Ballycastle 12th October 2014
This was the clubs third visit of the year to Ballycastle, and our last scheduled outing on our calendar. As it was the last trip, we booked 2 boats to ensure all members had a chance to go. Ten members took part. 4 on Sean McKay’s boat, 6 on William Vernor’s boat. We drew lots for our boats and fishing positions on each boat.
1st Boat
Roy McCoy
Mark Buchanan
John McCourt
Glen Murphy
2nd Boat
Dan Boyle
Steven Montgomery
Alan Buchanan
Dennis Stevens
Gerard Girvan
Frank Montgomery
The forecast for the day was pretty good, with light winds and clear skies, but a fairly strong tide was predicted. Our plan was to fish first for bait, then move in close to some rough ground for Pollock and Bull Huss. As the tide eased, we would shift to some cleaner ground in the hope of Spurdog and hopefully a Skate. Sean’s anglers were first into the fish. Sean had caught some mackerel the previous day, and was more or less able to go straight to the chosen mark and drop anchor. First into a fish was Mark Buchanan, who took a lovely Pollock of 7lb 8oz on his first cast of the day with spinning tackle. They took numerous fish, best being a lovely Pollock of 8lb 8oz for Roy McCoy.
Willie Vernor,s boat then arrived at the scene, trying a few drifts around the location. Only a couple of small Pollock were taken, before the decision was made to anchor up close to Sean’s boat and join in with the better fishing there. By this time however, the tide had slowed somewhat, and the fishing had tailed off a bit. Sean made the decision to move offshore, but Willie, having only just set anchor, suggested we give it a half hour or so. This proved to be a good call, as only a short time later, his anglers were into the fish.
Dan Boyle hit numerous good Pollock on a bright orange “Sidewinder” lure on his spinning rod, best of which was a cracker of 7lb 6oz. Alan Buchanan switched to a similar lure, a joined the action, with loads of fish, eventually taking another great Pollock of 8lb 6oz. Dennis Stevens fishing with ledger tackle had a nice Bull Huss of around 5lb8oz. Best fish of the day so far, then went to Steven Montgomery, with a rare Conger Eel of 10lb 2oz. Stevie also took numerous decent sized Pollock. Dan Boyle also had a Bull-Huss of around 6lb.
Gerard Girvan was having a quiet day up until near the end of the trip, when after switching to a luminous Muppet rig baited with mackerel; he immediately hooked a beautiful Pollock. This was easily the biggest catch of the day, and smashed a long-standing club record, weighing an incredible 11lb 2oz, a huge fish to be caught in inshore waters. This would win him the day’s pool.
1st place Gerard Girvan 11lb 2oz Pollock 15 points
2nd place Steven Montgomery 10lb 2oz Conger 10 points
3rd place Roy McCoy 8lb 8oz Pollock 5 points