West Waterford - 19th March 2009

People: Me

Duration: 7.00 pm to 2.00 am

Tide: HW at 11.30 pm

Weather: Calm, mild, clear, light easterly wind later

Bait: Lug, razor, mackerel, squid

Rigs: 3/0 and 4/0 pennel pulleys, three hook flapper, 2/0 pennel with feeder

Results: 1 dogfish, 1 sea scorpion, 1 flounder, 2 five bearded rocklings




Report: I am a bit late posting this report. Having had three consecutive blanks over the weekend of 14th/15th and on St. Patrick'd Day I was determined not to let these fish get the better of me. I dug a bunch of big juicy black lugs in the afternoon and headed out to a West Waterford beach mark. When digging the lug there had been a stiff south southeasterly breeze but by the time I got to the mark the wind had completely died down and there was just a very weak surf. So it did not look too promising. Nevertheless I set up two rods, initially one with a 4/0 pennel, the other with the 3/0 pennel, one baited with just lug, the other with lug/razor.

It was quite until just after dark - then I had a bite on the rod with the 3/0 pennel but missed it. I cast out to about the same location and after a few minutes I spotted a slight quiver on the rod tip. I picked up the rod until I felt a stronger bite and struck. It was a dogfish - taken on lug/razor - I guess that is what I missed the first time.

After photographing and releasing it I noticed that the line had gone slack on the second rod. I reeled in about 25 m of slack line but then only felt the resistant of the weight. But when I retrieved the trace I found a small sea scorpion with his mouth firmly clamped on a 4/0 hook As I had used a 6 oz plane weight I dont think the sea scorpion could have dragged in the weight for 25 m - I must have missed a bigger fish that managed to shake off the hook while I was dealing with the dogfish A bass

But still I wasn't too disappointed - I was two fish better off than I had been all the previous weekend. Shortly afterwards I had a subtle knock on the 4/0 pennel baited with just lug. This time it was a small flounder, about 25 cm. It was hooked on the smaller upper hook of the pennel.

Unfortunately it got quite after that. I had no more noticable bites although something was stealing the bait - crabs or small fish ??
I switched one rod to a small hook three hook flapper baited with lug, mackerel, squid and razor but I didn't get any more bites.

After an hour and a half I moved about 100 m further along the beach. Again it was quite, the bait was coming back untouched and the tide was beginning to drop at this stage. I decided to switch to a feeder rig and chopped up some of the used bait and put it into the feeder. Again nothing was biting. I was starting to pack up. I dismantled the first rod and then spotted a small twitch on the second rod (the rod with the feeder rig). I had a 2/0 pennel below the feeder and when I retrieved I found 2 five bearded rocklings, one on each of the hooks.

So while not a great session at least it broke the string of blanks and the two rocklings at the end were a welcome bonus.

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nice one on beating the blank Frank. that looks like a nice sized doggie. i was plagued by them on ballycotton pier last week but all smaller than your one.

Nice session Frank, good to get the blanks out of the way. I've never caught 2 rockling on the same trace, a nice way to end the session, and they can give a fair account of themselves

Thanks guys,

that looks like a nice sized doggie. i was plagued by them on ballycotton pier last week but all smaller than your one.

The dogfish wasn't really that big, I should have used the fish ruler in the photo. It was probably only 60-65 cm - late last year I caught a bunch of much bigger ones at that mark.

I've never caught 2 rockling on the same trace, a nice way to end the session, and they can give a fair account of themselves

Shore rocklings can put up a bit of a fight alright but the five bearded rocklings don't do much - just a slight tap on the rod when they are hooked. I only caught one last year but this year I have caught a bunch.

nice mix of fish there frank