PORTRUSH Co.Antrim 23.08.2007

People:me and Chris

Duration:11.00 to 16.00

Tide:low then rising

Weather:mixed

Bait:sandeel & mack

Rigs:feathers spinners

Results:mackerel, dogfish,pollock, dab, and a porpoise

Catch and Release:: Yes/No



Report:After wasting an hour at Murlough bay which involved 50 minutes walking and 10 mins fishing decided to head to my usual mark at the rocks at Lansdowne car park, Portrush. After a few casts Chris and I both hooked up at the same time, he landed a mackerel on feathers and I had a pollock of about 2lbs on the spinner. Over the next hour we landed about a dozen mackerel and 4 pollock. We then moved to another rock mark between portrush and portstewart where we landed 3 dogfish and a small dab to mackerel and sandeel baits. We decided to head back to the rocks beside the Lansdowne car park again and I had another couple of mackerel. Chris then spotted something floating on the top of the water about 50 yards out. It was obviously dead but was big and we could see a big fin. Out of curiousity I chucked out the feathers and managed to hook it and after a bit of a struggle we managed to haul it on to the rocks. It was a dead young porpoise which looked like it had been struck by a boat. It was a shame to see such a wonderful creature dead :cry:
I reported it to the Countryside Centre in Portrush who said the Council would dispose of it and record it.
On the plus side Chris has a photo which he can use to spin stories of the 30lb fish he "caught" :lol:

Nice fishing, shame about the Porpoise. You should give The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group a quick email and include the picture, I'm sure they would be interested in your finding as they catalogue all sighting and standings of marine mammals for Ireland.

[url]http://www.iwdg.ie[/url]

Not surprised about this death - the summer sees a lot of crazy boat speeding in the area - like a race track sometimes. There seem to be no controls.

Monkey

Sounds like you had a good day. I have fished there before a couple of times some nice pollock around. Shame about the porpoise.

Here's the photos of the unfortunate porpoise. I contacted the Irish whale and dolphin society and forwarded copies to them.[/img]