West Waterford bass hunting again - 8th September 2010

People: Me

Duration: 10.30 pm - 2.45 am

Tide: LW at 12.45 am

Weather: Clear, calm dry, mild

Bait: Crab and razor

Rigs: 3/0 and 4/0 pennel pulleys

Results: 1 Bass, 2 Dogfish




Report: I decided to head back to the mark I fished the previous night. Crabs had been a bit of a problem then so on the way I picked up a couple of dozen fresh peelers from Bhoy32. When I got to the beach there was a much weaker surf compared to Tuesday night and a lot of kelp stalks with rocks attached strewn along the beach and washing back and forth in the surf. I had to move much further down to get a fairly chear spot. I set up two rods one with crab on 3/0 pennel pulley, the other with razor on a 4/0 pennel pulley. The crabs were even worse than the last time and stripped the razor in minutes and didn't take long to consume the peeler crab either. Strange - I fished that beach a lot last year and never had a problem with crabs - their population seems to have exploded over the summer.

Close to low tide I noticed some subtle knocks on one of the rods (baited with crab). Something was having a go at the bait. Then there was a bigger knock and the line went slack - bass I thought!! It put up a reasonable fight until I got it close then it seemed to coast in - a dogfish

A little later there was another rattle on the second rod (which I had switched to crab as well as the crabs were gorging on my razor), and the line went slack - must be a bass this time I hoped. But it didn't really fight like a bass - another dogfish

Close to low tide I switched one rod back to razor as the crabs seemed to have no qualms about cannibalism and were eating the peeler almost as fast as the razor. Then shortly afterwards I spotted a slight twitch on the rod baited with razor. I waited for a few seconds, but there was no more movement. Then I checked the line - it had gone slack. I rapidly reeled in the slack and struck when I felt some resistance - this time the fish was putting up a much stronger fight. Like the previous night weed caught on the leader knot stuck in the tip eye so I had to walk back up the beach and haul the fish out of the surf. It was a plump 48 cm bass

I stuck it out for another couple of hours, there were no more bites, but the crabs were having a feast On Tuesday night I had the best bass about two hours after low tide so I waited until 2.45 am but was feeling too tried to stay any longer especially as the previous night had been a late one too and it would take about half an hour to pack up and get back to the car. plus 45 minute drive home.

But I was happy enough with one bass given the weak surf and the crabs.

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Well done yet again Frank. It’s great that your foot is holding out, allowing you to get out for another session (or two or three). There will be no stopping you now. It ended well, despite the crabs making a nuisance of themselves and taking your bait that was meant for a nice big bass, not them! I have found that even with elastic thread around the bait to hold it on better if the crabs are there and they want to eat it they will no matter what you do. I’m sure you where pleased when you seen the bar of silver coming in rather than yet another dogfish. Well done on getting your target species at the end of the session – that’s another fine plump bass to add to your ever increasing tally You’ve made great quite a dent in it over the past few days......I knew it wouldn’t take you long to get back on it again. Great report and pics again.

Nice fishing again Frank, youre certainly up and running (mind that foot though ) again . Cant wait to get a decent bass (hopefully )this year.

nice going frank ,your bass tally is on up and up

well done frank never got baitfishing in the end went plugging instead

good to see your persistance paid off for you with the bass in the end frank . bait robbing crabs can be a real bloody nuisance at times . i remember reading in a copy of sea angler that if you got bugged by crabs it's best to use crab as a bait to put them off,,,,,,, what a load of old toss . i found out the same as you,,,, if anything they stripped the crab just as quick as worm and fish baits only it was a lot more bloody expensive at around £2 a cast

Thanks guys,

Well done yet again Frank. It’s great that your foot is holding out, allowing you to get out for another session (or two or three). There will be no stopping you now. It ended well, despite the crabs making a nuisance of themselves and taking your bait that was meant for a nice big Bass, not them! I have found that even with elastic thread around the bait to hold it on better if the crabs are there and they want to eat it they will no matter what you do. I’m sure you where pleased when you seen the bar of silver coming in rather than yet another dogfish. Well done on getting your target species at the end of the session – that’s another fine plump Bass to add to your ever increasing tally You’ve made great quite a dent in it over the past few days......I knew it wouldn’t take you long to get back on it again. Great report and pics again.

Thanks, the crabs were a problem alright - unusual to get then so bad on a sandy breach. If I was fishing an estuary it would be expected but not the central part of a beach. I never had a problem with them on that beach last year.

Nice fishing again Frank, youre certainly up and running (mind that foot though ) again . Cant wait to get a decent Bass (hopefully )this year..

Thanks Dave, if you are coming down this way to visit your son I can take you to a few marks where you have a good chance of a decent bass.

nice going frank ,your Bass tally is on up and up

Thanks Gerry, unfortunately I have a long way to go to match last years total.

well done frank never got baitfishing in the end went plugging instead

Any luck??

bait robbing crabs can be a real bloody nuisance at times . i remember reading in a copy of sea angler that if you got bugged by crabs it's best to use crab as a bait to put them off,,,,,,, what a load of old toss . i found out the same as you,,,, if anything they stripped the crab just as quick as worm and fish baits only it was a lot more bloody expensive at around £2 a cast

I find that if crabs are about then crab bait will generally last longer than anything else, although they will eventually eat it. But that night they were ravenous - ten minutes between casts and the hooks were still coming back stripped, or with a crab clasping the remnants of my bait.

well done frank never got baitfishing in the end went plugging instead

Any luck??

just the one about 5lb just lifting the plug to recast, was out the next day in good conditions aswell and blanked when i thought i would have caught a few but sure thats the way