Couple of bass from two weeks ago

I have been a bit slow updating the blog over the last few weeks due to too much work. So here is a report on some sessions from two weeks ago:

Friday 7th September  - I headed to a reliable rock mark in East Cork early on the evening rising tide. Although there was not much wind there were still big swells breaking on the rocks and the water was highly coloured. I fished for a while without a bite so close to dusk I decided to move on to a more sheltered location.

I got to the new mark just as the light was beginning to fad and made my way down the rocks. I had a few casts with a Feed Shallow but as the sea was quite choppy the lure wasn't sitting well in the water. I changed to a weighted paddle tailed SP. On about the third cast it was snatched by a bass about 25 m out. It put up a good struggle especially as I got it near to the shore. It was a 55 cm bass and weighted about 4 lbs.

It was now dark so I switched to a Zonk Gataride hoping that the movement of the lure would attract a bass. It worked!! After a couple of casts the lure was hit by a bass of about the same size probably about 30-35 m out but unfortunately it was only lightly hooked and shook itself off just a meter from the rock ledge I was standing on.

I had another two bass take the lure in quick succession shortly after that but again they were not securely hooked. One came off just as I was about to lift it out of the water and I lost the other half way in. I fished on for a little longer but the bass seemed to have moved on.

Saturday 8th September - I had to work on a report that was overdue during the day but later in the evening headed to the same mark. I arrived at much the same time in the evening just as the sun was setting. After a few casts I had a bite but it was just a large mackeral. Then after dark the Zonk Gataride was hit by a good fish (this time I was using a brand new one rather then the one I had lost three bass on the previous evening in case the hooks on that had been a bit blunt). This fish was well hooked. It fought very strongly all the way in, turnned and stripped a little line when I almost had it in. But eventually I coaxed it back and on to the rock ledge. It was almost identical to the fish I had the previous evening , 55 cm and 4 lb in weight.

I fished for about another hour but it was quite after that. There was no sign of the shoal I encountered the night before.

I had one more session there last week on a much bigger tide but the sea was rougher. There was a strong onshore wind and big swells were breaking over the rocks. This time I had no fish.    

Trip to Kerry - 1st & 2nd September 2012

I have been very busy with work over the last few weeks so didn't get the chance to do any blog updates. So here is a quick report on a couple of days we had in Kerry at the beginning of September.

We left home on a lovely calm sunny Sunday morning and got to the hotel by 2.30 pm, checked in and promptly headed out to the coast. I brought both the lure and bait fishing gear and was well stocked with freshly dug big juicy lug, peeler crabs and frozen razor. There was quite a strong on shore breeze which had whipped up a mice surf so the conditions looked more suited to bait fishing. I set up two rods both with 4/0 pennel pulleys, one baited with lug and the other with crab.
 

Over the next three hours I hade four large plump flounder. I left my fish ruler in the car but three of them were at least 40 cm.

I had a few missed bites most of which felt like more flounder but I had one stronger fish which fought like a bass but the gripped weight got snagged on a submerged rock ridge . I let the line go slack and the fish pulled out of the snag but then shook the hook.

After dinner I headed to another beach for some night time fishing for the last few hours of the ebb and over low tide, which is the optimum time for bass at this particular mark. The wind had died down and the surf was weaker than I would have liked. I had three small dogfish first; then close to low tide I had a strong tug on the rod and line went slack. I rapidly reeled in the slack and caught up with the fish. It was fighting more strongly than the dogfish and after a few minutes I hauled a small bass of about 44 cm on to the sand.

I had one more dogfish after that plus a tiny weever, not sure how it managed to get itself hooked as it was smaller than the hook.

As the wind had totally died down at this stage and it was a clear night with not a cloud in the sky I was hopefully of some nice weather the next day and was looking forwared to some lure fishing. However, when we awoke on Monday morning we were greeted by low clouds, misty rain and strong wind!!! To make it worse I had a text from home to say they were basking in the sunshine.

With the conditions it looked like another day of bait fishing. After breakfast I headed to a different beach for the start of the rising tide. However, after half an hour of struggling with stringy seaweed I was forced to move on. The next mark was a beach that fishes well closer to high tide. I was a bit early but at least it was weed free. Unfortunately it was also free of fish!!  I had hoped the weather might clear up as there was a brief period of brighter weather on the horizon but it got even worse  later in the afternoon and I couldn't seem more than 50 m down the beach.

Close to 6 pm I spotted some taps on the rod tip, waited until there was a stronger tug and struck. At first I thought I had a big fish, it felt heavy although surprisingly was not fighting very strongly. I was uncertain of what I had until I pulled it out of the surf. It was a dog fish which had been hooked in the mouth by the upper hook of the pennel and foul hooked midway along the body by the lower hook.  

At that stage I was cold and damp so decided to pack up and have an early dinner.