First Bass on lures for 2011 - 9th April

I headed to a rock mark in the afternoon for the second lure session of the year - hopeful of a few bass since reports of bass caught on lures have been coming from Waterford and Wexford over the last week. I fished for about an hour at the first mark with deepish water over the last of the ebb then moved down the coast for the rising tide. The sea was rougher than I expected, with some medium sized waves crashing in. I prefer to lure fish in calmer conditions and was beginning to think I should have gone bait fishing. But as I was there I thought I may as well give it a go.

I clambered out over the rocks to the edge just as the tide was beginning to push in and fished out over a ledge with a steep drop off using a Feed Shallow. On about the fifth cast I had a savage hit just below the ledge and had a powerful fish on the end. It was fighting ferociously and I eventually managed to coax it in over the rocks, surfing it in over the breaking waves. It was a fine 7.25 lb bass, 71 cm, my best bass ever, so not a bad way to open my lure fishing account for the year.

As the tide pushed in I moved to the other side of small embayment and cast across it. A few casts later I was was into another bass again on the Feed Shallow. Not as strong as the first but still putting up a good fight. It was a 56 cm fish, weighing just over 4 lb.

Again I was pushed back by the tide so moved further down the coast and began casting across an area of low lying rocks and shallow gulleys which were now submerged. After about fifteen minutes I was hit by another big fish. It was fighting almost as strongly as the first and I had got it in close, only about 3 m out. I could see it was a big fish but then disaster - it was lightly hooked on the lower triple and broke free. I continued fishing in the same spot for awhile but by 7 pm decided it was time to pack up. But now I know there is at least a second big bass there.

So a good early start to the lure fishing season.