Greystones pier, Co Wicklow, 12/02/2012
Mon Feb 13, 2012 12:05 am
People:Eimear (6) Rory (7 3/4) and I
Duration: 13:30 - 17:00
Tide: High, falling
Weather: Clear, calm, dry and even warm at times
Bait: lug, mac, sand eels
Rigs: 2 & 3 hook plappers, sabiki split in half between the kids
Results: 1 pouting, 3 little pollock, 4 little coalies, 1 big pollock (44cm, 1kg)
Report:
Dropped Eimear to a birthday party then the boy and I headed for the pier, I got a pouting and in typical fasion just as I was packing up to go and collect Eimear from the party Rory got a little coalie.
Collected her ladyship from the party and as soon as she heard that Rory had caught a fish she wanted to go fishing, lucky her rod was in the boot
On advice from Richie in Gotcha we split a Sabiki rig between the kids and both of them dropped straight down off the pier with mac.
Nibbles on rods for both was almost instant, and they were whipped out at lightspeed - too fast for the fish! repeated a few timed before we finally got he message accross that they had to give the fish time to get hooked and maybe even let the line get wet!
The hooks were getting stripped in jig time, a lad beside us called Robbie gave us some sand eels which did the job as it slowed down the stripping of the hooks enough to get actual bites!
Eimear was well excited once she caught a little pollock and really got into feeling the fish nibbling unthil her arms got tired.
Rory's rig got mangled by crabs so I switched him back to his heavier 2 hook flapper and wrapped the mac on well with elastic on one hook and put sand eel on the other, seemed to do the trick - four more little fish (pollock and coalies) with not enough time to get bored in between. He was really getting the hang of when to pull them in.
The came the blood curdling shriek - I looked over and saw him straining with all of his might to hold onto his rod, you would swear it was Jaws or a large rock on the line, gave him a hand and we pulled in our biggest yet - 44 cm 1 kg pollock, a bit of a handfull for your average 7 year old, he thought he was going to be pulled over the wall. When we got it landed he was gobsmacked, he wanted to know if it was big enough to eat, Eimear wanted to know if we could keep it as a pet!
The very helpfull Robbie did the necessary while I attempted to keep Eimear distracted in the opposite direction, I didn't reckon on Rory's loud exclaimation of " you need to smack his head off of the wall again, he isn't dead yet" leading to an immediate emotional melt down from Eimear - how to make a vegan in one easy step!
We headed home, after the half hour walk to the car park during which Rory explained to everyboy he met about his first big fish and made sure they had a look and properly appreciated it - whether they wanted to or not as only a 7 year old can!
He helped clean and prepare the fish, we had the chat about not wasting fish and only taking what you will eat. Eimear glared at us as if we were war criminals until we told her about the remains of the two smaller fish we found in the pollocks belly, then it became only fair that that the big bully fish got eaten - just not by her.
The pollock was demolished with great gusto and Rory announced "that was the first time fish tasted nicer than chocolate!"
Now all we need to do is get him to stop talking about the fish and go asleep!
Duration: 13:30 - 17:00
Tide: High, falling
Weather: Clear, calm, dry and even warm at times
Bait: lug, mac, sand eels
Rigs: 2 & 3 hook plappers, sabiki split in half between the kids
Results: 1 pouting, 3 little pollock, 4 little coalies, 1 big pollock (44cm, 1kg)
Report:
Dropped Eimear to a birthday party then the boy and I headed for the pier, I got a pouting and in typical fasion just as I was packing up to go and collect Eimear from the party Rory got a little coalie.
Collected her ladyship from the party and as soon as she heard that Rory had caught a fish she wanted to go fishing, lucky her rod was in the boot
On advice from Richie in Gotcha we split a Sabiki rig between the kids and both of them dropped straight down off the pier with mac.
Nibbles on rods for both was almost instant, and they were whipped out at lightspeed - too fast for the fish! repeated a few timed before we finally got he message accross that they had to give the fish time to get hooked and maybe even let the line get wet!
The hooks were getting stripped in jig time, a lad beside us called Robbie gave us some sand eels which did the job as it slowed down the stripping of the hooks enough to get actual bites!
Eimear was well excited once she caught a little pollock and really got into feeling the fish nibbling unthil her arms got tired.
Rory's rig got mangled by crabs so I switched him back to his heavier 2 hook flapper and wrapped the mac on well with elastic on one hook and put sand eel on the other, seemed to do the trick - four more little fish (pollock and coalies) with not enough time to get bored in between. He was really getting the hang of when to pull them in.
The came the blood curdling shriek - I looked over and saw him straining with all of his might to hold onto his rod, you would swear it was Jaws or a large rock on the line, gave him a hand and we pulled in our biggest yet - 44 cm 1 kg pollock, a bit of a handfull for your average 7 year old, he thought he was going to be pulled over the wall. When we got it landed he was gobsmacked, he wanted to know if it was big enough to eat, Eimear wanted to know if we could keep it as a pet!
The very helpfull Robbie did the necessary while I attempted to keep Eimear distracted in the opposite direction, I didn't reckon on Rory's loud exclaimation of " you need to smack his head off of the wall again, he isn't dead yet" leading to an immediate emotional melt down from Eimear - how to make a vegan in one easy step!
We headed home, after the half hour walk to the car park during which Rory explained to everyboy he met about his first big fish and made sure they had a look and properly appreciated it - whether they wanted to or not as only a 7 year old can!
He helped clean and prepare the fish, we had the chat about not wasting fish and only taking what you will eat. Eimear glared at us as if we were war criminals until we told her about the remains of the two smaller fish we found in the pollocks belly, then it became only fair that that the big bully fish got eaten - just not by her.
The pollock was demolished with great gusto and Rory announced "that was the first time fish tasted nicer than chocolate!"
Now all we need to do is get him to stop talking about the fish and go asleep!
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Re: Greystones pier, Co Wicklow, 12/02/2012
Mon Feb 13, 2012 12:19 am
Not just the fish that got hooked then? Well done on a great day out.
Re: Greystones pier, Co Wicklow, 12/02/2012
Mon Feb 13, 2012 12:32 am
Well done! and one word .........GREAT! 
Re: Greystones pier, Co Wicklow, 12/02/2012
Mon Feb 13, 2012 8:23 am
Well done Fenris and family 
A 44 cm pollock in February is no joke a great catch for the young lad! Nice report, he's well and truly hooked now
A 44 cm pollock in February is no joke a great catch for the young lad! Nice report, he's well and truly hooked now
Re: Greystones pier, Co Wicklow, 12/02/2012
Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:20 am
Well done all! I was fishing with my nephew beside you earlier, great to see the look of delight on their faces when[ they get a few fish. Very nice Pollock too 
Re: Greystones pier, Co Wicklow, 12/02/2012
Mon Feb 13, 2012 12:32 pm
super stuff, glad to see yous are getting a few fish and getting more confidence with each fish. brilliant stuff rory, super fish.
Re: Greystones pier, Co Wicklow, 12/02/2012
Mon Feb 13, 2012 12:43 pm
Thanks lads, the gas thing is that he will barely touch a lug but will happily help gut a fish to the point of having a look into the stomach to see what the fish had for lunch!
Re: Greystones pier, Co Wicklow, 12/02/2012
Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:15 pm
great fish was there with my mate aswell when you brought it in 
Re: Greystones pier, Co Wicklow, 12/02/2012
Mon Feb 13, 2012 9:16 pm
Super fishing and fair play Rory guess you out fished the old man again..... Nice fine size pollock for this time of the year... keep it up
Re: Greystones pier, Co Wicklow, 12/02/2012
Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:42 pm
Nice pollack there always nice to get the children some fish.
Re: Greystones pier, Co Wicklow, 12/02/2012
Tue Feb 14, 2012 8:54 pm
sounds like youl be back.love to see the kids catching.