wicklow harbour , 8-05-09

[eyesreilly]

People:me and fishface

Duration:4-30pm-9-30pm(neil 6-30pm-9-30pm)

Tide:rising

Weather:fine

Bait:rag,mack

Rigs:flappers, mini rigs

Results:me; corkwing wrasse, ballan wrasse,, sea scorpion, pouting, blenny
Neil; ling , sea scorpion, ballen wrasse, corkwing wrasse, whiting




Report:After driving through heavy rain on the way down I was delighted to find Wicklow Harbour dry (well , not the Harbour itself ) and with a westerly wind blowing it was a relief to walk around the end of the pier and get shelter behind the wall. It ended up a beautiful evening. I set up with 2 rods at first but just used the spinning rod once Neil arrived and the " species hunt" began. Before that I spent 2 hours staring at 2 motionless rod tips . Neil set up and started going on about his latest new rig, with wire booms, which he said would attract fish due to their electrical field ."Is that right?", i said stifling a laugh and cast out my single hook mini rig baited with rag. 30 seconds later, no joke, Neil pulls in a small wrasse, a corkwing .

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"Like to try one?", he said, and i put one on and felt bites straight away, my first bites of the session. After that we both caught more wrasse, ballan and corkwing ,and scorpion fish, but we were getting snagged a lot in that spot so we moved about 30 yds or so. More lost rigs later and after a walkers dog narrowly avoided being hooked by a trace on the ground by our gear (sound familiar anyone?) we moved up nearer the corner of the pier. The dog owner told us that the ropes holding lobster pots would eventually drift near the pier and that was probably what was snagging us. The wrasse were getting a bit bigger now and Neil pulled in a nice one about 24cms and chunky.This was the best fish up to that point and I was delighted when I got a nice corkwing and than a ballan of 26cms to beat his .

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My joy was short lived when he had a decent bite and pulled in a nice shore rockling(i presume?) of 34cms, definitely the fish of the session .

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A nice pouting took my bait next . We lost count of the fish at that stage but who cares, it was great to be sitting there getting plenty of bites and little scraps, and some decent ones too.

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In all we caught, ballan wrasse, corkwing wrasse, shore rockling, pouting and a blenny with Neil catching more fish (whos counting ), but with honours even with 5 species each . A ballan wrasse drew blood from Neil (careful of those spines ), and the shore rockling bit into his finger (thats too bad!! ).

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Saw some lads jigging (that doesnt sound too good ) with feathers and pulling up tiny pollock and i was tempted to try that to add to my species tally but i'm not that desperate yet,,,,,,,,,,,or am I??

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Last edited by eyesreilly on Sat May 09, 2009 1:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

more pics!

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nice haul. good pics too!

great session/report and pic's, well done guys

could not move up this way cos' this weather is madness
but going to drive down to fahan shorty to have a look and see what its like, and hopeing i can get a few casts

Hi there,
I may be wrong but the shore rockling looks like a ling.
so maybe you can add another species, I'm sure someone will
let you know for sure.

that shore rockling is a ling the species normaly got in deeper water

yea i was thinking it was a ling myself,
well done dave, another 1 for the list

Nice one on the ling.

The Blenny looks like a Tompot Blenny rather than a Common Blenny/Shanny judging by the colouration around the pectoral fins. Its hard to tell as the rest of the fish is quite dark though in the photo. Could be another species for you.

Hi there,
I may be wrong but the shore rockling looks like a ling.
so maybe you can add another species, I'm sure someone will
let you know for sure.

yea i was thinking it was a ling myself,
well done dave, another 1 for the list

that shore rockling is a ling the species normaly got in deeper water

Thanks lads, Neil caught the ling, think he said it was a ling at the time ,,,,i got some shore rockling there last week and they were smaller and a darker colour.

Nice one on the ling.

The Blenny looks like a Tompot Blenny rather than a Common Blenny/Shanny judging by the colouration around the pectoral fins. Its hard to tell as the rest of the fish is quite dark though in the photo. Could be another species for you.

Does this pic help?

blenny2 (Medium).jpg

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Good mix of species there! So if you use a boat rig you'll catch wreck species eh? Good thinking Mick

Nice session eyes

Good to see a variety of species as well

thats definately a ling and the first ive ever seen caught from the shore well done. thats a great venue for throwing up the species

and thats a tompot too

thats great fishing eyes,but whos leading the species count now?

thats great fishing eyes,but whos leading the species count now?

Lucky for me Fishface doesnt keep count

Well done Dave, nice variety there. Interesting that a ling was caught from the shore - so that is what they look like. I must try for a few new species myself after the 15th. Although I was thinking of trying a new mark tomorrow afternoon - I have a feeling it might throw up a bit of variety.

well done eyes niceone on the ling not that uncommon of the tho i'v had them off the 40ft to 4half pound

Dave definately a Tompot nice one

If you go to the Site Species' Hunts and Competitions scroll down too Guide to species and mini species there is a very helpful downloadable guide on mini species done by Ronald.

Great mixed bag there well done lads and congrats Neil on the Ling