People:Myself, Phanover and Donal(non forum member) Fri night, Myself and G. Wyse Sat night.
Tide:LW 9.30 fri, 10.30 Sat
Weather: Balmy both nights.
Bait:Fresh lug, frozen, Razor, Fresh Crab, Sandeel, Mack etc....
Rigs:Pulleys, Single hook pats, Flappers
Results:Bass, Flounder, Coalies
Catch and Release:: Mostly.
Report:
Headed to our usual East Cork mark for the first serious Bass hunt of the year. Bait had been gathered, the rods had been packed, rigs had been tied..... It was trip number twenty something of the year for me and still no bass but there was an air of expectation hanging over this trip, brought on by near perfect tides and the warmer weather.
Arriving at the beach however, disaster struck...... Driving across the beach, I hit a patch of soft sand and for the second time in as many weeks bogged in up to the axles..... :evil: Much pushing and heaving from the 2 lads, some frantic digging and stone collection and some serious clutch burning eventually saw it freed and safely parked above the HW mark....Another lesson learned..... I have driven across this beach umpteen times without incident so somewhat surprised.
Back to the fishing. After that upset, it took me a while to get back into the swing of things. Tackling up with lug and razor baits mostly and tossing them into a nice small surf. We were hitting the beach at peak time, at LW to fish the rise. It wasnt too long before the shout went up.... Paul was raising the roof as somewhere in the darkness he had commenced battle. And how... As I made my way over to see what the commotion was about I was greeted by an over the moon Paul with an ear to ear grin, dragging a whopper of a bass up the sand. 8 and a half lbs of glistening silver as Paul opened his 2007 account in some style....!
Straight back to my rods I went, carefully baited another rig with a couple of lug and a half crab and horsed it out. Well, attempted to horse it out as in my haste the Sportsmag blew up into a ferocious birdie and I parted company with my terminal tackle with an unmerciful crack..... It wasn't going to be my night..... :x Midst retying shockleader and rig baiting, the shout went up again, this time Donal was into another sizeable fish. 6lbs slid through the suds this time and onto the beach for a quick unhook and release.
Still fishless, I was greeted with a ferocious knock on one of my rods. Lifting into it, I grimaced as I felt little resistance as I wound a 35cm coalie onto the beach. Ho Hum.... Time went on and a tangle ensued, or so it was thought as Paul dragged an extra rig onto the beach. Funny thing was, it was his rig, one he had lost an hour or too earlier. Funnier again, it had a 3lb bass attached...... :shock: When you're on form you're on form....... There is just no competing with that.... :D
Finally, around 1.00am I got a savage knock, I lifted into it and was delighted to slide a 3lber onto the sand myself and open my own 2007 account. It took some getting but finally, there it was :D That was it on the fish front. I missed a couple of fierce hits late on but no matter, we were pleased with what we had.
Following on from that, there was no way on earth I wasnt going to make the trip again the next night. After digging a bucket of lug, myself and Gwyse made the trip East again. Fishing slightly later tides there were similar conditions to greet us. Similar tactics were employed but the action was somewhat quieter this time. After some time and after watching a bite develop for some time, Gavin lifted into a fish and brought a fine flounder of 42cm onto the beach. A fish that had it been in good condition would have been substantial but post spawning was somewhat lighter.
Time passed and after 3 or more hours without a bite my thoughts were turning to home and bed. I began packing away stuff and emptying bait buckets etc when all of a sudden the match tip I was using on the Grauvell slammed over and stayed over and as the butt lifted off the ground, I grabbed the rod and lifted into a sizeable fish.... The sport was something else as I got dragged up and down on the light set up. Roaring for Gavin to come and give me hand, he popped into the suds at the crucial moment and lifted out my fish. A beauty of a fraction under 6lbs more than made up for the long period of inactivity. My luck was in that night as the hooks just dropped out on the sand.
I rebaited and recast, that fish had come to fresh lug fished under 20 yards from the beach. 2 minutes later, the rod hooped over again as bass number two of the night for me made his appearance. A little fella of a couple of pounds or so but nice to see him all the same. Again to fresh lug, he went away like a good un.
That was it on the fish front. From my experience here, the fish seem to just sweep through on occasion and follow that with long periods of boredom and there were no more to follow. Gavin unfortunately didnt get his bass but was well pleased with his fine flounder.
And so it ended, as tired but happy home we went. Fresh lug and razor seemed to do the business and the fish were for the most part in fairly close tot he shore. Night one, peak time was an hour after LW, night two, it was much later..... An enjoyable couple of evenings, a couple of pics below.
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