Portrush Saturday June 17th

People: Me

Duration: 6pm to 1130pm

Tide: High Water 1130pm

Weather: No Wind, No Rain, quite a large swell though.

Bait: Rag and Mack

Rigs: 2 hook flapper, float, 1 hook bomber

Results: Pollock, Colefish, Dogfish, Whiting, Plaice, Dab, Mackerel, Hermit Crab.


Report:

So just over a week a ago I got my brand new shiny Penn Powerstix Pro 15ft9 version, Mitchell Avosurf, Powerpro Braid and a Tripod. I hadn’t had a chance to use it so Saturday night, high tide in Portrush was Dusk so dropped all plans and off I went. I should mention I ride a motorbike and trying to fit a 5 foot 3 rod section onto it was a bit of a puzzle but used my MacGyver like Ingenuity and got it on securely and safe to ride. Got down about half 5, just after low tide, it was quite rough, not in a “big angry waves trying to kill you sort of way” but more of a “huge swell casually swallowing up the rocks” sort of way. Some guy who I’ve met on previous occasions was fishing where I wanted to, so said hello etc then found a spot near to but a polite distance away from him. For the first hour I float fished and had a line out at distance both using rag while the Mackerel thawed out a bit. Didn’t even get a bite on the float, possibly due to the swell tossing the float all over the shop so packed that in and put on a 2 oz bomb with 1 hook tied about 7ft up and tossed it into the weed about 5 metres out from the rock face. Around this time 5 Mackerel Bashers landed and positioned themselves just to my right on a small point jutting about 15 metres out. Once set up they started casting in a fan formation. Which meant for me every other cast I made ended up in a tangle with one of them. Regardless of this I still managed to catch fish. Got a few tiny flatties, dogfish and Colefish at distance and some Pollock up to 2lb close in. the dogfish were hungry and ended up catching about a dozen in all but did also lose some due to trying to reel it in while being attach to the afore mentioned Mackerel Bashers. This went on for about 2 hours, every time they tangled my line I made sure I reeled it to me so they had to walk all the way over to me to get their stuff back, a few tried to play tug of war but I always won in the end . At one point one of them came marching over having cast over my line for the third time complaining about my casting. He said “you have to learn to __ cast straight, you keep casting into where im trying to fish!!!”. Im standing there holding a birds nest of our traces trying to decide to best approach to detangle it and his attitude wasn’t helping. In the end I whip out the fillet knife and go to town on it, much to the protest the Mackerel Basher. Seconds later my swivels hooks and beads are back in my tackle box and he is stood there holding 5 mackerel feathers and a weight unattached to any line. I pointed out to him that I was casting perpendicular to the rocks towards the islands and that he was in fact casting 90 degrees to the direction I was casting, that and the fact I was there first and from now on every trace that gets tangled in mine would be handed back in pieces. (obviously I wasn’t so eloquent on the rocks but the words had the same effect). He stropped off and had a group hug/meeting with his mates and they seemed to decide to leave it at that. Usually I find there’s a better sort of mackerel basher in Portrush, usually locals who know how to fish and follow the rules of etiquette that go with it but these guys would have been at home in Carrick harbour. The next half hour was tangle free and then they all got swamped by a big wave, someone had to fish a bag out of the water and they slopped off home. Since no-one was hurt me and the guy next to me had a good old laugh.
The tide was getting higher and the waves were starting to threaten where I was fishing so had to move. The guy to my left kindly moved up a bit as he was spinning and gave me the flat bit of rock he was on to set up my tripod. Fished on and still getting Pollock close in and mainly Colefish and Dogfish at distance along with a 2 Mackerel, which I gave to the guy who moved for me as he had only caught one and my frozen mackerel was working just fine. As darkness started to fall the whiting moved in (5-8 inches max). As soon as the bait hit the water it was bites straight away and was bringing them in 2 at a time. Not much in size but still fish and got the odd doggie in between. By about half 11 the waves were starting to wash over the rock I was on so decided to pack in and head home.
I’m pleased I got to christen my new rod and properly so. It’s a bit cumbersome compared to the 12 foot rods im used to but has definitely increased my distance, also I’ve never used braided line from the shore before and was really impressed with it. Due to the lack of stretch and the thinness of it, I was able to keep a near straight line to the lead with no bow at all and could see every single bite no matter how small. Just have to get used to not having to move the rod as far when striking due to the lack of stretch. I think there might be few fish out there missing a bottom jaw .

Your Diversion copes well

I'm a QVMCC member before you ask

recognise the username did you?

recognise the username did you?

Yep mine there is Evil_Kinevil

yes i know you now

i can get anything strapped to that bike if i set my mind to it
so long as i have enough bungees that is