Surfers, weed and a crab - May Bank Holiday

People: Me and Melissa

Duration: Saturday 2.00 - 5.30 pm; Sunday 2.00 -6.45 pm; Monday - 5 minutes in the afternoon



Tide: HW at 5.00 - 5.30 pm

Weather: cloudy, SW breeze on Saturday, sunny light SW breeze on Sunday

Bait: Lugworm, razor, peeler crab

Rigs: 3/0 pennel pulley, 2/0 two hook flapper, Size 1 three hook flapper

Results: 1 spider crab




Report: I was in West Cork for the Bank Holiday weekend with the girlfriend - so not really a serious fishing weekend but I did have the opportunity to do some afternoon fishing - the first time I had the chance to get out since the previous Sunday.

We checked into the Hotel on Friday evening and there was a bit of a Southwesterly picking up so I thought that looked good for a bit of surf fishing the next day. Unfortunately everybody with a surf board must have thought the same thing and they all headed to West Cork :x

I woke up Saturday morning and could see a good surf rolling in - then spotted all the dark specks - swarms of surfers like flies on s**t.
That beach was out - drove on further west, the beach at the mouth of Courtmacsherry bay bad a good surf but it also had a bunch of kite surfers :x. We drove on a bit further and set up across the bay from Courtmacsherry village. But almost immediately weed proved a problem - it was being carried in by the flooding tide and was choking up the rigs within minutes. I stuck it out for about an hour but then decided to move on elsewhere. I had a look at Dunworley Bay - no surfers and a good surf . I havn't heard much about this been a good mark but decided to give it a go anyway - but not a bite - and weed was a problem again - gave up at 5.30 pm and went back to the hotel to watch Doctor Who.

Sunday the weather was good - bright warm sunny day. I had thought about fishing a rock mark for pollock that I found last Summer but there were still some sizeable swells and that particular mark could be dangerous in rough seas. So I though we would try elsewhere. The beaches were even more infested with surfers - did Lidl have a surfing special lately??

Had a look a Muckross Point but there was a fair bit of weed about. Drove on to Dunnycove and set up. Got snagged, lost tackle and shock leader. Then thought I had a bite, reeled it in to find a large spider crab munching on my bait :x

I decided to move on, we drove past Red Strand again full of surfers, and went on to Long Strand. There were a few surfers about but mostly on the middle section of the beach so I set up at the eastern end and fished for a couple of hours without a bite. Afterwards I read on the Shore Marks section of this website that Long Strand fishes best at low tide for some bizarre reason.

Monday morning I had a look at the beach near the hotel - full of weed and a few surfers. So headed back to East Cork. Since the fishless fever had set in I decided to give an East Cork beach a try. As I was getting the rods out of the car, Shane and his buddy arrived. We headed down to the beach - the surf was dense with weed, we moved further along and it seemed to be clearer. I cast out the rods but within minutes the lines were choked with weed. As I was struggling to retieve one of the lines with a 5 or 6 lb ball of weed my back was to the rod stand and I heard a shout from Shane - rod and stand had disappeared in to the surf :shock: Fortunately Shane was quick enough to grab them out of the water before they vanished for good - thanks very much Shane :D

We gave up after that - fishing was impossible with the amount of weed.

Thank you Scotsman, Petekd and Kieran for your advise.

So between surfers and weed it was not the best weekend of fishing I have ever had. Where is a shark when you need one?

I must get one of those little remote control toy boats, fit a fake shark dorsal fin on to it and cruise it up and down about 50-70 m out on next beach I want to fish that has surfers on it :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

lovely surf in the pictures pitty about the weed,better luck next time out.

Sorry it didn't work out for you. Night time best for the beach near the hotel, for fishing and for less surfers. Didn't seem to be a great weekend around Cork for fishing (although someone somewhere probably had a good day and will prove me wrong). I was out in the harbour in my boat on the Sunday and found it very patchy for fish. Hopefully it's cleared a little tonight as I'm going to try spinning for some bass......

at least your weekend wasnt wasted, i missed Dr Who :lol:

Lydle were having a sale of surf gear... :evil:

Hi Carpets,
Yes Long Strand is a fine beach - and it was about the only one that was free of weed on Sunday.

Shame there was no fish - it is quite a high energy beach - sand is very coarse - that might explain why it fishes better at low tide. The higher sectons of the beach would be too coarse for lugworm, maybe lugworms etc are concentrated in finer sand further out.

Here is another pic looking west along the beach.

Hi Scotsman,
I must give that beach a go after dark sometime. I would have been pushing it a bit to have gone night fishing at the bank holiday weekend - the girlfriend was happy enough to sit on a beach in the sunshine but she might not have been so pleased if I headed off at 9.30 pm for a few hours :twisted: :twisted:

hi Rockhunter,
my girl friend had two fine seatrout off the Longstrand one night in the Dark. So I married her.
Razor fish used to fish very well for Bass there.

my girl friend had two fine seatrout off the Longstrand one night in the Dark. So I married her

Best line I've heard in a long time.... Nice one... :lol:

She was lucky - what would have happened if it have been two dogfish? :lol: :lol:

She was lucky - what would have happened if it have been two dogfish? :lol: :lol:

afaird to ask but what it was bass?