big fish feeding frenzy at donaghadee 13/08/08

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#1 Post by **Al and Jordan** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 12:56 pm

People: me jordan and dawsey

Duration: 5pm to 11pm

Tide: rising to high

Weather: calm, no wind and more importantly no rain

Bait: lug, mack and cooked peeled prawn

Rigs: floats and 2 hook flapper

Results: me: 4 poor cod, 6 coalfish up to 1.8lbs, 12 pollock, 4 corkwing wrasse, 9 ballen wrasse up to 2.7lbs and what i think was a baby mullet

jordan: 1 ballen wrasse, 2 shannys, 1 mackeral, 13 pollock and a coalfish

dawsey: 1 coalfish, 2 mack and about 18 pollock

Report: we had arranged to meet up with dawsey for a session at the dee, and boy it did'nt dissappoint

. me and junior started off at bangor around 1pm for a bit of mack collection for bait. so on went the feathers and 4 mack were landed by 3pm. we headed out to dig some lug for the evening session and arrived and got set for 5pm. jordan opted for the float and i fished the bottom with a 2 hook flapper loaded with lug. the bait had barely reached the bottom and the rod tip was bouncing...... fish on!!!!!. a male corkwing wrasse broke the surface and we were off to a good start. another quickly followed

. then it was the turn of the ballen wrasse taken on the same bait. some nice wee guys of varying colours. while i was baiting up jordans hook he screamed at me that i had a fish on. i turned round to see my beach caster bouncing along the rail

. i grabbed it and struck into it hard feeling that this was a good one

and a big ballen came up to greet us

i got him landed, photographed him and got him on the scales. RESULT!!!!!!!! 2lb 7ozs my biggest to date. jordan was looking a bit miffed as he had'nt had a bite yet but the light was beginning to fade and he was sure the pollock were gonna come in on the feed soon

Dawsey arrived and got set up on the float to get in on the action. the pollock had began to feed in numbers and they were happily munching the mack and prawn dangling on the end of his and jordans hooks. bites were coming thick and fast. i was still fishing on the bottom with prawn now as the lug were all gone. i got another solid hit and i was into a nice coalfish weighing in at 1lb 6oz, just 1 oz off my personal best

but 2 casts later i beat it with a coalfish weighing in at 1lb 8oz

another new personal best

by this stage the surface of the water was alive with fry skimming the surface obviously being hunted by the pollock and mackeral that everyone around us were catching. a guy got a full house of mack behind us and the lad who was fishing on the wall above me got some nice pollock up to near 2lb on feathers.

jordan and dawsey also got mack on the float while i was into the poor cod on the bottom. then around 10pm the fry dissappeared back out to sea and the bites slowed down. i never got a touch for half an hour or so and began to wrap up. i put a float out and got what i think was a baby mullet. i'm sure someone on the site will know what is, so if you do would you please post to let us know

by now it was 11pm and time to wrap it up. i'm glad dawsey came down tonight as yesterday was really slow by tonights standards and the local anglers remarked that the dee had'nt fished this well in a long time. still nice to see it was treating us well and great to meet up with a member of the site for a session. and the icing on the cake was 2 new personal bests for me

i can't wait to get out again on friday night to dip a line

#2 Post by **alby** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:24 pm

Looks like a herring lads

#3 Post by **stevecrow74** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:42 pm

your right there alby.. them be herring

[EDIT]:jumped the gun a bit, the dorsal fin is set too far back for it to be herring, possibly smelt

#4 Post by **Dawsey** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:47 pm

Excellent report there Al! Was definately a great night's fishing, almost every cast was resulting in a bite. I'm raging I missed the big Ballan, it looks ace! Was just too late for the wrasse, but I must get out early and target them on Friday.

You forgot to mention that I beat you to the 1st mack at Dee

however, jordan landing the biggest with the mini rod, which he had some fun bringing in. I had planned to stick with the float all night and was very happy that I did.

Best nights fishing I have had in a long time. And what a mixed bag from Al!

Hmm.. Herring, interesting, I was convinced it was mullet at the time, the scales were very distinct in the flesh. However, i'm still unsure.

#5 Post by **Ronald** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:50 pm

nice going guys ,especially the big ballan . That looks like a sand smelt , going by the colouration on the back .http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/Species ... .php?id=45

#6 Post by **Christina** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 2:25 pm

great report again lads. id agree with steve, i reckon they are smelt. never caught one myself. hey al, you dont fancy spillin the beans on where you dig your lug do ya? frozen stuff just isnt the same!

#7 Post by **Al and Jordan** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 3:02 pm

cheers everyone for the help on the id. checked my reference books and the most likely contender is a smelt, great another new species!!!. and yes, dawsey is right. you beat me to the first mackeral at the dee

i've fished here more times than i can remember and i still have'nt caught a mackeral

and dawsey turns up once and beats me to the punch

but i'd never begrudge any one a fish

we weighed jordans mack before we filleted it at home and it was a monster weighing 1lb 1oz, he was made up

and 2 personal bests in one session QUALITY

#8 Post by **Dawsey** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 4:14 pm

Nice work from the little guy! Regarding the macks, probably just beginners luck at that mark, I suppose you can't really complain with variation and volume of your bag last night, I wanted that coalie

Was a great evening any ways. Where we headed on Friday, deep water mark or keep with the marks that are currently producing the goods

#9 Post by **Davy Murdoch** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 5:35 pm

nice session

that looks like a sand smelt to me,its def not a herring or baby mullet

#10 Post by **Al and Jordan** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 8:37 pm

cheers again everyone for all the replies and help with the fish id. i'll pm you dawsey with all the details of tomorrows fishing plans, how does 9am to midnight suit for a session

#11 Post by **Christina** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 1:48 am

gimme a pm if you lads decide to fish bangor or nearby tomorrow and i'll try to pop down for a few hours before work

#12 Post by **round_ourway** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 10:02 am

amazing session lads. they are some big fish right enough. gives ya the urge to get out fishing again with results like that. well done

burt eg · #13 Post by **burt eg** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 1:53 pm

great results there fellas.....wish we had the same luck we were just around the coast off groomsport/orlock on the blue aquarius on thur evening and got 2 macks and a tiny pouting for 2 and a half hours fishing and the rest of the boat blanked

, is there any seals at donaghadee, that was our problem i think.

#14 Post by **Dawsey** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 4:14 pm

Was my 1st time fishing Dee, and I didnt see any seals about, however, still getting familiar with this mark so I'm probably not the best to comment, Al would know better. How has the boat been treating you over the summer?

#15 Post by **Al and Jordan** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 9:32 pm

we've never had a problem with the seals. if they are there or not we still seem to catch

mabey it's the fish gods being good to us cos we feed them the occasional fish

in fact we've made firm friends with sammy and sally the resident pair in bangor harbour when we are fishing on the rocks jordan hand feeds them fish. it's class, they come right up and take the fish from your hands

mabey karma's repaying us with our plentyfull catches