county antrim rock mark wed 2nd sep 09

People: me and dawsey

Duration: 11am to 8.30pm

Tide: out then in again

Weather: started of windy and dry. ended wet and calm

Bait: mack, squid and sand eel

Rigs: single hook to 3 way swivel and float set ups and various spinners. 8/0 meat hook conger trace.

Results: ME - 9 dogs and a shore rockling. DAWSEY - 9 dogs, 1 shore rockling, 2 wee pollack and a shanny



Report: this wee mark has been given a rest for a while so we were on a mission to get dawsey into contact with his first huss of the year. sadly there were no huss to be found but the dogs kept us busy and a dog comp insued (dogfish that is, not the kind of dog comp you get on a night out where someone has to take a hit for the team if you get my drift ) thankfully this was the kind of attention from dogs we don't mind and a bit of one up'smanship set in i took the lead with dawsey keeping me on my toes almost matching me fish for fish. then a flukey cast put out by me, got me 2 dogs on 3 traces as i reeled in . my inital trace attached to my main line had snagged 2 traces we had lost earlier and both had a fish on each one a stroke of pure luck on my part. but i was glad to see the wee dogs unhooked and returned none the worse for being hooked out there for a couple of hours . finally the wind died down but brought torrential rain along with it we could now see the bites more clearly and the sea calmed down a bit so dawsey threw a float out and got 2 wee pollack and a shore rockling just over the edge of the rocks we were fishing from . i decided to try for something big and chucked out a full mackeral on animal gear at distance. (and was pleasently surprised at how far it went ) i got a load of tugs on the bait, but no solid takes. but i could almost picture 2 dogs having a tug of war on the 1lb mack bait . dawsey tried a toby and got a follow from a 1lb sea trout who abandoned his attack in just inches of water at dawsey's feet he tried to tempt him again but with no success. i've always fancied having a go at the trout at this mark. when the sea is flat calm you can see them leap clear of the water just literally 10 feet in front of you i almost accidently smacked one in the nut with the tip of my rod while casting here the last time i was down . but alas, it just was'nt to be and the jumpers were'nt about this time . and before we left dawsey did a bit of hand lining in the rock pool and got a wee shanny. those wee guys are like our pets at this mark. 5 of them live in the pool and i've sort of made a point of feeding them now every time we come down . they're funny wee fish that sort of remind me of wee bulldogs. they chase eachother around the pool, but team up when a crab gets too close to the mack i feed them. if you've never seen 4 or 5 shannys chase off a crab 5 times the size of em all i can say is that it's halarious just like sheep dogs coralling a sheep, funny as heck by 8.30pm we were soaked to the bone and hungry, so we gave into our bellies and hit the road for home stopping off at mickey d's on the way dawsey's still on the hunt for his first huss, but a couple of near specimen sized dogs more than made up for it

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last pics

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Nice going lads, always nice to have a bit of informal competition, makes it a wee bit more fun

Loved the bit about you feeding the pets

Nice going lads indeed, cant be dissapointed when you do catch fish. Never caught a doggie myself. I take it this mark is a secret??

Hi guys, well done
That was good going with the doggies! Great session again
It's a shame Dawsey didn't get his huss but he will eventually.
The weather was really bad and when you text me and told me that you's had been out all day in it I couldn't beleive it, it doesn't put you's off which is great. I guess if you where waiting on a good day to go out fishing in this country you'd be waiting along time and would never go out

well done lads that a great haul of dogg's. but did you plant those baited traces out there in case daswey was winning????????? , i'll have to remember that wee trick . might give the spot a go next weekend, seems strange that there was no huss about, but i'm sure if you keep fishing they'll turn up for him

i'll bring you up some lead to the next comp mate

well done lads,thats a great haul of fish! feeding the shanneys just in case of a blank??

Good session lads some nice fish there.Well done.

very nice picture looks like a lochness monster well done lads

last pics

well done lads great session

Good session lads, and a great report as usual.
i know it was only a bit of friendly competition Al, but is fishing 3 traces at once not a bit unsporting

Well done lads, great report and piccies as usual .Looks nike a nice mark.

great stuff al/dawsey jealous as hell love the doggie fishing
great report and pic's guys well done

Cheers guys, was an enjoyable day, the dogs give us a bit of craic and make it a bit of a comp and we can't complain. I am determined to get a huss before long, it's definitely not for the want of trying any ways

Well done lads crackin pics as always

Well done lads,Thats a great session and plenty of fish caught to

Paddy

nice pics lads you where kept busy ,had a night off last night as i pulled something in my left arm casting on frid night

Nice going lads, always nice to have a bit of informal competition, makes it a wee bit more fun
Loved the bit about you feeding the pets

cheers mark. it was a great wee informal comp alright only a single fish in it the whole way through to the end. and if jordan had his way he'd give the shannys names and be called his pets

Nice going lads indeed, cant be dissapointed when you do catch fish. Never caught a doggie myself. I take it this mark is a secret??

thanks aaron, unfortunately it is mate. it had taken me a months worth of blanking, fishing unfished marks before i found this spot. and it's one of only a few places in northern ireland where you can get huss on a regular basis from the shore. it's also got a good healthy stock of dogs there too with us lifting 36 in a single session. it would be heartbreaking to discover someone fishing it and keeping everything for the pot at this mark so many other good marks have been wiped out by such pratices recently, so you'll understand why we keep it on the quiet mate but if you ever want to get out with us for a session on the antrim or down coasts just drop me a p.m. man and we'll get you sorted

Hi guys, well done
That was good going with the doggies! Great session again
It's a shame Dawsey didn't get his huss but he will eventually.
The weather was really bad and when you text me and told me that you's had been out all day in it I couldn't beleive it, it doesn't put you's off which is great. I guess if you where waiting on a good day to go out fishing in this country you'd be waiting along time and would never go out

cheers kerry. dawsey' huss is starting to look like jordan's turbot,,,, a fishy holy grail but with perseverance and enough sessions he' get one in the end

well done lads that a great haul of dogg's. but did you plant those baited traces out there in case daswey was winning????????? , i'll have to remember that wee trick . might give the spot a go next weekend, seems strange that there was no huss about, but i'm sure if you keep fishing they'll turn up for him
i'll bring you up some lead to the next comp mate

thanks minty, just as well dawsey did'nt claim the fish i caught on his lost trace as his own as that would have put it at 10-8 in his favour i've some leads made up for you man. i'll keep them to one side until i see you again mate

well done lads,thats a great haul of fish! feeding the shanneys just in case of a blank??

damn,,, another plan scuppered in it's infancy you know me too well

Good session lads some nice fish there.Well done.

cheers man. we love fishing for doggies. and it won't be too long before that mark throws up a specimen dog we have got one that was only 2ozs short of the weight from this mark in the last 2 weeks

ery nice picture looks like a lochness monster well done lads

thanks zeke. that wee rock pool is well handy. you can put the fish into it to recover before being returned . but in saying that,,, it probably scares the poop outta the shannys when we put the odd doggie into it . to them it would be like having the loch ness monster chucked in

well done lads great session

thanks gerry, i don't know why some people complain about catching the wee fellas great to be getting something with a bit of weight on it . makes a change from all the 6oz coalies and pollack that seem to be around at the mo

Good session lads, and a great report as usual.
i know it was only a bit of friendly competition Al, but is fishing 3 traces at once not a bit unsporting

not at all, it's my new masterplan on how to win our next club comp. loose a load of traces and then haul them all in an hour before the end to claim victory not sure how they would score that one

Well done lads, great report and piccies as usual .Looks nike a nice mark.

cheers dave. if you and neil ever venture up this way i'll get you out to it man we gotta get back down your way soon to get this dam smoothie monkey off our back. 3 trips for them so far and not a sniff of one yet

great stuff al/dawsey jealous as hell love the doggie fishing
great report and pic's guys well done

thanks don, now that the schools are back on i can get back into my routine and get more fishing done

Cheers guys, was an enjoyable day, the dogs give us a bit of craic and make it a bit of a comp and we can't complain. I am determined to get a huss before long, it's definitely not for the want of trying any ways

if this hunt goes on much longer man you'll need to change your username to huss hunter and jordan, the turbot tormentor

Well done lads crackin pics as always

cheers tony. did you make it up to fahan for the thornies again man??? we have'nt been up in a while ourselves. if you fancy a go at them drop me a p.m. and we could all tie in for a meet jordan's still not got one yet

Well done lads,Thats a great session and plenty of fish caught to
Paddy

cheers man, even the rain did'nt get us down when it's fishing like that

nice pics lads you where kept busy ,had a night off last night as i pulled something in my left arm casting on frid night

sorry to hear that man, nothing serious i hope. you'll just need to get someone to cast for you for a bit

nice busy sessin lads
as you know i love the doggies too

Nice one lads- great session, report and photos, plenty of photos 2