benito, downings, sunday 1st august 2010

People: me, jordan and 9 members of the mariners BAC

Duration: 10am to 5pm

Tide:

Weather: sunny dry flat calm seas with hardly a tide running at all

Bait: shads, jelly worms rag sand eel and mackeral

Rigs: 3 hook flowing traces

Results: ME - 1 black goby (shore), 18 pollock to 6lb (new pb), 8 ling to 5lb (new pb), 14 coalfish to 4lb (new pb), 2 pouting to 2lb and 82 mackeral
JORDAN - 18 pollock to 7lb 2oz (new pb), 14 ling to 6lb 2oz (new pb), 9 coalfish to 4lb 3oz (new pb), 2 pouting to 2lb (new pb) and 82 mackeral

Report: i got a call from dan last week letting me know that they needed a few more anglers to make up the numbers for a big fish boat trip out of downings. not one for letting an opportunty like that to pass us by i snapped up 2 seats for the trip quick time . it would be a chance for me and jordan to smash a few of our personal best records for a few species in one go. so we sat on saturday and tied up a dozen flowing boat rigs with big shads, sidewinders and jelly worms with hooks no smaller than 5/0 and of a heavier gauge metal so we deffo would'nt lose any nice fish this time (we live and learn ). now 3 hook rigs for deep wreck fishing might seem a bit excessive, but it would be a great way to test out our heavier rods and reels as 3 big fish all wanting to tear off in different directions sounded like great craic . and i have boxes of them in the house that have never seen the sea, so i did'nt care if we lost the lot as there are still loads of them at home . we stopped off in the harbour for a bash at the minis as we could'nt resist the chance to get something different from a new mark and i was rewarded with my first black goby of 2010 . so with the messing about over we set off to board the boat and steamed off to the wreck with a brief stop for mackeral to bait our bottom hooks for ling. within 10 mins there was a full box of mackies for a good days fishing and we geared off to the wreck. the fishing was non stop from the first drift to the last with some cracking pollock and ling being landed all day. loads of personal bests were smashed in no time and jordan got a serious work out hauling up big fish 3 at a time. as always the lads in the club were full of craic from the off and our sides were splitting with laughter as people were individually targerted one at a time for a bit of stick and a good winding up . the fishing was so frantic that i only got a chance to take a few pics as we re-set the drift on a few occasions. with very little tide running the drifts were brilliant as you got a good bash at the fish as we slowly passed over the wreck again, again and again . jordan even sat out the last drift as his wrists and forearms were cramping after reeling up full houses of pollock and ling 3 at a time with a combined weight of around 15lb from 100 meters below . he decided that he'll hold of on a trip to norway until he's well up in his teens now . all the lads decided that we would spend an hour on the way back in to stock up on mackeral and have a go for big flatties and ray over a sandy bay with skull being the only one to get a thornie and dan and another guy got a doggie each. the offical weighing took place when we got back to shore with the biggest fish of the day (a pollock) weighing in at 8 and a half pounds and some ling not too far behid it . i'll never guess the weight of a pollock just by looking at it again as these things looked to easily be doubles, but all came in at around the 7lb mark on certified scales. i think a lot of the angling mags must allow a heck of a bit of journalistic licence with pics from what i've now seen in the flesh . yet another great day out and i'm greatfull to the club for allowing me and the wee man to tag along on another one of their trips as we throughlly enjoyed ourselves and were made to feel more than welcome yet again. top bunch of lads . and great to get out with trevor the skipper as anyone i've ever talked to about him and his boat have only ever had great things to say about him. and on that trip i can honestly say it was all well founded

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last few pics

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Cracking boat session again there, smashing report and pics too, first class Al Quite easy to get used to this boatfishing lark with results like that and desert the auld shore fishing

great report al ,that was a cracking days fishing ,pb's all around
jordan face says it all smiling from ear to ear well done to
both of you

sweet days fishing guys, looks like all the lads had a great day of it. Lots of pb's. Fish of the dasy has to be the black goby.

A1 fishing lads. well done on all the PBs. looks like a great session.

Well done again lads nice ling

Some brilliant fishing there lads, must have been serious fun!!

Cracking boat session again there, smashing report and pics too, first class Al Quite easy to get used to this boatfishing lark with results like that and desert the auld shore fishing

thanks martin. with boat trips like that it really spoils a shore session, but i do'nt think i'd find too many skippers that would take us out for a 22 hour session or let us pitch a tent or make a camp fire on board . which is a big bit of what jordan loves doing on the shore. just pick a stretch of coast and pack the tent and head off for a few days

great report al ,that was a cracking days fishing ,pb's all around
jordan face says it all smiling from ear to ear well done to
both of you

thanks ger. it was our first proper deep wreck trip as all the trips we'd booked in the past had all been cancelled due to terrible weather on the day. but it was deffo our best boat trip so far in our angling careers. watching jordan huff and puff as he reeled them in was halarious to say the least

sweet days fishing guys, looks like all the lads had a great day of it. Lots of pb's. Fish of the dasy has to be the black goby.

funny you should say that man. dan reckoned i looked happiest when i got the wee goby in the harbour as it was my first of the year .

A1 fishing lads. well done on all the PBs. looks like a great session.

cheers dan. and to top it all of, we even got a bit of sunburn too

Well done again lads nice ling

thanks man. we'll be eating battered and baked ling for the next fortnight with what we brought home with us

Some brilliant fishing there lads, must have been serious fun!!

thanks mike. absolute madness from the first drop. great day out

Hi there well done on the fishing.

Just for you own info, that is rock goby and not a black goby.

A black goby has a dark spot on the front of each dorsal fin and has a scaled "neck" . Hope this helps.

thanks for the head's up man. but now i'm even more confused . one of my refrence books says that the black goby and the rock goby are the same fish 'gobius niger' . and the other states there is no dark spot on the front of each dorsal, and they call it a black goby, 'gobius niger'. i'll put up a pic so you see where my confusion stems from . well regardless if he was a black or a rock goby or both lol!!. it's something new for me anyways seems the goby's are as contentious to id as the rockling

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I see what you mean but the collins books are ok for the most part but sometimes they just dont have the detail needed to break down closely related species.

the black goby - Gobius niger linnaeus, 1758

the rock goby - Gobius paganellus Linnaeus, 1758

The rock goby has a light outer band on the first dorsal as opposed to the dark spots on the black goby

good stuff!. so to keep things simple for future refrence. the black goby has the dark blotch on each dorsal and the rock goby has the yellow tip to the first dorsal then? would that be right? and cheers for helping out with the id man, appreciated

well lad well done.that north coast is throwning up some nice fish especially on the boat angling side

cracking day out al' with great pic's. if i'd known you were down i would have called over to the harbour for a yap with you and the wee man, as i was down there myself, sadly not for the fishing but was down for the festival, still recovering but well done guys that looked like a thumper of a sesh;

Sounds like a good day....

Your "Black Goby" is def a Rock Goby

black goby has much longer front dorsal and no white/yellow edge on it,and has a black spot at the front of both dorsal fins.See pic`s....

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well lad well done.that north coast is throwning up some nice fish especially on the boat angling side

cheers brian. i honestly could'nt get over just how good the fishing was there i've never see pollock like that in those numbers before great day out

cracking day out al' with great pic's. if i'd known you were down i would have called over to the harbour for a yap with you and the wee man, as i was down there myself, sadly not for the fishing but was down for the festival, still recovering but well done guys that looked like a thumper of a sesh;

no rods!! . man that's a sin we scouted out a few promising looking rock marks while we were out there that we'll deffo have to give a go the next time we're down that way hope you've got rid of the hangover

Sounds like a good day....
Your "Black Goby" is def a Rock Goby
black goby has much longer front dorsal and no white/yellow edge on it,and has a black spot at the front of both dorsal fins.See pic`s....

brilliant davy, cheers for the pics man. now that i see what you's mean i think i might have had one of those (proper) black goby's last year and miss id it as well we live and learn one of the things with this sea angling lark is that no matter how much you think you know, there is always something new to be learnt . just gotta be honest enough to eat a bit of humble pie now and again

very well done lads, super trip good sized pollack there, amazing fishing

Well done you two on the new PBs. That was a mighty session.

cracking session lads,,,,,,,fair play on pb,s,,well done.