Ballycastle 27th June 2020

First trip of the season to be allowed after Government Coronavirus Restrictions, and we were all relieved to be able to once again get afloat. 6 members took part

Alan Buchanan

Dan Boyle

Mark McCreedey

Paul Williamson

Paddy Trainor

Bill Bannon

The weather was reasonably kind to us and Skipper Sean Recommended we head first to a mark south of Rathlin Island, where a small wreck had been showing some nice Spurdogs. On the way out, we stopped to pick up some Mackerel for bait, which were plentiful, so took no time at all.

On reaching our mark, we were straight into fish, Dan Boyle being first to connect with a decent Spur at 13lbs. Soon every one had caught at least 1 Spurdog, with new member Mark McCreedey having a red letter day with 6 fish. All our fish were double figures, the best being a specimen of 19lb for Paddy Trainor.

As the tide shifted, the fishing died off, so Sean suggested a move inshore, to anchor up for Pollock, Huss and possibly a conger or 2. This again was a success, and we took maybe 15 decent Pollock to 6lb, some huge Huss to 13.5lb and some Conger, best of which was a 13lb eel for another new member, Paul Williamson.

All in all a great way to end our fishing lockdown. The Club’s Master Angler Competition is cancelled this season, but we are still running our Don Ross Shield (Biggest fish of the year) and our Tom Hamill Memorial Cup (Biggest from a nominated port, Ballycastle this year). Leading both from today is Paddy Trainor’s 19lb Spurdog.