4 days in co. down 5th 6th 7th and 9th sep 09

People: me and jordan

Duration: see below

Tide: all states

Weather: blazing sun to torrential rain

Bait: feathers, lures, mack and rag

Rigs: flappers and floats

Results: pollack, mackeral, whiting, ballan wrasse, sea scorpions, shannys and coalies




Report:

DAY 1 BANGOR HARBOUR 5TH SEP 1PM TO 4PM

jordan and i headed down to the back of the breakwater for 3 hours of spinning for mack. oddly thow there were'nt too many around to be found i got 2 single macks on 2 casts and it seemed to just die a death. there were up to 10 other anglers spinning away and only a dozen or so macks landed while we were there strange as only last week we were pulling them up in 2s and 3s. my last cast landed me 2 pollack just under a pound each, which was much to juniors frustration as he went home on a blank

DAY 2 BANGOR HARBOUR 6TH SEP 3PM TO 6PM

we went back down armed with our feathers to see if our poor luck of yesterday could be put behind us with a bumper haul of mackies for the bait freezer we arrived to see 8 other anglers all feathering their hearts out. i got chatting with the guy beside us who had been there from 10am and our hopes were quickly dashed when he told us that his catch total for the day was 3 pollack and 2 mackeral but we fished it hard for 3 hours and we at least beat the blank with jordan getting a mackie and me a wee whiting.

DAY 3 BANGOR HARBOUR 7TH SEP 11AM TO 6PM

with jordan dropped off to school i thought i would get back to a bit of proper fishing. the mackeral feathers were put away and i called into the tackle shop to see if there was any rag left over from the weekend. my luck was in and armed with 2lb of rag and some mack i headed back down to the same spot as the days before to see if different tactics would yeild a better result. the bites on my 3 hook flappers were instant so much so, that i had to abandon 2 rods and drop to 1 that i could hold in my hand to hit the bites the wee 15cm whiting were on my baits before the lead had even hit the sea bed . i was all smiles at first but they were quickly munching their way through my bait supplys it was a surprise to me that the 2 ballan wrasse, 2 sea scorpions and 2 shannys were even able to find the baits as the whiting were making short work of them. by 6pm i was outta bait. another angler had gave me 4 fillets of mack too which the whiting made short work of so 21 whiting later i called it quits and headed for home.

DAY 4 GREYS POINT (BELOW THE GUN IMPLACEMENTS) 9TH SEP NOON TO 5PM

i decided for a change of venue today and with the recent drought of macks at bangor i decided on some bait fishing below the gun implacements. i called into the tackle shop to pick up some rag and made comment on the lack of macks at the weekendand was heartbroken to be told that the pair trawlers were fishing in the lough at the weekend and lifted over an estimated 200 tonne of mack so no bloody wonder the mack fishing had gone to the dogs i can't even begin to get my head around how much macks that would even look like . but needless to say it will have a hell of an impact on the fishing for the coming weeks . in 5 hours i only managed 2 coalfish and a single mack, all of which were taken on feathers as the resident crab population were stripping my bottom baits . i even fished my last few rag under the float to no avail. there were 4 other guys feathering beside me and only managed 4 macks between them all day. but not to get too downhearted as i'm off to portrush tomorrow to see if a different stretch of coast will be any kinder to me

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nice work lad,s

Well done lads thats some nice fishing there and plenty of fish caught to

Ps: Jordan thats a nice size Mac you have there

Paddy

good stuff lads at least your getting a few macks havnt got one from the shore yet this year and time is running out

well done lads , thats some fishing you done, just think, when the clocks go back an hour next month you'll be able to get 25hrs in a day . well done al on beating the wee man for once, i hope ya give him a bit of stick.

wont be able to make the comp at the weekend as the jeeps getting sorted for the dreaded mot, so i'll give you a shout when i'm heading out again mate.

Al where do you find the time and funds to be fishing so much whats your secret well done again

great report Al
nice few sessions, 200 ton of macks i cant imagine what 2 ton would look like,no wonder there so scarce this year

nice work lad,s

cheers man. it was rough going for a bit but i was just chuffed not to blank

Well done lads thats some nice fishing there and plenty of fish caught to
Ps: Jordan thats a nice size Mac you have there
Paddy

thanks paddy. it weighed in at 1lb 1oz . k2 off the site got some last week and found them full of 4 inch whiting so no wonder they're well fattened up as bangor is coming down with wee whiting at the moment just a pity the trawlers scooped so many up at the weekend

good stuff lads at least your getting a few macks havnt got one from the shore yet this year and time is running out

just as well we got as many when they were more abundant but in saying that, we were still getting them from the shore here as late on as halloween last year. so theres still hope yet

well done lads , thats some fishing you done, just think, when the clocks go back an hour next month you'll be able to get 25hrs in a day . well done al on beating the wee man for once, i hope ya give him a bit of stick.
wont be able to make the comp at the weekend as the jeeps getting sorted for the dreaded mot, so i'll give you a shout when i'm heading out again mate.

no probs minty. jordan has a football match to play on saturday and he'll not be done until 1pm, so we'll not likely make the comp either so we will just have to console ourselves with an overnighter at fahan, lenan or malin head instead ahhh.... decisions, decisions

Al where do you find the time and funds to be fishing so much whats your secret well done again

no secret tony. bangor is only 30mins down the road and i don't start work until 7pm. so lots of mini sessions do the trick well,,,,, 4 and 5 hours are short ones for us if you're free get a run up to fahan with us on saturday man. we'll be on a thornie and turbot hunt

great report Al
nice few sessions, 200 ton of macks i cant imagine what 2 ton would look like,no wonder there so scarce this year

tell me about it man. only last week we were getting them 4 at a time. now you'd be lucky to get 4 in a session at least they were munching their way through the millions of wee whiting that have invaded bangor. if i had a choice of well fed macks on the end of my line over the wee whiting that impale themselves on the hooks,, i'd vote macks all the way but like i said, the trawlers have put an end to that

well done lads a few nice sessions there

Great sessions nice variety of fish well done.

Nice of Jordan to let you win He's just keepin you sweet Nice one lads.

Well done lads on getting a few fish.

well done getting afew al but i was on the understanding that trawling in the lough was banned, that has been the case for a number of years!! would love to know when this has changed??? f@-k them trawlers.. it would maybe explain why the fishing in belfast lough is so poor. g

"which was much to juniors frustration as he went home on a blank"

he only blanked so you could look good for a change

your some man for one man, well done on beating jordan for once in your life, hows he getting on with the headlight, plenty of smooths down this way now that the weather has improved try and get down before its too late, cheers neil

Nice fishing guys and Jordan good luck with the Turbot on Saturday

Well done Al & Jordan, you's had a good few days down in Bangor
Al, the offer is still open for later today if you want to join K2 and me for the mullet.

that's what you call marathon fishing great mix catches lads well done

pair trawlers were fishing in the lough at the weekend and lifted over an estimated 200 tonne of mack so no bloody wonder the mack fishing had gone to the dogs

Sounds like they wiped out the mackerel population

I have only had 12 macks so far this year - although I presume that is due to the stormy weather rather than trawlers. Even in 2007 when I first started fishing I had a lot more at this stage of the year, and last year I had a freezer full by September.

at least you got a few for troubles
good luck at the weekend maybe this will be jordans turn for a turbot fingers crossed