donaghadee harbour wed 22nd april

People: me and jordan

Duration: 4pm - 8.30pm

Tide: flooding back in

Weather: dry but blowing a gale

Bait: mack and lug

Rigs: 3 hook flappers

Results: ME: 1 shore rockling, 1 coalie and the elusive donaghadee flounder . JORDAN: 1 coalie



Report: after all the recent blanks at new marks it's been a week of returning to our tried and tested spots up and down the coast to get a few fish . donaghadee has been fishing well during the day lately as the wrasse have returned. so it was a quick run down the coast after school for me and shorty. we arrived to find the sea was quite rough so i did'nt hold out too much hope of having another session like i did the other morning . but we fished on regardless anyway. i had 2 rods out with 3 hook flappers and jordan tried the float. he soon changed over to 3 hook flappers himself as the swell and wind made float fishing almost impossible. but this method was'nt much better as the wind was nodding the rod tips in all directions we missed more bites than we hit, but at least they were coming at a steady rate . then after loads of timid bites both my rods started bouncing away. the first rod had a very porky shore rockling attached to the end and to my suprise the second was fish was the long sought after donaghadee flounder . we've fished this mark over 200 times in the last 3 years and i've only ever seen 4 flounder taken at it. so i was made up at finally getting one . then not to be out done, jordan hooked into something that was putting up a bit of a fight, zipping about from side to side in the water. he thought it might be an early mackie, but was even more happy to reel in a nice 38cm coalie . at first glance he estimated it to be around a pound and a half. but the digital scales put it at 1lb on the button . it's funny how we anglers always over estimate the weight of catches , but the scales don't lie not much else to report really. what we lacked in quantity, we more than made up for in quality . jordans coalie had taken the hook very deep and did'nt make the return, so i'll have to make up some beer batter tonight and cut some chips . it was just good to get back to our regular spot and boost the old confidence again. for a while there i was thinking i'd lost me mojo
just as a side note, jordan's class was on a trip to crawfordsburn country park yesterday and he was in his element when they were taken to do a bit of beach combing and rooting around rock pools. they found what jordan thought was a mermaids purse (a doggie egg pouch). but was shocked to be told it was a ray purse . jordan was adament that there are no rays left in the lough and almost started a bloody row . but when they went up to the educational centre they have a tank full of what has been found stranded in the pools on the beach and there is a little raymond no bigger than an adult's hand swimming happily around in it . so there might be a glimmer of hope yet in rays making a comeback to the lough in a few years time if all goes well for them

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great report lads, theres some markings on that flounder

well done on the flounder have fished there for years and the only flat fish ive had was a tiny dab a couple of years ago it never fails to throw up surprises good news on the thornbacks as well

nice report there al and well done on the flounder and thats a nice coalie jordan got.tight lines bryan

great report Al,
Aaaaaa!!!!!! stout & flour the best mix you can get
nice session guys an pic's keep it up.....

Well done lads, glad to hear you have put the blanking behind you Al, and well done on getting the elusive flounder. Nice coalfish - hope it tastes good in batter
I don't know what happened to the coalfish on the south coast this year. Early last year when I was new to baiting fishing I was catching up to 4 almost every time I went out but this year I only caught one

Nice session guys good to see the blank put to bed Al nice plump rockling and deep markings on the flounder, well done to Jordan thats a nice coalie too they're a hard hitting fish good news on the Ray front hopefully they will recover and start showing for ye again....

Well done Al and Jordan.

good man al. great report sir and interesting about the rays. There is a bit of talk about a few rays being left in the lough. I think back in the day the lough used to be a huge nursery for a wide range of species.

cant beat an ole confidence boosting mark close to home as well. well done.

You should fish the comp now and bring some of those coalies with ya hehe

That's a good sized Coalie for the nipper. Well done. How did he taste in the beer batter?? Although is it wise to advertise the fact that you actually took something home from shore fishing around here?? Sure, next you'll have Ahab questioning your ethnicity!!

Well done lads thats some result with the flounder and a pan sized coalie, you'll be forgeting those blanks when you're tucking into the fish and chips

Well done lads,Great report and cracking photo's as usual.

Paddy

Good session lads

Good report Al, well done on the elusive Dee flounder and well done to Jordan, thats a nice sized coalie .

for a while there i was thinking i'd lost me mojo

You,,,, losing your Mojo,,,Ooooh,,,,behaaaave

[quote="alandjordan"]

Nice flounder and Coalie. Very interesting to hear about the Ray.

An really nice older lady stopped one night on the dee pier and started talking to me about fishing. I was really superised to hear the way she talked about fish. It turned out she used to be in Bangor Angling Club and she proceeded to tell me stories of smoothies and other species they used to get in the lough before the trawlers wiped them out

Nice flounder and Coalie. Very interesting to hear about the Ray.
An really nice older lady stopped one night on the dee pier and started talking to me about fishing. I was really superised to hear the way she talked about fish. It turned out she used to be in Bangor Angling Club and she proceeded to tell me stories of smoothies and other species they used to get in the lough before the trawlers wiped them out

good man al. great report sir and interesting about the rays. There is a bit of talk about a few rays being left in the lough. I think back in the day the lough used to be a huge nursery for a wide range of species.
cant beat an ole confidence boosting mark close to home as well. well done.
You should fish the comp now and bring some of those coalies with ya hehe

cheers stevie and jonny. there might be hope for the raymonds yet i remembered jonny gilbert mentioning something about seeing hollows at a very low tide on the carrick side of the lough a while back. he reckoned it was spots where the rays were lying up so there may still be hope for them yet . provided that is that they avoid all the dredgers in the lough

great report lads, theres some markings on that flounder

nice report there al and well done on the flounder and thats a nice coalie jordan got.tight lines bryan

Well done Al and Jordan.

Well done lads,Great report and cracking photo's as usual.
Paddy

Good session lads

cheers lads, it was just good to be catching again

well done on the flounder have fished there for years and the only flat fish ive had was a tiny dab a couple of years ago it never fails to throw up surprises good news on the thornbacks as well

Well done lads thats some result with the flounder and a pan sized coalie, you'll be forgeting those blanks when you're tucking into the fish and chips

That's a good sized Coalie for the nipper. Well done. How did he taste in the beer batter?? Although is it wise to advertise the fact that you actually took something home from shore fishing around here?? Sure, next you'll have Ahab questioning your ethnicity!!

Well done lads, glad to hear you have put the blanking behind you Al, and well done on getting the elusive flounder. Nice coalfish - hope it tastes good in batter
I don't know what happened to the coalfish on the south coast this year. Early last year when I was new to baiting fishing I was catching up to 4 almost every time I went out but this year I only caught one

great report Al,
Aaaaaa!!!!!! stout & flour the best mix you can get
nice session guys an pic's keep it up.....

thanks lads, the coalie was lovely in batter . it's been a while since we've even had a fish worthy of taking home for the table . just a sign of how tight it is at the moment if we get a fish over the pound mark it's a bit af an oddity that's why we've been using spinning rods to fish with lately. what's the point in skull dragging out 8oz fish with beach casters that can chuck 6ozs of lead at least on light gear a 1lb coalie or 2lb doggie puts up a monster scrap you can really enjoy . and as far as C&R goes, we only take home the odd fish, about 92% of what we get goes back to swim another day. all down to personal choice really bring on the mackeral yum, yum, yum!!!!!!!!!

Good report Al, well done on the elusive Dee flounder and well done to Jordan, thats a nice sized coalie .
you,,,, losing your Mojo,,,Ooooh,,,,behaaaave

Nice session guys good to see the blank put to bed Al nice plump rockling and deep markings on the flounder, well done to Jordan thats a nice coalie too they're a hard hitting fish good news on the Ray front hopefully they will recover and start showing for ye again....

cheers conor. other than the odd doggie, most of what's being ccaught on our stretch of coast is too wee to put up a fight. if fact they're lucky if they can even dislodge the 4oz lead off the sea bed

I totally agree with your last post Al, my beachcaster hasn't got used in years. I bought a lovely carp rod a couple of years back and its a great all round rod. I even use it when beach fishing, most people don't give a fish like a flounder a chance to put up a scrap as they are just hauling them in along with a lump of lead but on light gear they put up an enjoyable fight. I have to experience the sporting aspect of fishing or i'm just not interested. Unfortunately most of the fish on our shores are on the small side, so why not scale your gear done? All species of fish will put up a fight if you scale down.

Well done on the Flounder A&J, Where did u pick it up? Usually find that the cleaner ground just off the first band of weed will produce the odd rogue Flounder.... Suppose I may get my arse into gear and get down there if the fishing is starting to pick up, as this will probably be my last year fishing it.

Well done on the Flounder A&J, Where did u pick it up? Usually find that the cleaner ground just off the first band of weed will produce the odd rogue Flounder.... Suppose I may get my arse into gear and get down there if the fishing is starting to pick up, as this will probably be my last year fishing it.

how come, you giving up the fishing

I totally agree with your last post Al, my beachcaster hasn't got used in years. I bought a lovely carp rod a couple of years back and its a great all round rod. I even use it when beach fishing, most people don't give a fish like a flounder a chance to put up a scrap as they are just hauling them in along with a lump of lead but on light gear they put up an enjoyable fight. I have to experience the sporting aspect of fishing or i'm just not interested. Unfortunately most of the fish on our shores are on the small side, so why not scale your gear done? All species of fish will put up a fight if you scale down.

well seeing as most of the marks we fish the fish are no more than 30 yards out why would you use a big beach caster to pull in 8oz fish i see countless other anglers lobbing a 5oz rig 100+ yards out and not even get a nibble while our wee £20 spinning kits are hauling in fish after fish just below our feet

Well done on the Flounder A&J, Where did u pick it up? Usually find that the cleaner ground just off the first band of weed will produce the odd rogue Flounder.... Suppose I may get my arse into gear and get down there if the fishing is starting to pick up, as this will probably be my last year fishing it.

just got him in the middle of the 2 piers drew. you're not packing it in are you????????. i remember you were selling off some of your gear a while back, but i thought you were having a spring clean