River Liffey, Islandbridge, Report, (specimen mullet)

[George]

River Liffey, Islandbridge, Monday 30th August 2004, 1pm - 4:30pm
Bait: Bread

Inspired by the specimen book of 2003 which noted the majority of specimen mullet from around the hueston station area , we set off with our loaves of bread. You would need a drop net to fish the back of the station so we set on towards island bridge. We found good spot and began mashing the bread for groundbait , hooks were baited with breadflake and set at around 5ft. After around 20 minutes I struck at a wobble of the float and me rod buckled over. After a ten minute struggle the beast of a mullet was landed, it tipped the scales at 5lbs 14 oz, which was 14oz over the specimen weight. I then took a picture with my camera phone and it was returned alive.

After we had settled down I cast out again and after about five minutes another giant mullet was hooked but the fish lept about 3ft in the air and as it hit the water the line snapped and so did me rod tip! I tried to continue fishing but the line just kept wrapping around the tip. The tide had also dropped so the river was barely 2ft deep and all the mullet were aware of our presence so we set off home. The majority of these fish were easily over the 4lb mark.

Is there any way of reparing a rod which has snapped between the tip ring and the second ring? It is a delicate match rod.

[Tanglerat]

Nice one George.

Are you aware of these guys?

http://www.thenationalmulletclub.org/

[Irish_Shamrock]

[b]Is there any way of reparing a rod which has snapped between the tip ring and the second ring? It is a delicate match rod.

My local tackle shop has a load of tips and what he does is files down the top of the rod where the break is, then melts some sort of glue/wax over it and slides a new tip onto it. Can be repaired in about 5 mins and is very cheap. Seems to be strong enough as well.

I'm sure if my local tackle shops does it then it must be fairly common practice.

[MAC]

Excellent fishing George. Pity about the rod. Give Henry (Henrys tackle shop) a bell on 8555216. He mighe be able to repair the rod for you.

Kev

[Wes]

With all due respect, I would try everywhere else, first.
Henry charges a fierce amount for stuff like that, wanted €11 to re attach the top eye of my old beachcaster, got it done elsewhere for €5!
And to prove my job pays me to do nothing, I rung a few places.
George, Henry will charge you "Around €10", How long will it take? "couple of hours".
ABC dont repair.
Southside - "€3, and I'll do it there and then for you".
Speaks for itself.

[Adrian]

George,

I got one repaired in a local tackel shop and was only charged for the tip. It's common practice, however some use superglue to fix the tip on and I've seen some advice that this shouldn't be used, apparantly hot melt glue is the way to go.

[Donagh]

I doubt anyone uses superglue but some people (me included in the past) use araldite (not sure of spelling) which is a permanent glue. Problem is you might end up burning your blank iif you have to get the tip ring off again. With hot melt glue is easier to remove with gentle heating.

Donagh

[Wes]

That Aldradite will eat through the blank....VERY strong stuff.

[Donagh]

I don't think Aldradite will eat through a blank more the blank can get damaged trying to heat the ring off if it brakes. Thats why hot melt glue is the better choice. A lot of tackle shops use aldradite and I think it was recommended to be used in SA for top ring repair.

Donagh

[Wes]

Really?
Ive never used it on a blank, but have used it on other things which it ate through.
Maybe it was the way i mixed it?

[The Dirty Fecker]

Well done with those mullet! I've never caught one but did help land one with a net before. Great fighting fish. Always amazed me how few people fish for them. There they are, plenty of them, you can see they are there! and there is nothing but pin whiting in the sea and yet people still stand on harbour walss in the rain waiting for a pin Whiting?

Fair play!

As for your rod tip, Fibreglass resin is a good system to use. after all that is what your rod is made of... You can buy it in hardware shops or boat shops - Dinghy supplies, Western marine etc.

[MAC]

Jaysus,

I didn't realise that Henry was that expensive. I had a similar job done there years ago, so it was the first place I thought off. If southside will do it that much cheaper then thats the place to go. I'll keep that in mind for the future.

Kev

[Peter Kinsella]

Yes, neatly cut back tip to sound place below break. Buy a slightly larger tip ring. Use resin and hardner from car body repair kit, sand off when hard and neatly wrap with suitably coloured tape. This will give you a stiffer action rod but may still not be suitable for pulling prime mullet from a high place. That was good fishing George.

Peter

[alby]

Great fish that, but just a cautionary word of warning about fishing Heuston station and surrounding areas. A season or two back The Star's fishing correspondent (David Gray I think his name is) was doing some mullet hunting behind heuston, at the end of the session he bit his bubble float and hook off the line injesting some beatiful Liffey water. I believe he was laid up for six weeks in hospital with e-coli poisoning. Just be careful when fishing around the area and even into the sea.

[jd]

Great fish that, but just a cautionary word of warning about fishing Heuston station and surrounding areas. .... I believe he was laid up for six weeks in hospital with e-coli poisoning. Just be careful when fishing around the area and even into the sea.

Ugh..
which reminds me. If you are clambering over rocks or similar witha large rat population, you should be aware of the dangers of Leptospirosis /Weills disease.