West Cork Beach, 23/06/09

Well, a short sharp session on "old faithful" who truth be told hadnt been too kind to myself and Scottie this year thus far produced the goods last night.

Arrived and broke out the spinning rod and a favourite Kilty lure. The beach was still pretty busy so it was more in hope than expectation I strolled through the scantily dressed hordes in my thigh waders and wading jacket looking like some strange fetishist with a fishing rod. The sun had literally dipped just below the horizon when I made my first cast. That came back without a hit but lo and behold, the second one got a savage take and a nice bass of around 3-4lb was beached and released to some surprise from a few watching people. Surprised myself as there were still people splashing around in the water in the vicinity.

3rd cast out, still with an audience, the exact same thing happened with another nice fish coming in, at this stage, I was a god amongst fishermen, maybe that strangely dressed bloke does know something we dont..... It was back to earth with a bump on the next cast however with the only Kilty in my possession cracking off and heading for the horizon. A rummage in the pockets of the jacket produced a blue and silver Toby and whilst the action was very good, it wasnt getting quite the distance the Kilty was and for the next 20 minutes I had no futher takes.

That is until I had a hit about 10 yards from my feet and the fish tore off against a decent drag hooping over the light spinning rod. I'd forgotten what fun it is to hook a decent bass on a surf beach on the spinning gear as you can just leave them run with no fear of snags and no need to bully the bejaysus out of them. The fight being a hundred times better than anything taken on the standard beach gear. Several runs later and a lovely fish of around 6lbs was at my feet....

Happy with that, I brought down the beach gear from the car and had 2 casts for some of the myriad of flats I had seen in close. 2 flounder and a turbot later, I packed up with the light almost gone and me with no headlamp very happy with the evenings proceedings. Wasnt bad for about 90 minutes or so fishing. Great to see the beach back on form with plenty of silver fellas, flats shooting off all over the place, sprat popping around in the water and several sea trout torturing the life out of me hopping around the place. You gotta love this time of year.

kinda makes you wonder why we sit on a beach in jan with yellow stinky hands and six layers of clothes on!nice session pete life is good

Super stuff Pete well done that's made my mind up gonna try and get my first lure caught Bass this weekend

well done petekd Im iching to get fishing this weekend

well done Pete great fishing for 90 minutes

Super Report Pete.... I can almost imagine being there. Well done on the Bass, always better with a light spinning rod.

Kev

Hello Pete! Well done on your catch, especially noting it was done in 90 minutes!

I have a question, and since i am new, it may not be appropriate, and if not i apologise: which part of West Cork were you fishing? Being based in Limerick (originally from Malaysia), the only spots i have fished is around Clare and Fenit, and thought it was time to grow up and venture further! So any tips forthcoming with regards to marks would be greatly appreciated.

All the fishing i have done here has been off the rocks, and have lost enough lead to build a small radium shelter! Back home, i remember the lads would use old spark plugs, nuts and bolts, and even beach pebbles tied with copper wire, as substitutes when fishing near the corals! Any comment? I know its laughable, but when i think of the cost of lead nowadays, it makes me wonder.....

Regards, and happy fishing,
Andy

nice one pete. i was gonna head down again last night but fell asleep on the couch and was too lazy when i woke up. im raging now, especially seeing you got a turbot. was there any surf?? its been like a lake the last few times ive been there.
i presume youll be down there again shortly, might see ya there.

The larger silver Kilty is a great lure on that beach lashed as far as you can and quickly retrieved, especially when its clear and calm. Particularly just after sunset on a hot day when there is still a bit of water on the beach. Enjoy...

Mighty report Pete.
Great fishing considering it was only 90mins long!!

great result in so little time well done