam a shout and he came round and we all got set up on the beach. the tide had just turned and was heading back in with HW around midnight. we all set up 2 rods each and had to do a bit of carefull casting. if you wanted your gear to end up in front of you, it ment you had to almost cast out at a 3'o clock direction allowing for the wind to blow your rig and 7oz lead around . but as tough as conditions were, we were all catching fish . flounder and whiting were the main catches, with myself getting a few dogs and a 5 bearded rockling. but liam and jordan stole the show with 3 decent flounder. liams biggest was in the high 30's and jordan's best was'nt too far behind. but as the tide pushed us back up the beach and we neared the high tide line we started to get sand blasted i lost count of how many times we nearly got blinded and our ears peppered with sand . added to that you could hear the reels grinding with the sand getting blown under the spools and into the inner workings which did'nt sount too healthy to say the least . then to add insult to injury the bait bucket with a pound of lug and rag in it got blown up the beach. jordan gave chase and i gathered up as many of the worms as i could find. we must have lost half of what was in the bucket, so getting up at 5am to go digging for 2 hours was a bit of a waste .
then it was liam's turn to feel the force of the wind as his beta seat box got blown over even thow it was fully loaded with reels, leads, tackle and gear. this was quickly losing it's appeal
as we neared high tide the fishing died off and the horizontal rain came down in biblical proportions. so we deceded to call it a day and said our goodbyes to grady and all headed off home.
great to finally meet you man and wet a line, i'm just sorry we could'nt put you onto better fishing. that weather was something else . but if the weather gods are good to us next weekend hopefully we'll get out with you and brian somewhere over on the west coast.

SUNDAY 27TH NOVEMBER DONAGHADEE HARBOUR 1PM - 6PM

just me and jordan this time and what a difference 12 hours can make . blue skies, bright sunshine and light winds. we got to the harbour expecting to see other anglers making the best of the conditions. but we were the only people there . we got set up and to be honest the fishing was pretty pants. we got a couple of tiny pollack, coalies and whiting each and jordan had 2 tiny pouting. but nothing else. added to that, once the sun went down the tempreature plummeted. the added kick in the groin came from watching thousands of gulls on mass having a feeding frenzy that lasted all day just off the copeland islands. they stretched half the length of the island and were feeding hard all day and all we could do was stand there catching our tiddly wee fish .
oh what i would have given to have had access to a boat because the water was flat calm
but it just was'nt ment to be .
hopefully next weekend will be better

well done on getting out though and getting a few fish. conditions where far from comfortable.
dave

thanks dave. the weather was a bit mental. i only took 1 photo over the whole weekend, and that was from the relitave shelter of portrush harbour. i did'nt dare take the camera out of the box on the beach

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that was great session no mater to the rough weather, meeting new peoples is more valueble that full bag of fish, and in this case no one did blanked, so that the credit what can be better
was nice to meet you guys
thanks for a great session, was super
oh, Al say hello to Liam from me when you meet him next

Well done lads for braving the conditions, it sure was rough out....
Baitbuckets, carry alls, beta boxes being picked up and thrown around the place, gives a good description of how bad it was..... fair play for sticking it out and at least you got some just rewards with some fish.

Mick

no way, can't believe you fished in that, fair play and well deserved catching some fish. Done that a few times, but have vowed never to again, though it's not too bad if someone if someone has a large van to use as a windbreaker on certain marks.

very well done lads on geting any fish in that weather dont think i would have got out of the car

Fair play lads
I met up with Tom on saturday at Leenan pier and we didn't even get out of the van never mind fish

well done lads on getting out good haul of fish aswell al im headin up that direction this weekend to east antrim ive never fished round there b4, i useually fish for pike in the winter but i wouldnt mind givin the winter sea fishing a go, any chance u could give me a few marks were i could maybe catch some fish??

Nice one lads ye done well to catch fish in them conditions hopefully the weather will improve by next weekend

Nice one lads ye done well to catch fish in them conditions hopefully the weather will improve by next weekend

thanks Brian, east coast was rough, but i can only imagine how west coast was
at the moment next weekend not much promising either, but fingers crossed, hopefully the mets are wrong, and may we get a chance to get out

that was great session no mater to the rough weather, meeting new peoples is more valueble that full bag of fish, and in this case no one did blanked, so that the credit what can be better
was nice to meet you guys
thanks for a great session, was super
oh, Al say hello to Liam from me when you meet him next

good to meet you too man. hopefully this weather settles and the fishing improves. i'll tell liam you said hi

Well done lads for braving the conditions, it sure was rough out....
Baitbuckets, carry alls, beta boxes being picked up and thrown around the place, gives a good description of how bad it was..... fair play for sticking it out and at least you got some just rewards with some fish.
Mick

thanks mick. i would have to say that was the worst conditions we've ever fished in
i took me over an hour to strip 2 of the reels down and flush all the sand out of them and put them back togeather again oiled up. i'll have to do the other 2 today. never again man

no way, can't believe you fished in that, fair play and well deserved catching some fish. Done that a few times, but have vowed never to again, though it's not too bad if someone if someone has a large van to use as a windbreaker on certain marks.

jeese dave, i think a high sided van might have ended up on it's side on saturday . i think there is a fine line between braving those conditions and needing your head seen to. i think we crossed that line on saturday

very well done lads on geting any fish in that weather dont think i would have got out of the car

cheers man. that might have been the wisest idea

Fair play lads
I met up with Tom on saturday at Leenan pier and we didn't even get out of the van never mind fish

it was something else cathal looks like more of the same for this weekend again

well done lads on getting out good haul of fish aswell al im headin up that direction this weekend to east antrim ive never fished round there b4, i useually fish for pike in the winter but i wouldnt mind givin the winter sea fishing a go, any chance u could give me a few marks were i could maybe catch some fish??

cheers fagan. i'll send you a pm later man

Nice one lads ye done well to catch fish in them conditions hopefully the weather will improve by next weekend

Nice one lads ye done well to catch fish in them conditions hopefully the weather will improve by next weekend

thanks Brian, east coast was rough, but i can only imagine how west coast was
at the moment next weekend not much promising either, but fingers crossed, hopefully the mets are wrong, and may we get a chance to get out

not looking good for the weekend lads could be even worse than last weekend

yea was bad night i had to go i bait to use up i kept on picking my seat boat every 10mins and my bait tray blowing over then come back to it it was gone .
yes nice meet up with 3 the forcast going to me the same this weekend but less windy a gale this time lol.
i didnt fish long sorry lads i might go this weekend or just go diving again lol

Tough goin there Al, youre fond of your fishin to be out in that, fair play to yez.

yea was bad night i had to go i bait to use up i kept on picking my seat boat every 10mins and my bait tray blowing over then come back to it it was gone .
yes nice meet up with 3 the forcast going to me the same this weekend but less windy a gale this time lol.
i didnt fish long sorry lads i might go this weekend or just go diving again lol

it was something else liam. i've never seen a fully loaded seat box get blown up a beach before . just a pity you lost your bait trays . did'nt even get a chance to save em as the wind blew them across the surface of the water towards scotland before anyone could grab them. i'll not be doing that again in a hurry. spent all my spare time this week stripping down the 4 reels we were using to get all the sand out of them

Tough goin there Al, youre fond of your fishin to be out in that, fair play to yez.

cheers man. i was surprised how well it fished considering the conditions the flounder liam and jordan had were 2 of the biggest i've seen landed on that beach in a long while. go figure

yea was bad night i had to go i bait to use up i kept on picking my seat boat every 10mins and my bait tray blowing over then come back to it it was gone .
yes nice meet up with 3 the forcast going to me the same this weekend but less windy a gale this time lol.
i didnt fish long sorry lads i might go this weekend or just go diving again lol

it was something else liam. i've never seen a fully loaded seat box get blown up a beach before . just a pity you lost your bait trays . did'nt even get a chance to save em as the wind blew them across the surface of the water towards scotland before anyone could grab them. i'll not be doing that again in a hurry. spent all my spare time this week stripping down the 4 reels we were using to get all the sand out of them

Tough goin there Al, youre fond of your fishin to be out in that, fair play to yez.

cheers man. i was surprised how well it fished considering the conditions the flounder liam and jordan had were 2 of the biggest i've seen landed on that beach in a long while. go figure

Al, Im not sure which beach youre talking about, but I can tell you this much, I was catching flounder by the dozen in recent year on a beach we both fish, flounder of the see through variety, 1oz-2oz beasts. Then late last Nov I was out on a ferocious night, hail stones, wind that would cut you in 2. Caught the 2 biggest flounder Ive ever had there at 28 and 30cm. Nice chunky fish, the report is on here. I couldnt understand it either?!?!?

Cathal.

Nice going guys,fair play for being out in that weather!

Al, Im not sure which beach youre talking about, but I can tell you this much, I was catching flounder by the dozen in recent year on a beach we both fish, flounder of the see through variety, 1oz-2oz beasts. Then late last Nov I was out on a ferocious night, hail stones, wind that would cut you in 2. Caught the 2 biggest flounder Ive ever had there at 28 and 30cm. Nice chunky fish, the report is on here. I couldnt understand it either?!?!?
Cathal.

our usual spot up your way man where jordan had the nice sea trout at the start of the year

Nice going guys,fair play for being out in that weather!

cheers andrew. are you and drew still heading out this weekend?
our fishing is gonna be knocked on the head for a while now. jordan broke his finger yesterday playing football. so he's all strapped up and his arm in a sling

QUATE:
our fishing is gonna be knocked on the head for a while now. jordan broke his finger yesterday playing football. so he's all strapped up and his arm in a sling

I feel sorry for little Jordan, thats not a best news
hope he'll be alright very soon and can go back to fishing

Get well soon Jordan, atleast now Jordan is out of action you might be able to out fish him for a change Al!

These oul fields sports,I dunno, anything that can get in the way of the real business of fishing is a risky occupation, lol!

Youll appreciate your fishing even more Jordan when you get that finger fixed, the sooner the better.