On de grass (ooer!) at De Wall, Monkstown (latest 07/01/05

Tue Dec 06, 2005 10:15 pm

People:Just Me

Duration:3pm to 5 pm

Tide:LW 1537

Weather:Flat Calm and sunny

Bait:Frozen black lug and squid

Rigs:3/0 pennell pulleys

Results:Lots of litttle codling, 4 codling around 2.5lb


Report:
Fished Last half hour of the ebb and first hour and half of the flood. As ever, when the codling are around, plenty of bites although a lot of these coming from very small fish. It was virtually a fish a cast for most of the session, with only the strong tide run eventually increasing so as a 6 oz grip couldnt hold driving me away. Lost 2 good fish to snags not 10 yards from shore which was gutting. Really must source some of those gemini weak link set ups. Glorious weather, super fishing. It was nice and quiet this evening, but the few that were there all seemed to be catching fish. Good opportunity to test out my new Penn Surfblaster Ruff Stuff 14' rod teamed with a 525 mag. Great set up, no word of a lie when I say this set up has put 40 yards onto my casting. Extremely powerful rod that takes a serious amount of effort to start compressing the blank, but when you do........ :D
Last edited by petekd on Sat Jan 07, 2006 4:02 pm, edited 4 times in total.

Sat Dec 10, 2005 9:37 am

Fished Last night 09/12/05 with phanover from 5.30 to 9.00.

Pleasant session, very calm mild evening with low tide at around 6:15 or so. Used lug, squid, mackerel. Fished on rod at distance with large lug/squid wrap on 3/0 pulley pennell, fished another rod close in (about 40 yards) with a scratching rig to size 2 hooks baited with lug and tipped off with mackerel strip.

Super evenings fishing despite a notable absence of good sized codling. Finished with 3 codling, 2 tiny, 1 between 2.5 and 3lb, 2 whiting, 2 poor cod and biggest surprise of all, 6 flatties, plaice? (At least thats what they were if plaice are the lads with the orange spots on there backs!) Majority of the fish came on the scratching rig, however the big bait did account for the one decent codling caught.

Sat Dec 10, 2005 9:40 am

Oops, that was me :shock:

Sun Dec 11, 2005 11:54 pm

Fished this morning (Sun) from 7.45 to 10.45

LW @ 8.00am

Bait: Good old Lug and Squid again.

Weather: Sunny, mild and calm.

Super couple of hours fishing. Finished up with around 15 fish in total, pick of which were half a dozen codling around 2.5 to 3lb and one beauty of just under 5lb :D . Other fish included small codling, poor cod, dabs and a nice whiting of just over a pound. The bigger fish seemed to come along as the tide increased. Fishing was fairly frantic at times with large lug and squid wraps on pennell rigs occasionally accounting for two fish on the same rig. Greedy buggers! Large baits, as in in 2 big fat black lug worms and half a squid wrapped up slowed down the attentions of the smaller fish somewhat. Other Anglers using peeler crab close to me were plagued with little uns. Even when the tide flow had increased to the extent that a six ounce grip was being pulled round to the side in a couple of minutes fish were still being caught. Only reason for leaving was the fact I had run out of bait!

Mon Dec 12, 2005 12:11 am

sounds good! nice fish well done. when myself and IDPearl fished there last year fish were being caught on frozen prawns! we had crab but when the fish came on strong they took mussel/lug/ and squid. nice to get cod during daylight too! nice spot. funny pendulum casting off the road, waiting for the cars to clear off!

Mon Dec 12, 2005 12:02 pm

Fish "De Wall" Sat and Sun over the weekend. Both times over HW which doesn't seem to produce as many fish.

Was a bit further down from the grassy patch just below the telephone pole...

Sat fished from 12:00 - 18:30. Fished up and over HW and down to low, better fishing than Sunday. Average size was much better. Couple of fish to 3lbs with plenty in the 1.5lb bracket. All fish fell to frozen black lug tipped with either razor/squid. As sson as darkness fell around half five fishing completely dried up. Has good codling coming right through the ebb, with distance producing the better fish.

Sun fished from 12:00 - 16:00. Think HW was around 14:40 ish? Managed a good one just before HW at distance 2.5lbs with double shot after double shot of small fish for the rest of the day - pout, whiting, and codling. Buddy had two small dab with faint orange spots on 'em - definitely no plaice but unusual colouration.

Rig was a clipped one up one down with 1/0 aberdeens with same bait both days

Liam

Mon Dec 12, 2005 1:13 pm

Maybe thats what I was catching on Fri night so. Not entirely sure how to tell the difference between dabs and plaice if they both have orange spots, help anyone??? Many an afternoon I have fished the wall and every time as soon as darkness falls its like someone hit a switch, fish just seem to totally disappear. I am told the pier fishes better at night, anyone have any more info on this? Small fish are a nuisance alright, especially little codling which somehow manage to swallow huge baits on occasion.

Plaice or dabs

Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:05 pm

Run your fingers from tail to head across the fishes back. If its rough all over then its a Dab. If its smooth all over and has 3-4 bumps or nodules on the head its a plaice. If its smooth all over except for a rough lateral line then its a flounder.

Hope this helps. :lol:

Mon Dec 12, 2005 10:09 pm

That makes them Dabs so, not quite so exciting! Cheers Caz.

Tue Dec 13, 2005 10:06 am

Thats why dabs are called rough backs. The lateral line is straight on flounder and plaice where as on a Dab theres a pronounced semi-circle in it before it reachs the gills.

Donagh

Tue Dec 13, 2005 11:07 am

one would expect dabs not to have spote tho, my 2 cent worth is that they are flounder especially at this time of yr

Tue Dec 13, 2005 11:08 am

Well ill not be caught out again, and there was me thinking how fab it was to be catching plaice! Some of them were a nice size, one in particular was up and over a pound. Action with them was for a period of about 45 minutes when it was a frenetic fish a cast and then dried up, I can only presume they were moving up river with the tide. Certainly made up for the shortage of cod though. :) Thanks lads.

Tue Dec 13, 2005 11:10 am

That was me, forgot to log in :oops:

Tue Dec 13, 2005 11:55 am

A 1lb dab is a good fish.
They are also the better tasting of the flat fish family. Nice grilled on the bone with a squeeze of lemon.

Wed Dec 28, 2005 11:25 am

People: Just me
Weather: Dry but v cold
Duration: 12.00 to 3.00pm
Tide: High water at 12:10 approx
Bait: Lug and squid
Rigs: Pulley rigs to a single 4/0 with breakaway weak link system.


Results:

Nice day for it, despite being v cold, results however were poor enough. Loads of small codling, a fish a cast for first two hours of session but nothing of any size. Most fish around the 1/2 to 3/4 pound size. Had decided against using pennell rigs as unhooking and releasing small fish unharmed was proving very difficult with 2 hooks swallowed down. Size of bait wasnt making the slightest bit of difference to them either. Any tips anyone? After the first 2 hours, fishing died with only a further 3 fish coming in the last hour (all whiting) one of which was over a pound and was the biggest fish I caught on the day. Very few anglers on De wall had any fish to size, however there was the odd exception with a couple of 3 pounders caught. Was the first time using the breakaway weak link system and it performed admirably on the one occasion I got stuck. 1 quick yank and lead popped off. No problems on the casting front either.

All in all a pleasant afternoon even if not in terms of size of fish. It sure as hell beat early sale shopping!! (and sprouts :D )

the wall

Wed Dec 28, 2005 5:49 pm

Fished the wall down by the power lines this morning over low water. Plenty of anglers from the north and Dublin chucking leads up at the green patch. Bitterly cold conditions, I was using lug and white rag and had six fish to size three of which went to the mother in law in exchange for drink. Noticed two small boats setting nets, one below the green patch and the other by the grassy knoll, still at least the trawlers are still on Holiday. Happy new year to all!

Thu Dec 29, 2005 1:25 am

were the nortern guys gettin much do you know? they are a few guys from my club with friends from dublin. just wanna make sure the cod dont grow by a few pounds between monkstown and belfast!!!! :wink: :lol:
if u see them down there tomoro, tell em i said they couldnt catch the cold!!!! have to wind them up for the new year!!! :wink:

Fri Dec 30, 2005 4:05 pm

People: Myself and Iasccarra
Duration: 10.00am to 1.00pm
Tide: LW at 11.00pm
Bait: The Usual Lug and Squid
Rigs: Pulleys to 4/0 with breakaway link.
Weather: Raining before, raining after and T-shirt and caps during!

Results:

12 small codling, 2 around 2lb mark and the smallest flattie (dab) I have ever managed to hook in my life. Seen bigger leaves!

A fish a cast for the most part, majority very small though. Peach of a day all the same. Fairly quiet numbers wise down there today, was expecting the place to be jammed.

Last session of the year, big shout to all the forum members Ive met and fished with this year and tight lines for 2006. Happy New year folks! :D

Mon Jan 02, 2006 2:57 pm

Hi All

First, Happy New Year to everybody who frequents these pages.

Second, I don't mean to be dim, but would anybody mind giving me a general area, or directions to "De Wall"? Is it at Monkstown, Dublin ie near DL ferry port, or am I well off?

TIA

Cheers

Matt

Mon Jan 02, 2006 5:28 pm

Matt it's in Cork ya mad thing!! Happy new year! :)