kerry, cork & antrim. 27th dec to 5th jan 2010

People: see below

Duration: various

Tide: all states

Weather: polar bears wearing duffle coats sorta stuff

Bait: mack, lug, squid, razor and clams

Rigs: 3 hook flappers

Results: bass, coalies, flounder, dogs, dabs, shore rockling, pollock, whiting, codling and long spined sea scorpion




Report: as we headed off to kerry our heads were filled with thoughts of big bass and abundant flounder. things got off to a good start with jordan getting 2 bass, a flounder and a coalie on the first evening. i got a bass with k1 taking the honours of the biggest fish with a bass around 5lb. we all slept well and got up for breakfast early the next morning to look out the windows at a pretty hard frost from there on in, the temp fell through the floor, the fishing died off something shocking and what transpired could only be described as a catalogue of disasters . i'll try not to drag this report out too much, but i'll give an overview of how the week went.
MONDAY 28th
we spend 5 hours on a beach during the day and admitted defeat when k2 lost the feelings in his hands . my last cast resulted in a flounder for me and jordan's a new PB flounder we blanked on the evening beach session and got froze half to death
TUESDAY 29th
we were invited to a comp by martin celtic from the site and met up with the remaining hardy souls from tralee bay SAC. we got to the beach to find it was unfishable but some of the lads had made an effort to make it so we all gave it a go for a half hour until the wind, weed, sleet and ice got the better of us all and we made a strategic withdrawll to the pub. we all said our goodbyes and retreated indoors for a movies and munchies night. k1 and k2 went to another mark in the evening and got a few fish
WEDNESDAY30th
conditions were bloody atrocious yet again with the temp not rising above zero the whole day. yet again another severe frost and even a dose of snow to boot. ma and jordan found a wee pier we could park on and fish from the boot this was our bread and butter fishing and jordan got 3 dogs 2 shore rockling and a coalie and i got a doggie and 3 coalies . but as soon as the sun went down so did the temp so 2 hours into darkness we were froze yet again and jordan wanted to go back to the house and get his jammies on and veg out in front of the TV. (NOT A BAD JUDGE). k1 and k2 headed out for an evening session and i honestly can't remember if they blanked or got anything . but just as they arrived back the power went out and did'nt come back on until 1pm the next day.
THURSDAY 31st (new years eve)
we all hit a beach during the day. jordan got a coalie and i got a doggie and 2 coalies. not sure how k1 and k2 got on. we all headed out that evening to bring in the new year with another beach session. me and jordan blanked and i think k1 or k2 got a bass.
FRIDAY 1st jan 2010
woke up yet again to another hard frost and a very heavy blanketing of snow . this was gonna make our drive to cork to meet up with mikeQ very interesting indeed. a drive that would normally take 2 hours ended up taking over 4 hours. we all blanked at the mark and had another 4 hour drive back home in temps that were reading at -7 and that's not even taking wind chill into account . but great to meet mike and he gave us an open invitation to come back down when the weather gets a bit better top bloke! oh yeah, almost forgot about discovering i had no headlights on the car and ended up costing £89 to get sorted with bulbs fuses and a relay
SATURDAY 2ND JAN 2010
yet another hard frost during the night and another dumping down of heavy snow greeted us . but not to get too down hearted as it was k1's birthday and the cake and birthday wishes bit was done and we all headed out . as we drove through dingle the harbour had frozen over locals reckoned it had only happened once in the last 50 years, mental sight to behold. despite our best efforts we all blanked in the afternoon and evening yet again. not much of a surprise really thow. as the fish down here are'nt exactly used to having to dodge icebergs while out on thier daily swims
SUNDAY 3RD JAN 2010
our trip was well and truely over and we all headed for home on what i can only describe as a nightmare of a drive. we did'nt even bother to stop off for a break and it still took us over 10 hours of solid driving on tretcherious ice packed roads to get home.
all in all a bit of a nightmare. we just happened to pick the coldest week in 50 years to go to kerry sadly as with most of the summer, this went down as another trip where the weather decided to put a serious kibosh on our best laid plans the only positives to take away from it was that jordan got a new pb flounder and 2 bass for his 2009 species count
WEDNESDAY 6TH JAN 2010
seeing as there was a mountain of bait left over i decided to get in an 11 hour session on a county antrim pier. arrived to see john and davy from ballymena were there from lunchtime fishing away. i had my 2 rods baited up and in the water for 7pm and the marathon began a good stream of constant fish began. and the session was only interrupted when i had to jump into the car to thaw out my fingers every half hour or so. when davy and john left they left me some prawns that the coalies went mad for (thanks lads). by 6am my eyes were going togeather and i headed on home up the road. i ended up with 21 coalies, 4 whiting, 4 codling, 3 dab, 3 pollack and a new PB long spined sea scorpion . a great way to start off the new year and put the old one behind us
K1 has more pics which i'm sure she will put up and correct me if i forgot anything

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more pics

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yet more pics

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last pic

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well al what can i say apart from fair play 2 u and the wee man for persaveirin it all and use didnt go home empty handed in the long run mate

use fishing benone 2morrow????

Well done on surviving your Arctic fishing trip Al . Pity about the weather but not much you can do when the plans are made etc. Delighted for Jordan getting his bass and you both got some really nice flounders including a pb for Jordan.Great to see a report with some photos to look at,,Kerry looks beautiful in the pics,,,,,,,,,,that reminds me Happy Birthday K1 .Looking forward to plenty of great reports from you boys in 2010,all the best Dave

cheers berty, no man. mabey just hit somewhere close to home, bangor or donaghadee

wow pretty scary stuff you must have been stressed out to bits after all that you should go on a holiday lol

thats good fishin al nd jordan ha lol i shoudnt alweys believ everything ha lol

Well done Lads even though the weather wasnt kind to you again yis still got some nice fish Hopfully ye can come down in the summer and we can try again for some Dublin hounds.

Well done on surviving your Arctic fishing trip Al . Pity about the weather but not much you can do when the plans are made etc. Delighted for Jordan getting his Bass and you both got some really nice flounders including a pb for Jordan.Great to see a report with some photos to look at,,Kerry looks beautiful in the pics,,,,,,,,,,that reminds me Happy Birthday K1 .Looking forward to plenty of great reports from you boys in 2010,all the best Dave

cheers dave, the weather for that whole week was mental. i lost count how many times our bait froze into a solid unuseable lump . but it was all booked and paid for weeks in advance when we plan trips like that you just gotta hope the weather is gonna play ball. but more often than not it has ruined a lot of our 2009 trips lets hope 2010 brings better weather

wow pretty scary stuff you must have been stressed out to bits after all that you should go on a holiday lol

cheers man. but knowing my luck i'd only end up booking a week on a tropical island only to turn out it was a dormant volcaneo that would bloody well errupt on our first day there honestly man,,, if it was raining soup i'd be stood there with a fork in my hand

thats good fishin al nd jordan ha lol i shoudnt alweys believ everything ha lol

thanks THJ. it just was'nt ment to be . but not to get too downhearted, there's always next time

Well done Lads even though the weather wasnt kind to you again yis still got some nice fish Hopfully ye can come down in the summer and we can try again for some Dublin hounds.

deffo man takes more than a bit of weather to put us off. we'll likely come down and operate outta bettystown for a fortnight in july gotta get the wee man into contact with a hound or tope from the shore.. hhhmmmm... let me just think jordan vs tope. who would be the victor??? not quite sure, but it would be bloody funny to watch a 10 year old trying to land a tope on the shore would be like an adult trying to beach a porgie or blue. let the laughter commense

Thats sound Al october/november would be your beast bet for shore tope on the wicklow coast though so another trip for you to plan

Ah lads typical of this bloody island. Best made plans turn to frost! Fantastic report Al and still a great week I'd say. Jordan is so lucky because I'd say most of the lads in his class were in all Christmas with the new Wii or xbox. Ok he nearly got hypothermia but is that not half the fun! Sounds like the craic was great even if old Jack Frost followed Santa down from the North Pole.

Thats sound Al october/november would be your beast bet for shore tope on the wicklow coast though so another trip for you to plan

good stuff that's halloween sorted then

Ah lads typical of this bloody island. Best made plans turn to frost! Fantastic report Al and still a great week I'd say. Jordan is so lucky because I'd say most of the lads in his class were in all Christmas with the new Wii or xbox. Ok he nearly got hypothermia but is that not half the fun! Sounds like the craic was great even if old Jack Frost followed Santa down from the North Pole.

thanks man. sure whats a bit of hypothermia between friends . we'll all need to go on a diet for the next few months,,,, you should have seen the ammount of grub we put away on the movie and munchie nights,,, it was criminal. you could have fed a small army thank god i had the foresight to bring 2 cases of carlsberg down with me

thanks man. sure whats a bit of hypothermia between friends . we'll all need to go on a diet for the next few months,,,, you should have seen the ammount of grub we put away on the movie and munchie nights,,, it was criminal. you could have fed a small army thank god i had the foresight to bring 2 cases of carlsberg down with me

Now that's foresight!

well done al and jordan,remind me never to go on a trip you organize al and thats a fine flounder jordan,outdoing the ould man again!!

Now that's foresight!

£21 for 45 cans was a bargin i was'nt gonna leave at home

well done al and jordan,remind me never to go on a trip you organize al and thats a fine flounder jordan,outdoing the ould man again!!

the weather gods were against us again man jordan may as well finish off the year the way he started it.... by thoroughly thrashing tho old man again

Ive gotten some mileage outta that can of de icer you gave me Al Nobody can fault us for trying anyway! Utter maddness but still good craic

Well done lads! Brilliant! Looks and sounds like a brilliant few days! congrats again!

well done for perserveering with the conditions, ye still got some good fish. 3rd time lucky i bet next big session ye plan with be stonking