donaghadee harbour (again) mon 27th april 09

People: just me

Duration: 5pm - 3am

Tide: low past high

Weather: dry, no wind but cold

Bait: rag, lug, mack, prawn and squid

Rigs: flappers

Results: 2 coalies, 1 shore rockling, 1 pouting and 1 doggie.




Report: after checking the tides and recent reports i decided to give it a go to fish it from low tide to high. the flood coincided with dusk so hopes were high of a good session. how wrong i was . it started off ok with a little coalie at dusk and then nothing for hours. another angler arrived and set up fishing over the back wall, but he went home fishless after 5 hours. i got another little coalie and then it went dead again . i was spurred on when paulybo from the site arrived with dave and lewis. now i could see if it was my poor fishing that was'nt getting me any fish or was it the fish that were just not feeding . but unfortunately it was'nt just me. there were 7 rods out between us covering the mouth of the harbour and the fish were still just as scarse more hours went by than i'd like to mention and all we had to show for our efforts was a tiny wee shore rockling that i got and a nice wee doggie that paul landed. when the guy fishing the back wall was leaving he gave me his left over bait. so after paul, dave and lewis left i fished on determined not to go until i got a fish or ran out of bait . there were still no bites until around 1am when i got a wee pouting which gave me another confidence boost. there were fish out there , something i was beginning to doubt . then nothing until around 2am when i was down to my last 3 big juicy lug. i carefully threaded them all up the snood of the bottom hook on the trace to put out the maximum ammount of scent in the area i was fishing. so with the bell on the rod tip i began packing away the rest of my gear and waited for over half an hour until i got a slack line bite. . finally, sucess!!! there was weight on the end and it was fighting i was thinking it might be another coalie like the one jordan got the other night, but was suprised when a very lively doggie broke the surface . he was a wriggler with plenty of life in him. so much so, he would'nt stay still long enough to get a decent pic. so he was rerurned and swam straight down with no haste . by now i was out of bait and knackered to boot so headed for home. i was suprised how poor the fishing was at a mark that always seems to produce the goods. so i think i'll give it a break until a new cycle of tides comes in next week. but at least i did't blank again

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Well done for sticking it out - that was a long session but at least you got a few fish to show for it.

you put in a lot of hours on that session al' and like you said you never blanked so fair play to you for sticking it out and getting some results
love the pic of the dogie, he has some nice dark patch's on him. well done mate.....

Well Al look on the bright side the fishing was obviously tough if the other lads weren't cathing yet you still managed to pull out some fish and a few species that deserves a pat on the back well done

well done al on stickin it out that was a long enough session but at least you didnt blank and thats a mean lookin mutt................bryan.............

Top marks for perseverence mate

The Dee seems to be very hit and miss recently

WEll done Al very nice result. The coalies and all

yiz done well, men. nice.

Nice one Al on at least getting a few fish. Fished it on saturday morning and caught nout in 3 hours not like the dee at all.

ten hour session,bit of a short one for you al good that you got out though!and at least jordan was not out to show you up well done on the fish!

fair play to you, not a bad result there and by your standard's it was'nt a long session . it's good to catch on the home turf when the goings tough,waterfoot saved me last saturday night . lovley wee photo of the doggie (weird eye).......

Well done for sticking it out - that was a long session but at least you got a few fish to show for it.

cheers frank. i don't think i could have taken another blank

you put in a lot of hours on that session al' and like you said you never blanked so fair play to you for sticking it out and getting some results
love the pic of the dogie, he has some nice dark patch's on him. well done mate.....

cheers don. i would have been away earlier only that other angler gave me his left over bait . and the dogs markings were the best i've seen from that mark in a while. it was as sandy as the one paul got earlier in the night which is unusual at this mark as they are almost always nearly black

Well Al look on the bright side the fishing was obviously tough if the other lads weren't cathing yet you still managed to pull out some fish and a few species that deserves a pat on the back well done

cheers conor, the old trio of rods can make a slow session that bit more bareable

well done al on stickin it out that was a long enough session but at least you didnt blank and thats a mean lookin mutt................bryan.............

cheers bryan. he really did'nt seem too impressed with me in that shot it's the sort of look i see drunk blokes give each other as they're about to knock seven bells outta each other in work

Top marks for perseverence mate
The Dee seems to be very hit and miss recently

i know man, that's why i headed down while it was still light. i was expecting to get a few wrasse. but they all seem to have disappeared

WEll done Al very nice result. The coalies and all

next time i get some i'll direct them down your way

yiz done well, men. nice.

cheers man. it sure beats blanking

Nice one Al on at least getting a few fish. Fished it on saturday morning and caught nout in 3 hours not like the dee at all.

cheers jonny. i don't know whats up with this mark at the moment it's usually always a safe bet. what was odd too was that all the usual birds that dive around the harbour were fishless too. normally they taunt you by popping up every 5 mins with a small fish in their beak. but they were there for hours and i watched them for a bit and they had worse luck than us

ten hour session,bit of a short one for you al good that you got out though!and at least jordan was not out to show you up well done on the fish!

i was determined to catch something. i honestly thought my recent run of bad luck was following me to one of my tried and tested marks and if shorty had of been there i'll bet he would have shown me up by pulling a biggie outta the bag

fair play to you, not a bad result there and by your standard's it was'nt a long session . it's good to catch on the home turf when the goings tough,waterfoot saved me last saturday night . lovley wee photo of the doggie (weird eye).......

cheers minty. just good to get back into the swing of things again . and if looks could kill, that dog had me dead and buried but i know one of yas would have made nice sandwiches for the wake

Nice going Al, god to see the Dee is producing a few fish. Nice to see a few dogs about it, I definitely need to get out for a go shortly.

Well done mate have to hit that spot someday looks like it can turn up some nice fish

well done for sticking it out al. im sure it was cold too! nice pic of the doggie

Nice going Al, god to see the Dee is producing a few fish. Nice to see a few dogs about it, I definitely need to get out for a go shortly.

cheers man, are you getting withdrawll symptoms??

Well done mate have to hit that spot someday looks like it can turn up some nice fish

no problem tony, if you ever want to get a run up this way i'll take you round a few spots and try to put you onto some fish. you're more than welcome man

well done for sticking it out al. im sure it was cold too! nice pic of the doggie

cheers stevie. it got bitterly cold once the sun went down. i was just glad when thick cloud cover came in and the temp went up a bit. that was the only pic of the dog that was worth posting outta the 5 i had taken he was so lively