2 Sessions in the North East

[chuckaroo]

People: Me

Duration: 2.5 hours each session

Tide: out first session. in second session

Weather: fine but very cold

Bait: black lug and squid

Rigs: aye

Report:
just thought i would put a report up as somebody has been saying that there have been a lack of reports lately......

Session #1: Friday 30th Nov - North Antrim

Being off work on Friday I decided to try a new mark that a friend had told me about. Made the journey north, parked up the motor and, after descending down a steep face had my rod in the water for about 1pm.
Had this one rod at distance baited with frozen black lug and tipped with squid so i left it there whilst i set about trying with the fly rod and spinning rod round the shore. Nothing was interested in my newly tied flies nor my sidewinder soft plastic for that matter, not a touch. Whilst working the shore i was keeping an eye on the baited rod but there wasnt much happening there either. i saw a couple of very small bites on it at one stage but they didnt develop.
After 2.5 hours I had to give in, not only was the fishing non-existent but the cold was starting to get to me.
The highlight of the session was when I saw a huge fish leap from the water! It was either a small whale, I kid you not, or a very large dolphin. I dont know for sure exactly what it was and i wasnt totally sure about the exact size of it (it was just a little too far from me) as i only saw its large dark body as it came down re-entering the water after having breached/jumped; it made a huge splash. i kept my eyes pinned to the whole area waiting for it again but it didnt reappear soon after. It wasnt until about at least 30mins later that I saw another splash way off to my left. Still not sure what it was but my gut instinct was a whale! Has anybody else seen anything up this way??
Final Result Sessions #1: BLANK

IMG_1553.jpg

Session #2: Sunday 2nd Dec - Red Bay

Sunday came around and due to having had a quiet Saturday night in I saw the opportunity to make amends for Friday. It was another very cold day (3'C) so I got well wrapped up, i arrived at the coast for 1.30pm.
There were 2 guys fishing close to where i wanted to try so i decided to move down the shore a little. It was a pleasant but cold day, the tide was well up, but as soon as i started to bait my rods a fresh biting breeze came down the glen. By the time i had 2 rods baited with 2 sets of baits my fingers had gone numb.
Sitting down to warm the hands and have a smoke the first rod had a good rattle about 10minutes in. I leapt and grabbed the rod but again the bites hadnt developed..
This gave me high hopes but 2.5hours later and without another nibble I gave in - it was still very cold, the darkness was descending and i had somewhere to be.
No whales/dolphins this session just a couple of large seals that were working close to shore, that soon moved off.
Final Result Session #2: BLANK

IMG_1571.jpg

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Last edited by chuckaroo on Tue Dec 04, 2012 1:45 am, edited 3 times in total.

Seen a few whales off that area,approx a month ago
between Rathlin and the Ridges they seem to go
through the area at this time of the year.
Bad luck to have two sessions and blank

Well done ,,,I enjoyed the report anyways,,,even with no fish Looks like a nice spot

Bad luck on the blanks, but those flies certainly look the business.
Have seen a few whales close in, off Parkhead rocks outside Glenarm these past few years

Seen a few whales off that area,approx a month ago
between Rathlin and the Ridges they seem to go
through the area at this time of the year.
Bad luck to have two sessions and blank

nice one birdseye. thats exactly where i saw it. i couldnt believe it.
have you seen them breach along this stretch of coastline? i knew nothing of this..
aye, 2 blanks aint good but i dont expect too great a fishing from my local shore marks this time of year..
Ta

Well done ,,,I enjoyed the report anyways,,,even with no fish Looks like a nice spot

cheers eyesreilly. lovely part of the world. thats scotland in the distance.. mull of kintyre. far better scenery if i had turned to my left!

Bad luck on the blanks, but those flies certainly look the business.
Have seen a few whales close in, off Parkhead rocks outside Glenarm these past few years

cheers Etihad. seriously couldnt believe that it was a whale. for all my 30odd years of fishing these waters i have never seen a whale here before.
i believe you all right but how do you know it was a whale for sure..? i.e. how did you see it. did it breach? and what sort of whales you reckon they were that you saw..?
Ta

The whales I saw were Minke and like most whales seen around Ireland don't breach. Dolphins do breach and would sometimes come very close to the shore. Here's a link with some info


http://www.iwdg.ie/index.php

this fish i saw wasnt a minke whale. i might say that it was a large dolphin as i have seen them there before in large pods but im just more convinced that it was a whale. it was alone and the breach just reminded me more of a whale breach because it was a directly up out of the water and down again (yes, i only saw the 'down' part of the breach but this was enough to compare it to that of a whales'..), something that the dolphins do less often and, as i say, its not often i see dolphins there on their own.
thanks for the link. some great insight there.
i suppose that i can only speculate what sort of whale it was, if it was one at all!
cheers

Fairplay da ya gettin out Chuck. Hard time of the year for fishin the north coast.. never seen a whale myself but have seen dolphins and basking sharks whilst on my travels

Hard luck Chuck, blanked myself on Downhill last night. Bitterly cold and not a bite to be had

Fair play for getting out
Martin

Fairplay da ya gettin out Chuck. Hard time of the year for fishin the north coast.. never seen a whale myself but have seen dolphins and basking sharks whilst on my travels

cheers ghosty, tough times indeed this time of year.. hard to motivate sometimes

Hard luck Chuck, blanked myself on Downhill last night. Bitterly cold and not a bite to be had

Fair play for getting out
Martin

cheers Monty. keep er lit, keep er warm!..
would be interested to hear your % success rate up that neck of the woods during this time of year! i.e. number of bass caught per hours put in... ?

aye, 2 blanks aint good but i dont expect too great a fishing from my local shore marks this time of year..

Sorry to hear that Chuckaroo, has the fishing there deteriorated in recent years? I used to fish Red Bay Beach quite often in November/December; never got any big fish but got plenty of small stuff.
Tasty looking fly pattern by the way.
Keep the Faith! JW

aye, 2 blanks aint good but i dont expect too great a fishing from my local shore marks this time of year..

Sorry to hear that Chuckaroo, has the fishing there deteriorated in recent years? I used to fish Red Bay Beach quite often in November/December; never got any big fish but got plenty of small stuff.
Tasty looking fly pattern by the way.
Keep the Faith! JW

sure the fishing has deteriorated beyond recognition JW, but thats another story...
have a read here on some opinions on the subject if you wish, including mine: viewtopic.php?f=62&t=32701&hilit=trawlers&start=20
yes, still would get plenty of tiny whiting and coley through the winter but they really are small!

keeping the faith
cheers
Chuckaroo

Thanx for the report chuckaroo, my mate from clogerhead is at me for the last 2 weeks to head up that direction as the fishing up here is terrible at the minute. from your report and reports from another forum is seems to be bad all over at the minute. I've had that many blanks over the last few months that if i was to save all the money that i've spent on bait and fuel etc, i would have a couple of nice rods and reels for next years season. As John West says, keep the faith but its getting harder.

Thanx for the report chuckaroo, my mate from clogerhead is at me for the last 2 weeks to head up that direction as the fishing up here is terrible at the minute. from your report and reports from another forum is seems to be bad all over at the minute. I've had that many blanks over the last few months that if i was to save all the money that i've spent on bait and fuel etc, i would have a couple of nice rods and reels for next years season. As John West says, keep the faith but its getting harder.

cheers flyno. i hear what you are saying about time and money put into this hobby of ours.. but ah well, sure it has to be done
was out fishing today with a bit better results. will post a report over the next say or two
ta