Wed Jul 03, 2013 10:22 am
Location: The Swilly
Date: 23rd June
Tide: 1 hour down, approximately 2 hours up. Low tide about midnight.
Weather: quite windy, wet, and dull.
Beach/Rocks: pier
Baits: rag, lug, squid, mackerel
Rigs: 1 up - 1 downs, 1 downs and 2 hook flappers
Species caught: conger eel, LSD
Report:
Myself, atchy and two other rods were booked to go out with Rathmullan Charters but were scuppered by the forecast. The ever obliging Angela however kindly offered to leave us a bag of mackerel on the pier to have a crack at the rays. According to the forums, the pier was fishing very well with plenty of thornies around. However, we knew that the windy, rough conditions didn’t augur well for us. Typical in that this was the only day of our four day weekend when conditions were unfavourable.
Anyway, we got to the pier, found the mackerel and began setting up. As is so often the case, Lady Luck was on the side of a beginner and second time shore angler Craig was pulling in a nice little strap conger in the range of 1.5 - 2 lbs on a light spinning rod baited with mackerel before I had so much as a rig tied on.
We knew that the tides here were strong but, this being our first attempt at fishing the pier, were amazed at just how strong. Nothing up to 6 ounces was even coming close to holding bottom. Having nothing heavier in my box, I attached a 2 oz pear lead to the weight clip alongside the 6 oz gripper. This didn’t hold completely but largely compensated for the tidal flow. I cast out close to 100 yards and was rewarded with a doggie approximately 1.5 lbs. However, the pear lead managed to fall off despite the bait clip not being bent in any way. At that point I (in hindsight mistakenly) reverted to just using the 6 oz gripper that wasn’t holding. It was by now slack tide and the lead held during that period but as soon as the flood started, the lead went walkabout again.
Fishing wasn’t spectacular by that stage but with two fish in our first three casts there were signs that we might end up with a reasonable bag. That was until a trucker parked up right beside where we were fishing and proceeded to operate some sort of lobster cooking device from his lorry. The shudders being sent down the concrete pier made Nagasaki look like a pot hole. That abruptly ended any chances that we had. The weather also deteriorated concurrently. We gave it another couple of hours (probably two hours longer than we should have) in hope that the turning tide would bring the fish back on. However, it wasn’t to be and I’m sure they all moved out in response to the nuclear armageddon that was going on atop the pier.