Still Norfolk 'n' Fish, Cork Harbour, 15/02/09

People:Myself and (anything but) Rampent Wreckfish

Duration:12.00-6.00pm

Tide:ebb low flow

Weather:Peachy, light SW breeze, calm but cool.

Bait:Mack

Rigs:Mainly flowing traces

Results:Ling, Whiting, Poor Cod, Pollack, Dragonet, Grey Gurnard and what we think is a witch.

Report:

An eagle eye had been kept on the weather throughout the week and after a busy weekend involving a trip up North (its boring now you dont have to smuggle stuff across the border... ) leaving me in serious need of some R and R, plans were hatched and JP arrived at the house that morning with hopes high for a decent days fishing.

Its always nice to get the boat out at this time of year, regardless of what you catch and despite some poor reports from during the week, it was with a large degree of anticipation that we loaded the gear and hit the road. Despite some delays due mainly to the first choice tackle shop being closed and then nearly being run off the road by some numpty who elected not to see a combined length of nearly 30 feet of boat and Jeep we eventually made it to Ringaskiddy and slipped Norfolk into near mirrorlike conditions.

We headed directly to a mark a few miles out of the Harbour on some nice shingly ground that throws up numerous bits and pieces and set to work. There had been some considerable slagging from a certain quarter throughout the week on how the days proceedings were going to go so we were operating in competition mode for the day (no prizes for guessing.....). A species hunt it was and 2 mack baited 3 hook flowing traces made there way to the bottom.

A chat to Donal Domeney had us somewhat concerned as there had been very poor fishing earlier in the day on that mark and with some commercial activity over the Lings, it had all the hallmarks, weather aside, of being a poor day. A slow day indeed it was but first blood was struck by myself with, after answering a polite little rattle and winching up a smallish fish, I unhooked a decent whiting at the side of the boat. The flowing trace I was using was quite long and I neglected to notice what was swinging on the end of it until I pulled all the trace into the boat to rebait! A beautiful male Dragonet was unhappily dangling there, my first male dragonet and a lovely fish. A quick photo call was called for and we slipped him back.

Fishing was proving to be somewhat dire with only an occasional enquiry on the rod tips but JP managed a nice Grey gurnard and Poor cod doubler. I had a couple more whiting and poor cod before getting a tentative little tip. God bless braid for showing the bite in 120 feet of water as I pulled up surprise number 2 of the day. A beautiful little flattie that initially I had down as a Meg but with a Meg expert on board discounting that having studied them for a considerable period of time at college, we went for a Witch. Pic below if anyone wants to add any input. A couple more whiting and a grey gurnard for myself and we opted to move slightly.

A small move of a quarter of a mile or so had us into a few ling, 10 or 12 of them, most mere bootlaces with the biggest about 3lbs or so. With the fishing on that area of ground having died off and with a fairly low species count we headed to a rock mark in a bid to poke out a pollack and a wrasse. The wrasse unfortunately werent out to play in this area however and the nature of the ground and a quicker drift meant high tackle losses. A decent enough pollack around the 4lb mark came to a leadheaded shad and put up a spirited scrap on the match rod.

With daylight beginning to fade, a quick drift around the Cork Buoy area yielded nothing but a pile of snags so we got out of there and hammered back in towards the harbour. 2 drifts over the bank saw 3 or 4 whiting make their way over the gunnels before, in the last dying embers of daylight and with a spectacular sunset framing a lovely end to a grand day out we beat it back to the slip at full throttle. The presence of 2 fatties meant the 30mph just eluded us but it was a brisk enough run back all the same....

A quiet enough day on the fish front but with 2 firsts to the boat in Male Dragonet and a Witch, a good day all the same. 7 species not bad for Feb I guess.

Some pics below for your perusal.

Forgot to mention 2 things, 1) That funny flat thing was about the 20cm mark or so and 2) 7-4 to me in the species count mwahahahahaha

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

Nice report

Think you are right on the scald-fish rounded tail and both eyes to the left, was there a ridge between the eyes

Didn't pay much attention to it at the time but on zooming in on the full size pic, there does appear to be a small ridge between the eyes alright.

Think you are right on the scald-fish rounded tail and both eyes to the left, was there a ridge between the eyes

Nice day, nice fishing

The Witch is a right-handed fish. Mark it down as a Scaldfish

Who changed the rules for the boat species hunt thats a handy 30 points, in the old money, gone.

Screeming Reels must be falling around the place laughing.

Edit: picture added and rotated

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

Nice report Pete. Dunno about the Scaldfish but it does look like the following IMHO..

http://images.google.ie/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bim.ie/uploads/species/images/megrim.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bim.ie/templates/species.asp%3Faction%3Dlistinfo%26node_id%3D584%26species_id%3D170&usg=__jIc0SbOOQnIP8gqVamcM9IX3GvA=&h=124&w=170&sz=30&hl=en&start=4&um=1&tbnid=KAuKrVCjqyFYJM:&tbnh=72&tbnw=99&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmegrim%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN

Where the Scaldfish is shown here...

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?ID=41

Howya Steven, I genuinely had a guy on board that spent a considerable amount of time studying and dissecting Megrim and he says its not a meg so thats good enough for me. Meg caught around cork have a tendency to be a sight bigger than that too.

Not a megrim, mouth is too small and pattern is wrong against any I have seen.

Never seen a witch (ahh the jokes are lining up...) but its a good option for Cork harbour...

FWIW

Great report and some lovely species!

Ahhh Pete you've being catching congers for too long now

It's a "Norwegian Topknot"


http://web.ukonline.co.uk/aquarium/pages/norwegiantopknot.html

It's not a topknot, it is a Scaldfish, and it looks like a female rather than a male, which has elongated fin rays by the head on the dorsal side.
poxy Git.... lol

Pete, I would agree with Mohawk and think that it is a Topknot. But to kill off the 'handbag' brigade I think you should declare the beast to be a DAB. This is for general sanity, the good of SAI and the good of the site.

Its way too big to be a Norwegian Topknot with their max size being around 12cm and this was in or around 20, it didnt have the rough scales underneath either. I'm claiming it as a Scaldfish, and awaiting another enquiry as to which type of Scaldfish but thats for another day. Its still out there anyhow so might just have to get it again and have a proper look at it. Many thanks for your input lads, and thank you all for steering well clear of the DAB word....

Dave, I'm more than happy to give lessons in Scaldfish fishing.....

As an aside, is there anyone here who has ever caught or seen one of these caught before? I'm just curious to know how rare a catch these are thats all.

at first glance i would have said megrim, but looking closer the mouth is on the small side.. and definitely not of the top knot family... possibility of being a witch is slim, has most characteristics, except colouration, eye location and has more rounded tail..
so it seems congrats are in order of catching a scaldfish

Fair play pete. Nice Flounder

Pete, thanks for the offer to show me how to catch a scaldfish, it'll be the 42nd fish species I will have caught from Cork Harbour then....
I hope you marked the spot on your chartplotter.
Dave

Pete, thanks for the offer to show me how to catch a scaldfish, it'll be the 42nd fish species I will have caught from Cork Harbour then....
I hope you marked the spot on your chartplotter.
Dave

Hi, shame about the 30 points,
Has a sea aquarium burst or somthing like that? scaldfish, angler fish, all being caught of the cork coastline, nice result though, nice to see these fish being caught, instead of dead sweepbacks on a trawlers decks.
the amount of monk caught just a few miles offshore is amazing, and only are they a rare catch by anglers.
Well Pete, all looks good for the small boats comp this year, that would be a nice one to put on the list!!,
regards
screeming

ITS A FLUKE.....!!!

Nice one Pete , is it a lemon sole ( just to throw a spanner in the works )