People: Me
Duration: 11 pm to 2.30 am
Tide: LW at 1.30 am
Weather: Calm, clear, mild
Bait: Razor
Rigs: 4/0 pennel pulleys
Results: 1 bass, 2 Dogfish, 4 Codling
Report: I havn't posted up a shore report for a while as I was on holidays for close to three weeks during the bass closed season. I had intended to have some long sessions after I got home on the 17th but that plan got trashed as I had a lot of work to catch up on and I had a very sore foot. By the weekend my foot wasn't too bad so I decided to have a good lash at lure fishing along the West Waterford coastline. But despite firing out a variety of plugs and soft plastics there was nothing to report. The wind and weed also posed a problem in several of the marks on Saturday so on Sunday I fished a more sheltered mark but again I could tempt nothing with my selection of juicy looking lures.
I decided to have a bait fishing session later on Sunday night. However, it was too late to dig bait so all I had was razorfish. I got to one of my old reliable East Cork beaches to find a nice surf rolling in. There was quite a lot of kelp at the eastern end of the beach but the center seems relatively weed free. I set up two rods with 4/0 pennel pulleys with a full razor on each and cast them about 40 m out. After all the lure fishing, clambering over rocks in my waders over the weekend my foot had got quite sore again so I wasn't wading out to cast, just lobing it out from the water line.
After about 15 m I had a bite on one of the rods - the fish was pulling strongly at first and I was sure I had a bass but as I reeled it in it soon gave up the struggle and turned out to be a dogfish
About 20 minutes later I had a bite on the second rod - again it initially put up a struggle but then weakened - another dogfish. At this stage I began to think that I was going to be plagued with them all night. I had a few more nibbles but nothing hooked.
A little after midnight I was sitting on my tackle box looking at the rod tips which were well illuminated in the moonlight - then I saw a subtle twitch on the far rod. I stood up and picked up the rod and found that the line was gone slack - I ferociously retrieved the slack - about 20 m of it - before I caught up with the fish, struck and then felt a very strong pull on the line - this was definitely not a dogfish. The fish put up a fierce struggle, surged to the left, I got it turned and gradually hauled it back. Then weed caught on the shock leader knot jammed in the tipeye - I walked backwards up the beach keeping the tension on the line and dragged the fish out through the surf. I could see it splashing about in a few inches of water - it looked to be a good bass. I walked a bit further up the beach to drag it clear of the surf and hobbled back as fast as my sore foot would allow to check the fish. it was a 63 cm bass, but a very well fed chunky fish weighing just over 6.5 lb
A little later I spotted some small knocks on one of the rods - I struck but thought there was nothing there, I left it for a few minutes then began to retrieve and realized that there was a fish on the end but nothing big. It turned out to be a small 30 cm codling

I was still getting codling in May off the beaches but I thought by the last week in June they would be well gone. The codling then came on the feed as it got close to low tide. I had another two in quick succession, both a little bigger at 33 cm and 36 cm. As the tide began to push forward I got another bite - this felt a bit stronger but turned out to be another 36 cm codling, although plumper than the previous one.
I decided to pack up at 2.30 am, mainly as my foot was getting quite painfull - i should have taken it easier at the weekend and just eased into fishing with a couple of short sessions. But I was happy with the result, I will just have to defer fishing for a couple of weeks until my foot is back to normal.
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