A few hard earned bass - 23rd & 24th July 2011

Saturday 23rd:   I returned to the area in West Waterford where I fished last Sunday. I had one bass there that day during gale force winds so with the calmer conditions I was hopeful of a good result. It was breezier than I expected with a rather cold westerly wind. I fished the first mark for about an hour with no indication of any fish activity. As the tide began to push in more strongly I moved further along the shore. As I was passing a small inlet I had a cast but the wind caught the lure and carried in onto the rocks. I made my way out along the margin of the little bay and rescued the lure. While I was there I thought I may as well have a few casts. It looked shallow and snaggy so I put on a Texas rigged giant Xlayer and cast it diagonally with the wind across the reefs. Second cast I was hit by a good bass about 30 m. It fought strongly all the way in. It was 59 cm and weighed 5 lb.

I continued fishing the same area until I was forced back by the tide. I moved further along the shore and then worked my way back but there was no more interest.

Sunday 24th:  I arrived at a favourite bass mark a about 7 pm shortly after low tide. The water was crystal clear and weed free. It looked good with a bit of fizz in the water due to moderate swells breaking on the rocks. Earlier in the afternoon I had made a visit to Absolute Fishing in Tramore and picked up a bunch of shiny new lures that I reckoned no bass could resist so I was eagar to try them out. I was fishing for about an hour and got through all my new lures and some of the old reliables but there was no interest. I was about to move on further down the shore but decided to have a few last casts using an Asturie, the one lure I had so far yet to try. First cast it was grabbed by a bass about 40 m out. It fought well and I was surprised that it was only a 41 cm fish.

I coutinued using the Asturie, I had a few splashes behind the lure but no hook ups, then just as I was lifting the lure out of the water a bass made a snatch for it just below my feet but missed. I tried some other lures and soft plastics but the Asturie was the only lure that was getting any attention, so I put it back on. A little latter the lure was grabbed by a bass in the same place only 1.5 m out. I had it on for about 5 seconds and it felt a good fish, it was stripping a little line and putting a good bend in the rod but then came off!!!

Shortly afterwards Pat arrived. We fished together for a while, I had another fish (may have been a pollock) lunge at the lure but it wasn't hooked. The pollock then came on the feed. Pat seemed to be getting a small one on every cast. He moved on at about 10 pm but I stuck it out for another half an hour but all I got were another four small pollock.

So another slow weekend, but hopefully with the weather warming up and the tides increasing the fishing will improved later in the week.