wicklow harbour , 4-06-09

[eyesreilly]

People:me and the son, fishface and john bunn later.

Duration:4pm-10-30pm

Tide:rising, high at 9pm approx

Weather:fine, calm

Bait:rag,squid,mack

Rigs:mini rigs, 2 hook flappers

Results:ballan wrasse, corkwing wrasse, tompot blenny, flounder, dab, pouting, doggies, ling, scorpion fish, whiting, coalie




Report:With my son heading off in a few weeks to my brother in beautiful British Columbia in Canada i scheduled a trip to Wicklow Harbour to introduce him to a bit of fishing. With great fishing to be had over there in the Fraser river i wanted him to be at least able to put his own worms on hooks etc when he was brought out . What better place to spark a love of fishing than Wicklow Harbour where youre nearly guaranteed to catch fish. When we arrived there were only a couple of guys fishing so we had plenty of room to set up. We set up 3 rods, 1 at distance and the other 2 lighter rods in close for minis, wrasse ,blennys etc , and it wasnt long till he was getting bites and landed his first fish, a scorpion fish, followed by a dab, blennys, ballan wrasse, corkwing wrasse, in all 7 fish in 40 minutes!! I got a bite on the distance rod and landed a nice doggie, which was a nice change from the minis.

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A dad and 2 kids were fishing beside us and as i was explaining to my son that it wasnt luck at all but skill that was landing us fish the little lads, about 6 and 8, were pulling fish up every few mins. I was looking for my first pollack of '09, with no success, but the little lads to my left were landing them, ,,,"Whats this Daddy?",,,"Thats a nice pollack son",,,,,,,,,,"Whats this one called Daddy?",,,,,,"Thats another pollack son". They had 5 in all and i edged closer to where they were and dropped down a rag but it was a quiet stage when the fish stopped biting for a while . Another guy arrived and fished the corner of the pier and after a while i recognised that he was Dave from the site. He had caught a pollack on the first drop after about 30 seconds . "Well done Dave", i said . When Fishface arrived i landed another dog and introduced everybody to everyone else .

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John Bunn arrived and did a bit of spinning for macks but got dogs abuse from Fishface for crossing lines,,,,"Bloody mack bashers" he said to John. Poor John had a(nother) blank .Fishface, who was heading off on his holliers in the morning asked John would he miss him when he was gone?. " Like a boil on my a*se", says John quick as a flash before heading off. The fish came again and we landed more wrasse, and a pouting on the small rods, while i had some dabs and whiting on the distance rod.




Fishface gave me a few rag as i had run out due to using 3 rods at times . I had been using mack on its own on the distance rod but switched to a rag and mack combo . I got a good pull on the line straight away, left it to develop, then lifted into what seemed like a decent fish. Not that i've got that many decent fish, but i usually go quiet when i think theres something decent on. "Anything on Dad?", said my son David,, but i just grunted something back and concentrated on landing the fish. I could feel him pulling left and then right and i had to keep him coming in at a good rate as theres ropes from lobster pots which can snag you if youre too slow. As he came closer to the pier i could see a definite eel-like shape in the water and identified him as a ling. I was absolutely delighted and got a quick couple of pics with him and released him . He was a fine fish, quite powerful to handle, and more importantly, he measured 48 cms, a full 14 cms longer than the one Fishface has spent the last few weeks bragging about to us . This fact provided us with entertainment for the rest of the evening, though in fairness to him , he did get a nice 30 cm coalie as a consolation prize.We fished on till 10-30pm getting some more wrasse whiting and dabs, with Dave pulling in lots of doggies in the corner. A good day,we got plenty of fish,30 plus, had a great bit of banter and in the end i had to drag the son away home in the end. Think i've converted him

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Ps,,,there were a lot of Daves in this report

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Last edited by eyesreilly on Fri Jun 05, 2009 5:08 pm, edited 2 times in total.

more photos

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last pics!!

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Excellent report great fishing and photos,its great that your son has now got the fishing bug I wish my son would do the same,and he has a car

Looked like a great session, well done, what was the bait of the day? Im planning my first session there on Sat. To the hungry among us coalies are delicious, as good as cod. A nice sized one would be worth making a bit o batter for

A serious welldone on the ling Dave, dont remember seeing a report with one caught from the shore before, so I'd say its rare enough.

Havent fished the pier there in quite sometime, had some great sessions there last summer, must get down there soon.

nice mixture of fish boys ,thats the spot i got my one and only ling off the shore a few years back no mean feat you dont see them on many shore reports

Great report Dave, it certainly was a great session last night and good bit of banter as well. It was great to meet up with yourself again and to put faces to a few more names.

Another guy arrived and fished the corner of the pier and after a while i recognised that he was Dave from the site. He had caught a pollack on the first drop after about 30 seconds . "Well done Dave", i said .

I think your Ling more than made up for your lack of Pollack catching skills. I reckon your ling would have had my little pollock for breakfast, it really was a fine fish and certainly something that you don’t often see caught from the shore. Well done. All I could seem to catch no mater what bait or distance was Doggies and the illusive Plaice alluded me once more, although I think I would have settled for a Ling.

I'm glad to hear you converted the other Dave, hope he has a great time over in Canada and more importantly does a bit of fishing while he's over there.

Congrats on the Ling nice mix too

great stuff dave, a nice mix of spicies you's got there.
great report as useal dave an nice pic's too, well done

Great report dave and a great mix of species there . always good reading your reports,you should write a few short stories when the fish aint biting .

blinding session dave the ling's a real achievement from the shore (and bigger than neil's), not that we keep track of such things , and it was good that you all got in on the action . what a mix of species and cracker photos too. sounds like your young lad has been well and truely bitten by the fishing bug . you can now join the club of father's who take their kids fishing and get thrashed by junior welcome to my world .but what's up with john bunn poor guy suffers more blanks than katie price in an I.Q. test excellent session dave. keep em coming

nice pics dave,sweltering here in ibiza, i think that was the ling that i had caught earlier dont they grow quickly, see you when the ban is over , nice to meet the other dave and your son

nice pics dave,sweltering here in ibiza, i think that was the ling that i had caught earlier dont they grow quickly, see you when the ban is over , nice to meet the other dave and your son

If that was your ling it sure grew in the last month Enjoy the heat,,,its freezing and wet here again

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Thanks , rag was the bait i'd say , though i always tip it off with mack or squid. Looking back i could have used even smaller hooks for the minis and smaller pieces of rag.

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Thanks, i enjoy the reports and that was one session that was actually better than the report

Thanks Al, John was only interested in mackeral, though come to think of it i did see him desperately jigging for a mini in close

Thanks for the positive comments lads, got a few pm's re targeting ling but to be honest the ling was a stroke of luck . With the amount of sessions i've had this year, odds are that i'd have to strike it lucky on occassion . I had the big rod out in the hope of a doggie but with deep water there theres always a hope of something different, would have been delighted with a wee pollack though

Nice session eyes! Really good going on the shore caught ling, congrats. I must get a race down to your neck of the world with Al&Jordan 'cus you boys are doing v well

Dave well done on the ling man. That really is a great little spot. But it is possible to blank there


Nice Coal Fish too (FFS)

nice one on the ling!

well done thats a great days fishing with a great report and photos

hi dfella, its only possible to blank there if your name is john bunn