Bloody bridge, Newcastle, Co Down Week of 27/1

People: me

Duration: three trips about 3-4 hours each all in darkness

Tide: ebb and flood

Weather: mixed

Bait: fresh rag and lug and frozen black lug

Rigs: pulley pennells

Results: 1 codling about 2 lbs.




Report: First trip was on Sunday 27/1 a nice calm evening fished 3 hours of the ebb. I had 2 good bites one of which i missed and one hooked. This was a really good fish. Had it on for 10-15 secs before it got into the reef and that was the end of that. I have convinced myself it was a good cod but it might have been a conger as this mark is well know for them, but would one take a big bunch of fresh rag? This wetted my appetite so i decided to try another couple of trips in the coming week. Unfortunately the weather was poor and i was only able to get out on the following Wednesday in a strong SW and then Tuesday of this week in a strong NW both fishable winds on these ledges. Wednesday threw up the only fish of the three trips landed, a 2 lb codling. Back on Tuesday and hooked another decent fish but again lost it on the reefs. I fished 2 rock promontarys beside each other which close in is very rough ground but with a decent cast you reach more broken ground but the problem is you often snag the really rough stuff on the way in. Really only fishable a couple of hours either side of high water when there is enough water to get over the reefs. There are lots of other marks on this stretch of coast which admiralty charts show for about a 1-2 mile section deep water can be reached. Hopefully i'll find a couple which are easier to fish. Convinced there are good sized cod to be had here, but at these first two marks getting them in is the problem. I was only getting back about half tackle intact.

that sounds like great determination - hopefully the fish will oblige for you in your mark searching

tight lines

no, driving from co. down to the estuary for a day trip is determination!!!

Thanks for the comments. Hi Gearoid, hopefully get down to the estuary in the coming months.

Fair play to you FMCN, going from your previous posts your not afraid of putting the miles in to get a bit of fishing

Yea i enjoy getting around the country, trying different marks, targetting new species and meeting up with people from the site.