Cork Beach - 22nd July 2009

[RockHunter]

People: Billy and Me

Duration: 10.00 pm to 2.30 am

Tide: LW at 1.05 am

Weather: Light southwesterly breeze, clear mild night, dry

Bait: Lug

Rigs: 3/0 amd 4/0 pennel pulleys, 2 hook flapper (size 4/0 hooks)

Results: Me: 1 bass, 5 Dogfish, 2 Conger Eels; Billy: 2 Dogfish




Report: A few weeks ago Billy sent me a PM looking for some tips on Bass fishing as he has only recently taken up fishing and up to now had only been doing lure fishing. Looking at the tides with respect to dusk I reckoned that Wednesday night would the about the optimum night to go out and have a good chance of a few bass from bait fishing. After the strong winds of the last day or so I was worried that the beach might be unfishable due to weed so I checked it out at lunch time. There was a little weed about but it looked perfectly fishable and there was a good surf rolling in. So we went ahead and met up at about 9.30 pm.

I got set up and probably had the first line in the water by 10.15 pm. The wind had died down in comparison to the afternoon and the waves were not as big but there was still a nice surf so I was hopeful of a good session. I then helped Billy get set up, showed him how to join join a shockleader to the main line. Then got back to setting up my second rod. Shortly after casting out the second rod I noticed that line had gone slack. I reeled in the slack and connected with a fish - it was putting up a bit of a fight and turned out to be a 48 cm bass

That was a very promising start but it went downhill after that I managed to snag a big clump of kelp with rocks attached. I got the line and rig back but on the next cast I had a crack off. The line must have been weakened by the strugggle with the kelp and rocks.

A little later I had another slackliner - when I caught up with it I didn't strike very well as the fish was continuing to swim in towards the shore so there was too much slack to properly set the hook. I had it on for a few minutes and it felt to be a good size fish, presumably a bass, but then I lost it

I had another slackliner later but the fish dropped the bait before I had retrieved all of the slack. I missed a few more bites although I don't know if they were bass or dogfish.

Billy was the next to land a fish - a dogfish.

About midnight the dogfish onslaught commenced. I got three in quick succession and Billy got another. A little later as the weed had almost disappeared I swapped a pennel pulley for a two hook flapper baited with big lug baits. While I was holding one of the rods I felt some gentle tugs - then suddenly the line went slack. I quickly retrieved the slack and struck when I felt some resistance. This time the hook was well set. It was a strong fish and felt heavy - I reckoned I had a good bass - I was thinking that this might be a 6 lber at least. Eventually I hauled it out of the surf, in the distance I could see a big light coloured head and was sure it was a bass but as I approached I realized that something was wrong - it was way too long to be a bass - it was a fairly large conger - probably 5 or 6 lbs I wasn't expecting that on this beach. But a new species for 2009, and by far the biggest one I have ever caught

A bit later as the tide was beginning to push forward I felt some light tugs on the rod with a 4/0 pennel rig and struck when I felt a stronger bite. I felt something fairly big on the end - although it didn't really feel like a fight from a bass. It was a dogfish double, one on each hook of the pennel.

Shortly afterwards I had another bite, again on the pennel rig - it was another conger, although much smaller than the first.

So not a very successful night in terms of bass fishing despite a good surf, strong tides and favourable solunar timing. I had hoped that Billy would catch his first bass from bait fishing. Whereas about 2 weeks ago with much weaker tides and weaker surf I managed seven bass from the same mark on the same beach. The main difference been the wind direction, northwest that time, southwest last night.

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Last edited by RockHunter on Thu Jul 23, 2009 1:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Some more photos

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well done frank say you got a shock to see the conger. was out myself last night on a mutual beach with the finest of peelers and got about 10 doggies, conditions were perfect for bass

Nice one
I always love seeing pictures of Bass that people have caught, well done on your session

At least you were kept busy with fish Frank.

So not a very successful night in terms of Bass fishing despite a good surf, strong tides and favourable solunar timing.

was out myself last night on a mutual beach with the finest of peelers and got about 10 doggies, conditions were perfect for Bass

Lads, I was expecting great things on clonea Tuesday night around the turn of low tide with a cracking surf and only got a schoolie and a dog. This fishing lark is hard to figure out sometimes

Any ideas???

At least you were kept busy with fish Frank.

So not a very successful night in terms of Bass fishing despite a good surf, strong tides and favourable solunar timing.

was out myself last night on a mutual beach with the finest of peelers and got about 10 doggies, conditions were perfect for Bass

Lads, I was expecting great things on clonea Tuesday night around the turn of low tide with a cracking surf and only got a schoolie and a dog. This fishing lark is hard to figure out sometimes

Any ideas???

mmmh water was very murky lots of sediment maybe that put them off

Thanks,

say you got a shock to see the conger.

Too right - the last thing I was expecting. Annoying too as I was sure I had hooked a nice size bass If I wanted to catch conger I would have gone to Ballycotton Pier. I wasn't too happy removing the hook either as he was fairly deeply hooked and was chomping on my forceps

This fishing lark is hard to figure out sometimes

water was very murky lots of sediment maybe that put them off

Where I was fishing it was not too murky - looked clear enough 40-50 m out, cloudy with sediment in the last 30 m with a nice moderate surf rolling in. It should have been ideal conditions for bass.

Maybe as we were discussing in Monday night the bass are spoilt for choice at the moment - if they have been feeding heavily on sandeels, sprat, mackerel over the last few weeks maybe they are just stuffed and couldn't be bothered scrounging around on the beaches for worms and crabs and left that to the dogfish.

It just shows that fishing is mostly UNpredictable.

I'm the Billy that Frank very kindly invited along on this trip.

Only caught 2 dogfish but still found the trip to be very informative for someone trying their hand at beach fishing for their first time.
As I previously had only fished with plugs & lures from the rocks this was a totally new experience for me.
Without a doubt I learned a lot from someone with a great track record and now feel I can try and venture out on my own now that Frank has shown me the basics.

Just like to say a big THANK YOU to Frank for letting me head out with him and for sharing his knowledge (and lug!) with me.

Hopefully it won't be too long before I'm posting here about my own catches!

well done frank, nice session and some nice pic's too, some of them dogies look a nice size as well.

nice one on your first beach session billy hope you enjoyed it and have many more....

Nice session Frank well done

Well done Frank and fairplay for helping Billy out, we've all been there and its great to get some help from more experienced anglers . I wouldnt fancy unhooking one of those congers so Billy got a good lesson there in case he ever catches one

Thanks guys,

Just like to say a big THANK YOU to Frank for letting me head out with him and for sharing his knowledge (and lug!) with me.

No problem - I was happy to help out. Just a shame there weren't a few more bass around. But I am sure you will be catching your own soon - just remember to use big lug baits.

I wouldnt fancy unhooking one of those congers so Billy got a good lesson there in case he ever catches one

Not sure he learnt too much from my attempts to unhook a big angry conger. More like not how to do it

some of them dogies look a nice size as well.

A couple of them were a good size alright and gave a fair fight - thought I had a bass on the end

nice one frank . that's one of the great things about sea fishing,,, you just never know what's gonna come in on the end of the hook