Baily Lighthouse, Howth, Report

[George]

Baily Lighthouse(left side), Howth, Sunday 16th May 2004, 11am-7pm Bait:Mackerel, Rag, Lug, Peeler and Hardback Crab, Whites, Sandeel

The Baily Lighthouse was the mark for the day and the fishing was good from the start when I got a double shot of dab. They continued to come in singles for a while but then I reeled in a triple shot to my delight, nice size too! After this came a double shot followed by a dogfish. One big doggie was lost on the way up but it felt so much heavier than usually and gave a decent fight , Bull huss . Meanwhile SOD caught the weirdest fish I've ever seen, a common dragonet , which was multicoloured and flourescent. Has anyone ever caught one of these and are they poisonous? Here is a link http://web.ukonline.co.uk/aquarium/page ... gonet.html.

Finished with eleven fish for myself 10 dab and 1 dog. Jhon 65 also had eleven dab. Altogether there were 32 fish caught , all dab , doggies and that dragonet . Best bait for the dab was mackerel tipped lugworm, for the doggies a sandeel/mackerel cocktail got them interested. Great days fishing and a good tan too

[jfkireland]

Hi George, Well done on the Common Dragonet. These appear to be really rare, I only found a couple of occurences of these in Ireland. Have a look at this website - it has some good info:
http://64.95.130.5/Museum/OccurrencesLi ... de=34&sps=

You should add up your catch here.
Cheers
JK

[m.b3]

George did the dragonet have a large green/ blue/ yellow fin running from its head to its tail? had one of these fellows off the bailey before- beautiful little creatures.

[Tim]

Excellent pictures on http://fish-view.imr.no/english/arthtml ... yfisk.html as well!!

Tim

[Wes]

There a couple of weeks back when we were out, one of the lads had a fierce heavy thing on the line.......much heavier than the dead weight of a doggie, but this was giving a massive fight back...something a doggie would never do! But like yourself George, lost it taking it in.
Huss you reckon.....hmmm......i wonder.....

[George]

It was SOD who caught the dragonet all I'm doing is telling the story so give him the credit. Regarding the fins it had two long spine type fins which ran the length of its body. Thanks for the pics. That multicolour is unmistakable although I believe the females are not as vivid. The BRFC record for this fish was 5oz I think so it was definately a specimen at around 25cm although the ISFC don't list mini species.
Wes, at one stage I had to stop reeling because of the pull so I still have my doubhts . SOD reckons it is because it may have curled up in a ball and the depth of water I was reeling it through.

[Steve O'Hanlon]

Chances are it was a huss, even though it's a little early to see them there.

I have found the best time to fish for them is 1 hour after low water, preferably at dusk. Sandeel or sandeel/mackeral wraps on pennell rigs took all my fish. ( a wee spray of wd40 does no harm too!)

They don't always show, so it's best to fish two rods, one with smaller baits for doggies and flatties, and one for the huss.

[Wes]

Mate was using rag tipped with sandeel, would have been a sight to watch one being taken in. ahh well...theres always the weekend!!!

[George]

M.b3 I think that place you talk of to the left of the baily is called Webb's Castle rock, where you heard those flounders came from. Steve is this where you get the bull huss?

[Steve O'Hanlon]

I do most of my fishing on the lefthandside rather than the Lions head (I hate going down that bloody rope on my own!).

It's quite a nice place to fish actually, and it's ok to fish there into darkness as the walk back up the cliff isn't too dangerous.

It's also where I caught all the huss in the past couple of years. September was always the best time I found, although I'm not sure if this is a peak huss time of year?

[George]

Steve are you talking about the rock to the left of the baily or just the left handside of the lighthouse?

[Steve O'Hanlon]

Turn left immediately after the gates, follow the path to the left, and down the cliff to the platforms at the bottom. It's clean sand you'll be fishing over. Although it helps to cast about 45 degress right, out into the stronger tide race.