East Coast in August

South Wicklow Beach 21-AUGUST
Smoothound Fishing has been slow enough for me this year, though i'm not complaining , i'm happy enough to even land one . Last year and the year before , it wasnt uncommon for us to be getting 2 or 3 decent fish each when they were about. This year it seems to be single fish patrolling the beaches. On this occassion I had only set up and got the smoothie on the 1st cast. I didnt know that it was to be my only fish and the next 4 hours would be fruitless . Ah well, at least I got one decent one It was on live peeler, well he was alive seconds before he hit the water . Fishface caught a couple of small fish during the next few hours, then did his usual trick of landing a decent Smoothound on his last cast . Disappointing to see the remains of fires/chairs/tents etc littering the beach . And its our fellow anglers








GREYSTONES 23RD AUGUST

Went for an afternoon session in my beloved Greystones (maybe I lived there in a previous life ). It was my first fishing trip in my fishing van . I dropped into Gotcha Angling to get some bait and have a chat with Ringo. Very handy for future trips there. Shop is well stocked and prices are reasonable , best of luck to him . I'll be purchasing one of his Smocks next time . Armed with my 20 rag, I headed around the corner to the rocks and set up. "You won't catch anything here", an English gent advised me. "Theres been 2 anglers here for the last 4 hrs without a bite". With these nuggets of information delivered to me he left . I wasnt going to let all that negativity affect me so I cast out 2 rods, 1 out and 1 in close. Over the next couple of hours I had 8 species, Ballan Wrasse, Corkwing Wrasse, Shore Rockling, Codling, Blenny, Short Spined Sea Scorpion, Coalies, and Pollock . Weather was nice, dry and sunny but cool. The English gent reappeared with his grandaughter and a rod, but he didnt catch anything, pity . She told me he had caught 70 mackeral the night before, and I was a bit dubious until another old gent ,who turned out to be one of the original anglers who hadnt gotten a bite and who also gave me a few rag ), told me that he also had a lot of macks the previous night. I got nothing but large clumps of weed at distance . I enjoyed my afternoon/evening session there and scarpered before the rats came out to play . On the negative side the place was a tip, I brought a bag of rubbish away with me and as someone has suggested here i'll bring a litterpicker with me next time, as i'm sure the rats have been through the rubbish before I got there .

















NORTH WEXFORD BEACH 27TH AUGUST

With Al and Jordan and their mate Mark down on a smoothie hunt, myself and Fishface decided to tag along to see if some of Jordans good luck would rub off on us . Dawsey was down with a few mates too, but he made the fateful decision to stay in Ennereilly . I arrived at about 6pm and Jordan had already caught a decent Smut . The tide was dropping at this stage and I was using fresh peeler for the smoothies and rag/squid on a 2 hook flapper for anything else that might be around . I set up beside him and then Fishface arrived . I was lucky enough to connect with a smoothie and after a nervous few minutes eventually landed him with Neils help, soaking his sleeves in the process . Fishface wasnt too happy with me getting a Smoothie, and started throwing stones at me. I ignored his childish behaviour and started to have a conversation with the more mature Jordan (age approx 11 ). Then I felt a sharp pain and thought the stars had come out early but Jordan explained that I had been hit on the head by a stone (Boulder ) thrown by Neil. Poor Jordan witnessed all this , and Al bringing him away from Belfast to the peaceful South, I was mortified . Jordan bandaged me up to give Fishface a scare, and he was for once very humble and apologetic, and rightly so He had bad Karma for the rest of the night, but unfortunately pulled in a doggie just before he left . Al will fill in the details on what was caught , but everyone got the target species. I had one decent Smut, one small one, a Dab and a doggie. I also met Creep from the site as I was leaving, unfortunately we didnt get much time to talk, but i'm sure we'll meet up again at some stage.

nice hounds there eyes....think the english gent wanted you out of there so he could fish that spot why else would he tell you you'll get nothing and then come back himself

great report and lovely hounds dave . that fishface one is a bad man i reckon it was jealousy of your smoothie that prompted the stone throwing incident he must have been thinking that if you were knocked out cold you could'nt outfish him again but that plan was scuppered when you landed your second smoothie . great to see you all again and wet a line. the craic was mighty and myself, jordan and mark all got our target species and a few new ones for the 2011 species list to boot . the east coast has been very kind to us this summer and the kindness and generosity shown to us all by yourselves was outstanding as usual. you always come up trumps putting us onto the fish and helen makes a fine brew that is always welcome on our stop off at your house that breaks our journey up on our way to the marks. thanks very much again dave. sadly i think it will be our last east coast trip this year as we have to get a trip out west to see the galway and mayo lads before the fishing slows down over that way, but like i said. the east coast and it anglers have been very good to us and just remember that if you ever fancy a chuck up this way there is always a spare room at our place for you's

Well done lads!! yep i started taking the litter stick as part of the gear now! I'm glad i fished up the other end of the beach with you lads throwing stones at each other!!! and the red dots running around the beach, noticed ya didnt mention the moving lighthouse!! psml it was a pleasure meeting yas!! tight lines to you all!!!

well done lads some nice fishing yous had there and great report dave

Great report & pics Dave, love the Tea towel pics the waiter is seving up some nice fresh fish you'll have to start wearing goggles when fishface is about

At least you got your hound dave, it's been hit and miss on all beaches at the moment, hopefully this weekend there is good fishing. Got to love Neil throwing stones, he is so easily amused!

That beach is now a joke with the litter, it's def the fishermen leaving the crap to. I think last time I fished it I found 5-6 disgarded rigs in the sand, 2 still with crab and elastic on them.

i din not mean to, honestly

i din not mean to, honestly

Ego te absolvo, in nomine Peché , et fishes , et Starrius Smoothius

At least you got your hound dave, it's been hit and miss on all beaches at the moment, hopefully this weekend there is good fishing. Got to love Neil throwing stones, he is so easily amused!

That beach is now a joke with the litter, it's def the fishermen leaving the crap to. I think last time I fished it I found 5-6 disgarded rigs in the sand, 2 still with crab and elastic on them.

I'M BRINGING A HARD HAT NEXT TIME

Great report & pics Dave, love the Tea towel pics the waiter is seving up some nice fresh fish you'll have to start wearing goggles when fishface is about

Cheers Brian, 32 counties in Ireland and he hits me on the beach

well done lads some nice fishing yous had there and great report dave

Cheers Alan

Well done lads!! yep i started taking the litter stick as part of the gear now! I'm glad i fished up the other end of the beach with you lads throwing stones at each other!!! and the red dots running around the beach, noticed ya didnt mention the moving lighthouse!! psml it was a pleasure meeting yas!! tight lines to you all!!!

I'm used to that headlamp,or the Sun as I call it Kevin, and i'm also used to him showing it off and temporarily blinding people . Dont worry though, the effects are temporary and your eyesight will come back in a few months

great report and lovely hounds dave . that fishface one is a bad man i reckon it was jealousy of your smoothie that prompted the stone throwing incident he must have been thinking that if you were knocked out cold you could'nt outfish him again but that plan was scuppered when you landed your second smoothie . great to see you all again and wet a line. the craic was mighty and myself, jordan and mark all got our target species and a few new ones for the 2011 species list to boot . the east coast has been very kind to us this summer and the kindness and generosity shown to us all by yourselves was outstanding as usual. you always come up trumps putting us onto the fish and helen makes a fine brew that is always welcome on our stop off at your house that breaks our journey up on our way to the marks. thanks very much again dave. sadly i think it will be our last east coast trip this year as we have to get a trip out west to see the galway and mayo lads before the fishing slows down over that way, but like i said. the east coast and it anglers have been very good to us and just remember that if you ever fancy a chuck up this way there is always a spare room at our place for you's

Cheers Al, the pleasure was ours, always good to meet ye

nice hounds there eyes....think the english gent wanted you out of there so he could fish that spot why else would he tell you you'll get nothing and then come back himself

Some nice fish there - definitely bring a hard hat the next time!!

well written report!being honest i couldnt help but laugh despite the old rock incident brilliant fishing lovley hounds there!and 8 species must be a record in itself in a session some fine looking wrasse in there.great pictures aswell !"theres a kid in all of us"how true

tightlines
fergal

nice report dave them wicklow lads are a rough bunch

super report dave its sad to see anglers been abused and even worse ASSAULTED because they caught
a FISH id go as far and call it bullying i hope he is ashamed of himself unfortunately
this has happened to me on many an occassion But im glad you stuck it out and DID NOT let him get the
better of you