December bass - 10th & 11th December 2011

People: Me

Duration: Various

Tide: Full Moon tide 17.15 on 10th Dec

Weather: Calm at last!!!

Bait: Lures

Rigs:

Results: 2 bass




Report: It has been a quite a while since I last did a post. I was not doing that much fishing over the last few months. I did have a few beach sessions but there was not much to report, just a few small codling as well as the odd coalfish and dogfish. However, with light NW winds forecast for last weekend it looked like possibly the last opportunity for some lure fishing before the end of the year.

Saturday 10th December
It was a calm cold frosty morning so I grabbed the lure rod and headed down to a West Waterford mark that I reckoned would have been relatively sheltered from the strong westerly/northwesterly winds earlier in the week. I arrived and looked down on the bay, it was indeed calm although the water was still somewhat murky, but still the water clarity was a lot better than it has been recently. I made my way to the eastern end of the bay and began casting a variety of hard and soft plastic lures into an area of relatively deep water but there was no interest. As the tide bagan to push in I worked my way westwards along the shore eventually arriving at a small shallow bay which was now becoming rapidly infilled by the tide.

This particular mark has been very productive for me from mid-tide to high-tide. I put on a Feed Shallow and began casting across a now submerged drop-off. I had about five or six casts before the lure was grabbed by a strong bass from just below the ledge merely 10 m out. It fought very strongly, stripped several meters of line before I tightened the drag. I eventually eased it into the shallows and onto the rocks. It was a stocky well fed 60 cm bass with a weight of 5.25 lbs.

I continued fishing with the Feed Shallow but their were no more bites, switched to some soft plastics but still there was no interest. I worked my way further westwards and eventually packed up just after dark. Still I was very happy to have got the one bass as it had been over a month since my last one.

Sunday 11th December
I planned to try an East Cork mark but when I got there the sea was much rougher than I expected and the water highly coloured. I reckoned it would be a waste of time unless I was fortunate enough to pass a lure right in front of a fishes nose so I decided to head back to the West Waterford mark I had fished the previous day.

By the time I drove there, climbed down to the shore and was ready to start fishing it was 2.40 pm so I only had about 2 1/2 hours of daylight. This time I started at the western end of the bay and worked my way eastwards. It was rather breezier compared to Saturday and the sea was a little rougher and slightly more coloured. After about an hour I arrived at the location where I had the bass the previous day. I put on the same Feed Shallow and began casting across the same ledge. After only three casts the lure was snatched by a powerful bass in almost the same location. It fought very strongly, thrashing about on the surface and made several dashes for freedom as it stripped line. I eventually coaxed it in but it was still thrashing about wildly before I grabbed it with the boga grip and lifted it onto the shore. It was a better bass, well fed with a length of 62 cm and a weight of 6.25 lbs

The tide then pushed me back and I moved a little to the left before continuing to fish with the Feed Shallow across some shallow boulder strewn ground. I briefly connected with another fish. It felt to be a decent size bass but came off after about 10 seconds. There were no more bites after that. The wind strength was increasing and the sea becoming rougher so I packed up at dusk. Still another good day for December.

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Well done. Nice lure caught fish so late in the year.

Rockhunter,,,

Is that parasites on the bass in the picture? or cuts / damage?
Is that common for bass from around those parts?

lovely outcome and a smashing report to top it all off! Absolutely well done more than I can say for myself not due to lack of trying, I'd spent everything in my armory on various hot spots throughout the 'summer', suppose it simply wasn't meant to be my year, this year , (due to being born on a Friday the 13th ) any excuse you might say
Nice to see a report from you , thought you've been on swimming classes all 'summer'
All the best a very Happy Christmas and good health for years to come!

Thanks guys,

Is that parasites on the Bass in the picture? or cuts / damage?
Is that common for Bass from around those parts?

Its brusing - the bass was fighting madly in very shallow water between boulders and presumably was banging off the rocks.

I'd spent everything in my armory on various hot spots throughout the 'summer', suppose it simply wasn't meant to be my year,

It was a strange year, I did very well in the first half up to the end of April but after the end of the ban found fishing a lot slower, it was just beginning to pick up at the end of August/early September when the weather turned bad.

Nice to see a report from you , thought you've been on swimming classes all 'summer'

I had been putting my reports during the summer on my blog, didn't get much time to do reports on here.

Happy Christmas to yourself and I hope you have great bass fishing in 2012!!

well done frank 2 fine bass for mid december and a great way to end your lure sessions for the year
happy xmas and best of luck for 2012

Class lure fishing this time of year, well done frank

Great fishing. Lovely bass. Well done!!

nice to see you back out there getting some decent fishing in frank
i was beginning to think the foot was giving you grief again man with your abscence. good to hear all is well

Beautiful fishing! **Note to self - add Tackle House Feed Shallow to Christmas list..

Nice fishing well done,

Two nice bass. Wel done.

thats good one,Frank,in december very well done!

crackin fish!!!

oh yea show me the silver

Nice bass. Great to see them still being caught on lure this time of year

Thanks guys,

nice to see you back out there getting some decent fishing in frank
i was beginning to think the foot was giving you grief again man with your abscence. good to hear all is well

Thanks Al, I wasn't doing as much fishing as usual over the last few months, busy with work, plus the conditions were not great, my regular beach marks were choked with weed and the sea was generally too rough and coloured for lure fishing.

Beautiful fishing! **Note to self - add Tackle House Feed Shallow to Christmas list..

If I was to use just one lure that would be it, I had 63 bass on lures this year, 36 of those were on Feed Shallows, most of the remainder were on soft plastics. I tried plenty of other hard bodied lures too but the Feed Shallow was the only one that consistently caught fish.