MAY MADNESS in Donegal, Antrim & Down

People: DONEGAL myself, jordan and mark. ANTRIM & DOWN me and jordan

Duration: see below

Tide: see below

Weather: see below

Bait: rag and mack

Rigs: 3 hook flappers, 3/0 pulleys, 2 up 1 down and a selection of spinners, plugs, soft plastics and feathers

Results: dab, doggies, conger, plaice, goby's, turbot, flounder, coalies, pollack, ballan wrasse and corkwing wrasse




Report:

with one thing and another i have'nt had the chance to sit down in front of the computer to get reports done so i'll just wrap the last few weekends into one so as not to clog up the boards with multiple reports. here we go



NORTH DONEGAL ROCK MARK AND RATHMULLAN sat 5th and sun 6th may.

with the promise of a bit of nice weather on the cards for the weekend we loaded the wagon up and headed north to see how some of our summer rock marks were fishing. it was to be a dry night so we opted to leave the tent at home and just have a snooze on the chairs as and when we needed to. we arrived at our spot around 7pm and it was free. so we high tailed it to get set up with 2 rods each. the usual 15ft beach long surf rods at diatance and a scratching rig in close for anything else that was about. hopes were high for a chance of gurnard and thornies but as the night went on it was apparent that they were nowhere to be found in fact any fish seemed to be thin on the ground . it was'nt for a lack of trying either as we threw everything at them over 16 hours .
added to that a lot of rigs kept coming back in missing hooks and snood lengths were a lot shorter. as it turned out we were fishing on top of a herd of spider crabs, so that might have been why fishing tight on the bottom was a bit of a dead loss . but the few fish that were caught were of a decent enough standard. an 8lb conger, a 40cm plaice and a dab just shy of 30cm went a small way towards the lack of quantity that we are used to. the spider crabs were not the biggest examples of the species we have ever got, so we returned the ones that got tangled up in our rigs to go bait robbing for another day another consolation was hitting into a shoal of passing mackerel at dawn. jordan had 5 in 2 casts and i got 5 over 10 casts then they dissappeared. so a bit of fresh bait was a bonus and they went straight into the cooler bag for home freezing later to help resupply the bait freezer . they were decent enough too with none smaller than 30cm. by 11am we decided a move was on the cards and called into rathmullan pier for a few hours before heading home. the fishing was pretty pants with only myself getting 2 single fish. a tiny dab and a pouting. but we did bump into pete from the site and back up at the car zeke came over for a chat. he was out with the missus and kids. so great to see you all again and get a yarn.
by now my bed was'nt just calling for me,,,,it was screaming!! so it was homeward bound!
the final tally was,
MARK - 2 pollack, 1 conger, 1 plaice, 3 doggies and a dab
ME - 4 doggies and 5 mackerel
JORDAN - 5 mackerel and a pollack

FRIDAY 18TH MAY BLACKHEAD CO ANTRIM. 5PM - 6PM

now that jordan's football season has finished for the summer we can get back out on friday nights again . a quick check of the weather gave us the thumbs up for blackhead to do a bit of spinning. no rain forecast, a slight swell and 10mph NNE winds. HAPPY DAYS WE THOUGHT!! but as ever it was completely wrong after making the 1km walk to the mark we were greeted with 10 foot swells, the wind howling and the water the colour of chocolate milkshake. we gave it an hour spinning and float fishing, but it was a bit too hairy for my liking and we admitted defeat and made the trek back to the car defeated . but not to be too downhearted we decided to get the mini gear out and go on a mini species hunt around carrickfergus harbour on the way home. at least this way we could save our blushes and not go home with the cheque book and pen
we gave it 2 hours and it was a lot more sheltered and we even beat the blank. i was first in with a big black goby which was a result as it is a species that has always evaded me so it was nice to notch him up. the only down side was that the batteries in the camera were as dead as a dodo. so i returned him and left jordan to it and ran up into the town and bought some. just as well i did as i came back to find jordan with 2 goby's he'd caught in a water filled butter tub. he reckoned they were different species and was worried he might cheat himself out of a few for his species list so kept them until i returned with the fresh batteries
my goby was jet black so there was no mistaking what he was. but jordan's 2 were different. i know his first one was a rock goby due to the coloured strip across the dorsal fin. but the second one was the same colouration but lacked the stripe across the tip of the dorsal. so i am still undecided as to what it was. i'm hoping some of the other mini hunters from the site can shed some thoughts as to just what species of goby it is. it had no spots on the dorsal or tail, so that rules a few species out from the contender list. what do you all think?

SAT 19TH MAY CO ANTRIM BEACH. 2.30PM TO 7PM HW 8PM

well only a short one planned for today as we had a 4am alarm call on sunday to make. but i'll cover that one in the next report . we had intended to fish red bay, but as we drove up the east coast it was clear that the beaches were choked with decaying weed and kelp with a good 300 yards of chocolate coloured water before you hit the blue stuff so that plan was quickly knocked on the head. from experience i know you are wasting your time on these beaches when these conditions present themselves. so it was upward and onward to the north coast. we finally found a mark that was weed free and crystal clear and got set up in no time. there were 3 lads fishing to our right and one of them came over for a chat. he said it had been quiet enough, but the fish they were catching were decent enough with turbot to 2lb . so things looked good and worm and fish baits got blasted out at range and flappers in close to see what was patrolling the gully. as usual jordan drew first blood with a few flounder and i was into the turbot
this set the tone for the rest of the session and we had good fun with a bit of flattie bashing. i even had a full house on the 2 up 1 down rig in the gully, and 1 of the turbot looked like a brill at first glance. but he had a few tubercles on his back, so a turbot he was. but all too soon we had to pack up and head home as the car had to be repacked with a different set up for tomorrows adventure in county down.
the final scores were,
JORDAN - 6 flounder and 3 turbot
ME - 3 flounder and 8 turbot with the biggest just under a pound in weight


COUNTY DOWN ROCK MARK SUN 20th MAY. 5am to 7pm LW 6AM, 6PM

this trip was on the cards for a while now and today was gonna be the day a fly fishing buddy was to meet us here, but it appeared that silly o'clock was'nt recognised by his alarm and he bailed on us . but we were here and ready to fish, and fish we would . he normally targets sea trout from here, but we were after pollack and wrasse. so sliding float set ups and an entire box of lures, spinners, soft plastics and plugs was our arsenal
we knew not to expect big numbers of fish. but it was quality we were after today not quantity (well that's my excuse and i'm sticking to it ). i thought we were onto a winner as my first choice of lure was a 20cm jointed red and white deep diving plug. the first 10 casts into the channel produced 4 coalfish all just over a pound . i was made up, but very quickly the swell grew and a cold damp mist moved in from the sea . we made our way up the rockface for a bit of safety and the fishing died a death . we stuck it out for almost 5 hours without a fish switching back and forward from the lures to the float. it was only after lunch when the swell smoothed off and the sun came out that the fishing picked up again . we got back to our perch (no fishing pun intended ) and fish started coming in we both had some lovely pollack on lures and shads and even the wrasse appeared raedily gobbling the big king rag fished 20 foot below the float . this set the pace for the rest of the day and we had a great session between us. we even got a good toasting from the sun as well. but as 7pm neared close the marathon weekend had taken it's toll on us and we decided to head for home to get some well deserved sleep.
the final tally for the day was,
JORDAN - 2 pollack and 1 corkwing wrasse
ME - 5 coalfish, 2 ballan wrasse and 7 pollack to 2lb 15oz

like i said. not a bumper ammount of fish. but decent enough sizes for a change
roll on next weekend when we give the shore a miss and head out of downings in donegal for an assault on the WW2 wrecks for big pollack and ling

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[Al and Jordan]

loads more pics to come!

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Last edited by Al and Jordan on Mon May 21, 2012 12:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

still loads of pics to go

still loads more pics to come

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still loading pics, just hang in there

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only 2 more pics to go!

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great fishing and great report, as usual you guys seem to always find the fish, love the wee goby always think the mini species are mad looking things

Great report lads. Good to see that you managed some fish even if the weather was doing it's best to push you off some of your marks...

wow, some lovely looking turbot there.

some mighty fine fishing lads well done and great report as always

well done ye three.makes me want to go out now

Loving that T-shirt!

mighty fishing boys great report!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

great fishing there guys, love the brut of a conger, classic t-shirt jordan.

well done lads

cheers fagan

Supppper report lads

just looked at the photos Al will get a to read your report when I have more time but as always looks like you boys a fun and some nice fish!

Great read as always Al . Nice to meet the three of you on a sunny Rathmullan pier and with not an ounce of sleep

wicked report,some lovely fish there to keep ye busy and serious hours put in were well rewarded,I want that tshirt lol,best of luck hunting a few serious fish this weekend
Ferg

excellent report, personally i hate the fact that this good weather has come around while im in the middle of moving house and all my fishing stuff is packed up.
but at least i can still get my fishing done by proxy
im a glad to see a good number of reports up after the weekend, i fully expected the number of reports to drop since the bass ban is on.

Super fishing guys.

The rugby's well and truely over for the year so now the serious fishing can begin!