West Cork Beach, 11/06/08

People:Myself and Lee (Scotsman)

Duration:9.45pm-12.30am

Tide:Rising

Weather:Light breezes with rain for a while

Bait:Mack strip, manky ragworm, Lee did his traditional lug digging with bare hands and got a few of those as well.... :D

Rigs:3 hook flappers to 4s and 6s

Results:Myself, 12 flounder, 1 doggie and a 5lb bass (unhooked and returned in the water and away in good health), Lee 4 flounder.




Report:
Took a notion to head to the usual beach on a flattie hunt, it wouldnt be known for large quantities of flats but I had been down with the kids on the June bank holiday and seen loads of them in inches of water feet from the shore. I'd popped down that night and managed 3 flounder 2 turbot (first ever from this beach) and a doggie in an hour so on that basis, hopes were high of a decent evenings fishing.

Bait was to be a tray of manky (mainly dead, semi liquefied) rag left over from a boat sortie earlier in the week and a couple of mackerel fillets. We arrived to near calm conditions with just a tiny break about 15 yards offshore, perfect!! After a bit of banter, rods were set up and 3 hook flappers were tossed out just behind the little roller. No need for grips here, small flat leads were employed on the long snooded flappers baited with a section of manky rag and tipped off with a strip of mack.

The rain began to come down and after a couple of weeks of handy warm weather fishing, neither of us were prepared for it and had to spend the evening in a semi damp state. 20 minutes later, with both my rods bobbing around, I retrieved a treble shot of flats on one followed by a double on the other, 2 casts, 5 fish...... Not a bad start! Fish came thick and fast with plenty of singles and the odd double making their way onto the beach. One of my rods, which I'd baited solely with mack strip in search of a turbot and tossed about 15 yards nearly took off, lifting off the ground as whatever had hit it headed out to sea, thoughts of a large turbot were dispelled immediately on lifting into the fish as, you guessed it, a decent bass who obviously hadnt read the rule book, made off with my bait.

8lb fluoro, size 6 hooks and mack strip bait on a calm evening in close is most certainly not classic bass tactics and it was surprising to say the least. A careful fight ensued as I didnt want to break off and leave the fish trailing line and in the shallow water the decent fish of about 5lbs really gave me some gip. Managed to beach him in a few inches of water and quickly unhooked and released with the minimum of fuss and without removing him from the water. After a few seconds of coaxing and redirecting, he gave one kick and was away like a rocket thankfully.

The flounder began to slow down with singles mainly coming in, Lee had struggled to connect earlier with just one fish on the board but a minor change in tactics saw him put another 3 fish on the deck in quick succession. With the rising tide we ended up with a small gully in front of us, a little lob into that had the rod lurching over again.... Not another bass says I.... Nope, thankfully, a fat LSD had been roaming in tight to shore and made his way onto the beach. One or two more flounder followed before we finally called it a night and headed home.

A pleasant evenings fishing in nice conditions (aside from the shower) with plenty of fish to boot. Flounder werent massive but the majority were between 25 and 30cms which wasn't bad. No turbot showed so we'll have to have another go at them in the near future. Good to see large numbers of flats, I absolutely love scratching about for flounder on beaches and its great to have the opportunity so close to home. Roll on the next trip!

Yes, great fishing. Never done well flattie bashing close in off the shore and so it proved for starters last night. Anyway, thankfully Pete showed me the error of my ways and I got in amongst them before they went off the feed :D
Suprising the numbers of them given that we'd usually get only the odd one when we are usually down there, although different beach position from normal, so maybe that accounts for it.
Anyway, its good to know that they are there

Well done lads plenty of action. Any pics?

Well done lads plenty of action. Any pics?

'Fraid not Mus, only fish of any real interest would have been the bass and I wouldn't have taken the extra time to snap it anyhow with it being the close season and all so it was released while still in the water ASAP. Lovely handy nights fishing that, will have to give it a go next week again.

great report pete, what exactly was the change to lee's rig that started it catching?
you did well to land such a big bass on number 6 hook

my other thought, is there any way you could get the flounders up to me as tope bait
:D

great report pete, what exactly was the change to lee's rig that started it catching?

Trade secret JW..... :D

It was very simple actually, but these little things can make a big difference. Lowering the rod tip and leaving off a bit of slack line so that the 3 baits on the flapper were wafting along the bottom. When fishing in close if you have a tight line leading to your rod tip, it can put too much of an angle on your baits and have some of them suspended unnaturally in mid water. Gave the same tip to Phanover on a session in East Cork last year and it had the same result. Funny isn't it.... Fished 2 rods a week or two back on the first foray after flats, one rod caught ALL the fish despite identical baits, positioning etc. The only difference was one had fairly short snoods (12" or so) and caught nothing the other had snoods of 2-3 feet long and lifted everything. There are times shorter snoods are better, big surfs etc but for the most part longer snoods do the biz.

you did well to land such a big bass on number 6 hook

Wasn't concerned about the hook hold to be honest, more afraid of the light fluoro breaking and leaving him trailing a length as he gave me a right bit of grief on the way in after nearly pulling the rod off the stand initially. Thats the 3rd/4th bass this year I've had on a size 6 kamasan b940.

my other thought, is there any way you could get the flounders up to me as tope bait

Not a problem, 3 flounder in the post to your work address...... :D

great report pete, what exactly was the change to lee's rig that started it catching?

:oops: - had the rod low alright, but my line was tight so my top two hooks were most probably off the bottom. As soon as we put some slack in the line I was into a double...

my other thought, is there any way you could get the flounders up to me as tope bait
:D

Well, with my new found knowledge - I'll supply the flounders if you supply the tope :D