First hounds of the year (PB) - Waterford Estuary - May 2020
Sat May 30, 2020 12:24 am
With lockdown restrictions eased slightly, I got to go out for a few sessions over the past few days to some local marks to pass the time.
May 27/28th
On both of these days I hit some local piers on the Wexford side of the Waterford estuary, armed with frozen peeler, squid and sandeel. I had heard of smooth hounds being caught around the estuary but alas a total of 7 dogfish found my baits over the hours put in. It was better than a blank so I'll happily take it!
May 29th
After being given a good portion of lugworm from an angler on the 28th (thank you kindly) I headed down to my closest mark to target a few flatfish, bringing some squid for tipping baits. I fished the flooding tide into darkness with nothing to show for it after 2 and a half hours. Towards the end of the session, I threw on half a squid onto a pulley rig to scratch out a dogfish to perhaps save a blank. 10 minutes later as I'm talking to the anglers next to me (over 2m away!!) I hear a clatter as I turn around to find my rod trying its best to go for a swim! I back off the drag slightly and strike to lift into my first smooth hound of the year. After a 5 minute fight I managed to bring it around the head of the pier to land my PB hound so far. I don't have a scales but we reckoned it to be around 8lb (I could be off but it was definitely the biggest I've caught). It certainly didn't fight like an 8lb fish as it had the current to its back but I was over the moon to catch it. A quick photo and back it went.
Around an hour later a few sharp knocks to one rod tip announced the arrival of a smaller hound of around 3lb, to lug and squid.
All in all not a bad few sessions, I was chuffed to break my PB and get out for a few evenings. Stay safe all
May 27/28th
On both of these days I hit some local piers on the Wexford side of the Waterford estuary, armed with frozen peeler, squid and sandeel. I had heard of smooth hounds being caught around the estuary but alas a total of 7 dogfish found my baits over the hours put in. It was better than a blank so I'll happily take it!
May 29th
After being given a good portion of lugworm from an angler on the 28th (thank you kindly) I headed down to my closest mark to target a few flatfish, bringing some squid for tipping baits. I fished the flooding tide into darkness with nothing to show for it after 2 and a half hours. Towards the end of the session, I threw on half a squid onto a pulley rig to scratch out a dogfish to perhaps save a blank. 10 minutes later as I'm talking to the anglers next to me (over 2m away!!) I hear a clatter as I turn around to find my rod trying its best to go for a swim! I back off the drag slightly and strike to lift into my first smooth hound of the year. After a 5 minute fight I managed to bring it around the head of the pier to land my PB hound so far. I don't have a scales but we reckoned it to be around 8lb (I could be off but it was definitely the biggest I've caught). It certainly didn't fight like an 8lb fish as it had the current to its back but I was over the moon to catch it. A quick photo and back it went.
Around an hour later a few sharp knocks to one rod tip announced the arrival of a smaller hound of around 3lb, to lug and squid.
All in all not a bad few sessions, I was chuffed to break my PB and get out for a few evenings. Stay safe all
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Re: First hounds of the year (PB) - Waterford Estuary - May
Sat May 30, 2020 12:54 am
Congrats man! that's a lovely catch 
Re: First hounds of the year (PB) - Waterford Estuary - May
Sat May 30, 2020 2:10 am
Thatrsevery bit the 8lbs in my estimation! Fair play pal. I've been fishing for them in the regular spot to no avail as yet but I've no doubt they're there!
Re: First hounds of the year (PB) - Waterford Estuary - May
Sat May 30, 2020 2:06 pm
Thats a beauty Teegerstk well done , going to be July 20th hopefully before i can get to the sea. Leave a few for us lad !!
Re: First hounds of the year (PB) - Waterford Estuary - May
Sun May 31, 2020 8:59 am
Nice Smoothie, congratulations on the PB, a fine fish to get your year going. Tight lines.
Re: First hounds of the year (PB) - Waterford Estuary - May
Sun May 31, 2020 1:53 pm
Excellent result
Well done
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Well done
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Re: First hounds of the year (PB) - Waterford Estuary - May
Sun May 31, 2020 7:49 pm
well done on the new PB!
Re: First hounds of the year (PB) - Waterford Estuary - May
Mon Jun 01, 2020 3:37 pm
Gonzo wrote:Congrats man! that's a lovely catch
Cheers man
cd07 wrote:Thatrsevery bit the 8lbs in my estimation! Fair play pal. I've been fishing for them in the regular spot to no avail as yet but I've no doubt they're there!
Thanks man, shouldn't be too long before they're here in the big numbers
Sean Mac wrote:Thats a beauty Teegerstk well done , going to be July 20th hopefully before i can get to the sea. Leave a few for us lad !!
I didn't catch hounds til the end of July last year! Peak time around then!
DarrenNiall wrote:Nice Smoothie, congratulations on the PB, a fine fish to get your year going. Tight lines.
kenf41 wrote:Excellent result
Well done
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Thresher56 wrote:well done on the new PB!
Cheers lads
Went out again last night with my friend who is new to fishing, this was his 3rd session and he landed a ~2lbs (?) bass on the first cast! It immediately went quiet as weed became a problem but I eventually landed a small smoothie of 2lbs.
All fish returned.Not a bad few days!
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