Wicklow Pier 23/05/08

People: Just me

Duration: 15.30 - 22.00

Tide: HW around 15.30

Weather: Fine, sunny, flat calm sea, changed to cool, small shower, choppy sea

Bait: Sandeel, Squid, Mack, Rag, Lug, Mussel

Rigs: Pulley, 2 Hook & 3 Hook Flappers, Lures, Float setup

Results: 28 fish - Doggies (9), Whiting (6), Dabs (2), Pollock (9), Gurnard (1), Poor Cod (1) - atleast I think thats what it was, Lobster (1),




Report:
After being starved of fishing due to work commitments over the last 2 weeks I was desperate to get out so I turned the phone off, locked up the office and duly packed the gear into the car.

Dont know why but I was drawn by some mysterious force to Wicklow Pier, entirely against my better judgement I might add given that everybody says it only fishes well into darkness.

Arrived to park the car and didnt think there was many cars around so was looking forward to the pier being quiet, got to the end of the inner pier wall turned the corner :shock: :shock: :shock:

10 or so Mack bashers throwing lines everywhere, ah well atleast I would have a bit of company I thought :idea:

Made my way approx half way down the pier and set up a 1 hook pulley size 2/0, baited up with squid and mack and belted it out as far as I could, I had to make a quick 3 hook flapper as I had no rigs prepared given the inpromtu session, didnt take long and had the 3 hook out with mack, squid and rag on each hook.

The 3 hooker had only been in the water around 5 minutes before the tip started going.

Looking good I thought, might'nt be a bad afternoon after all, struck in and had a small dab - he had taken the hook baited with mackerel.

Re-baited and cast back into the same spot.

All quiet for 1/2 an hour or so, for me atleast, the mack bashers were pulling in 3's and 4's on regular casts.

Got a good knock on the pulley, looked like a doggie bite, and sure enough a doggie it was I reeled in, put up a good scrap aswell.

So first 45 minutes 2 fish, I expected worse TBH with the activity on the pier, a falling tide and daylight :roll: :roll: :roll:

After seeing a few pollock being caught to my left I swapped the 3 hooker to my beachcasting rod, and used my spinning rod for a bit of spinning (instead of scratching). 45 minutes of this produced nothing.

Made a quick 2 hook flapper and put that out on the spinning rod, 5 baited hooks out there now, surely if there are fish around, they gotta hit my scent trail I was thinking, seemd to work and all.

Had a steady stream of fish for the next hour or so, to the delight of a little girl who had not long set up to my right with her father. She caught her first ever fish (a small pollock, on shrimp) which was great to see, she's definately hooked :lol: :lol: :lol:

The mack bashers had started to dwindle as the evening wore on, and it was nice to have a bit of peace and quite.......until the life boat decided to go out for a spin......boy are they noisey f*****s ( the engines that is, not the lifeguards).

Had fancied a change of tactics as was getting a bit sick of the doggies and whiting, so pulled in the small rod and put a float set up on, and just dropped it in 5 yards out, baited with rag in the hope of a wrasse.

Within seconds the float was under, struck, reeled in, small pollock was the result. Would pollock take rag?! I was unsure, so in the hope of a better pollock this time I put on a sandeel. The sandeel wasnt touched, strange that, I though Pollock love sandeel :?

Re-baited the float with rag, just to see if the first one caught was a fluke, no fluke, float was under again within 30 seconds. Reeled in another smallish pollock. Re-baited with rag, same again, instant bite, small pollock the result.

I then tried a bit of mussel on the float, 10 minutes later it was still untouched, so trying to prove my theory that I was catching a pollock on rag every cast wrong, had only proved right. It continued this way for the next hour.

I then tried lug on the float, another fish, poorcod I think, but someone here will help identify it I'm sure ( i hope it was a poor cod anyway becuase it will be a new species for me if it is :wink: )

All the while the float set up had kept me busy the beachcaster had not had so much as a twitch.

I was about to reel in to re-bait, when I noticed a small tap, reeled in to find a small gurnard on the end (another new species, but not sure if its a red or grey, again someone here can help hopefully :?: )

A couple more fish on the float, a near miss reeling in, with a seal trying for my best pollock of the day ( around 1 1/2 lb), I got the fish in safely though.....just :o

The light was now starting to fade, and the chop on the sea was making it difficult to fish the float, and after a long session I didnt have the patience to re-rig again, so decided to call it a day.

Was packing down the float setup when I noticed a few small bites on the big rod.

I struck in, and started retrieving what felt like a double doggie, due to its dead weight. It was a struggle to lift it up onto the pier, due to the weight, and I was somewhat disappointed to see a large clump of weed and no fish. I went to grab the weed of the line and nearly jumped out of my skin with fright :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: .........2 great big claws went for me......a Lobster....I couldnt believe my eyes :roll:

A good size to, now I dont know what the regulations are about catching/keeping lobster, but this fella was definatley for the dinner table. I did check under his/her tail to ensure it was male (I think) and not carrying any eggs, so I hope I was ok to take it :wink: It was a good 14/15 inches long (the body that is, longer with the claws).

So all in all not a bad session, 2 new species (poor cod and gurnard) and a cracking lobster for the pot.

Much more than I expected, and it just goes to show, I followed my first instinct of where to fish, and wasnt too but off by the factors against me. It worked :!: :!: :!:

I didnt bother with pics of the whiting, dabs, doggies or pollock, we see them all the time, but thought the others might be worth a look

sounds like a cracking session! , first fish look like a pollock, protruding lower lip

had one like that:





below is pic of pout ( top ), poor cod bottom, taken from the mini species guide on this site.





not sure about the other one?

lateral line says pollack

Thanks lads, sounds like its a Pollock then :(

Dont know how, but I seem to have duplicated my shore report :?

Cracking session well done :)

thanks saltydog, i sure was kept busy, and really enjoyed it.

got new species with the gurnard aswell, so happy days :D :D :D