Winter North Coast Shore

[chuckaroo]

So it was time to work off some of the Xmas indulgences, to head north for the first time of the new year and wet a line. Confirmation came through from johnwest and a plan was hatched for bank holiday Monday, 2nd January.

The forecast on the Saturday gave our intended mark to have a clear day with low southerly winds, but by the time Monday actually came round this had changed. We arrived at the planned venue to find that the wind had moved into the northwest and so would to be blowing up the beach into our faces, there would have been nowhere to hide. It was fresher than anticipated, bitter, so we decided not to take the long walk to the mark andf opted for another mark where we would at least be closer to the car.

We arrived at plan-B mark at about 1pm and got set up, the wind was fresh here too but it was manageable. Low and behold, johnwest caught a crackin flounder straight away, he wasn't hanging about! He was chuffed, a 39cm flounder was certainly a welcome early 'result', it wouldn't matter now so much whether the bass turned up or not; well, sort of..
Unfortunately though, and despite the good spirits resulting from the catching of the nice flounder, the fishing didn't get any better as the day progressed; hope and will gradually faded. I actually blanked and johnwest didn't catch another fish until his last cast - a reasonable whiting. After 5 hours or so we decided that enough was enough, it was getting cold and the bass just didn't seem interested in making themselves known.. yet again

In hindsight, the conditions actually improved somewhat during the day and of course I (we) now wish that we had made the effort to get onto the first mark - it just has some deeper water, more features, and offers more potential I guess. Ah well, "next time"..

The flounder and whiting went down very well for my dinner this evening.. thanks JW.

Happy New Year

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

Last edited by chuckaroo on Wed Jan 04, 2017 5:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Just about sums up the day. I must admit I was a bit deflated when the flounder failed to make the 40cm, it's the 3rd at 39cm I've had in the last couple of years; can't break through that barrier. Chuckaroo had sandeel, razor, frozen black lug and some fresh rag; I stopped off on the way to buy some Lidl mackerel fillets so I wouldn't be a complete bait scrounger. As it happens, both fish caught dined a la Lidl. Bad news about the demise of the Wychwood reel which would really need replacing now. Hope you enjoyed your supper more than I enjoyed that sandwich I was preparing!

Nice report lads well done for trying for the silver. Some nice fish too and nice to get out. Hard to beat the mackerel bait ☺

I must admit I was a bit deflated when the flounder failed to make the 40cm

Lol. You must fish more Paddy
Still a crackin fish..

Hi guys good reports always good to get out and try also fished Antrim coast also winds were not good I stuck to few rock marks 2 dabs and 4 coalies the coalies were the biggest fish of the day was fishing lug squid peeler crabs was hoping for codling or the silver bar.