Red Bay, Antrim, Fri 24th Sept

[Der Baron]

People: Me and Fishyfingers

Duration:18:30-midnight

Tide:Rising to full

Weather: Mild, North Westerly, Dry

Bait: Rag, Mack, Squid, and Sandeel

Rigs: Pulley and Flapper

Results: 8 Dogs, 12 Coalies, 4 Pollack, 3 whiting, 1 Dab, 1 sea Scorpion, 1 Large Lobster




Report:

Well we hit this mark with a bit of trepidation as it was a first for us, and we needed to mull it over a fish supper in Cushendall, before we made the decision. We were a bit stuck for choice, but basically it came down to a new rock mark, the pier or the beach . We opted for the deep water rock mark, in the hope we might pick of a few ray that still remained. That wasn't to be sadly, but we were getting hits right from the first baits hit the water. It wasn't long before the first reasonable sized dog came to the pulley rig, after downsizing the bait a bit, having had several good knocks previously, and a lot of obvious bite marks on the bait. I decided to leave it sitting, and as expected it eventually hooked itself. From then on we were into a steady flow of reasonable Coalies, around the 1lb and a 1/2 mark, and a few good Pollack. Casting out once more, I totally messed up my cast, getting a slight overrun on the multi, but saving it, just to see my flapper rig, disappear into the kelp. Avoiding losing the rig, my embarrasment was further covered up, by having my bait attacked, by what I think is a Sea Scorpion, and a reasonable one at that, you can judge for yourselves, as it's a new species for me. Having returned the Sea Scorpion safely I then got what could only be described as the best bite of the night. The Penn Powerstix, with the Pulley bowed over, and then sprung back in the traditional Pulley manor. I thought Oi Oi! I'm into a good one here. I lifted the rod, and struck to lift it off the bottom. Winding in I suddenly got very disappointed. I couldn't feel a thing, nothing zilch, nadda. I got the shock leader up and over the kelp, and there on the end of my large squid and sandeel bait, was a saucer sized Dab stuck on a 4/0 hook. Unbelievable!!!.
Anyway it carried on for a few hours well into high tide like that, fish coming regularly to our baits. We had just decided to start packing when Kev's new Grays bass rod started to dip. Deciding to let the bite develop, we watched for a while, and eventually Kev lifted into a fish of considerable weight. Unbeknown to us at the time, a good Coalie had taken the top flapper, which when he got it to shore, it was totally ignored, because of the 2lb lobster hooked on the bottom flapper.
A good night for a first time mark, finished off with a couple of small dogs. The marks around this bay seem to be fishing pretty well at the moment, and we still have another couple to try out for the first time, so we hopefully will be back shortly!!!

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Last edited by Der Baron on Tue Sep 28, 2010 11:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Nice one lads
thats a Short Spined Sea Scorpion.Not as common as its Long Spined cousin,well done

hope the lobster tasted nice

that lobster looks realy tasty
good size scorpion there
nice fishing well done

Great post mate, you forgot the whiting!! The "nippers" are lookin pretty scrummy! Lookin forward to getting back up to Waterfoot.

Amended Uncle Kev!

nice catch, im getting hungry looking at that last picture

Thanks guys, it was a great session, loads of interest in our baits. Myself and Kev have been doing a lot of exploring lately, which you know eventually always pays off. It's the only way to get results around this coastline of ours!!!

nice one paul the lobster was a welcome bonus

Im new to this forum and just trawlin through old stuff, that is a class sea scorpion. I used to catch these occasionally about the rocks around Cushendall when I was a kid, never that size I might add, but havent had one in years. I didnt appreciate them when I got them thinking they were a disappointing thing to catch, an oul spiney thing you cant eat,- kinda thing. Now they are one of the fish that interests me most. The colour variation is amazin. Hell of a lobster too.

Well done.

excellant fishing there

Great fishing, that's scorpion is a belter. Well done

Well done Paul & Kevin, you's got a great variety of different species during that session. Plenty to keep you's busy anyway! Great report and pictures.

Im new to this forum and just trawlin through old stuff, that is a class sea scorpion. I used to catch these occasionally about the rocks around Cushendall when I was a kid, never that size I might add, but havent had one in years. I didnt appreciate them when I got them thinking they were a disappointing thing to catch, an oul spiney thing you cant eat,- kinda thing. Now they are one of the fish that interests me most. The colour variation is amazin. Hell of a lobster too.

Well done.

Jez, I thought this report had disappeared off the end of the pier! Yeah thanks all! I think we proved that if you do a bit of exploring away from the normal marks, there are fish out there! Get your packs on and get walking! But defo the better fishing seems to be at night, so be careful!