Ballycotton Pier 27/07/2005

Fished ballycotton pier last night. It was a huge shock to the system. I've been flyfishing on quite rivers for the last few years and havent sea fished at all.
THE MACKERAL WERE IN!!! The place was jammed. Just when you thought that you couldnt possibly fit more poeple on the pier wall another five cars would arrive packed with lads,rods and feathers. I tried legering for a while but people kept getting caught in my line... whenever the mackeral made an appearance people would go into a frenzy throwing feathers attached to huge lead weights and getting tangled up in each other. I dont know how there werent any injuries with that much lead flying around. I'd hate to see these guys with shotguns.
Anyway I then put on a few feathers myself and caught a few for bait. I spent the next few hours unhooking fish for tourists while trying to shake as many as I could back into the sea. What really bugged me was the bloodlust, they couldnt kill enough fish. At least the seagulls had a nice feed afterwards. One guy caught around 30 and went home without them. Just left them there. On the whole though everyone was having great craic and feathers and advice were given to kids freely(try do that in dublin). When it calmed down I was able to resume ledgering with a two hook paternoster. I did well by my standards with a pollack(3lbs?) , my first conger(small), and a load of the biggest doggies I've ever caught.
I really enjoyed it in the end.
Thanks to liam for the advice.

it gets mad down there when the mackerel are in i got a right slap of a lead when down there last year.there are very big eels to be got if you had of tryed straight down under the peir.

I am going to give it another go tonight. Dont know about catching big conger. I've heard they've got mad teeth. This seafishing is a hazardous sport, even the bait(rag) can bite you.

haha thats what makes it fun.the later it gets the people fishing for mackerel will normaly head off give you a bit of peace.

leaving 30 mackeral behind!!!!!! tell me they went to good use?? such a beautiful, undervalued fish.

Most piers in the UK have signs up banning feathering due to the dangers -mostly, it has to be said - from the mackerel bashers, who almost invariably seem to a few beers above the good sense level. A few also prohibit casting.

I agree with the ban on feathering from piers although basic casting, if done properly, is pretty safe.

Never seen the attraction of catching mackerelafter mackerel myself, 6 at a time. It's not like it requires any finesse or skill.

I'd hate to see the same bans have to be enforced on piers here....

Last night was the same story except with very few mackeral. A good few horse mackeral caught though. Good ones around the 1lb mark. I just read a bit about them on the species guide and its strange but possibly one or two of them were of speciman size.
There were four casting accidents with 3 heading off to hospital in cork to have hooks removed etc. I think because there were so few fish people were trying to cast further. People were also winding the swivels into their top eye and when they cast the whole thing just swung around. There is just no space at all and if a fish is caught they just cram in beside you. A few of the lads there were getting really pi***d off that they werent catching and when they caught a poor cod,rockling or dogfish they'd just kick it around the place. Seen a man drop kick a dogfish, would have put O'Gara to shame. It nearly came to blows when I told him to stop acting the bollocks though. This easy fishing really attracts the thugs which is a pity as it would be a great way to attract kids to the sport. I didnt enjoy myself at all until they'd gone. After which I got two dogfish and went home. High tide wasnt until half eleven.