I dug a bunch of lug in the afternoon and later in the evening headed to a West Waterford beach that fishes well on an ebbing tide in hope of getting a better bass than the Cork beaches have been throwing up lately. I had not fished it in at least a year. I got there about 9.00 pm, there was a moderate surf and just a little weed. I set the rods up with 4/0 pennel pulleys and a 4/0 running ledger. At about 10 pm, just as the drop in the tide was speeding up, I spotted a slight knock on the rod cast in close. At first I thought it was a breaking wave tugging on the line but when I picked up the rod I realized that the line had gone slack. I rapidly reeled in the slack and caught up with a good fish. It was pulling strongly and putting a severe bend in the rod. As I reeled it in I could see a decent fish splashing about in the shallows. Eventually I hauled it onto the sand - it was a fine well fed 60 cm bass, weighing just over 5 lb.
I continued fishing for a few more hours but crabs became a problem. They were stripping the baits in minutes. I then remembered why I hadn't fished there for so long; the same thing happened the last time I was there. All I had for the rest of the night was a small coalfish and one crab that had become entangled in the trace. Next time I will bring peeler crab!
Still I was happy with the result, only one bass but it was my best fish of 2011 so far!
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