Easter Weekend, East Cork - 22nd & 23rd April 2011

[RockHunter]

People: Me, Me and Pat on evening of 22nd

Duration: Various

Tide: Various

Weather: Good

Bait: Lures and crab

Rigs:

Results:
22nd April - Session 1: 3 bass; Session 2: 1 bass
23rd April: 2 bass

Report:
22nd April:
Session 1: As there have been a few reports of anglers getting good size bass early in the morning I decided to make the effort to get up at the crack of dawn and get in some fishing before work. It was an overcast morning and had rained earlier, although the rain ceased by the time I got to the shore. The sea was quite calm, just gentle swells breaking over the rocks.

I worked my way around a small bay, tried a variety of hard and soft plastic lures but nothing was biting. I was intending to pack up at 8.30 am. By 8.00 am I started to work my way back. At this stage I was thinking I should have stayed in bed. Then just before 8.30 am I put on a Feed Shallow for a last couple of casts. Suddenly I was hit by a decent fish about 30 m out. It was a 51 cm bass

It was now 8.30 am but I couldn't pack up without a few more casts. Then at about the same distance out I connected with another. This felt a bigger fish, it was pulling strongly and stripping a little line. I worked it in slowly. It was a better fish alright, 58 cm and weighed about 4.5 lbs

It was now close to 9.00 am, but I had to have a few more "last" casts. I cast out the Feed Shallow over the same area a few times. Then changed direction and as soon as I started the retrieve I was into another fish. This again felt to be a sizable bass and put up a strong fight. It was indeed the best fish of the session, at 59 cm and weighing just under 5 lb

So in the end it was well was worth getting up so early.

Session2: During the afternoon Pat contacted me to say he was going for a short session that evening and had some crabs which I was welcome to share. That sounded like an opportunity not to be missed. We met up at 8.00 pm and headed down to the shore. I have never bait fished over such rough ground. I lost my first rig on the first cast. Pat kindly gave me one of his drilled bullet weights and some beads to make up a rig similar to his.

Pat got the first bass, I think it was about 52 cm. We both lost a few fish, then Pat had a second, around 55 cm. I was still loosing rigs in the rough ground, I was down to my last 4/0 hook, when I felt a tug and struck. I hooked into a good fish, it was putting up a strong struggle. It was a fine bass just under 63 cm

A little later I connected with another bass, it felt another sizeable fish but came off a third of the way in. We packed up at about 11 pm. I would like to thank Pat again for sharing his crabs and giving me some tips on rough ground bait fishing.

23rd April: It was a nice warm sunny day with a light southwesterly breeze so looked an ideal day for some more lure fishing. I reached the mark at about 4.00 pm just before low tide. The water was a bit more coloured than I would have liked. I started fishing in the location where I had a 71 cm bass a couple of weeks ago. I then moved westwards eventually reaching a small rock promontory as the tide was beginning to push in more strongly. I was fishing into a gulley which looked like it might hold a fish. Suddenly there was a big splash behind the Feed Shallow and a bass connected with it. It was about 45 m out and thrashed about on the surface as I worked it towards the rocks. It was a bit tricky to get down to lift it up and I was worried that I might loose it, but it was well hooked. It was a 60 cm bass and weighed just over 5 lb

As the tide pushed in I moved back eastwards and fished into a small bay. I reckoned that the breaking waves would wash food out of the gulleys to the west of this and into the bay and hopefully there might be a few bass lurking about. I fished there for about 25 minutes and then just as I was thinking of moving I was hit by another good fish. I could see the fish just below the surface, it was stationary for a second or two before it realized that my Feed Shallow was not a tasty snack and then began to thrash about. It felt a strong fish and wasn't going to come in easily. I gradually eased it in. At this stage the waves were breaking over the rocks where I was standing which made it difficult to land the fish so I had to move back a bit until I could coax it into a shallow gulley and on to the rocks. It was a 64 cm bass and weighed just under 6 lb

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Last edited by RockHunter on Tue Apr 26, 2011 11:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

Bass from Session 2 on 22nd April:

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fantastic few days frank!fine bass
tightlines
fergal

well done nice fishing frank

well done frank some fine bass there

fair play frank-nice photos too

super going frank great fishing as always

Brilliant fishing and great photos Frank, your bass total seems to be flying up

Well done Frank, excellent report and photos

Lovely fishing there Frank , the feed shallow is doing the business for you (and a few others ), the early sessions I find produce better fish and nothing beats a shot of adrenaline to set you up for the day

super fishing again frank and well worth the early start

Thanks guys,

the feed shallow is doing the business for you (and a few others ), the early sessions I find produce better fish and nothing beats a shot of adrenaline to set you up for the day

Yes the Feed Shallow is working well - I have been using a few other hard plastics too (e.g Tide Minnow, Gataride, Megabass X-120 and various surface lures) but the Feed Shallow is the only one that has been catching.

....there will come a time later in the season when the gataride will outfish the feed .