Portstewart Strand 14/11/2012

People: Me and Nial

Duration: 5pm til 11.30

Tide: Filling, HW & falling

Weather: Chilly but dry, light wind

Bait: Rag, Sandeel & mack

Rigs: Pullys (Std & Up and over)

Results: A shocking blank

Report: Had previously fished Portstewart on 24/10 and decided to give it another rip as the Solunar tables and tides were in my favour. Having also consulted a medicine man and interpreting the movement of the stars I predicted that this would have been an excellent evening for fishing.

How wrong was I My and my fishing bro Nial K arrived to find an empty beach and whilst the trusty Golf has been in manys a rough spot I quickly bogged her to the backside with the tide advancing rapidly. After calling for help from one of Nials farmer friends to relieve stress and distract me from the advancing waters I baited up and put two good size baits into the surf on sharp as a razor Mustad 3/0 Aberdeen hooks.

Again and again the rods would arch over and when I would reel in the bait would be untouched, I must point out that the 525mags were in freespool with just the ratchet holding the line .

After rescuing the endangered Volkswagen the night continued on the same vein, Portstewart is a hard beach to fish on an ebbing tide. Such a shame as the bait was top notch, Keith in Coleraine's rag, ammo sandeel and my own caught macks.

WE pulled the pin at 11.30 with just one whiting (caught on Nial's last cast) to show for it. Bumped into another local angler on the trek back to the car with his two compadres. The vibes on the beach wern't good, they had blanked also as did the two men on past them.

A lot of people fishing the strand last night, bugger all to show for it

Bloody medicine man
Martin

Hi Monty. I was fishing at Benone, last night blanked.
Heard a schoolie bass caught at Downhill earlier.

[quote="Monty156a"]People: Me and Nial

Again and again the rods would arch over and when I would reel in the bait would be untouched, I must point out that the 525mags were in freespool with just the ratchet holding the line .

A tough night out Monty but at least you rescued the car, so what was causing the rods to arch over, wave, weed? Imagine how good the next fish will be!

tough going Monty.
im for Ballycastle tomorrow so hopefully i can improve on that! i'll post a report on how i fair..

Again and again the rods would arch over and when I would reel in the bait would be untouched

first thought that came to my mind was a big edible crab, or a spider crab? just a thought

"first thought that came to my mind was a big edible crab, or a spider crab? just a thought"

My thoughts entirely, the surf was surging but not that much to produce false bites to that extent. There must have been something in there tampering with the baits to tug the rods over like that. I had the bait well whipped on with elastic so maybe the speculators were having a go.

Damn frustrating but as you guys say, good to come home with the car albeit theres half a ton of sand in it.

Thanks for the replies guys. Charlie, I was thinking of heading to Ballycastle tomorrow evening for a throw or two. I might see you up there.

Good luck if I dont,
Martin

I was thinking of heading to Ballycastle tomorrow evening for a throw or two. I might see you up there.

did u head up Monty? any luck?
i headed up in the morning and fished using spinner and soft plastics from the pans rocks for 1.5hrs but it was dead, no sign of anything, i hadnt a touch. so i then sat and ate some lunch and watched a couple of guys fishing on the beach for a while, they were struggling and hadnt caught anything for quite a while so, with the drizzle being relentless and with a chilly wind in the air, i just headed home! poor performance from myself... i didnt hang about

I was thinking of heading to Ballycastle tomorrow evening for a throw or two. I might see you up there.

did u head up Monty? any luck?

Didnt go Charlie in the end, nasty looking evening and I had put a real good fire on for 'her indoors' Succumbed to tempation and stayed in. Waste of good rag I know but I'm out on the Causeway Lass in the morning on the far side of Rathlin. Can't wait!

Looking forward to catching some decent stuff, havn't had a good month
Martin

Hi Monty. I was fishing at Benone, last night blanked.
Heard a schoolie Bass caught at Downhill earlier.

Sorry Birdseye, missed your post,
Thats right, a 3lb'er caught by Jamie on Downhill, his first bass!

You'll bump into him and his brother Nicholas round the coast, good lads.
Trying mightly to hide my envy
Martin

I'm out on the Causeway Lass in the morning on the far side of Rathlin. Can't wait! :lol

cool. have never been out on this charter boat before, nor fished the far side of rathlin. will be interested to hear how yous get on..

I'm out on the Causeway Lass in the morning on the far side of Rathlin. Can't wait! :lol

cool. have never been out on this charter boat before, nor fished the far side of rathlin. will be interested to hear how yous get on..

Crackin' day Charlie Great boat, great skipper and plenty of fish. Left Ballycastle, We fished a wreck on the other side of Rathlin and there was no bother catchin big pollock (4-5lb) I was using a 5/0 Tsunami Black feather rig that Richard in Mid Antrim Angling centre recommended on Saturday. This was the killer rig on the boat (until I lost it on the wreck ) I had been hauling them in 3 at a time up to that After that we headed our into the North Channel in 300mtrs of water over another U Boat wreck. the fishing wasn't as good here and it was starting to get a little stormy so we went round the coast from Red Bay round to Ballycastle bay catching plenty of fish (Pollock mainly, no cod to be had )

I used a variety of stuff from feather rigs, muppet rigs to large jelly worms on 7/0 hooks
All good fun, highly recommended
Martin.

Crackin' day Charlie Great boat, great skipper and plenty of fish. Left Ballycastle, We fished a wreck on the other side of Rathlin and there was no bother catchin big pollock (4-5lb) I was using a 5/0 Tsunami Black feather rig that Richard in Mid Antrim Angling centre recommended on Saturday. This was the killer rig on the boat (until I lost it on the wreck ) I had been hauling them in 3 at a time up to that After that we headed our into the North Channel in 300mtrs of water over another U Boat wreck. the fishing wasn't as good here and it was starting to get a little stormy so we went round the coast from Red Bay round to Ballycastle bay catching plenty of fish (Pollock mainly, no cod to be had )

I used a variety of stuff from feather rigs, muppet rigs to large jelly worms on 7/0 hooks
All good fun, highly recommended
Martin.

sounds good enough Martin. sounded like a decent day out. were yous just really getting pollack the whole time? didnt yous try for other species with bait on the bottom, or for other species along the shore? just asking as im always a big fan of trying for a range of species..
but anyway, i went to ballycastle today again myself to try and make up for my poor efforts the last time.. but when i arrived there there was a huge swell battering the beach. went to the harbour where there were a couple of guys fishing from the end of the pier but i just didnt fancy it, at all, it was very cold with a very chilly wind and the guys werent doing well. i headed and fished a rainbow trout lake instead.. which was poor too ah well, v.cold day
nice to hear how you got on. cheers