North coast speci hunt

People:Myself, Davy mac and Neil

Duration:8hrs

Tide:
hw 15.00hrs
Weather:bright sunny N veering se light wind

Bait:
Mackerel, squid, Rainbow trout
Rigs:
3 hook running ledger, 2 hook paternoster
Results:Specimen Spurdog, specimen lsd, bull huss, conger and ling

Report:With the forecast being as good as it was, a boat trip was on the cards for the weekend to hit the deep water of the Antrim coast after a few specimens, with a bit of juggling of crews it was decided the 3 of us would fish aboard Neils boat Morning glory. As we stopped for a fuel/food fill up, we ran into another forum member janie tyler who said he was heading out with trevt that morning, so it looked like a mini meet was on the cards. Once at the slip the boat was quickly prepared and slipped into the water. the run out was a bit of a white knuckle ride for Davy and I as we hung onto the back of the wheelhouse roof(Davy doesn't spend much time out on deck as hes normally driving so he not used to the cold water running down his sleeves ) as Neil hammered out to the deep hole we were to fish that day.
Once we'd arrived we picked our spot and sent the anchor over the gunnel for the long drop down to the bottom 330 feet below, as the anchor bit the boat swung around in the tide but after about 5 mins it was dragging through the clay bottom, we decided to fish on anyway and eventually after about 20 mins it caught, by this stage we'd moved about 200m from our original position but still well within the area we wanted to fish anyway.
It was a big enough tide so 3lb of lead was the order of the day to keep the baits on the bottom, soon enough the bites started to appear with Neil getting a nice wee ling of 7lb so that was dinner sorted, next up was me with a conger of 22lb which put up a fair scrap in the strong tide. the bites were constant through the full run of the tide and it started to ease a few spurs were showing with me getting my first specimen of the year at 13lb 8oz, shortly followed by one for Davy at 12lb 10oz, shortly followed by a cracking huss just over 13lb. Neil was next up with a new pb huss for him of 12lb10oz.A few more strap congers appeared making the usual mess of the lovingly prepared traces, then the doggies started, thankfully the tide had eased enough allowing us to drop the leads down to 1lb/1lb half, for an hour of rest before it swung around and picked up again. after the change of tide Davy managed another specimen spur and I got a specimen doggy. by this stage the tide was starting to push hard and the 3lb leads were struggling to hold bottom, Trev and Maurice had decided to call it a day and had just left us after a quick chat when Neil got a good bite, as he lifted into the fish he felt the solid weight, skate on, but by now the tide was hammering through, luckly the fish had also hooked up with Davy so the two of them pulled and hauled for fifteen minutes, getting the fish well up into the water, then disaster as firstly Davys hook pulled to be shortly followed by neils, the fish must have been within 100 feet of the boat . after this we decided to call it a day as everyones back and arms were sore, so it was anchor up and stowed and a short run back to port just as the last of the light was going.

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well done men, I feel with you on the skate, same happened to me last summer, congrats on the specimens

Nice session lads... was working at the compound ys'day lookin at the boat knowin u guys wher out, secretly hoping u had a crap trip so as not to make me feel bad and missing out but sounds like u had a cracker of a trip well done.. think i mite hav to prep the boat for the next trip, missing the big solid pull and back ache that follows a good days fishing not 2 mention the crack.... btw G-String Butt Pad (Ronald) thats an unusual name for a boat who came up with that 1, is ther a story behind it, opps just notice the pun in that comment...lol

Super fishing lads, cracking Spurdog and Huss!

well done lads, some very nice fish there

Great report and great pix of what was obviously a great outing

Some splendid fish - but rainbow trout for bait......? Has The Recession not hit the north coast yet?What took it anyway?

good man ronald your off to a good start with the specimens, good report too.

regards

brian

nice report and pics there Ronald

Thats some serious fishing you guys dont mess around those are cracking fish. Pity about the Skate that would have been the icing on the cake!!

some seriously nice fishing there lads . you're having a great run at them up there at the moment. well done, and keep the reports coming

Well done lads.
Nice haul of fish and some good specimens
Cheers.

jammy gits im gona have to get out on the boat soon.tho i`ll have to get a new back first

Some serious fishing there men, a great haul. Pity about the ray.

jammy gits im gona have to get out on the boat soon.tho i`ll have to get a new back first

Davy order me a new back while youre at it mines still sore from sat

Thanks for the replys guys, it's hard work in the deep water but the rewards are worth it. At one stage towards the end of the day my forearm was getting cramps from hauling in from the depths , my hand wouldn't even open it was so bad

jammy gits im gona have to get out on the boat soon.tho i`ll have to get a new back first

Davy order me a new back while youre at it mines still sore from sat

It may be alot worse come thursday, though hopefully we wont be need the real heavy stuff with small tides forecast. 500feet plus here we come