Ballycastle 21/07/23 last cast saloon
Fri Jul 21, 2023 11:26 pm
intended on getting the evening tide the night before but the showers and the northerly soon killed that - checked the old weather app and there was a window over HW in the morning so decided to give it a go then
the place was full of weed so kept covering the coast looking for a gap with a bit of depth, tried a few spots not knowing the rocks, reefs and ledges so well, with the result that it was a lot shallower than expected - so i kept moving
repeated this process - it seems some container lost a load of muller yoghurt and coke cans, as one shallow bay was full of the remnants to the point that some of the cans hadnt perished and were still full - they were registered from South Africa and had airline and maritime use only written on the cans - BBD Jan 23 - so not at sea that long!
went on again trying another spot where i saw a float set up snagged and abandoned - a positive sign?
well over an hour at this stage and the mist had appeared and the wind picked up, but went on again and saw a deep gorge and thought there has to be small wrasse in this weed - worth having a last few casts seen as i was in it.
stuck on the jelly worm and sure enough after a few jigs and drops a small wrasse about a lb connected, blanked saved
went again and had a few bites from pollack and then next cast a 3lb on, but spat the hook coming out of the water
went with a bigger hook and a shad and sure enough got a nice 3lb on and out
more bites and two pollack both hitting the same lure but no connection
got a bigger one 57 cm and just like that the pollack got wise to the shad
started dropping it at my feet and belter of a bite from a wrasse gave great sport - 42 cm - happy out
no more bites on the shad so changed to various different lures, hard lures got a few more bites but then dead
the rain as promised had arrived and was getting heavier - the wind had picked up - so it was time to head back
the black and green algae on the rocks became treacherous on the way back - took me an extra half hour to get back - was grabbing the grass at the top of the erroded banks as i couldnt manage the rocks, eventually i had to head up into the field, scrambling hands and feet and get a flat walk to get back to the local road
nice to get a few fish in a mad 15 mins, but was dodgy getting back - you never take the weather or conditions for granted.
perseverance can pay off sometimes....to a point
the place was full of weed so kept covering the coast looking for a gap with a bit of depth, tried a few spots not knowing the rocks, reefs and ledges so well, with the result that it was a lot shallower than expected - so i kept moving
repeated this process - it seems some container lost a load of muller yoghurt and coke cans, as one shallow bay was full of the remnants to the point that some of the cans hadnt perished and were still full - they were registered from South Africa and had airline and maritime use only written on the cans - BBD Jan 23 - so not at sea that long!
went on again trying another spot where i saw a float set up snagged and abandoned - a positive sign?
well over an hour at this stage and the mist had appeared and the wind picked up, but went on again and saw a deep gorge and thought there has to be small wrasse in this weed - worth having a last few casts seen as i was in it.
stuck on the jelly worm and sure enough after a few jigs and drops a small wrasse about a lb connected, blanked saved
went again and had a few bites from pollack and then next cast a 3lb on, but spat the hook coming out of the water
went with a bigger hook and a shad and sure enough got a nice 3lb on and out
more bites and two pollack both hitting the same lure but no connection
got a bigger one 57 cm and just like that the pollack got wise to the shad
started dropping it at my feet and belter of a bite from a wrasse gave great sport - 42 cm - happy out
no more bites on the shad so changed to various different lures, hard lures got a few more bites but then dead
the rain as promised had arrived and was getting heavier - the wind had picked up - so it was time to head back
the black and green algae on the rocks became treacherous on the way back - took me an extra half hour to get back - was grabbing the grass at the top of the erroded banks as i couldnt manage the rocks, eventually i had to head up into the field, scrambling hands and feet and get a flat walk to get back to the local road
nice to get a few fish in a mad 15 mins, but was dodgy getting back - you never take the weather or conditions for granted.
perseverance can pay off sometimes....to a point
Re: Ballycastle 21/07/23 last cast saloon
Sat Jul 22, 2023 5:45 pm
fair play for getting out and giving it a go
Re: Ballycastle 21/07/23 last cast saloon
Fri Jul 28, 2023 1:57 pm
Fair fecks for getting out Brian. Few fish at least. Must have been a fun scramble out
Another timely reminder of how im not as young as i used to be
Another timely reminder of how im not as young as i used to be