Fishing a new mark - 13th August 2011

There was a strong west southwesterly breeze on Saturday which ruled out fishing a reliable East Cork mark. There is a bay in Waterford that I have been meaning to fish for a long time so decided that the conditions would be suitable. I found a route down the cliffs and was on the shore at the northern end of the bay just as the tide was starting to push in. I was hopefully of a good session given the full moon tides. There was a moderate swell breaking onto the rocks at this end of the bay and oxygenating the water so it looked good.

I started fishing into an area between two large rock outcrops where the water looked a few meters deep, using Feed Shallows and Xlayers. After about twenty minutes I moved a few meters and fished the opposite side of one of the rocks using an Xlayer. After a few casts directly out to sea I changed direction cast parallel to the shore. First cast the Xlayer was grabbed by a bass that must have been hiding in the kelp directly below the rock I was standing on. It wasn't a big fish but gave a decent fight all the same. It was then I realized I should have brought a landing net. I worked the fish along the shore until I got it into a groove in the rocks and was able to reach down and lift it out. I put it into a rock pool while I went back to my bag to get the camera, got back lifted the fish out of the pool and just as I removed the lure from its mouth it gave a mightly twist and slithered out of my grasp and into the water before I got a chance to photograph or measure it but it was probably about 44-45 cm.

I continued fishing there for about half an hour but there were no more bites so I began to work my way along the shore. There were plenty of shallow areas now being flooded by the tide which looked ideal locations for bass to come in searching for crabs and other food but there was no interest, apart from a pollock on a Feed Shallow.

I continued working my way around the bay and reached the southern end just before high tide. There was a deeper water area here so I had a go for pollock. I had two on Xlayers, both about 2.5 lbs, and lost one easily twice that size on a small mother worm. I lost a few smaller pollock on Xlayers too. I also had a solitary mackerel on a Xlayer. By 6.30 pm I started to head back, saw some activity in an area of shallow water and fired out some surface lures but there was no interest. The fish splashing about were presumably mullet.

I packed up at about 7.00 pm. I had expected a better session, although there were a few other anglers there who didn't seem to fare any better. Despite that I will return since the bay contains an abundance of bassy looking marks.