People: Me and Melissa
Duration: 2.00 - 8.30 pm
Tide: HW at 5 pm
Weather: Warm sunny, light southwesterly wind, picking up for a while in late afternoon as small weather front blew through
Bait: Lug, mackerel, squid, sandeel
Rigs: Size 1, 1/0, 2/0 two and three hook flappers, lures, feathers
Results: 9 pollock, 2 mackerel, 1 rockling, 1 wrasse, 1 sea scorpion, 1 dogfish
Report: Fishing in East Cork has been a bit hit and miss for me over the last few weeks so I decided to head west down to the Mizen Peninsula. It was a glorious morning, warm sunny with clear blue skies so even if I blanked it was great to be out and by the sea.
I found a fishy looking spot, small bay with deep water between small ridges. As we climbed over the rocks there was a huge shoal of mullet feeding on the surface - Unfortunately we had just eaten our sandwiches and had no bread left. Regardless I had a go - put small segments of lug worm onto a set of small hook feathers and tried to float fish them - but all it did was spook the mullet. Those that remained paid no attention at all to the bait.
After that we continued across to a ridge which had very deep water along its southern flank. I set up 3 rods with different size hooks and bait and cast one close by into the deep water, the other at the mouth of the inlet and the other further out into the bay. Then did some lure fishing with the spinning rod.
Shortly after setting up we spotted a large dorsal fin about 200 m out in the bay - a large basking shark!
About 10 miuntes later I caught a small juvenile pollock. He managed to hook himself with all three barbs on the lure so it was difficult to get him loose although he swam away ok afterwards. I then hooked up a sandeel on a size 1/0 hook and tried some spinning with that but there were no bites.
Shortly afterwards I saw a small quiver on the rod at moderate distance, reeled it in to find a shore rockling - taken on sandeel.
A little later there was a small pull on the rod in close - I retrieved it to find a small wrasse - the first one I have ever caught - a new species for me :lol: :lol:
Could somebody tell me if it is a Corkwing Wrasse - it had a dark spot behing the eye and on the tail which makes me think it is a Corkwing.
A little later there was a strong knock on the rod at distance. It was putting up a good fight and turned out to be a 65 cm dogfish.
I had another knock on the rod in close - there was a savage pull on the line and the fish dived down under a rock ledge at the side of the ridge - then I lost it - maybe it was another, bigger wrasse?
I baited up the rod again and cast into the same spot. Maybe 20 minutes later there was a very slight vibration on the rod tip - I wasn't sure if it was just wave action but checked it just in case - it was a fish - a sea scorpion - another first for me :lol: :lol: I presume it is a Long Spined Sea Scorpion?
The weather changed after that, the wind picked up, and it clouded over as a small weather front blew through. There were a few rain drops but not enough to get seriously wet (as the day had started out so good we had left the coats in the car which was about a 25 minute walk away).
I gave up on any attempt at spinning at that stage and sheltered behind the rocks. Then we spotted some more basking sharks - 4 of them swimming close together.
The sun returned about an hour later and I started to retrived the rod cast at distance. As I was reeling in I felt a small hit - it was another juvenile pollock. So I decided to have another go at spinning, But I had hooked the fish further out than I could reach with the spinning rod so I put a set of feathers on the 13.5 ft beach casting rod with a 4 oz weight and blasted it out. Sure enough on the retrieve I got another small pollock. I cast it out a couple more times and then felt a double hit - this time I had caught two mackerel - one of moderate size the other fairly small. My first mackerel of 2008. :lol: :lol:
So I continued spinning with the beach caster - I got a juvenile pollock on every second cast on average but no more mackerel.
Then I felt a very strong hit - and a strong pull on the line - as I reeled it in I could see a good size pollock - 49 cm and just under 4 lb :lol: :lol:
Shortly after I had a pollock double one juvenile and one moderate size fish but unfortunately lost the big one as I was hauling it up the cliff face.
I had one more pollock double after that but again they were juvenile fish.
Packed up about 8.30 pm - the pollock were still biting but it would be a 2 - 2.5 hour drive home and we would have to stop for dinner on the way.
But I was happy - a good day's fishing, 2 new species, and the first mackerel of 2008 plus a good size pollock.
Last edited by RockHunter on Tue Jun 03, 2008 5:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.