sat and sun antrim beach sessions 3rd & 4th april

People: see below

Duration: see below

Tide: see below

Weather: see below

Bait: rag, lug, mack, squid, razor, sand eel and cooked peeled prawns

Rigs: flappers, 1 up, 2 down, pennels, pulleys and single hook rockling rigs

Results: see below




Report: SATURDAY 3RD APRIL ROCKLING BEACH
after checking different weather forecast websites we decided to give this beach a go again. there was going to be a break in the weather for 6 hours and we thought we'd take advantage of it and get an evening session in. we arrived and got set up for around 7.30pm with high tide expected at 10pm. jordan was fishing to my left and mark to my right so no one could accuse me of hogging the best spot . mark was first into a fish with a flounder who was taken on mack and jordan soon followed with a flounder of his own on mack too. by 11pm i was the only one not to have caught and the fishing was pretty slow. so we upped sticks and moved on up the beach to the rough ground in hope of some big rockling . i noticed a small twitch on my close rod and reeled in a wee flattie. it was worth the wait as it turned out to be my first turbot of 2010 . not of any size to talk of, but i was just glad to have got one and was off the mark. i'd no sooner cast back out and the rod twitched again and in came a wee coalie. this was great, but where were our 3 bearded friends . but we did'nt have to wait too long as i was the first to get one. not an espically big on, but a 3 beardy none the less then i was really jammy as i got another 2 in quick succession. no where near as big as some of the monsters we've had here in the past, but i was just chuffed to be catching. meanwhile poor jordan and mark were continually re rigging as they kept loosing rigs in the thick kelp. but mark got his first ever 3 beardy which turned out to be the last fish of the night. we had'nt noticed the hours passing by and it was 4am and time to head home. so we ended up with jordan getting a flounder. mark getting a flounder and a 3 beardy, and me winning (for once) with a turbot, a coalie and 4, 3 beardy's . the weather was unusually calm, mild and dry which made the session all the more enjoyable . the only oddity of the session was that one of the 3 beardy's had a serious deformity and had a massive hump in his back . it seemed to be a solid mass rather than an abcess or cyist. so we'll know if we get him again in the future easy enough.

SUNDAY 4TH APRIL BALLYCASTLE BEACH (co. antrim)
with a full squad of us loaded in the car we headed for ballycastle beach. we have'nt fished this beach in months and with dawsey, belfast dan, jordan and myself all fishing 2 rods each it would give us a good indication of how it was fishing . at 7.30pm got set up and spread ourselves out over a 100 yard stretch of the beach to try and cover as much ground as possible. dan was first off the mark with a flounder caught in daylight (which is hopefully a good sign for the coming weeks ). then it was my turn and i got a wee flounder too. not to be outdone, jordan reeled in a coalie double with dan getting another couple of single flounder. then it was my turn for a coalie and poor dawsey was still to make a start . i honestly don't know what he was doing wrong . we were all fishing the same baits with the same rigs at similar distances and he just could'nt connect with any of his bites. by this stage dan was storming off into the lead with more flounder and coalies and me and jordan were slowly catching him up. meanwhile poor dawsey was having a nightmare and considering chucking his rods into the sea as he reckoned he stood more chance of spearing a fish with his rod than catching one on a rig . and as you would expect the banter was flying thick and fast with the milk of human kindness flowing as freely as cold roofing tar . but it was all in good humor and dawsey finally got a coalie to save his blushes . near the end i got a decent bite and reeled in the biggest fish of the session. a coalie of 34cms . by now it was 11pm and we packed away as dan and dawsey had work in the morning. i reeled in my last rod and discovered a 5 bearded rockling attached to my rig that i did'nt even know was there . so the scores on the doors ended up,
DAN: 7 flounder and 4 coalies
JORDAN: 5 coalies and 1 flounder
ME: 4 coalies, 1 flounder and a 5 beardy
DAWSEY: 1 coalie
other than the 1 coalie there was nothing of any real size, but plenty to keep us happy with the fishing itch well and truely scratched for another 24 hours

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great report al' made some nice reading and i like the pic of the hunchback "cosomoto"

great report's as usual AL well done some nice fish there. as for the twisted rockling i myself would of put his lights out and done him a favour

well done lads, plenty of fish to keep ye busy! Unusal lump on its back alright, interesting!

great report al' made some nice reading and i like the pic of the hunchback "cosomoto"

You beat me to it Don, Quazimodo the hunchback 3 beardy of co.Antrim.

well done lads some decent fishing there,al that second fish is a turbot! who got that?

great report al' made some nice reading and i like the pic of the hunchback "cosomoto"

it was our bite indicating bells that drew him in the bells!! the bells!!!!

great report's as usual AL well done some nice fish there. as for the twisted rockling i myself would of put his lights out and done him a favour

cheers john. other than that massive hump on his back he was in good health , but i'm sure nature will take it's course, with the survival of the fittest and all that .

well done lads, plenty of fish to keep ye busy! Unusal lump on its back alright, interesting!

cheers chris. it made up for the last 3 fishless sessions we had during the week

You beat me to it Don, Quazimodo the hunchback 3 beardy of co.Antrim.

from now on when we catch it we'll call it esmorellda

well done lads some decent fishing there,al that second fish is a turbot! who got that?

that would have been me needless to say jordan was'nt too happy. i hope we do'nt have another all ireland turbot hunt on our hands again

Man you must have some brownie points on the scoreboard. Will be doin one of those beaches or in between sometime next week, hope I can score as well. Good fishin mate, keep it up!!!

great report that rockling looked like it swallowed a golf ball

[FisherKing]

Another good session lads ,was after a few Turbot saturday myself but no joy not a bite the 3 beardy reminds me of a 5lb Pollock i got a few years ago had a big lump on him

Last edited by FisherKing on Mon Apr 05, 2010 9:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Great report there , and nice fishin well done.

well done al and jordan.ye always seem to get a good return from ur fishing sessions.well done.wish i had ur luck

Man you must have some brownie points on the scoreboard. Will be doin one of those beaches or in between sometime next week, hope I can score as well. Good fishin mate, keep it up!!!

cheers paul. we're back out tonight again. hopefully our luck will hold out for another session

great report that rockling looked like it swallowed a golf ball

you're a mind reader seanie thats what we thought when we saw the pics on the computer for the first time

Another good session lads ,was after a few Turbot saturday myself but no joy not a bite the 3 beardy reminds me of a 5lb Pollock i got a few years ago had a big lump on him

jeese brian, you still on a bad run of blanks . you must be going for a record by now . we still can't get out to our rock marks with all this rain. had a look at one mark last week, but the rocks are still too slippy to attempt it. but as soon as we get a few days of dry weather we'll be out after the bigger fish

Great report there , and nice fishin well done.

cheers man, just hope this weather improves soon.

well done al and jordan.ye always seem to get a good return from ur fishing sessions.well done.wish i had ur luck

thanks brian. we've been lucky enough to have made some good friends through the fishing. so at the weekends my phone is like the fish hot line when our friends are out they let us know how they got on and we do the same in return it's great to have a bunch of lads that you can trust to share marks and info with . it will also save you a lot of blanking

well done nice mix of fish keep it up

Greart report dude. Nice your still hitting into those rockling on that beach, we gotta get a race up 4 them soon

Was great craic the other night, I think Jordan blunted my hooks for my constant lateness I was very happy to get that wee coalie, been a few sessions without a fish. Was pleased to see the rest of you lot hitting into a couple though.

Was good to meet Dan (Belfast) for a session, really sound fella who has a wealth of knowledge of the sport. Being a true gentleman and revealling the secrets to his success at the end of the night hopefully get out for a few more mate.

Nice couple of sessions there guys.

Nice report and sessions Al,,,,,,,,,,good craic and banter as usual and plenty of fish between ye,well done,i'm well envious of those 3 beardies

yes another busy wee session and good craic all night sort of cheated the boys with my feeder on top of my rig: thanks for letting me tag along Al and nice to meet u Dawsey hopefully your luck will improve mate next timemate