East Cork Bass - 12th August 2009

[RockHunter]

People: Me

Duration: 9.30 pm - 1.30 am

Tide: HW at 10.15 pm

Weather:Overcast, light drizzle for most of time, warm, humid, light southwesterly breeze

Bait: Rag, mussel

Rigs: 4/0 pennel pulley, 2 hook flapper (size 1 hooks)

Results: 3 bass, 1 Flounder, 1 Dogfish, 1 Conger




Report: I dug some rag yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon for a session today. Some of them were broken so I kept them separate and decided to use them for a short session yesterday evening. I planned to do some spinning first. I chose a rock mark I haven't fished much - fished it in Arpil and blanked.

I got set up at about 9.30 pm. The sea was calm apart from widely spaced gentle swells. I set up two rods baited with rag and proceeded to do a bit of spinning for a while but as it was so overcast the light faded quite early so I then concentrated on the bait rods. Nothing happened until darkness - then I got a knock on the rod with the two hook flapper. At first I thought I missed the bite but when I retrieved I discovered a small flounder on the bottom hook.

A little later I had a dogfish (definitely a dogfish ).

The second rod was cast close to a more rocky area and about 11.30 pm as I was holding the rod I felt a good bite, struck and started to retrieve. It was a small conger.

I had planned to finish up about midnight. Close to midnight I had a strong knock on the first rod. I struck and could feel a reasonably strong fish - I reckoned it was probably another dogfish - but as I retrieved it made a run to the right - not dogfish behaviour. I hauled it out of the water to find a 42 cm bass

So with that I had to stick it out a bit longer. However, after that I had a succession of strong bites all of which I missed. I had one on for about a minute before he came off, the others weren't hooked, just grabbed the bait and let go. Then at about 1.00 pm I had another good bite and this was well hooked. It was a 43 cm bass

I decided to stick it out until all the bait was gone. I had very little rag left and was about to use some mussel. Then I felt a another bite, struck but missed it. I retrieved and checked the bait. Most of the rag on the lower hook was gone. I found one thin rag at the bottom of the container and recycled a bit I had taken off a hook earlier and recast to about the same spot. I was holding the rod and felt some gentle tugs. I thought it was probably a flounder and struck, but as I started to retrieve I felt a strong powerful fish on the end. The tide had dropped considerably at this stage and I was about 4 m above the water level. As I got the fish near it was thrashing about on the surface - but there was no way I could haul it up the cliff face, so I brought it in to the base of the rocks and holding the rod to keep the line tight I climbed down from a less steep side of the cliff to my right. I got down and grabbed the trace and pulled the fish up. It was a 63 cm bass

I had one last cast using mussel as bait while I packed away the rest of the gear. But didn't get a bite on it.

So I was very happy with that session. I hadn't expected much and really only went out to use up the broken and damaged rag. I will upload the photos tomorrow - heading out for a session in West Cork now

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Last edited by RockHunter on Fri Aug 14, 2009 10:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

Great work as usual frank keep it up

Nice fishing Frank bet you missed those Bass

Nice fishing, congrats on all the bass!

nice mix frank well done

Thanks guys,

bet you missed those Bass

Well I do quite like catching wrasse - my second favourite fish

A few more photos from Wednesday night:

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Great couple of sessions Frank well done.