county down harbours and fresh water 30th&31st october

People: me and junior

Duration: 30th 1pm - 5.30pm 31st 6am - 4pm

Tide: dropping

Weather: 30th dry and calm, 31st cold and drizzley

Bait: mackerel and ragworm

Rigs: 3 hook flappers size 4 hooks

Results: ballan warsse, shore rockling, pollack, pouting and WHITINGFEST 2011
and when we went over to the dark side, 3 pike @ 4lb 4oz, 6lb 4oz and 8lb 1oz




Report: we decided to stay close to home this weekend as i've been loaded with a viral infection and feeling cack. so much so that i was'nt fit to make it over the door on saturday, but had promised to get jordan out somewhere to wet a line at the weekend so handy close to home marks were on the cards. the herring shoals are pretty abundant in belfast lough at the mo so we were hoping to get a crack at them . first stop on sunday was donaghadee. to be honest it was pretty quiet with jordan blanking and me getting 4 fish in 3 hours. but in saying that one of my fish was a nice ballan wrasse weighing 2lb 14oz which was nice this late in the year . my other 3 were a tiny whiting, another ballan wrasse and a shore rockling. needless to say no herring showed . but sure, you can't win them all
by 4pm we decided to pack this mark in and head round to bangor for a micro whiting competition . as usual these wee guys were abundant and within an hour jordan had well and truely spanked me ending up with 78 to my 21 . but i did get a few pollack and a pouting, all tiddlers too. .
we decided to call it a day as i was coughing my lungs up and head on home . but on the way home jordan twisted my arm to go on a quest for his first ever pike in the morning. i was still feeling rough and told him we'd see how i felt in the morning.
the alarm went off at 4.30am and i was still feeling pretty cack. but jordan was stood outside my bedroom as i opened it fully dressed and ready to go . god only knows how long he'd been stood there bright as a beaver and ready to go
so it looked like the decision had already been made . we loaded the car and were out the door by 5.30am. as ill as i felt i could'nt let him down as he tried a half dozen times over the last few years for a pike and always came up blank. so i just loaded up on antibiotics and cough drops and off we went. it was a great day and to keep things short, he finally got his first pike she weighed 6lb 4oz and jordan was over the moon. i got 2 for my efforts and we headed home at 4pm as i was starting to see double . still poorly today so this will be a shorter report than usual as i'm heading off back to bed to recover. but all in all a great fishy weekend by us 2 as usual even if i'm suffering for it now

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well done boys all ways good to change things up a bit i love the pike fishing myself

you are braveheart Al, even not very healthy you managed couple of sessions, with some nice late wrasse and pike
well done guys

well done lads some nice fish there jordans pike is a real belter he deserves it for standing at the door

What, no Bass?

Careful now, people'll start thinking your an angling mortal after all and not an angling god!

No sacrifice no glory fair dues for sticking it out fine fine mixture of species as usual.Ive heard a bit about pike supposedly very good sport.fine pictures and report nice ones guys!

ferg ("tightlines" seems a bit pointless at this stage i know ye will be catching lol)

Al,

That big Wrasse looks like the one Daniel got from the same spot 3 weeks ago! LOL

Nice fishing.

Hope your feelin better mate well done on the fish, give Jordan a High Five for me damn he's got guts to spare, looking forward to the day my son waits at the door Love the pike fishin well done lads!!

Them big bass are very green looking good stuff men another good one fair play

Fair play to you al and jordan thats greta news that Jordan got his first ever pike and with his oldman as well.... Al hope your feeling better.. as the Bass gods must of known that you were poorly and kept them away from you...

Regards
Dave

Great sessions lads, some fine pike there, there is just no stopping ye at the minute...

nice fish, cant wait till my weeks pike fishing holiday planned for mid winter to make up for the aborted summer fishing holiday. no offence, but i intend to catch a few that will put those pike to shame

well done boys all ways good to change things up a bit i love the pike fishing myself

cheers man. we tried that spot 3 or 4 time last year and it just did'nt happen for him, but we must have had 10 good runs that day. sohe finally got his pike i was really made up for him

you are braveheart Al, even not very healthy you managed couple of sessions, with some nice late wrasse and pike
well done guys

cheers grady. but i'm suffering for it now man (self inflicted thow ).

well done lads some nice fish there jordans pike is a real belter he deserves it for standing at the door

almost scared the crap outta me man . i was only awake seconds and opened the door groggy eyed and he was stood there giving it the "are you ready, are you ready" .

What, no Bass?
Careful now, people'll start thinking your an angling mortal after all and not an angling god!

jaysus man. if you could see and hear the state of me these past few days you'd easily see i'm a mere mortal .
i have a cackle on me that a heavy smoker would be fearfull of and i look like if just walked off the set of THE WALKING DEAD as a zombie extra

No sacrifice no glory fair dues for sticking it out fine fine mixture of species as usual.Ive heard a bit about pike supposedly very good sport.fine pictures and report nice ones guys!
ferg ("tightlines" seems a bit pointless at this stage i know ye will be catching lol)

cheers ferg. they are very powerfull fish indeed. no bullying them boys fo fear of them throwing the single hooks we were using. it was a mate who got us into the pike last winter. his father and himself have been fishing for the pike 30+ years and never use trebles. they just use single 4/0 hooks as they believe it's kinder to the fish. espically when they get deep hooked. they use a bent coathanger wire to do the deep hooked flattie hook removal trick . apparently they have been using that scaled up version of unhooking for years. and there was me thinking it was invented for us shore anglers . just goes to show how many cross overers there are between the different fishing disciplines
and i forgot to say in the report i had my first proper tailwalking pike that day . the big fella jumped clean out of the water and covered a good 2 feet on his tail towards us . it really got the heart pumping

Al,
That big Wrasse looks like the one Daniel got from the same spot 3 weeks ago! LOL
Nice fishing.

you could be right alan. i reckon i caught that guy from the same spot this year myself they never learn

Hope your feelin better mate well done on the fish, give Jordan a High Five for me damn he's got guts to spare, looking forward to the day my son waits at the door Love the pike fishin well done lads!!

cheers kevin, just sorry we could'nt make it down for the fundraiser. but the thought of the drive and standing on a wet windswept beach just was'nt doing it for me man
jordan was buzzed when i told him we were gonna go out for another crack at the pike. this was his 6th or 7th go at them, so he was over the moon to finally get one the pike fishing is a bit like the shark fishing. hours of mind numbing inactivity broken up by bursts of mad excitement

Them big Bass are very green looking good stuff men another good one fair play

cheers man, fresh water bass

Fair play to you al and jordan thats greta news that Jordan got his first ever pike and with his oldman as well.... Al hope your feeling better.. as the Bass gods must of known that you were poorly and kept them away from you...
Regards
Dave

cheers dave. it was a bass conspiracy!! i'm almost sure that last one i caught sneezed on me the wee git
so that's where i got ill from

Great sessions lads, some fine pike there, there is just no stopping ye at the minute...

thanks man. we're on a roll at the mo. long may it continue

nice fish, cant wait till my weeks pike fishing holiday planned for mid winter to make up for the aborted summer fishing holiday. no offence, but i intend to catch a few that will put those pike to shame

and i hope you get them man, you are due a good session after all your disasters .
we fished that same lake last year when my mate caught an 8lb'er. i walked out knee deep to net it just as some massive pike latched onto the side of it . scared the cack outta me and you should have seen the 2 horseshoe sized chomp marks it left on the 8lb pike so there are some monsters to be had from that spot

cheers kevin, just sorry we could'nt make it down for the fundraiser. but the thought of the drive and standing on a wet windswept beach just was'nt doing it for me man
jordan was buzzed when i told him we were gonna go out for another crack at the pike. this was his 6th or 7th go at them, so he was over the moon to finally get one the pike fishing is a bit like the shark fishing. hours of mind numbing inactivity broken up by bursts of mad excitement

No worries mate, you'll make next years one Im sure theres also a fundraiser for the RNLI in Galway, have a look in Clubs and Meets I'll be headin for that one!! And for Next Years Temple Street Bash thinking of holding it more towards August end of things for the better weather, funny thing was the day after was beautiful...but go figure ... Im gonna get me a weather man and beat him

But everything was against us on the day, the DART wasnt running (due to flooding), poor show of buses, South Beach was weeded out, great on shore surf but the weed was immpossible , then the rain came, Im glad you didnt make it as it would have made you worse best thing is to get better and then hit the marks like their going out of style, hehe

Next time your down this way PM me and I'll take Emmet with me

great fishin lads well done, ye on a fierce run lol..........great stuff!!!!!!! be hopin ta give the ol pikes a shot meself sometime!!!!!!!!

More great fishing adventures lads & some fine fish, i think i'll have to give the Pike a go soon

cheers kevin, just sorry we could'nt make it down for the fundraiser. but the thought of the drive and standing on a wet windswept beach just was'nt doing it for me man
jordan was buzzed when i told him we were gonna go out for another crack at the pike. this was his 6th or 7th go at them, so he was over the moon to finally get one the pike fishing is a bit like the shark fishing. hours of mind numbing inactivity broken up by bursts of mad excitement

No worries mate, you'll make next years one Im sure theres also a fundraiser for the RNLI in Galway, have a look in Clubs and Meets I'll be headin for that one!! And for Next Years Temple Street Bash thinking of holding it more towards August end of things for the better weather, funny thing was the day after was beautiful...but go figure ... Im gonna get me a weather man and beat him

But everything was against us on the day, the DART wasnt running (due to flooding), poor show of buses, South Beach was weeded out, great on shore surf but the weed was immpossible , then the rain came, Im glad you didnt make it as it would have made you worse best thing is to get better and then hit the marks like their going out of style, hehe

Next time your down this way PM me and I'll take Emmet with me

no problem kevin. i was reading about all the things going against you on the day . so fair play for sticking in there man and getting some funds for the hospital . i'll have a look at the event in galway to see what the dates are as i'm headed off over to mayo to stay with doggie3131 for a few days on the 14th this month. so we'll be hitting mayo and galway marks when i'm away but jordan has me tortured for a go at the cork cod over christmas when he's off school. so a plan might be in the making for a trip down there if you fancy it man
all the best.
Al.

great fishin lads well done, ye on a fierce run lol..........great stuff!!!!!!! be hopin ta give the ol pikes a shot meself sometime!!!!!!!!

cheers man. they certinly give a better scrap than 6 inch whiting

More great fishing adventures lads & some fine fish, i think i'll have to give the Pike a go soon

cheers brian. the pike are always a handy back up plan for when the weather and weed are playing havoc with our shore fishing plans now to get that elusive 20lb'er