bangor harbour mon 20th july mackie madness and mini mayhem

People: just me

Duration: noon to 9pm

Tide: on the drop back up to near high

Weather: between the torrential downpours lovely sun and calm seas

Bait: rag and feathers

Rigs: mini size 4, 3 hook flappers

Results: 9 corkwing wrasse, 8 shannys, 7 mackeral (landed), 7 ballan wrasse, 6 long spined sea scorpions, 3 shore rockling and 3 pollack




Report: i was back out again at a local mark trying to stay within my target of 120 trips in 2009. bangor's not only handy for distance from our house but it a handy place to park too where you don't have to walk any distance from the car to get fishing . i was glad to see patchy, but heavy rain forecast in bursts for the afternoon as i knew it would put the mackie bashers off and give me room to fish at my chosen spots around the harbour . it's a cracking wee place to fish as the rise and fall of the tide makes different spots around the harbour fish at different states of the tide. and if you know where to fish and when to fish it, this mark is a guaranteed blank breaker . i started off on the back of the breakwater on the eisenhower pier when the water dropped low enough to get down onto the grills. i had the place to myself and did'nt see another angler until an indian lad came and set up beside me with a set of feathers. i soon realised he was new to angling and was looking a bit of help so i showed him how to rig up and gave him a heavier lead for his feathers as he only had a 1oz lead. the 3ozs gave him a far better cast and we chatted for a bit before he headed off home. i got back to fishing between the rocks for a bash at the minis while casting a set of feathers for some mack for the freezer. both the mini rod and feathers were getting knocks with fish coming thick and fast i decided to fish on with the feathers and watch the mini rod tip. once the mini got a knock i put the spinning rod down and reeled in whatever was on the end of the mini rig. this method proved to be very sucessful landing fish after fish on both rods . the only problem was that i was loosing more of the mackeral down the grills as their mini siezures had them throwing the hook once out of the water, but i was'nt complaining as it was great craic when the tide forced me off the grills i went on around to another spot in the harbour that only fishes at high tide and got about 10 wrasse in 30 mins they were gobbling my rag worm with true gusto and quickly went through about half a pound in an hour. it was class and 2 other anglers came over to see how i was getting so many so quickly, so i showed them where my bait was at in only 3ft of water and they were amazed to watch about 8 different fish fighting for the worms all at once . but they had mackeral in mind so i pointed out a good mackie spot for them to fish at high tide and they went over and started spinning. so if you are reading this guys i hope you got a few before i left i took a look over the back of the eisenhower pier and there was a lot of mackeral being taken on feathers and i did ok myself for them too getting 5 worth taking home and 2 joeys which i put back to grow a bit bigger. i must have lost about 10 falling through the grills, but that's fishing for ya

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nice one on the mini's al, and its always good to get a few mac; for fresh bait ( and the pan)
great report and pic's as useal al, well done.
ps were was the wee man ?

jesus alan,120 trips in 2009 thats just not fair! well done on the fishing by the way

well done al great selection of fish,bet the small man is jealous

7 species in one session, well done man looks like a good day out.

Well done Al, thats a nice mixed bag of different species sounds like a cracking session.I think i might try bangor some time soon as shannon wants to catch something new she said

Paddy

Well done that's some session, love the bit were you say ( An Indian lad came and set up beside me with a set of feathers) How

well done mate nice session

Great session Al. Lovely gill markings on that first corkwing, quite stunning!

Well done Al, seems like you had the same idea as me yesterday , a day at the pier Had the chance to see real madrid (put on the council yellow jacket and get in as ground staff ) but some leftover bait made up my mind for me and i went to wicklow harbour instead

Any mackeral fair play to ya for getting out was out today for some hounds too much wind and weed ya should always watch the weather before heading out

120 trips!!!! That would be impressive- wish I could even get close to that. Nice corkwing wrasse there too. The colours on them really are hard to beat. Superb report and well done on the session.

Well done Al nice session

nice one on the mini's al, and its always good to get a few mac; for fresh bait ( and the pan)
great report and pic's as useal al, well done.
ps were was the wee man ?

#

thanks don, he was saving himself for today gonna head out in search of some mackies. 2 light spinning rods, 10lb line and let the madness commense

jesus alan,120 trips in 2009 thats just not fair! well done on the fishing by the way

cheers doggie, we're well on our way to making our target 71 sessions so far this year and counting

well done al great selection of fish,bet the small man is jealous

cheers man, he's on a bit of a mackie bashing phase at the moment. if only they grew to about 5lb i would be happy to be called a mackie addict but 5 single 1lb mackies on a set of feathers all zipping about in different directions will have to do, they're great sport

7 species in one session, well done man looks like a good day out.

all great sport on light tackle, plus you stand the chance of the odd big fell taking the hook intended for the minis a 2lb wrasse on 6lb line and a cheap £5 fiberglass rod is amazing. espically when you consider a 2oz lead almost buckles the rod without a fish on it to begin with

Well done Al, thats a nice mixed bag of different species sounds like a cracking session.I think i might try bangor some time soon as shannon wants to catch something new she said
Paddy

cheers paddy. you should tie in with us for a session at bangor we're going down there today again. if you're free you and shannon should get a run down and we'll take you around the harbour and show you a couple of spots where you can get a few new species to boost your species list for 2009 failing that just let me know when you're free again and we could meet you there . guaranteed blank breaker

Well done that's some session, love the bit were you say ( An Indian lad came and set up beside me with a set of feathers) How

yeah i think he wanted to fish my spot,,,,,,,, said something about having reservations

well done mate nice session

cheers man. it's a far cry from all the blanking we were doing 3 months ago

Great session Al. Lovely gill markings on that first corkwing, quite stunning!

thanks fenster. i nearly wet myself laughing at 3 lads in their 20's who hooked one of them and none of them would touch it as they thought the neon blue indicated that corkwing wrasse were poisonous you should have seen the look on their faces when i went over and held it in my hand to unhook it . i think they were confusing it with a weever or something

Well done Al, seems like you had the same idea as me yesterday , a day at the pier Had the chance to see real madrid (put on the council yellow jacket and get in as ground staff ) but some leftover bait made up my mind for me and i went to wicklow harbour instead

thanks dave. football or fishing.....,,,,,,,,,,. no contest, fishing all the way besides that's what dvd recorders and sky plus boxes are for fish first and watch the footie later

Any mackeral fair play to ya for getting out was out today for some hounds too much wind and weed ya should always watch the weather before heading out

preeching to the choir man our life's seem to revolve around tide tables, weather and swell forecasts

120 trips!!!! That would be impressive- wish I could even get close to that. Nice corkwing wrasse there too. The colours on them really are hard to beat. Superb report and well done on the session.

cheers mate. they would'nt look outta place in a fish tank. i could'nt believe we had such colourful fish around our shores when we first started sea fishing we still have to get a cuckoo wrasse yet and the male's colours are really amazing. can't wait to get that one on the species list

Well done Al nice session

cheers conor, plenty to keep me busy

cheers paddy. you should tie in with us for a session at bangor we're going down there today again. if you're free you and shannon should get a run down and we'll take you around the harbour and show you a couple of spots where you can get a few new species to boost your species list for 2009 failing that just let me know when you're free again and we could meet you there . guaranteed blank breaker

Nice 1 Al,Shannon and me will certainly meet up with you both soon for a session It will probably be torwards the end of the week mate,i'll let you know when i can get things organized.

Paddy

jeeeeees bangor is only up the road tey i pass it to go to orlock. . .gonna have to stop off someday at the peir and wet me rods

nice pics

nice goin al thats a cracker session you had there and well done on the mini's as well.............. tight lines .bryan........................

Nice fishing guys. I'm from Bangor originally and learnt how to fish on the old wooden North Pier.

I haven't worked out the new pier yet. Plenty of mini whiting & pollack but thats about it.

this is probbly my closest mark too, and im not having good results of it, im pretty new to sea fishing and the last 3 time ive been out my fishing buddy blanked and i think he is losing intrest, go on do us a big favour if u get a min and do a diagram of the harbour and where best to fish for what species plz, was out there last saturday and was fishin a 3 hook flapper with mack and sand eels and spend most of teh day feeding the crabs, i need to get a good session myself and more importantly i need my mate to catch a fish other than a mack, ur suggestions fellas plz ???

super session al love those fresh macks yum, mine never make it to the freezer the pan gets em first