portrush east strand 7th nov and co. down harbour 8th nov

People: me and junior

Duration: 7th - 6pm to 11pm 8th - 1pm to 4pm

Tide: low to high at both marks

Weather: occasional showers and cold

Bait: rag, mack, lug and razor

Rigs: 3 hook flappers

Results: portrush: ME 1 coalie. JORDAN 1, 5 bearded rockling. co. down harbour mark: ME 1 ballan wrasse, 2 pollack, 5 coalfish and 16 whiting. JORDAN: 1 coalfish and 41 whiting



Report: we arrived at the east strand car park on saturday afternoon to see massive waves crashing in on the shore . not the greatest news for us but the masses of surfers were lapping it up. there must have been about 100 of them sitting out waiting for the waves to come in. we watched them for a bit getting eaten up by the waves before we met the rest of our club members to draw pegs. thankfully we got the last 2 at the far end of the beach which allowed us to cast out at a right angle. this ment we were'nt having the problem of crossing the pegs to our left as the 6 oz grippers were just being sucked up and spat out up the beach by the surf . not a great deal to report thow . i got one coalie and jordan got a 5 bearded rockling. both of which were counters and a new species for jordan too . it was almost silvery/blue in colour, a new one for us. but it was'nt just us finding it hard, most of the other lads either blanked or just got 1 or 2 fish the whole comp . jordan was bursting to just pack up and head on round to a local harbour only 30 mins away that we knew was fishing really well at the moment . but we stuck it out to the end and met minty who had as little luck as us. but we told him about the harbour and he went on round to it to fish into the night. i got a text the next day telling us he got a bucket load of coalies up to 36cms and was only there for an hour so on reflection, we should have upp'ed sticks and went on . but it did leave us with enough left over bait to justify another session the next day at a mark closer to home

sunday 8th co. down harbour mark
after what felt like only 4 hours of sleep we were up again ready to use up all the thawed out bait. it was back to comfy fishing with a wee spinning rod each and 3 hook flappers at the ready. it was frantic fishing from start to finish . we hit into a dose of wee whiting and coalies. all of which were under 20cms but good fun on the light spinning gear. jordan was pulling them in 3 at a time and i got a nice ballan wrasse at just over a pound and a half . after only 3 hours the fish had munched their way through our bait supplys and i put my rod away to let jordan fill his boots with the remaining bait. no monsters to talk of but good fast and furious fun on light gear

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Unlucky on only getting one fish each at the competition mate, thought that surf you where talking about would drove plenty of nice cod in, not to be though. Well done for jordan on his new species.
The sunday was the better of the days then, plenty of fish is always welcomed no matter what size.
Nice going Al.

Nice wrasse there Al (yes I did say wrasse!!!). Jordan must have been loving the whiting 40+. Not a bad days couple of days fishing.

Pitty about the comp. The beaches are hard fishing at the minute! Especially up on the North.

hard luck with the comp al/jordan, but that next session must have been good crack with the light spinning gear
nice wrasse too mate, well done

Hard luck with the comp guys but atleast ye are out catching a few fish

Well done on the counters in the comp ,sounds like Minty had a good session afterwards. The session on the Sunday was busy enough, with a nice ballen wrasse to boot,well done to you both

Jordan,41 Whiting! was he longlining again!

good report lads pity not much on the beach but its a great plaice to be when the waves are crashing in

glad to hear you both had a decent session on the sunday mate, was really disapointed with the way the beach fished for the comp, but a big thanks for pointing me in the right direction of the pier at portrush . i ended up well into double figure's with at least 4/5 of the coalies at 36cm. but the hi-lite of the night was the lads pushing the two gils in off the harbour, ended up with 5 of them swimming about for about half an hour . mental

Well done lads sounds like the Sunday more than made up for the day before probably should have had the comp there too

Yep the comp was disappointing. I thought that there would have a lot of fish caught. It did look rather fishy when we got there.
well down at the pier. the wrasse are staying around for a while anyways

Well done guys That was a great couple of days fishing you's had!
Did you see a polar bear on Saturday night then?

well done lads , that was some haul on sunday , ,

Yep the comp was disappointing. I thought that there would have a lot of fish caught. It did look rather fishy when we got there.
well down at the pier. the wrasse are staying around for a while anyways

yea they seem to be about a bit later this year. been gettin a few at a few marks..... natt sayin where..... lol

If you boys want to know about swell check magic seaweed - portrush and wind guru bushfoot. both are fairly accurate when you know how to read them. Would save you driving up only for the swell to be massive as it was. Both are accurate up to about 3 days or so and the wind on wind guru is reliable as well.

well done al and jordan nice session congrat jordan on the 5 beard

Unlucky on only getting one fish each at the competition mate, thought that surf you where talking about would drove plenty of nice cod in, not to be though. Well done for jordan on his new species.
The sunday was the better of the days then, plenty of fish is always welcomed no matter what size.
Nice going Al.

thanks aaron. we'll have to get you out with us on the antrim coast soon man . have to boost your species count before the end of the year

Nice wrasse there Al (yes I did say wrasse!!!). Jordan must have been loving the whiting 40+. Not a bad days couple of days fishing.
Pitty about the comp. The beaches are hard fishing at the minute! Especially up on the North.

it was hard going alright i had high hopes for it as the place looked fishy as hell. lots of gullys and fish holding features. just don't know where the fish went that night . but we had a blast the following day with the light spinning rods

hard luck with the comp al/jordan, but that next session must have been good crack with the light spinning gear
nice wrasse too mate, well done

thanks don. like i said, no monsters but fast and furious fun on the light gear

Hard luck with the comp guys but atleast ye are out catching a few fish

cheers FK. sometimes we're just happy to get out. catching fish just ends up being a bonus

Well done on the counters in the comp ,sounds like Minty had a good session afterwards. The session on the Sunday was busy enough, with a nice ballen wrasse to boot,well done to you both

thanks dave. we were just made up to be able to hand our cards back in with something on them . some of the other lads did'nt even get one onto the cards. so as bad as it may have been, we did well enough. but jordan was just made up to get the new species

Jordan,41 Whiting! was he longlining again!

thankfully, no. that thing has been put away (for the moment). but the whiting were so plentyfull he would have had no problem pulling in 7 at a time . i just hope they return next year with about a pound of weight on em lovely eating fish,, that is if you can catch one worth keeping

good report lads pity not much on the beach but its a great plaice to be when the waves are crashing in

thanks seanie. we spent an hour or so watching the surfers. some of those guys are nuts how no one got t-boned in the surf was beyond me. either they were all very skilled or they've all got guardian angels lookin over them but it was great to watch

glad to hear you both had a decent session on the sunday mate, was really disapointed with the way the beach fished for the comp, but a big thanks for pointing me in the right direction of the pier at portrush . i ended up well into double figure's with at least 4/5 of the coalies at 36cm. but the hi-lite of the night was the lads pushing the two gils in off the harbour, ended up with 5 of them swimming about for about half an hour . mental

nice one minty . i knew with the beach being all but dead the fish had to be somewhere i thought the harbour would be a safe bet. seems like everytime theres a rough sea up there the fish head in for shelter good to see you salvaged something from the comp man

Well done lads sounds like the Sunday more than made up for the day before probably should have had the comp there too

ahh well,,, you win some, you loose some i suppose i had a sneaky suspicion that a silver schoolie might have made an appearance on the beach seeing as the surf was so good. but no luck

Yep the comp was disappointing. I thought that there would have a lot of fish caught. It did look rather fishy when we got there.
well down at the pier. the wrasse are staying around for a while anyways

thanks stevie. i checked our diary from last year. we were still getting wrasse from bangor and donaghadee up until the 28th of december last year seems no one has told them the summer we never got has ended in saying that the seasons have been outta synch for years now

Well done guys That was a great couple of days fishing you's had!
Did you see a polar bear on Saturday night then?

no but it was well cold enough. (espically when my waders sprung a leak 5 mins into a 5 hour comp ). i could'nt feel my right leg or foot for the last 3 hours pure numb

well done lads , that was some haul on sunday , ,

thanks man. they were all tiddlers, but still great craic on the light gear

Yep the comp was disappointing. I thought that there would have a lot of fish caught. It did look rather fishy when we got there.
well down at the pier. the wrasse are staying around for a while anyways

yea they seem to be about a bit later this year. been gettin a few at a few marks..... natt sayin where..... lol

cheers dan. no secret about the wrasse thow, co.down coast still has them at all the usual places they were at during the summer. at this rate we'll be pulling in the summer species during the winter months as a regular thing my first mackeral of 2009 was from donaghadee at the start of last january not quite sure whats happening with the sea temps

If you boys want to know about swell check magic seaweed - portrush and wind guru bushfoot. both are fairly accurate when you know how to read them. Would save you driving up only for the swell to be massive as it was. Both are accurate up to about 3 days or so and the wind on wind guru is reliable as well.

cheers for the tip man i have been using wind guru and fishingwx.com. they both predicted the sea state pretty well. it was just something else to see it in front of you

well done al and jordan nice session congrat jordan on the 5 beard

thanks gerry. jordan was becomming a bit bored with the comp until he landed the 5 beardy. then he took great pleasure in reminding me that there are loads of coalies out there , so my fish was just ordinary. where as his was a bit special

Jordan niceone on the 5 beard !! Glad to hear you had a better day on sunday at an old faithful mark. Good to hear the wrasse are still about.

Yes al, i look forward to getting out with you and jordan. sometime soon before the wife drops.

cheers dan. no secret about the wrasse thow, co.down coast still has them at all the usual places they were at during the summer. at this rate we'll be pulling in the summer species during the winter months as a regular thing my first mackeral of 2009 was from donaghadee at the start of last january not quite sure whats happening with the sea temps

15th Novemeber 2 Years ago was my best ever wrasse session on the Dee, so I think they're definitely sticking around a lot longer than they used to Al, Nice session on the Pier mark mate, I started my shore fishing there when I was 16/17, Used to have whiting competitions and it wasnt unusual to have 50 or 60 Whiting, Nothing big, but loads of them!

Once again, well done Al, and Jordan!