The Anglers Rest - A plaice :-) for fishy tales - it was HOW big !!

Lads something similar in the hunting session found it real funny, do the fishing meself so I know it fits in here!
story tellers and spoofers the stuff you hear over the years,

Ie

years ago on the coast raod dollyer had the norm a dog walker asking me what you fishing for answered heard there is bass been caught he said yeah i had a 30lb er here i started laughing I looked at him he was stairing me down not even a grine he was serious!
not impressed he stormed off.

i was going through some old photos of the fish i caught throughout the years, when i came across this one.
while i wish i could claim the credit for it, it was, actually a friend of mine who caught it.

when we landed it we could hardly believe how big it was. the first thing we done was to weight the fish
in the net. as far as i can remember the scales we were using only went up to 30 lbs so we were not surprised
when the scales clocked itself.

we then took a mark on the scales at where the needle landed past zero. when we got home we hung up the
scales, and filled the net back up with stones to where the needle had landed when the pike was in it.
after all that we split the stones in two, and weighed the two half's. to our surprise the total weight
came to 44.8 lbs.

looking at the photo today I'm thinking how the camera didn't do the fish any justice.
Ive goggled 40 lbs pike to try and get a comparison, but all it shows is pike either a way smaller
or twice as large claiming to be 40+ lbs.

i guess ill never know for sure, but from that day on Ive always carried a 50 lbs scales just in case.

First salmon of 2013

Not long now and we'll be dusting down the fly gear again

Mellor wrote: »

If you don't mind lads could do with a bit of help regarding putting together a basic set up.
I used to fish when I was younger on the liffey with my dad, but we got by with the basics. A telescopic rod, few spinners, and some small hooks, floats and weights. Since then, any time I've gone fishing its been as a group on a small charter where gear is all supplied. Bottom fishing for flathead, snapper, gurnard or tuna fishing. (I live in Oz btw)
I'm planning a weekend camping and fishing and need to get myself sorted with my own basic set up. I went into the shop today and was a bit list with the selection available.

Even some simple like hooks was broken into worm, suicide, bait holder, and jig head varieties.
Then there was lures. Spinners, wobble, hard bodied diving ones, soft ones. Plastic bait with and without hooks.

Any help guys.

Oh, and we'll be fishing on streams near the beach or from the rocks/beach/jetties.
Remember it's summer here it that relevant. Apologies for the ramble

I was chatting to a fiahing buddy whos in oz a few weeks ago. He reckons the gear out there is completley different to here. He said what we class as very cheap gear is also low end out there but expensive. He reckoned a pack of hoks was twice the price of ireland and he didnt recognise any brands.
Im not much help to ya on what to buy im afraid but call to a local shop and tell them what you intend to fish for and tell them your budget. They should sort you out.

Mellor wrote: »

I was most confused by the different hooks, worm, suicide, bait holder - .

worm hooks would probably be shaped like a J and have a slightly longer shank. this would enable the easy baiting of worms,
bait holder hooks usually have tiny barbs on the shanks to stop the bait moving,
suicide hooks, i dunno, never heard of them:eek:.

worm hooks, if similar to the ones we use here would probably be a good starting point. google "kamasan b 940" and if they are the same type of hook then they will do fine.
for hook size you need to find out what you are likely to catch and what baits you need. big hooks for big baits and small for small. seems common sense but youd be surprised at how many people have big baits on small hooks with the hook point covered and they wonder why they are getting bites but cant hook up.
rod and reel again will depend on the area fished and target species so try and get as much info on your intended area as possible before you buy anything.
sorry, you probably have more questions now than when you started.

SeaFields wrote: »

A few photos of them oz fish would be appreciated if you have a bit of luck and could post them in our pictures thread :-)

I'll try get some pics for you guys. Won't forget my camera this time.
Caught a flathead 2 years ago that was nearly 60cm, was disappointed I never got a pic.
Also, a large red fish that I would have liked to identify.

Huge fernley whittingstal doing one of his commercial fishing shows again. On channel 4 now and youd catch it on +1 shortly too. Interesting stuff.

I have a few rock marks in Kerry that i fish that drop quiet quickly into massively deep water and run a strong tide there. Nothing but ocean in front. If i'd the knowledge and gear I'd love to chance it for some monsters. I know of tope having been caught there and an old neighbour told me he caught a small blue shark of the rocks there 20 years ago. Could be a yarn but he has sent me to some cracking spots that i didnt know about.

mooseknunkle wrote: »

Isnt it very early for mackerel,what would be the first month on the season,may?

It changes depending on the weather
This time last year you'd have gotten them on the boat not far from shore but this year that Atlantic wind and cold will keep them out for longer
Hopefully may

SeaFields wrote: »

I have a few rock marks in Kerry that i fish that drop quiet quickly into massively deep water and run a strong tide there. Nothing but ocean in front. If i'd the knowledge and gear I'd love to chance it for some monsters. I know of tope having been caught there and an old neighbour told me he caught a small blue shark of the rocks there 20 years ago. Could be a yarn but he has sent me to some cracking spots that i didnt know about.

the density and abundance of fish at somewhere like Coolo rock must surely attract large predators from time to time.

SeaFields wrote: »

yes i would think so. i have never fished there. i do most of my fishing solo and its not a place to go on your own. it takes lives regularly unfortunately. i fish other rock marks in the general area with serious depths ofwater in front of them. there must be monsters below!

It's an awesome spot. just don't go anywhere near it when rough.

it can really only accomadate a small number of rods. In recent years it's been discovered by eastern europeans who seem to fish it whatever the weather at substantial risk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5f7E95Vmbs

have being keeping an eye on surf-forecast.com lately. Very good site for water temperatures. The closest reading they have to where i do my fishing in ballybunion. Temps are a degree and a half behind mean 30 year average at the mo.