All the WATERFORD reports

[kieran]

Dunmore East rocks, Co. Waterford 1 October 2003 ebbing tide

Fished the flat rocks on the Tramore side under the car park from the top of the tide down. Rocks now painted in numbers, "5" definitely the best spot. Some snags apart, legered lugworm took lots of small wrasse up to 500 grams. Changed to float fishing but was less successful - bait had to be on the bottom. Launched an old plaice rig with beads etc. on a watch lead out, slightly to the right, onto sand. Lovely plaice about 700 grams! Tiny sand dab. Big bite that proved to be a small wrasse (thought it might be a big plaice, I should be so lucky...) and finally, a strap conger took the float fished lugworm. Very little crab action on the sand and got bites all the way through, even down to low water. Some lads spinning with feathers hooked snags only, lost a couple of rigs. Large wrasse (?) took my float at the death and stuck me under a rock - had to pull for a break and lost the whole rig. Mark is listed as offering mackerel, pollack, mullet (no sign), flounder (no sign) and wrasse (loads!) but threw up three other species. Amazing what good fresh black lugworms can do for your fishing!

Last edited by kieran on Mon Nov 17, 2003 4:22 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Lobster men have put pots right across the front of all the pegs, btw 5 is the bets peg and not 2 as mentioned previously. Casting more than 30 yards will foul the ropes. Lots of mackerel reported after dark. Saw a very find sea trout or bass jumping in front of me - only fish this week was a 3 lb wrasse taken under my feet on lugworm fished right at the bottom. Will be updating the guide to the tramore marks shortly...

hi just found this forum, spent the last couple of hours looking through all the contributions. Fished the flat rocks at dunmore on the 25th of october on a rising tide and a slight northernly wind. sea was flat calm. using rag and mackerel cocktail on a pulley rig. resulted in 4 wrasse between 1-2 lb and 4 doggies - all caught on mark' 5'

Westtown Rocks, Tramore, Co. Waterford 8 October 2003 ebbing tide

Follow the coast road out of Tramore (turn left after an orange thatched bungalow - you can not miss it) and you find yourself on the cliff road. Two miles out there is the bathing location and either side of this there is excellent rock fishing for mackerel, wrasse to 3lbs, most a lot smaller, some smaller pollack and conger. Fishes better at high water for mackerel, low water for everything else. Sand further out but legering rag and lug did not produce anything other than hordes of crabs. You can not allowed fish at the bathing space itself for obvious reasons. Nice spot.

Westtown Rocks, Tramore, Co. Waterford 8 October 2003 ebbing tide

Follow the coast road out of Tramore (turn left after an orange thatched bungalow - you can not miss it) and you find yourself on the cliff road. Two miles out there is the bathing location and either side of this there is excellent rock fishing for mackerel, wrasse to 3lbs, most a lot smaller, some smaller pollack and conger. Fishes better at high water for mackerel, low water for everything else. Sand further out but legering rag and lug did not produce anything other than hordes of crabs. You can not allowed fish at the bathing space itself for obvious reasons. Nice spot.

Dungarvan Harbour, Co. Waterford 04.05.2003 low water

On short notice I decided to fish Dungarvan Harbour 2 hours either side of low water. I had not fished in front of the Sports complex before and had herd of Bass and flounder been caught here in the past and I thought the timing looked good for Bass as the crabs are peeling big time.
However, after four hours not a single bite and the fresh crab and razor were not lasting long as crabs were very active. I had two rods out one with a single paternoster and a big bait and the other scratching for flounder. I lost a small bit of tackle on some snags but in general its easier fishing then it looks. However, I think I will give this exact spot a a miss in future and concentrate on the main channel by the Abbey or futher inside the harbour.

DrSeaFish

Clonea Beach, Co. Waterford 05.08.2003 high tide, dusk

Fished the 5th of August for 2 hours up to full tide at dusk. Conditions were perfect for doggies, but alas 2 of us had only one fish. Where have the doggies gone, in the past you could be pulling in doubles every cast? Sandeel usually works wonders....
Our main reason for going was to guarantee fish.. so much for that.

postscript:

I found out where the doggies are gone, I went Mackeral bashing on Friday night from Helvic Pier. Thousands of the little beauties been caught and as I left I noticed that approx 50 fish boxes along the pier were full of dead doggies left to stink out in the sun. I quess the market must not have been good last week.. Don't you just love the commerical bhoys

DrSeaFish

Saleens, Tramore, Co. Waterford 01.10.2003 over high tide, midday.

Fished on the top of the tide running two hours past with lugworm dug at Duncannon (opposite side of Waterford Harbour). Stripped clean by crabs adn weed. Water gin clear. Loads of small sand eel and sprat in the water , especially in the shallows where the dunes gave some cover from the early morning sun. One or two sea trout about. No bass.

Tried spinning from the point. Nothing... Couple of lads in a boat tried several drifts with a drogue anchor to slow it (six ounce grip leads were useless!) and got nothing but said plenty of fish showing up on the sonar.

Several good autumn bass taken the previous week on small silver spinners, german sprat etc. Up sticks and heading for Dunmore East!!!

BTW, that morning I found a local, Gerald Clooney, with a 5 lb bass taken on lugworm on the small beach to the west of Kilmore Quay (signposted). He said that he caught three "silver bream" (which I reckon are black bream) in August from the shore and another three in September on the same mark (high water mark only). Eamonn Hayes, a skipper in Kilmore, has reported several black bream in September too. Only time before we finally get the species listed by the ISFC - seven reports required for listing.

kieran wrote:
He said that he caught three "silver bream" (which I reckon are black bream) in August from the shore and another three in September on the same mark (high water mark only). Eamonn Hayes, a skipper in Kilmore, has reported several black bream in September too. Only time before we finally get the species listed by the ISFC - seven reports required for listing.

and I want to catch one :lol:

jd

Saleens, Tramore 16-30 - 19:30

took a notion to fish saleens last night, haven't been out in a while. I figured that the southerly winds of the last few days might throw up some codling. High tide was forcast for 19.30 - fished from 16.30 to 19.30.

the start of the evening turned out to be a bloody disaster. there was a gale funneled through the channel, constant sea spray and the place was full of weed, making fishing difficult. I got my hands on some lovely peelers due to the mild weather but forgot to bring bait elastic! the crabs were just swept of the hooks due to the strong current. A gust of wind blew the bait bucket half way up the beach, to which the crabs made a bolt for freedom. , the bale arm of my new surfmaster 70 flicked during a cast creating a crack-off. had no spare shock leader ! but i did have a spare aerlex 8000 with shock leader attached.

despite all this, i gritted my teeth and decided to stay and use up the lugs i had. the lugs were being ripped apart due to the current- but i just kept packing the lugs on a 2/0 single hook flapping rig.

the night ended much better with two cracking bass, one a little over 4lb and one just shy of 4.5lb with in ten mins of each other. Both were returned.

Nice one Mick - a just reward for you persistence. Up here on Clare's sandy spots, if I catch a bass another follows shortly too. Such is their behaviour. Moral - if you catch a bass unhook and get the hook back asap.

Peter

Rocks behind Dunmore East 10.2.2004 High tide falling morning sunny

This venue is getting more bizarre each time I fish it. Fished it from high tide around 9 am through to 1 pm and was getting really worried about the first blank of 2004 until a few codling showed around 11 pm. Three fish landed, all small from 300 gram to 600 grams, all returned although the biggest can consider itself lucky :lol: Fish were stuffed full of small sandeels, bootlace thick and 2-3 inches long. Caught them in brilliant sunshine on the bead and sequined hook that was out seeking a flounder or plaice. Bait was fresh lugworm from O'Briens in Waterford (good shop, guy really knows his stuff) tipped off with frozen squid. Reports of some nice bass and very nice codling to 5 lbs in Tramore and Saleens but very infrequent and all at night.

FWIW...

The Youghal BASS club had there second shore comp of the season in Ballyquinn West on the 14th of February. For the romantics who turned up the fishing was very poor. One whiting won it, in total only four fish in size were caught. It was fished from 7 to 11pm with high tide about midnight. The night was very calm with a slight south easterly breeze a disaster on this beach. Things must improve soon.

Dunmore East, Flat Rocks afternoon, past high tide

had a few days off work that coincided with the schools half term. myself and the little fella decided to make the best of the few days off and planned a fishing trip. the day we picked turned out to be sunny and bright, with a high tide forcast for 14.30. not great for beach fishing.

those trying to juggle family and work im sure know that when you get the opportunity to go fishing you just go regardless of wind direction, bright sunshine etc, and just hope for the best.

given the prevailing conditions we decided to try Dumore flat rocks from 14.00 - 17.00. Bait was frozen peelers and mackerel on a 2/0 pulley rig. we got some action with 2 nice wrasse both tipping the spring balance at 3lb. , caught on the peelers, lost another 2 and rounded off the day with a strap conger approx 6-7lb caught on the fish bait.

better than work and school

Cheekpoint around high tide, 5 pm brilliant sunshine

Saved from a blank by a lone whiting, fished into the channel near the buoy. Used frozen squid (pointless), peeler crab (awful waste, found a few bites) and sandeel (did the trick). A wee lad took a small fluke on mackerel close in to the end of the pier. Sea trout jumping in the channel, absolutely tons of sprat and the seals followed me up from Passage East!!! Nice day, awful fishing...

Flat Rocks, Dunmore East, Co Waterford 3.3.2004 4-6 pm after high tide, sunny

Fished into a reallly big surf - could not get near the "5" mark for fear of the waves, must have been 3 metres +. Made landing fish very difficult.

Was looking for codling but only had mackerel (frozen going to mush). Caught five three bearded rockling, mostly small around 300-500 grams with one nice fish a few ounces short of the 1.75 lb shore specimen mark. Lost quite a few rigs despite rotten bottom links and light hook snoods. Abrasion on main line was fearsome. Now I know why they are referred to as slugs - horrible feel to them! 3/0s hooks baited with mackerel whipped on and set very close to a 175 gram watch lead. Fish contacted in fearsome surf close to shore. You really do have no idea what you will catch off this mark - I have had mackerel, pollack, dab, plaice, conger eel, coalfish, loads of wrasse (under your feet) and the sign lists mullet. The sign is now facing the wrong way... No codling alas.

Still, it is march and I have yet to blank - that has to be a record! :wink:

Flat Rocks, Dunmore East 15:30-18:30 reaching high tide

thought that Ireland would get a hammering in the rubgy, and went off fishing off dumore flat rocks instead. I counted 6 other anglers scattered along the rocks - they must have had the same frame of mind. the favoured number '5' rock mark was taken and had to make do with 'mark 9'. high tide was at 18.00 fished from 15.30 to 18.30. there was a slight northerly wind with broken sunshine, bait was frozen peeler and mackeral. ended up with nothing but a few dogfish type rattels on the rod.
the others on the rock mark blanked as well.

should have watched the rubgy!!!!

Flat Rocks, Dunmore East, Co. Waterford
4 hours down, 1 up 2 metres swells
sunny, windy (SW)... got wind burnt (again!)

Only fished it for fun, around midday to 4 pm and miss a massive treble hit right at the start on mackerel... you know, still getting settled and not paying attention :oops: ... anyhow nearing low water took a small pount (300 grams) and a nicer codling (500 grams), both returned. Nothing on the incoming tide apart from cormorants and a seal way off in the distance. Sea was heavily discoloured and foam in plentiful supply.

FWIW...

[kieran]

Saleens, Tramore, Co. Waterford
29.4.2004 12 - 4 pm force 7/8, squalls, NE
very low tide 3.1 m in around 2 pm

Fished slightly to the right of the car park with two lads from Kilkenny and Dublin in a force 7/8 on a very low tide with mackerel and peeler crabs from John O'Briens in Waterford. Turns out that I picked up 6 of the "popper" crabs they had ordered but forgot to collect! Anyhow, after some massive hailstone squalls and not as much as a bite, two hours into the ebb I reel in and a large flounder is attached to the upper hook, munching away on crabs legs and claws. A fine fish, easily my best this year and tipping the kilo mark. Vince, the chef from Langdons, took it home for his wife's supper (and doubtless will claim it as his own :wink: ). To be honest I felt it was a certain blank but the fish arrived at exactly the time John in the Waterford Angling Centre said it would. It is a really shallow channel, no more than fifty metres from shore, perhaps two metres deep at the most and it is apparently stuffed full of large flounder at the moment...

FWIW...

Last edited by kieran on Fri Apr 30, 2004 9:54 am, edited 1 time in total.

Ballyquinn Strand, Waterford 3 - 6:30 pm 6/5/2004
showers with sunshine, light NW breeze, small swells
from low tide approaching high tide at 8 pm

Caught two plaice on lugworm, bottom hooks with beads and sequins in sunshine right at the start - both about 20 cms - thought this looks promising! Was fishing from the rocks right in front of the middle road access and giving it everything - surprisingly deep in places. Big shower and not a sausage afterwards. Tried big lumps of frozen mackerel in case a bass was wandering around but the conditions were ideal for flatfish - calm and sunny and clearly disastrous for a bass in dylight. Watched terns take sand eels from 100 yards offshore for fun and further out four gannets were dive bombing... three anglers arrived as I was leaving and started to fish the inner bay, to the left of the road access, just past the first set of rocks. Saw nothing caught. Still, nice to catch something other than flounders for a change.

FWIW[/b]