donaghadee sea monsters!! sat 23rd jan

People: me and jordan

Duration: 4pm to 11pm

Tide: LW 22.40

Weather: dry, cold and light SE winds

Bait: rag, mack, lug, razor, sand eel and squid

Rigs: 3 hook flappers size 1 hooks

Results: ME: 5 codling, 2 pouting, 1 shore rockling, 1 3.b. rockling, 1 poor cod, 1 whiting and a pollack. JORDAN: 2 shore rockling, 1 5 bearded rockling and long spined sea scorpion




Report:
i was down here on friday evening to scout the place out to see if it would be worth giving it a go with jordan. 3 and a half hours resulted in 3 pouting, 2 whiting, 2 codling, 1 pollack and 1 coalie. so hopes were high and we arrived at 4pm to discover we had the place to ourselves. we quickly got set up in our usual spot and waited for the bites to start. sadly the first hour went by without a single bite. then i got a wee codling and a one eyed rockling. (poor wee chap looked like he'd been through the wars). jordan was getting belly grumbles and headed on up into the town for a bag of chips. when he returned we sat and had a munch, rebaited the rods and waited. i got another wee codling and a pouting when jordan noticed a good bite on my other rod. so i grabbed it quickly and struck into whatever was on the end. it was tugging well and i thought i mabey was gonna land the first good fish of the night . but we were both surprised as hell to see what was on the end of the trace . the bottom hook had a wee pouting on it , but the top hook had an octopuss atached to it . there was jets of water squirting outta him in all directions and he was flashing all sorts of colours. class!! we've never seen one up close before. i got the hook out of his face which was a mission in it's self as he kept wrapping around my hand and trying to make his way up my arm i had notions of a scene from "Aliens" in my head . for all the size of him he was a grippy wee fella, but i finally got him off me and sat him on the step. to our amazement he stood bolt upright and started to casually dander off really amazing to watch . i carefully lifted him and we put him back into the sea at the steps beside the lifeboat and he shot off like a rocket. i'm not too sure what fish normally feed on octopuss, but they'd need to be bloody fast to catch them . any way, back to the fishing. things had died off and fish were coming in at a slower pace. jordan still had'nt landed one yet so i put him into where i had been fishing and within 30mins he had landed 4 fish . not only was the blank saved but he christned his new 525mag . things slackend off again, but it was'nt for a shortage of bites. there must have been a hoard of wee pouting out there as they were hammering the baits, but too small to get the size 1 hooks into their mouths . i just started to strike at will and fouled hooked one of the wee guys and at best he was only 4 inches long . so by 11pm we packed and headed for home. nothing of any size to talk of, but the octopuss made the night for us

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great report Al, cool pics of the octopus! must have been mad see him stand up and walk off lol.......was hoping to squeeze a session in this weekend but no such luck, glad to see you both had a good mix of fish!

Barry

great mix of fishies did ye batter the octopuss, touch of lemon yum

Nice going lads, great photo of the octopus.

A grand result for a winter night, especially the octopus We've caught a couple off the boat before but thats the first one I've seen from the shore. Hope it counts as a species for you. Nice sharp pix too

nice session Al and Jordan, good to see plenty of sepecies on the go, has the same sort of session there today. have had a few octopus myself before too.

That octopus is some beast Al. Apparently, they're one of the most intelligent creatures in the sea. You're lucky he didn't nick your car keys and credit card and make a bolt for it

nice wee session Al mad lookin them octi caught them on the boat b4 take it u didnt get ink'd... not nice

what a handsome lookin creature, think id just get someone else to get him off my hook

well done lads! very nice pic of the octupus!

Nice to see the pic's of the octopus Al! And fair play for watching the gear while Jordan went to get the chips.

great report Al, cool pics of the octopus! must have been mad see him stand up and walk off lol.......was hoping to squeeze a session in this weekend but no such luck, glad to see you both had a good mix of fish!
Barry

thanks barry. was really surprised to see the octi stand up on his tenticles and start to make off . never fails to amaze me what we encounter on our trips. i was just gutted that the camcorder was at home as he was flashing all sorts of mad colours that pictures don't really do justice to

great mix of fishies did ye batter the octopuss, touch of lemon yum

nah man, not mad keen on squid or octopuss as a food group, too many memories of smelly radioactive pink squid bits in the bottom of the bait bucket

Nice going lads, great photo of the octopus.

thanks man, he could move at some pace once he got on his toes

A grand result for a winter night, especially the octopus We've caught a couple off the boat before but thats the first one I've seen from the shore. Hope it counts as a species for you. Nice sharp pix too

cheers hugo. he was taken fair and square in the kisser. almost had the whole strip of mackie down his wee beak you should have seen the job i had gettin the hook out. every time i alomst had it out he latched onto my hand and started to move up my arm

nice session Al and Jordan, good to see plenty of sepecies on the go, has the same sort of session there today. have had a few octopus myself before too.

cheers dan, could you ask drew to send me a p.m. with membership details for the club. thinking about getting me and jordan in . i think dawsey was interested too.

That octopus is some beast Al. Apparently, they're one of the most intelligent creatures in the sea. You're lucky he didn't nick your car keys and credit card and make a bolt for it

now that you mention it ,,,,,,, where's my friggin watch

nice wee session Al mad lookin them octi caught them on the boat b4 take it u didnt get ink'd... not nice

no darryl, i was aware he might ink me, so i handled him pretty gently. i just could'nt get over just how grippy his tenticles were i had some job unwrapping him from my hand. i would say it would be curtains for anything that would get within gripping range of him in the sea

what a handsome lookin creature, think id just get someone else to get him off my hook

should have let jordan try i could just picture the look of panic on his face as it moved up his arm towards his head it would make for a great halloween costume, OCTO BOY!

well done lads! very nice pic of the octupus!

cheers chris, mad looking wee creature

Nice to see the pic's of the octopus Al! And fair play for watching the gear while Jordan went to get the chips.

thanks man, you should have seen the looks i was getting from the dog walkers. must have thought i was a real fishing fanatic, stood there with 2 rods to my left and 2 to my right

cracker one on the octopus al'
great report and nice clear pic's
you should have stuck a 10'o hook in it and chucked it back in
for thats one hell of a big lump of bait

lovely fishing and lovely octo!!bet you took a while to get it of the hooks!any word on the sligo trip yet?

Nice variety of fish - well done on the octopus.
Not sure I would want to catch one and try to unhook it though

Nice selection of fish al great report and photos too well done

Well done Al & Jordan
That octopus is brilliant, class photo of it too!

class pic of the octopus, llf when you told me about it going for a wee dander! Just shows you ya can get anything down there. Well done guys

:lol: cracker one on the octopus al'
great report and nice clear pic's
you should have stuck a 10'o hook in it and chucked it back in
for thats one hell of a big lump of bait

he gave the spinning rod a good rattle on the way in, had me fooled into thinking i had a good fish on the end but still good to see something different all the same

lovely fishing and lovely octo!!bet you took a while to get it of the hooks!any word on the sligo trip yet?

thanks noel. just sent you a PM man

Nice variety of fish - well done on the octopus.
Not sure I would want to catch one and try to unhook it though

cheers frank. i think if we ever get one any bigger than that he'll just be shaken off the hook instead .

Nice selection of fish al great report and photos too well done

cheers mitch. that's one of the things we love about sea fishing. you just never know what's out there

Well done Al & Jordan
That octopus is brilliant, class photo of it too!

cheers paula. my mobile died on me last night when i got your message, but i spent 7 hours fishing 2 rods for only i wee coalie

:lol: class pic of the octopus, llf when you told me about it going for a wee dander! Just shows you ya can get anything down there. Well done guys

cheers dawsey. are you ready for another marathon session on thursday again i'll make the coffee a bit stronger for you this time