west cork rock mark 10th july 2007

People:me

Duration:1930-2230

Tide:lw @ 2030 approx

Weather:clear skys and flat calm

Bait:fly

Rigs:

Results:5 pollack and 2 lost bass :evil:

Catch and Release:: Yes



Report:
found this mark about 3 months ago and had the intentions of fishing it on a number of occasions but never had the chance.got around to it last saturday eve. fished along the beach wading out about 10 yards to the point where it was approx 2 foot deep, shelves off pretty quickly.. fished for about an hour without any activity other than the odd mullet. eventually i reached the point i was watching all along.its an area where 2 rocks stand perpendicular to the shoreline 30 yards out. theres a deep gulley between them which creates an area of nice turbulent water. first cast into this area white a bucktail deciever resulted in the fly stopping after 4 strips, thinking it was kelp i tightened and stripped again, only this time the kelp woke up, this bass which looked about 10lbs (lucky enough to have seen 2 that size before) turned and struck off for open sea. it took about 20 yards of flyline before i felt tis sickening lack of weight on the end of the line, and my worse fears were relised, i had lost the biggest bass ive hooked on fly, funnily the first bass i have ever lost on fly......but lets not dwell on this.

i returned tonight with better tides and the beginning of the coming tide close to darkness. i tried the same routine of wading out 10 yards casting about 25 yards and working along the beach. after about 45 mins i had a very good take, unfortunately for me while i was distracted watching some mullet on top of the water, and alas i didnt set the hook properly and i lost my second good bass in 2 days..(this was beginning to take the p$%S), undetered and quite happy to know that there was more bass present i fished on. 20 minutes later i had another hookup, this time from a smaller fish which i set the hook well, the fish made a powerful run taking about 15yds of line and again the hook came out....by now i was beginning to become a bit parinoid...having never lost a bass on fly (i have had numerous missed takes but never lost one i had successfully hooked) i had lost 3 in 2 days...back to the drawing board methinks...anyway fished on and didnt have a touch for the rest of the evening..

after completing the beach i moved to the adjacent rocks where i had seen some pollack blitzing sandeel earlier. as it was getting dark i decided to try my favourite method of fishing for pollack this involves a 3 inch chartreuse dna baitfish a rolly polly retrieve and nerves of steel.with this method i like to cast a 25 yard line and begin a very fast hand over hand retrieve. when the pollack are blitzing sandeel the tend to leave dond their guard and take flies just subsurface. in the ensuing 30 mins i had 5 pollack to 1.5 lbs and missed about a doze+ more. on more then one accasion i had a pollack clearthe water trying to take the fly, also had a fish come up and try and nail it but miss only for another fish to take it....guess it makes up for the lost bass..till next time i guess..

oh and also the amout of jeuvanile sandeel in the water was phenomenal, water is heaving with them in places

Hard luck on the bass lumpy. Would say a 10 lber on the fly would be unreal craic

it was for the few seconds he was there. gonna try again tonight so who knows.

I can imagine you were sickened, at 10lb youre heading for the once in a life time size bracket....still your living in the right part of the world to catch him again.

ya and at least now i have an idea of where there is a close to or bigger than double figure bass..if you do get a chance to fish this part of the world again i'll have to show you this mark.would make your mouth water. i'll pm some pics.

When you find a good spot, fish it hard, and get the best out of it. You'll have another crack at those doubles. Next time !!!!!!!!!!! :wink: