Blue Aquarius - Bangor N.Ireland

[burt eg]

People: Me a mate and 5 others

Duration:2.5 hours (7pm-9.30pm)

Tide:High at approx 10.30pm

Weather: Flat calm

Bait:Fresh Mackeral strips

Rigs:various rigs, hokeyes, feathers, pink goblins etc

Results:Me 2 macks and a tiny pouting, mate got 1 mack and rest of the boat blanked!

Report:
We tried this out as it was reasonably priced and close enough to get too and didnt have to take a day off work to go, headed out into belfast lough for a while and got 1 mack, then we tried towards orlock/groomsport closer in and drifted a few reefs and kelp marks, still no results at all, we had a seal follow us everywhere and im assuming he is the problem, apparantly he follows this boat in every trip but the skipper seemed to think he doesnt affect the fishing in my experience if there is seals about your better packing up and going home!

have to say i was dissapointed and the rest of the fellas were pretty annoyed they blanked, i at least thought we would have hit the macks for some bait and a few for the plate... has anyone else tried this boat and can varify that it does fish well normally and maybe luck was just against us?

The girlfriend is keen to get out on the boat as she enjoys shore fishing with me but never catches much and i thought this would be a nice we trip to start her off and almost guarantee her a bit of sport.....but after last weeks near blank im inclined to think i could be wasting my time and money again if there is sammy seal always following the boat

any advice or opinions would be great, or recommendations for trips out of belfast/bangor or co down direction

thanks lads

barry

[gannet]

Hi burt,that's rubbish fishing, three mackerel in the boat mid summer. Take my advice and book a trip for you and your girlfriend with Jon Erskine (mob 07801571830) on "Osprey"from Bangor marina,you will not be disappointed as he really makes an effort to put his clients on fish and will not charge you the Earth for doing so. I am speaking from experience having fished with him for years now and never blanked.

[burt eg]

gannet thats brilliant mate thankyou, i will give him a ring and get a trip organised.

Ive a feeling that might have been the boat that went out in front of us last week, he went on further out and i didnt see any seal folllwing him either lol.....im not slalting the blue aquarius as you cant do much when there is seals about even though the skipper reckoned he didnt affect the fishing?? But u always expect to get at least a few on the boat......

[gannet]

Hi burt,it's a white boat. Try him and see how it goes I don't think you shall be disappointed as he goes the distance, Copeland Islands, East Bank, wrecks and Deep Water to give customer satisfaction.

[burt eg]

yeah thats the one gannet, noticed that he was a good bit on out from us, i hear the back of the copelands are fishing well and can throw up a good mix of fish too, been bustin to get out for a good trip all summer!

[janie tyler]

Hi Burt

Brian who has the boat you where out on doesn't seem to try to hard to get fish and Mackerel is about the limit if you are lucky and as for the seal he is always feeding it I think he doses this so it follows the boat when he takes the sight seers out around the bay you would have done better keeping your money and fished of the end of the pier

[burt eg]

well as the girlfriend was keen to get out i thought we would give it another go and went out tonight, some might say im crazy but it was only 15 quid each and gettin out on the water beats watching tv on a monday!

Tide was rising from about 7pm onwards and sea had a decent swell for the first hour or so...

but anyway we had a bit more luck tonight, but as you say janie macks were the height of it, they were hit and miss and we would hit into a shoal for a min and then nothing but at least the gf got a few full houses on the hokeyes and we had a decent number to take home for bait and the rest for tomorrows dinner lol so at least we didnt blank....ps we had no sammy seal tonight!

although him and his missus got a free feed from some of the others back in the harbour,

think ill try the OSPREY next time as i wouldnt mind trying out further maybe past the copelands as a bit more variety and a bit of size would be good too

cheers

burt

[nobuzz]

I like the idea of trying a bit of boat fishing in that area but I wouldn't be interested in a "Mackeral Trip". I did so many of those when I was a kid that in the end the skipper felt guilty taking my money everynight and instead gave me free fishing in return for helping him to untangle rigs, gut fish, clean the boat etc.

That was a great Summer. Millions of mackeral and the bottom of the Lough was carpeted with Thornies.

I'd love to try some "proper" boat fishing.

[Tom H]

( Quote) I did so many of those when I was a kid that in the end the skipper felt guilty taking my money everynight and instead gave me free fishing in return for helping him to untangle rigs, gut fish, clean the boat etc.

That was a great Summer. Millions of mackeral and the bottom of the Lough was carpeted with Thornies.

That was a long long time ago

[nobuzz]

23 years ago to be precise!