Old Head Pollock: 20/05/11

People: Me

Duration: 17:00 - 20:00

Tide: High @ 20:00

Weather: Fresh westerly breeze, cool

Rigs: Feathers, Xlayer, Toby, Kilty

Results: 4 Pollock


Report:
With the bass ban in effect I decided to target wrasse having never caught one before, and also I was hopeful of maybe catching my first mackerel of the year. There was a stiff enough westerly breeze blowing so I picked a mark that I thought would be fairly sheltered near the Old Head of Kinsale. I was hoping to try for a wrasse on soft plastics but don't know the first thing about how to catch one using this method, so I picked up a couple of frozen crabs on the way as backup to try with a float.

After arriving and a ten minute walk I scrambled down the rocks and thought I'd check first off if there was any mackerel about, firing out a set of silver feathers. Half an hour later with not a fish in sight I decided to try for a wrasse, and to start off with some crab on a 1/0 hook with a sliding float above. I fished in this way for another hour but had no sign of a bite, the wind made casting the float difficult and it kept coming back to me fairly fast with the wind/current. I tried varying the depth of the bait and was casting over a kelp bed area but still no joy.

I finally saw some sign of fish activity when a largish fish broke the surface twice in quick succession 30 yards directly in front of me. Once I saw this I immediately threw on a silver kilty lure and fired out in the direction but still had no takes. I'm not sure what it was, it's unlikely that bass are present at the mark so it was possibly a mullet. Soon after far off in the distance - maybe 1 kilometre away, I saw a huge splash appear on an otherwise fairly flat sea. I kept looking in the area for the next while but nothing else happened - my guess this time was a whale of some sort.

Having lost faith in my float and crab setup, I finally switched to the soft plastics, put on a Xlayer. Within 10 minutes I had a solid take and saw the rod bend over as the fish plunged downwards and towards me. I actually thought I had a wrasse at that point as heard they are great fighters. Eventually got the fish up and towards me and saw a nice pollock looking back. Landed the fish, quick snap and off he went, probably about a 2.5lb fish.

On the next cast fish on yet again, although this felt like a weaker fight - a sprog of a pollock came in, between 0.5 and 1lb. Another quick snap and release. Three more casts with the Xlayer and nothing, I decided to switch to a Toby to see if I could get a bit more depth. I had some follows but no takes, so tried a Slug-go which also had nothing for 10 minutes. I put back on the original Xlayer and bang fish on yet again, this time a bigger fish turned up, but less of a fight than the first fish. Unfortunately he had swallowed the Xlayer deep down and could not be saved, so he was brought home for the table.

Around this time while I was casting out I had another unexpected sight - a big dorsal fin appeared and a dolphin / porpoise breached the surface directly in front of me and only about 30-40 yards out, right beside 2 buoys that must have lobster pots attached. I couldn't believe it and immediately went for the camera waiting for him/her to breach again, but it didn't come to the surface again. I'm not sure if it was coincidence or by design that the dolphin decided to break the surface directly in front of me but I never saw it surface again anywhere else!

After another few casts I had one more smallish pollock around the 1lb mark, and then all went quiet as high tide approached. I tried feathering for about 20 minutes in hope of a mackerel, and then packed it in, delighted to have had a few nice pollock, maybe I'll get my first wrasse the next time.

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nice one any fish in this type of sick weather is excellent!interesting venue i thought it was a hard mark to fish with the old head gc and all.id say theres good marks around though
tightlines
fergal

fine few pollacks there, well done

next time allow the float come back to you or just drop it off the rod instead of casting , i fished there last year(different rocks tho i think) looking for my 1st wrasse and kept getting pollack on floated rag worm, one cast saw the float stop hit the rings and landed just at the waters edge, 2 mins later i was buckled into a nice wrasse . didnt have anything on the floated crab that day and never made it back down again, will be hitting it a few times again this summer tho. great place to fish.
id say there could be some good fish to be had from bottom fishing there but would be a nightmare to get big rods up and down the cliff and youd probably loose gear every 2nd cast meaning more weight to lump up and down

Thanks for the tips Denis, it's a great place to fish alright, I've only been a handful of times but have always had some action. I've heard there is great conger fishing there and if its ever mackerel you're after there's no better spot when they start to come in.

The last time I was there my buddy had a lovely wrasse bottom fishing with crab which is why I tried the crab this time. I must try some rag next time I'm down - (it's a pity there's no limpets at the mark as I hear they're great for the wrasse also). It's a bit of a trek alright when carrying rods/tripods/extra gear alright - last summer I trudged back with my gear and about 30 mackerel and was sweatin like a madman by the time I reached the car with all the weight

The ground seems pretty rough alright - have done a small bit of bottom fishing there myself but lost at least 1 in 2 of the rigs I used I'm hopeless at bottom fishing on rough ground tho..