Cushendall Saturday 24th June 2011

People: Me

Duration: 130 - 8pm

Tide: HW 7ish

Weather: Forecast Sunshine - Reality Showers on and off

Bait: Rag, Mack and Squid

Rigs: Float, 1up 1 down, 2 hook flapper

Results: Codling, Plaice, Dab, Wrasse, Pollock, Coalie, Brown Crab




Report: Head off on my first flattie bashing session of the year. Never fished Cushendall before but was advised its a good spot so off i went. Main target was a Plaice to bump up the species count for the year. Setting off from belfast i decided to take the coast road so i could check out the sea conditions along the way. With the wind blowing from the SW it was flat calm. Inevitably i got stuck behind a member of the "What do you mean theres a 4th gear" brigade. Thats the good thing about motorbikes, i was able to hop my along the 15 car tailback and eventually past the wee old couple holding everyone up, round another few corners and then a bloody camper van and another tailback, past it and then a caravan. Took for ever to get there, its only 50 miles but took over an hour and a half . Finally landed down and had the first line the water by 130 at LW. Fired it out towards the rough ground and I had my first wee codling before i even had the 2nd rod set up. Got the second rod set up and fired out out parallel with the beach for flats. Bite were constant all day long. Got a few plaice, codling and dab over the sand. Most action was seen over the rough ground though and i caught more codling than anything else, must have got about 2 dozen of them. Everyone codling caught spat up a big stomach full of tiny sandeels as well. around 4 or so the bites on the bottom rods slowed so threw out a float and was soon picking up fish again. i was very surprised at how deep it was. then nearer slack water at high tide the bite on the bottom picked up again and remained steady until the end of the session. i actually only went home because i had completely run out of bait. i couldnt tell you the last time that happened.

all in all i had a very good day, the fish werent huge with the biggest being a wrasse touching a pound but what they lacked in size they more than made up for in numbers.

also, for years ive been keeping my hooks in those wee plastic bags, the problems i was having with this was i either put a wet hook in the bag and the whole lot went rusty or i left the hook loose in the box todry first but this usually end up with random hooks all over the shop. solved the problem by getting a wee tackle box just for the hooks, only used it first time this trip and its no more convienient getting the hooks out of this box than trying to find the baggie with the right size hooks and wrestle one out, im hoping the cardboard on the lid ive written the sizes on will suck up any moisture and stop them going rusty but time will tell. currently its got more hooks in it that i will proably use for the next 2 years

here are the pics and a scenery shot for good measure

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more pics

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last few pics i was quite snap happy as you can tell

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great fish yngkmd. sound like you had a cracking session. some great pics too.

Great pics & session sounds like a good mark & nice mix of fish there!!!

Great report and lovely pics as always. Would love a few days up there soon myself as I could never get bored of it. To me that's the definition of Summer fishing and who cares if the bigger ones didn't get a look in this time as it's so much fun when there's plenty of activity in the water.

ps. like the labelled hook box as i'm a bit pedantic myself, lol.

mighty fishing magnificant coloured spots on your plaice,good few species aswell like a christmas (selection box)lol
well done
tightlines fergal

nice report. a very typical session for that mark, i fish it all the time. i reckon if you were to do it again, esp. in the summer months, that you should head up over ballymena then down into the glens form there. 50ish mins - cut out the tourists.
great pics too and i couldnt agree more with dave316 - who cares what size they are at times when youre catch lots and a whole range of species sure its great fun. the days of big ones from that area are long over.
totally hear you about the rusty hook problem. i have given up on trying to prevent used hooks contaminating/rusting the others in the box and just chuck them after a session - esp. ones with old bait or baiting elastic on them. but i do it responsibly! - i cut the hook in half with a pair pliers and make sure i get rid of the sharp end totally out of harms way. 2 secs does it.
nice one

Nice bit of action there yngkmd, good pics of the various species you got too. Sounds like a steady bit of sport. I was v close to you for about 1.5 hrs in the evening, at the rocks immediately south of the slipway and jetty. I got a wee mix or codling, pollack, coley and 1 dog, no plaice and that was what I was after. I was trying to spin and watch the bait rod but the bites were so steady I had to leave the spinning rod down. Good fun.

Good report, youll be back at that mark this summer then?

Good report, youll be back at that mark this summer then?

i certainly will, were you the guy with the red car parked on the grass?

great days fishing well done

plaice looks nice and tasty

Nice session Missed as usual due to other plans

Good report, youll be back at that mark this summer then?

i certainly will, were you the guy with the red car parked on the grass?

Aye that was me, I fish over where you were a lot, on Sat I wanted to try a mark near the boat club, just to the south but there were people there. So I headed down Dalriada and had a go at those rocks, havent fished that spot in a long time, nice enough, no snags and steady bites though I didnt get a plaice.

Nice fishing yngkmd, i drove down from newry on sat and after picking up some bait in larne, i decided to give the beach in glenarm a shot. Fished from 2 till 9 and blankety blank apart from a few crabs. Few other lads on the beach caught some plaice but they were well below the limit and was good to see them going back in. So now i wish i had driven the extra few miles on towards cushendall . thats twice i have only been a few miles from cathal and a big difference in the catch reports, so the next time ill be heading more northwards.. excellent pictures yngkmd, well done on a good day out..