COUNTY ANTRIM BEACH sun 22nd dec 2013

People: myself and junior

Duration: 2pm to 7pm

Tide: dropping

Weather: 40mph SW rain, hail, sleet and snow

Bait: black lug wraps, mackerel, sand eel and razor

Rigs: 3 hook flappers with long snoods and size 1 hooks with a bit of bling

Results: ME - 6 flounder and 4 codling. JORDAN - 3 flounder, 4 codling and 10 micro whiting




Report: well we had intended to get out yesterday, but the weather and the rain had wrote off most of the donegal marks we had wanted to hit. so a rethink was in order and we decide to head out up the east coast after lunch to see where was gonna be fishable. as we made our way up the coast we were surprised by the conditions and the water seemed clear enough. SO HAPPY DAYS!! we picked a beach and were set up and fishing just after 2pm. i was the first off the blocks with a full house of flounder (much to juniors annoyance ) and one of them was decent too
jordan started off a bit slower, but was soon catching up getting a flounder. but the weather took a turn for the worse and the sideways sleet and snow began to fall pushed on by 40mph winds.
as we lost the light the hoards of pin whiting came out to play stripping the baits and getting foul hooked by jordan every now and again. then jordan birdy'd his 525 mag so put it and the long rod away and re appeared with his little roach rod that has only a 18g cast weight
the one ounce lead almost had it buckled but he made up a little 2 hook rig with tiny size 4 hooks and put a sand eel on the top hook and a bit of lug onthe bottom. i was busy chuckling away at him when he proclaimed that he had a good knock on it and began to reel. i was laughing, telling him that he might have a monster whiting of about 4 inches on it and that he was milking it when a bloody big flounder appeared through the suds
so that was me firmly put in my place and i went back to my rods to eat my slice of humble pie and massage my bruised ego in solitude
after 6pm a shoal of little codling moved in and happily munched our sand eel and mackerel baits. but the frozen black lug wraps did'nt get a sniff all night which was odd. we have used them before in the past at different venues and have had success with them. but not tonight for whatever reason
by 7pm we had taken all the rain, sleet and snow we could handel. it might not have been so bad if it was'nt for the 40mph winds that were making it bite pretty hard. with the wind chill it must have easily been -5. so we called it a day and made for home.
all in all a great session seesing as we have'nt been on a beach since october
i just hope this weather system moves on pronto as we have a weeks fishing planned next week down in cork. surely we're due a bit of luck with the weather, but time will tell
thanks for reading and HAPPY CHRISTMAS LADS!!

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[chuckaroo]

i had the bug this morning and with the weather looking quite reasonable i decided that i'd hit the glens in the afternoon for a chuck with the fly
but the afternoon came and.. when i went outside...... brrrrrrr!!
needless to say, i turned and went back inside again.. so fair play to yous!

nice to get a report. well done, one or 2 nice flounder there indeed
wouldnt yous ever think of using a beach shelter?

Last edited by chuckaroo on Mon Dec 23, 2013 10:37 am, edited 1 time in total.

well done lads for sticking it out at least yous got rewarded with a few fish and as you said lets hope the weather plays ball for next weekend i will be fishing cork next saturday

happy xmas

Some nice clean flounder lads, well done.

Some nice flounder there Al, well done to you both Should be some good fishing when these storms clear away,,,,Happy Christmas and good luck next week down South

i had the bug this morning and with the weather looking quite reasonable i decided that i'd hit the glens in the afternoon for a chuck with the fly
but the afternoon came and.. when i went outside...... brrrrrrr!!
needless to say, i turned and went back inside again.. so fair play to yous!
nice to get a report. well done, one or 2 nice flounder there indeed
wouldnt yous ever think of using a beach shelter?

ahh she was a cold one alright charlie
the sleet was frozen to the rods when we were packing away. i have looked at the shelters in the past, but thought better of it when we fished the club scene. on more than one occasion we watched lads chasing them up the beaches when it was windy or complain of getting a cramp in the neck sat under the rod tip trying to look up all day.
far better to just wrap up warm and move about as opposed to chasing the tide in and out on shallow beaches moving camp all the time

well done lads for sticking it out at least yous got rewarded with a few fish and as you said lets hope the weather plays ball for next weekend i will be fishing cork next saturday
happy xmas

we'll be down that way ourselves man. booked into the bella vista so gonna try a few marks around cobh and youghal
i just hope this incomming weather system moves on pronto and dose'nt leave the beaches choked with weed

Some nice clean flounder lads, well done.

cheers man

Some nice flounder there Al, well done to you both Should be some good fishing when these storms clear away,,,,Happy Christmas and good luck next week down South

cheers dave. i suppose on the bright side, it will have churned up loads of natural bait for the cod to be feeding on. hopefully they will be feeding hard enought that they will take the frozen peeler as sourcing live peeler with these tides is a nuisance

nice one lads... happy christmas!
braving the cauld paid off..great report,its been a while since i had a bit of a laugh reading a report i get annoyed with flounders too if they're biting mad and your not hunting for 'em...can be a pain,but not as much as a big fat blank!
would've loved to seen the rudd rod in action on the tide,i do a bit of rudd fishing meself on the finer days ha ha i cant imagine a 1oz wieght on my rudd rod fair duce for beaching a fine flounder with it!
i hope the weather changes for the better for all of us this coming weekend and good luck down this way lads!

only the brave !!!! lol nice report boys nice weather for blowing the cobwebs out of your ears !

nice to see a couple of fish coming of waterfoot 90% of the time i fished it in the winter you were plagued by pin whiting nice to see you lads getting fish Merry Christmas lads

nice one mate, once again the young Jordan shows you how to fish

Well done lads nice work. Fair play to the young man teaching you a lesion . . Do you use the black wraps much? I've not used them much but would love to know if they are a good second best . Happy Christmas to you both and tight lines for 14.

Well done lads nice work. Fair play to the young man teaching you a lesion . . Do you use the black wraps much? I've not used them much but would love to know if they are a good second best . Happy Christmas to you both and tight lines for 14.

Wraps are brilliant for flounder on the beaches tipped with mackerel and it is as good a bait as any for flounders

great report and pics, nice to see you out again lads:),happy christmas and best of luck in the new year

Great stuff good report.

Nice one lads. I would like to take this chance to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and many more fish too. I used to be amazed at the number of flounder from there and all around the bay which had orange spots on them. Down here in Kerry it would be just the odd one which would have the orange spots, the few than do are invariable called plaice, I have yet to connect with a place in these waters, though a few guys who know their fish tell me a few spots fish for them, but they are not big.

Best regards Wez

nice one lads... happy christmas!
braving the cauld paid off..great report,its been a while since i had a bit of a laugh reading a report i get annoyed with flounders too if they're biting mad and your not hunting for 'em...can be a pain,but not as much as a big fat blank!
would've loved to seen the rudd rod in action on the tide,i do a bit of rudd fishing meself on the finer days ha ha i cant imagine a 1oz wieght on my rudd rod fair duce for beaching a fine flounder with it!
i hope the weather changes for the better for all of us this coming weekend and good luck down this way lads!

thanks man. jordan had a good laugh with that little rod
but santa brought him 2 of these LRF rods for christmas and now he wants to target the flounder with them on it. that spot has loads of flounder which are only in inches of water. when we walk out to cast you can see all the puffs of sand they leave as they scoot away from your feet. so targeting them should be handy enough
the weather is'nt looking to kind for us heading down to cork this weekend, but we'll do what we can with what it throws at us and see how we end up.
sure god loves a trier

only the brave !!!! lol nice report boys nice weather for blowing the cobwebs out of your ears !

she was a chilly one alright roger if it was just the rain, sleet and snow we would have been alright. but the 40mph winds pushing it on was a nightmare on the fingers, nose and ears. it was really biting by the end of the session. but it was still great to get out

nice to see a couple of fish coming of waterfoot 90% of the time i fished it in the winter you were plagued by pin whiting nice to see you lads getting fish Merry Christmas lads

the pin whiting are still there man. we just treat them like the bait robbing crabs now. go with bigger hooks and a lot of elastic to try and keep them at bay from robbing your baits

nice one mate, once again the young Jordan shows you how to fish

yip, pretty much buisness as usual martin

Well done lads nice work. Fair play to the young man teaching you a lesion . . Do you use the black wraps much? I've not used them much but would love to know if they are a good second best . Happy Christmas to you both and tight lines for 14.

cheers dan, same to yourself man. we have had success on them in the past the dabs, plaice and flounder usually go for them ok. but not on that night for whatever reason they were untouched.

great report and pics, nice to see you out again lads:),happy christmas and best of luck in the new year

cheers man. same to yourself

Great stuff good report.

cheers buddy

Nice one lads. I would like to take this chance to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and many more fish too. I used to be amazed at the number of flounder from there and all around the bay which had orange spots on them. Down here in Kerry it would be just the odd one which would have the orange spots, the few than do are invariable called plaice, I have yet to connect with a place in these waters, though a few guys who know their fish tell me a few spots fish for them, but they are not big.
Best regards Wez

same to yourself wez
yeah, that spot is coming down with those flounder with the orange spots on them. and as we get into feburary and march there are loads of plaice that move into the bay too. i remember fishing the pier there a few years ago and a guy from ballymena beside me was getting loads of the spotty flounder and reckoned that they were all plaice. he did'nt believe me that they were'nt until he caught a plaice and only then did he see how different they were. but it's an easy mistake to make. i remember reading on one of the english lads forums a few years ago about certin areas where they were sure the flounder and plaice were hybribizing due to them breeding in the same areas at the same time. there was a lot of scientific research put into it and it was an interesting read.

Nice report Al.

cheers alan

nice report and really well done sticking that weather