Your Codding Me!!!!

I have been very busy this last few weeks and have not got out fishing as much as planned!!
Last minute plans to head to Donegal to fish with Graham Smith did not go to plan on Saturday so I decided to stay local on Sunday. The weather forecast was poor so I planned to fish a new location in Strangford Lough for shelter, but on Sunday morning the sea here was flat calm.............Well for a while any way...

Around 10am I met a fellow Kayak angler Andrew McGarvey who also lives local, After a quick chat and rigging our kayaks we set out.

Poor weather is no match for the Jackson kayak Kraken!!!!

We dropped a few rigs on the way out picking up some fresh Mackerel for bait, but once out of the shelter of the bay things got very interesting, the sea state was deteriorating by the second!!!!

 
Andrew enjoying the adventure :)


Once on my usual mark, a small reef just out of the shelter of the bay I baited up with small Mackerel strips on my favorite rig from Shamrock Tackle the Bleeding Glow worms.
First drop I had a small male Cuckoo Wrasse then things went dead for an hour, but to be honest with the tough conditions I sort of expected a very poor days fishing.........................................




Things where looking grim to say the least until I pulled out a new product I purchased from www.fish-dynamix.co.uk.
Bio Glow cotton bait elastic, everyone has been raving on this last while over social media about how good this product is.................But really how good can a bait elastic really be??
Well iv seen plenty of pics floating around the web of great results so why not give it a try!!!!
I also purchase a Herring scented Bio Edge Wand from them to try.............Hooks baited, wrapped a few times with the bait elastic and a rub of the Herring scented wand and down they went.

First up was a triple.........
 
Two Codling and a Poor Cod.

Well this is a very productive mark so no big deal!!!!!!!!
Baited up again and sent the bait back down..............BANG fish on again.............Literally as soon as the weight touched the bottom........Thump, Thump every time for the rest of the session.

  


BioGlow Bait elastic from Fish-Dynamix..............


Another one of many triple hook ups............

The fishing never stopped for the few hours I was out the Cod where actually starting to annoy me as well as fatigue my arms winding the buggers relentless for around 70 feet of water. So when a lonely Ling turned up and a few more Cuckoo Wrasse as well as a few more Mackerel it put a little more variety into the session.





This greedy sod had a Dab stuffed down its throat and still wanted what was on my hooks..........

I had one of the best fishing sessions yet this year and in mental bad conditions, with easily 40/50 Cod landed and returned, Mackerel, Wrasse, Ling and poor cod. The Bioglow bait elastic and BioEdge Wands definitely seam like a game changer. I am already planning my next adventure to get out there and see what else they can lure out of the depths..............................
   





Until my next adventure
Tight lines!!!!

Few Short Outings Rolled Into One.

Well as the title suggests iv been under pressure this last month or so with work, homers and in the process arranging the starting of a new job next month. So fishing has been my only escape to get my head leveled out this last while, the problem is that i have been out a few times but have not got around to keeping up to date online with my adventures. As I have quite a few catch reports to write I am going to roll them into one short report!!!


Quick run out!!!!
A month or so ago I took a quick run out to see if there was anything new turning up on my local reef, I set up and paddled out, I only had a short window on the water as I had work to do. It was quite a good day with plenty of fish about but as expected all the usual species where showing up. I moved close in to the rocks for half an hour before heading in and had a surprise long spine scorpion................one new species so the outing was worth the effort!!!!!!

Short Spine Scorpion.....


Grey Gurnard

Love the wrasse every one is different!!!!!


Next was the Donegal meet, or epic failure!!!!!

Well I must say I was really looking forward to heading north and meeting all the lads for a bit of crack and off course to do a bit of fishing.
I left early Saturday morning and arrived at the meet for around 10am we had plenty of time setting up or yaks and headed out.
I was dying with (The man flu) the whole week and was thinking about giving the trip a miss but come Friday night I felt a lot better so on I went, or so I thought!!!!!
Out into the bay I was straight into some Pollock, I gave the Wrasse a shot before heading on out towards deeper water where I came across some Mackerel and plenty of Scad, a new species and a first for me..... Happy with this I pushed on out to where the others where fishing, only to be greeted with a huge swell. With in minutes my guts started messing about, anchor down anyways and big rods deployed..............................While I was waiting I decided to target smaller species like gurnard and ling with the micky fish rig..................first drop there was a mental take then nothing.................I brought the rig back up to check the bait only to find the wire boom was bit clean in two!!!! God only nos what that was and I am glad I never hooked it lol.
A short time later I started ground baiting,,,,,,,,,Only it was coming out of my mouth, anchor up paddled back in, got in to van and woke up around 3 hours later. The next day was a wash out so we all packed up and headed home. At least I had another new species and no blank I suppose.





Pollock

Jackson Kraken loaded and ready to fish.

Pollock and Scad.


It was a great meet, and as usual it was nice to see every one again. Also a big well done to John for catching a Skate and taking the comp, very well deserved......



Monster hunting on Strangford Lough

This is something I have talked about for quite a while, Strangford lough use to hold the Irish record for Skate back in the day, it also has a good run of large Tope, but with commercial fishing completely wiping the Lough out back in the 70s and early 80s before it became a protected zone I suspect that there has to be a improvement in fishing with the fish moving back here. Not many anglers fish it so its hard to get an idea of whats there. I suppose theirs only one way to find out!!!!!
Mike, Brian Tony and Myself headed out to a deep trench mapped with a muddy bottom over 220 feet deep, its a very short paddle from the shore maybe a quarter of a mile and it was a cracking day so things looked good to start off with. Anchors down, big baits down and the waiting game began.



Not a breath of wind.....
With in 30 minutes the tide started running, and believe me I mean running. We decided to retreat but what went down would not come back up, anchors, big bait rigs, even the feathers as soon as it all touched the bottom it got snagged. With a bit of messing about we recovered most of the gear and headed for the shallows out of the main river. Fishing was very slow for species but the amount of Mackerel was mental so we all got stocked up on bait, there was also load of tiny Codling about with the odd Pollock, Whiting and Grey Gurnard. The location is a decent spot for sea trout so I trawled up and down the shore for an hour only to get dosed with Mackerel.


Its not to often you get weather like this in Ireland.

Tony and Mike discussing tactics!!!!!!

I must say, they could not have oicked a worse day for a race

Whiting.
It was a cracking day afloat and I cant wait to return in search of local Monsters 


Chasing more Species

I eventually got ahead of work and booked the weekend off, and what a day for it. The weather was unreal for the most of the day before turning lumpy and my arms where hanging out of my paddling miles and catching fish!!!!!
Again I set of from my local harbor around 10am on Saturday and aimed straight for the Reef, after an hour or so of catching the usual stuff I decided to try a new one I would normally fish of the boat.................only problem was it was a few mile down the coast, but sick of catching the same stuff all the time away I went. I tried a few spots on the way picking up Pollock, Wrasse and Cod but nothing of any size. Once on the reef my first drop in around 90 feet of water produced a decent Cod, then another and another and so on. My arms where wrecked so I moved on to the outside of the Reef on top of a Wreck. Everything started popping up here including a few new species. As the tide turned the fishing went off as expected and I called it a day and was home for dinner.


Female Cuckoo Wrasse.

Male Cuckoo Wrasse..

Haddock...

Mountains of Mourne peeking over Ardglass golf course..

Nice spot for a lunch break.

Pouting..

Pollock...

Octopus.. 

Cod..


It was one of my best days fishing this year with 10 species clocked up and a few more new ones, I will be back on the wreck soon to see if it holds anything bigger as all I brought out with me was Shamrock Tackles  Glow worms and Euro champs my two favorite rigs. 

Over the past few outings I have really put the Jackson Kayak Kraken through its paces, from covering long distances to fishing in really rough weather as well as very tidal locations. The Ram mount rod holders are also extremely well positioned and make fishing a lot easier plus they double up at the same time as arm rests. I can honestly say I can not find a fault with the kayak and I personally think its going to be a very hard fishing platform to beat!!!!!!!

Plenty Of Species

Bit late with this one................ A couple of weeks ago I had a few lads from Belfast take a run down here to Ardglass for a session out with me.

Ardglass village with the Mourne mountains peaking over the top!!!!

I was working in the garage all morning so it was planned to have an evening session, in doing so we were also able to fish the flooding tide, this also worked in our favor as it is the most productive time to fish this location. Tony, Mark and Paul arrived around 2/3pm, we rigged the kayaks and headed out. The chosen mark was a reef just outside the bay but on the way out we tried close into the Golf course to see if there was anything about there as it normally throws up small dabs and recently Grey Gurnard (unusual for this location).


It did not take long for all of us to start hitting fish, as expected the Dabs and Gurnard made an appearance in numbers thanks to my personal favorite rig from Shamrock Tackle called (Bleeding Glow Worms). It was my last one and I lost it to a snag on the bottom not long after I had my first few fish so I will need to stock up on them for the coming months. I continued to fish the rest of the day with (Euro Champ Rigs) in gold and white also from Shamrock Tackle and also a deadly rig that rarely fails to produce fish,
  

The Grey Gurnard are a tricky species to handle as the literally have spikes everywhere............Bud they always seam to be smiling.
Mark and Paul pushed on out to the reef were they started catching Wrasse, Cod and Mackerel by the bucket full while myself and Tony stayed closer to the shore to see what else we could pick up, but Dabs and Gurnard was all to be caught there apart from a lonely Haddock for Tony.

 
Rough ground fishing at the golf course......

We paddled on out to the reef to the other two to see what was about, Mackerel came in shoals one minute you could not get a bait to the bottom, around 60 feet of water and the next minute they disappeared. Again the usual species where appearing out here, small Poor Cod, Codling in decent sizes and Cuckoo Wrasse, but these are all species iv already caught this year and really had no interest in them. My target was a Ling and hopefully some other new species for the year but the usual suspects kept appearing.  


At least the Codling are getting bigger as the year goes on......


No shortage of small Dabs either......



The weather was fair as we went out but gradually deteriorated as the afternoon went on with South Easterly winds making fishing challenging.
   

As the flooding tide started to reach slack the fishing really kicked off with Marks arms being pulled of him with decent Codling one after the other and a double hook up of a Ling and a Cod.
I was drifting over kelp at the far end of the reef targeting Wrasse to see if I could get a Ballan to add to my species this year but the Cuckoo kept taking the bait until I had a different bite with a cracking fight on light gear, once surfaced if was a Ballan Wrasse so I was pleased catching one out here as there very rare on this reef.

 



Every one was having a great day with plenty of species and no shortage of fish being caught but I still havnt caught my Ling, I decided to paddle out past the reef to slightly deeper water around 80/90 feet to see what was down there. After about 30 minutes of nothing, not even a bite I paddled back to the outside of the reef and dropped a large Mackerel fillet down to the bottom, as I was drifting alone I had a sharp thump and a very nice bend in the rod, by far my biggest fish of the day. It was a nice ling long over due and my biggest to date...........


The elusive Ling ;)

Things started to turn nasty shortly after this with winds increasing by the minute and a storm approaching from the distance so it was time to call it a day. The other three lads had a great day which was important to me as there is nothing worse than taking people out to blank. Tony even finished the day off with 9 species beating me by 1 on my home turf.




A cool pic of the Jackson Kayak Kraken courtesy of Paul.

 


Until my next adventure!!!!!
Tight lines.....