North Wicklow beach, 29th and 31st May

People:me and Fishface

Duration:6pm to 11pm both evenings

Tide:last hour of drop and then rising

Weather:cool on 29th ,,glorious on 31st,,slack winds

Bait:crab ,,,rag

Rigs:pulleys and 2 hook flapper

Results:Smoothies, doggies, whiting


Report:29th May,,,,,After getting a call from Neil on Wednesday night to inform me that he and Mitch had been hammering Smoothies all evening I was in a pretty low mood ,,,,considering I had decided not to go out on that night . Luckily on Thursday my darling wife got me some frozen and live peelers from Craig in Dublin Angling Centre in Walkinstown. He even gave her a bag of various legs and claws which were to play a vital part in Saturday evenings session,,,,but more of that later . I came home from work,,,,loaded the van,,,ate me dindins and was on the m50 in no time. Unfortunately the traffic was brutal,,,,well it was rush hour after all,,,,and then it got brutal again after Wicklow town,,,but I persevered and finally arrived at my chosen venue just after 6pm. I lashed out a crab bait as far as I could on my new rod,,,a Century Carbon Metal,,courtesy of Fishface,,,what a buddy . I had gotten a new reel seat fitted in Dublin Angling so I was glad to be finally able to use this rod. I normally use my Greys Triplex for smoothies and I found the CCM is a lot lighter and thinner but I was still able to whack a bait out a good distance and by the end of the session I had decided to use the CCM as my main beach rod. I had a tug on this after 10 mins or so and was delighted to christen the rod with a small doggie sized smoothie,,happy days. I recast and sat down trying to figure out how to video myself and then use the timer on my camera. When I looked up the line had gone slack and I jumped up and started to reel in the slack line. Nothing there,,,,nothing there,,,,,kept on reeling,,,nothing,,,nothing,,,,and then BANG!,,,fish on. He was quite near the shore when I connected with him but it was quite a struggle to beach him,,,what a fight and all on video "HANG ON DAVE,,YOU FORGOT TO TURN IT ON ". Still,,,I had caught my first decent Smoothie of the season so it wasn't all bad and at least the news of my catch would help the Doctors who were still struggling to get the smile off Fishface's face from the night before . I had another two biggies,,,as I call them,,,and a heap of doggie sized ones,,,great night's fishing and well worth the rush down after work and the late night drive home!

Here's a short video of some of what happened,,,i'm the one in the hat who keeps sticking his tongue out,,,it's a nervous reaction to getting a decent fish after a barren few months on the East Coast





Photos










31st May,,,,Bank Holiday weekend means packed beaches,,,campers on beaches,,,nowhere to park,,,,so would it be worth it to go out fishing,,,,BLOODY RIGHT IT WOULD . With Fishface perming oul wan's hair all day I knew I would get there before him so I gave myself plenty of time to get to our chosen spot but when I arrived it was choc a bloc to say the least . I drove by all the usual spots but they all were packed out with no room to park up. Eventually I found a quiet corner and unloaded the van. I walked the short distance but when I arrived at the beach I saw 4 tents with a gang of early 20's youths getting set up for the night. I set up and they came over for a chat,,,they turned out to be a really nice bunch and they were amazed when I told them I was fishing for sharks,,,,they thought I was joking but you should have seen the look on their faces when I landed a decent smoothie . Neil arrived and set up and we had a great evenings fishing,,,catching smoothies ,,doggies and a solitary pin whiting. Great to see decent numbers of Smoothound around at the moment,,,,this is what we've been waiting for over the long winter . Neil left his house and forgot his flask of frozen peeler so he only had 4 crab,,,,he decided to reuse the same bits of crab which turned out to be very successful. He cut the crab into thirds and landed 3 smoothies on one of the thirds ,,,even doing a dance when he got the third one!



Here's a few more photos!











I'm the one holding the bigger smoothies,,,,there were no photos of Neil with big ones

Great fishing there some of them smoothounds are monsters;)

I think I better bring my own camera next time,as id hate to think that you did it on purpose.. I went down to smaller hooks size 1;0s circles to match the smaller baits and I was catching on even terms with dave all night(some of mine were big as well) so now that that happened I going to save an alful lot on crab, 4 for a 5 hour session 5 max, happy days anybody want to buy a box of 3;0s kamazans b940 funny enough when darkness fell the smuts all but disappeared, it could have been the tide or then just move off for tastier baits than what I was offering going out again to a different venue with ger and two others from the west(there names I cant remember) so hoping we connect again, roll on tuesday

oh has anybody noticed my weight loss, ive been trying hard 3 inches off my waist since last year I sound so camp,must be the hairdresser in me

oh has anybody noticed my weight loss, ive been trying hard 3 inches off my waist since last year I sound so camp,must be the hairdresser in me

I noticed your weight loss alright,,,but I put it down to that dose of the trots you had on Thursday evening while I was out catching Smoothies

Good to see some nice sized hounds around. Hope to get out during the week myself. Fair play again.

Busy weekend lads, some nice fish in them photos.
Ye must be avoiding the Ray?

Nice goin lads, good to see some decent sized hounds about and even better to see that the rivalry is still alive and well!

nice going dave some nice hounds there me and your bitch are going to try the spot around the corner tomorrow
night ..

nice going dave some nice hounds there me and your bitch are going to try the spot around the corner tomorrow
night ..

Cheers Gerry,,,,good luck Tuesday evening,,,,the pressure is on so let's hope the Smuts come out to play,,,,and don't forget to go easy on the old timer

savage fishing boyos!!

nice going dave some nice hounds there me and your bitch are going to try the spot around the corner tomorrow
night ..

Cheers Gerry,,,,good luck Tuesday evening,,,,the pressure is on so let's hope the Smuts come out to play,,,,and don't forget to go easy on the old timer

He is out again tonight and on his own so the hound bug has really set in

no not going waiting till tomorrow at my age you have to pace yourself

Nice one lads some good fish starting to show at last

Grate fishing well done lads

well done lads some lovely fish

great fishing guys...i've still to catch my first smoothie. having problems finding peelers where i live-plenty of crunchies though. tried to keep a few in the kitchen fridge to see if they started to peel-that lasted about 2 hours until the missis discovered them! lol. my question though is are the frozen ones you buy any good?

great fishing guys...i've still to catch my first smoothie. having problems finding peelers where i live-plenty of crunchies though. tried to keep a few in the kitchen fridge to see if they started to peel-that lasted about 2 hours until the missis discovered them! lol. my question though is are the frozen ones you buy any good?

I find frozen peelers for smoothies are just as good as fresh, if not better!

never used fresh have always used frozen and catch as much as anybody else,except my so called fishing buddy never photos them ,well he does but never the big ones

Thanks!

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