donegal pier 01.09.09

People:me and davie

Duration:3 hrs

Tide:falling

Weather: mild

Bait:salted mackeral

Rigs:pulley, flapper

Results:7 dogfish, 1 three bearded rockling 37cm




Report: Ok so it may be a little unortodox using salted mackeral as opposed to fresh or frozen but davie(new to sea fishing) brought the bait and an old guy he knows told him to prepare the bait this way as it should toughen it up, stay on the hook better and be better condition than thawed out mackeral. To be honest I was a little eager to see how it would perform and ot did the trick We headed to a handy local pier hoping for a few thornies and we started off the evening very slow for the first hour with nothing but a few soft urchin type things grabbing bait until darkness fell, then it was a doggie feast and amidst the relative joy of not blanking I landed a lovely plump cute looking three bearded rockling at 37cm, beating my previous pm by 4cm , what size do these things grow to, how do you target them specifically, anything else I should know etc.

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intresting that the salted macky worked,but doggies are not that fussy the record three bearded rockling is 3lb 1oz caught in arklow,the specimen weight is 1.75lb,my mate jason had a specimen one a few months ago,but put it back because he would have had to kill it to get the paperwork. you normally get them at night of piers or rock marks.free line belly of mackerel or sandeel,hook size 1-4 should do the trick.

Thats a nice Rockling I've used salted mackerel a few years ago got plenty of dogfish & red Crab on it.

i got my biggest rockling last month at a club compo it was 2lb 4oz and 41cm in length but i know they do get a bit bigger than that and well done sounds like a good session ya had too.

but put it back because he would have had to kill it to get the paperwork.

no need to kill them for a specimen a good quality photo will do!!

a close up of the head and chin area, and close up of the area in front of the dorsal fin will do.

brian

intresting that the salted macky worked,but doggies are not that fussy the record three bearded rockling is 3lb 1oz caught in arklow,the specimen weight is 1.75lb,my mate jason had a specimen one a few months ago,but put it back because he would have had to kill it to get the paperwork. you normally get them at night of piers or rock marks.free line belly of mackerel or sandeel,hook size 1-4 should do the trick.

Must spend some time fishing for them, (and most get a camera to keep for fishing, phone not great at night all of the ones I've had so far have been from piers and mostly rock marks while targeting thornies and pollack), and normally on a size 2.0 or 3.0 hook, always mackerl bait.

Nice Rockling, well done. Had thought abt saltin mack, glad to see Im not the only nutter

Nice Rockling, well done. Had thought abt saltin mack, glad to see Im not the only nutter

have also being thing about it myself, but i am a nutter i will try anything!!!
well done L.C.L thats a fine rockling you got there, nice one

the 3 beardy is a cracker man. well done i was out on a boat trip at the start of march and the skipper reckoned the old salted mack was the way to go. he had a big bucket of the stuff and treated whole squid the same way too