Portaferry early hours sunday.

First trip out so was well ready. Used squid,mac,rag and peeler grab. They took none of it. Others were having luck with rag and squid and even some luck with my peeler grab i had to much bait ( I did say first ever sea trip). Was about to throw 3 rods and reels to the birds but put 2 jelly worms on and got 3 pollock in 15 mins. This sea angling better start to make sense soon. lol Good trip 4 others fishing and as i said did well pollock and eel and some i didnt know what they were.Alot to learn. Seemed to be fishing ok. Nice spot fished at a fishing boat pier at end of town not feery pier further up. Thank you for tips on were. will be back.

What size of an Eel was it Pook???!!!

Hi pookie, I was down at Portaferry last night myself.I fished from 7.30 to 11.30 over the high tide,at the ferry slip.Absolutely dire.Completely blanked ,having missed the only two bites i got.This was in total contrast to last week when i fished over dead low water and had loads of fish.Got so bored that i resorted to cutting up bits of squid and feeding the shoal of small pollack swimming round the jetty,just to see them scrapping over it.I think i will stick to low tide in future when fishing here.Glad to hear someone was catching though.

I fished from 5am to about 10am the fella next to me got the eel he says about 15lb i say about 12 at most. So you think low tide best then. Wish i had of knowen other forum members out.

Tide down there fast what the bottom felt like mud lost 2 waits in it hard to get unstuck all night. Saw the pollock play all day too wierd that if they had of been bigger we both would have had more fun. Keep me updated on around that area nice spot to fish

I always thought it felt more like Stones... But that may just be me!

may well be this is why i ask, all i know is it was hard to get weights back even non gip weights. do you fish there much if so when the best high or low tide. what is the best bait for there and is it hole bait or strips

Hi Pookie, I know what you mean about how hard it can be to retrieve your rigs,but it seems there is a lot of thick kelp out there.I use 30lb line straight through on a penn 535gs and have pulled in large strings of kelp with the anchoring rocks still attached to the roots.Some of these stones have weighed in access of 5lb, and when you include the drag of the kelp,this can put a lot of strain on your end tackle.The 535 gs is a big reel and is teamed up with a Daiwa high performance beach rod.A good powerful set up,and this has ensured no tackle losses so far.As for bait,i normally use a whole Calamari on a pennel rig with size 3/0 Mustad black Aberdeens.I read some reports on another site a while back from a guy called Marty Rogan who reported that he had cod to 6 1/2lb from here.A couple of those in a session would go down quite well,wouldn't you say.

Off Strangford itself?

The place he mentioned was the Walter rock,which is just past the end of the car park that is used by ferry traffic .About 300 yards or so to the right of the ferry ramp.Could be the spot to try for your Co. Down cod?

I read your 2 stuff all the time (shock and k2 ) got to arrange a night or day to fish with you both see and learn the way of the fish.