Bangor Pier Saturday 24th July

People Just Me

Duration 630pm – 3am

Tide HW 1030pm

Weather calm, then windy, then calm again

Bait Mackerel, Lug

Rigs Float, 1 hook Bomber

Results Pollock, Colefish, Pouting, Whiting

Report

Landed down at Bangor Pier and the tide was still well out. Had planned on leaving it a bit closer to high tide before going down but couldn’t wait. On arrival the wind was blowing from the south so round the back of the pier was flat calm. Put on a float with a 4 inch by half inch piece of mackerel hooked once through the end by a size 8 hook and soon started pulling out small Pollock and colefish up to ½ a pound. Nothing bigger like I got last time but a fish is a fish and kept me happy. There were about a dozen people spinning but didn’t see them get anything. At about 8 the wind suddenly turned to the north and blowing quite fierce and it got really choppy. Fishing was impossible so headed round inside the harbour for some tiddlers as the forecast said the wind would drop again later (it was surprisingly accurate for a change). Put on a stick float, size 10 hook, and a tiny 10mm by 5mm piece of mackerel. Bites were immediate and was getting a fish every other cast almost. Nothing huge maybe 6 inches at the very most but I did get a personal best for smallest pouting ever caught. It was 2 inches long but was perfectly formed and if I was a girl I would say it was really cute. There were a few other guys fishing off the platform but from the size of their baits I think they had bigger fish in mind but they didn’t get anything. These tiny fish kept me entertained till about half 9, went round the back to check the wind status, it had died down considerably, the tide had moved up and covered the grills and it was still quite choppy. Decided to move anyway and had put the bigger float out again. Got 3 more Pollock the same size as before, it was getting too dark to see by this point but the waves had washed my line in among the big boulders where it got snagged and I lost the float. After this I put out a 1 hook bomber and spent the next 10 minutes trying to find some where to comfortably sit and rest the rod. Finally settled and fishing i managed to pull in 2 pouting about the size of my hand and a single whiting. By about half 11 i moved back round to the inside as it was getting chilly and headed for the platform. There was an old man on there and the first thing he says to me was “I have Parkinsons” I’m thinking that’s an odd way to start a conversation. But turned out he had trouble bending over and needed some help picking up his tackle box and bait off the ground. Was only to happy to help and for the next hour was handing him bait. He was using baited feathers with lugworm but only got one bite and no fish. In the mean time I was fishing on the bottom casting out into the middle of the mouth and was stick float fishing under the platform. Also threw a mackerel over towards the boulders at the grills for conger. Was catching a few tiny fish on the float and had one good rattle on the bottom but I missed it. It went quite on the bottom so put on those small chemical lights. I don’t know if they make any difference or not, have tried them on and off and haven’t been able to conclusively decide one way or the other. At one point a bit shape appeared around my float. I could only really see the silhouette as it was dark and I swear it looked like a big squid or cuttlefish, when I brought my float bait towards the surface it went straight for it, stopped and then swam off never to be seen again. On reflection I think this was most likely a mullet. By about 1230am the old man was one his way and left newspaper and wrappers all over the platform. I figured it was because of the problem he had bending over and he may have felt a bit embarrassed asking someone else to clean up after him so went about collecting all his remains and turned out the news paper was of big fresh lug. Wasn’t much happening on the mackerel on the bottom so tried that instead and was soon getting bites. Missed the first few but then a mackerel basher landed (at 1230 in the morning!!!). His first 3 cast went straight over my line. This was really pissing me off. I was having lovely relaxed evenings fishing and now this numpty and his reel which sounded like there was a stone stuck in the cogs was upsetting my calm. A brief exchange later and he was making sure not to cast over me again. He fished for an hour and as expected the midnight mackerel basher left with no fish. So back to the bites, they were so tentative it was really difficult to hook up. There was no swell to move the line or rod tip so it was just me vs fish. The tip would move ever so slightly, about 2-3cm then fall back, then repeat every 5 seconds or so. Occasionally getting the odd quite rattle or slack line bite. It was frustrating and took about 45 minutes before I was able to hook one. It was a more decent pouting touching half a pound. The bite were steady and instant almost as soon as the weight hit the bottom but they were a bollocks to hook. Managed to hook about 1 fish for every five cast even though I was getting bites every cast. But I love a challenge was totally engrossed with the fishing. Looked at my phone and it was 3am. Decided to pack it in as the old eyelids were getting heavy and didn’t want to drive home half asleep. Had a really good evening. Have never fished the Dee and had almost headed down there to give it a try but from another report posted there wasn’t much doing that night so glad I went to Bangor.

The man with Parkinsons is Ronnie.Loves his fishing and always fishes at night because his wife is asleep usually and doesn't know he has snuck out.Ask him if he still has his boat,he'll tell you a few anecdotes about his run-ins with the coastguard.Great conversations with him.Glad that you were helpful fair play to you.Such a shame the mackerel basher got in your way.

Great report. It made great reading...

Such a shame the mackerel basher got in your way.

they always do, well at least this year

it wasnt until i joined this forum this year that i became aware of the phenomenom that is the mackerel basher and now i seem to be plagued by them everywhere i go

i guess ignorance really is bliss

Ran into 4 mackerel bashing kids at Browns Bay on saturday. At one point I heard "They've caught something",next time I looked around they were gone lol