W Waterford 11th May

People:Me & 3 others

Duration: 16.00-22.30

Tide: 22.30

Weather: Sunny. Very cold blustery NE winds

Bait: lug, crab, razor

Rigs[/b: 2 hook paternoster, pennel rig

[b]Results: 1 nice bass
Headed to a favourite beach of mine which fishes well at low water. Nice surf gave picture perfect conditions but there was quite a bit of weed at one end of the beach.
About 1 minute after my first cast the rod jumped a lovely long silvery fish fought hard . It was quite a slime fish somewhere around 3.5- 4lb (photo to follow). In peak summer conditions it would have been a lot heavier. What a promising start to the day. Sure it could only get better……………..not!!!! After about 30 minutes the weeds moved across the beach and we had to pack up.

We hit Ballyquin beach around 18.30. There was weed at both ends but a clear patch in the middle. So off we set with rods in hand and cast out beautiful lugs and crab in the hopes of a big bass or painted ray. After 5 minutes I had a considerable bend on my rod as I reeled in a mountain of weed and the other lads were the same. There was bank of weed about 30M out in the surf. So it was time to try somewhere else and we headed for the storm wall Ardmore just to catch anything at this stage…. Flounder, dog, bass , ray . Result after 2 hours was a big flat blank.

No the usual result for this part of the world but after a month of strong, cold NE winds fishing has not been great for the last few outings.

Next day we were due at a boat comp in Ballyhack…..details to follow.

fair play stan for the update we were heading that way 2moro but think we will stay around wexford now

Ye might be better there. Wind is due to swing SW and this will improve fishing generally once the weed clears.

Good luck tomorrow

Unlucky Stan, I heard you were down with the lads and fishing over the parish way , was out today big fat blank for two locations even though conditions looked good. The weed is a bit of a problem alright but we should connect with fish once the wind swings around.

Declan, never saw weed like this in May before. Often had problems in Sept and Oct when the oar weed matures and breaks away easily. This year has had a most unusual start.....it can only get better.

Hard going at the moment still worth a cast though well done on the fish , btw is that a younger stan holding a monkfish in your avatar

That was me with a big guitar fish in Guinea Bissau in Oct 2010. Much better fighter that a Monkfish. Both are kind of a cross between a ray and a shark. The guitar fish has a sleek body and fights like a looney when hooked....a tope like run at a rate of knots. It had a ray-type mouth.

I caught a monkfish in Fuerteventura last year. It has a ray like body but sharks mouth with dangerous looking teeth. The Spanish call them angel sharks. They have a sluggish ray like fight. You can see the report viewtopic.php?f=13&t=37291

We had another trip to Guinea Bissau in Feb of this year. Report under postcards from afar. Pics of several guitar fish on it.

Finally a pic

W Wat bass.jpg

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unlucky stan. theres nothing more soul destroying than having to pull kilos of weed out of your gear just minutes after casting out
it saps all the fun outta a session when it's like that
good to see you got one thow

Roll on 16th June. For now I can only dream of big bass