a few casts,east cork
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 11:01 pmas of late i have not been chucking rigs and grippers horizon-wards,tis my first report in 4 years.feels like confession 
i´ve been preoccupied with other angling adventures for the last few years,fresh water fishing for sea trout,browns,rainbow and salmon,along with getting out the harbour on the boat once or twice a week,mixed in with a few coarse species like pike,perch and carp and all that lark,not forgetting my absolute favourite coarse species the mighty little rudd!
allthewhile my beachcasters gathered dust,between odd sporadic sessions here and there.
eventually i grew tired of tiny little rods and reels and trickling rivers and bowling spates not to mention finicky circling salmon and cooking for carp and whatnot i was only clean mad to lob out a 3/0 pulley pennel on a 5oz gripper to feel the whizz of the multi´s again and hear that splash in the distance,so meself and herself set off Saturday evening for one of my favourite beaches.
i had blonde ray in mind as the conditions were perfect for them in the sheltered corner of this massive bay so i stuck with 3/0 pulley pennels and 3/0 upside down pulley pennels and we managed to catch a few species.
in the past i´ve tried to catch into double figures of ray on this beach,my most ever in one session was 8,so i thought that surely there should be around.
t´was a beautiful evening for it,very mild and bright when we arrived and the sea looked like a mill pond,a slight roll of a wave so close to shore it did´nt have time to break.
as i set up my stand i extended the legs only to see all the dried salt come off them in a cloud of dust in the sunlight,jaysis it had been way too long!
this beach had been very good to me in the past and all i had was anticipation flowing through me as i baited up my first rig,an upside down pulley pennel with a decapitated and tailless sandeel sitting sweet on the two 3/0´s which were sent out eastwards about 90 yards.on the second rod i loaded up a nice 3/4 inch round bar of mackerel fillet and blasted in out in rusty casting fashion only managing to scrape the 110 yards,its been too long!!
within a few short minutes i had a bite on the sandeel,a real unusual suspect!
what was it only a gurnard!
something i have never caught from shore let alone this beach that i had fished consistently,feckn countless sessions in the past and never seen a gurnard of any type there.i have to say i am a teeny weeny bit jealous after reading florinc20´s report earlier tonight catching gurnard from shore on lures
as this lil fella didnt give much of an account of himself being skulldragged in on a 13ft rod with a 5oz dangling behing him,but a pleasure to see him swim off all the same.
then all went quiet.
i thought it was that one fish curse,is it gonna be just the one? or is there more to follow?
it can be either or sometimes as we all know..
for an hour or so nothing at all at all was tempted by my baits as i chopped and changed between both rigs and the baits..mackerel,sandeel/launce and calamari,the holy trinity of ray baits,avoiding the bakers dozen of crab in my bucket,as all i wanted was a few blonde rays,hoping to beat my PB of 11lbs...
as the sun started to drop away i could see the bait thieves at work as both my rods glowsticks bounced around in the dusk sky,something in me was telling me to scale down my hook size and go live baiting for bass with whatever unlucky fish it might be,but all i wanted was a blonde ray,so i stuck with my 3/0´s.
darkness fell quickly,as it does this time of year and when the full moon rose it was blood red,so i turned to the crab bucket,blast out a crab i was thinking with the dull red shine,hoping for a bar of silver,so i did bout 60 yards and on the other rod a lashed out a launce barrel about 100 yards and sat back down to my pint of lee water
after a few sups (a firkin between us
) into me pint the two rods were tipping away like mad and herself decided to reel one in,while i reeled in the other,a little coalie was what i got for my efforts while herself landed a nice little dogfish,a lesser spotted fella,another species she has never laid eyes on,so all was worthwhile
t´was well into darkness and the moon was high before i decided to ring my fishing freak buddy who kindly dropped us there and collected us so we could keep warm with the drams
so i had time for one more cast!
1 whole calamari clipped up on the USD pulley and i managed a great cast and the bait was´nt on the deck for 30 seconds,my spin arrived and i had what i came for
t´was a great fight from the ray as it took every opportunity to turn and kite on the surface in the red moonlight,i´ll never forget it,i thought i had my PB by the way it fought,hard as nails this fish was fighting and all the gods know i suffer from fierce adrenaline when i hook up with something weighty!
but i knew it was exhausting itself and probably drained of energy by the time i unhooked it,i knew i did´t have much time for a "photo shoot" as i´ve seen alot of anglers especially with blonde rays overindulge with the photos and the ray does not recover.so i got her back quickly..beautiful little ray that fought like a much larger fish.i´m guessing between 7 and 9 lbs,i really did´nt want to weigh her because she was so weak...it took her a few seconds and off she went...
needless to say me beachcasters are dust free now and i just put boca bearings in me multi´s n took out a mag or two here and there,feels like i was on holidays and just got home
two happy anglers we were
i´ve been preoccupied with other angling adventures for the last few years,fresh water fishing for sea trout,browns,rainbow and salmon,along with getting out the harbour on the boat once or twice a week,mixed in with a few coarse species like pike,perch and carp and all that lark,not forgetting my absolute favourite coarse species the mighty little rudd!
allthewhile my beachcasters gathered dust,between odd sporadic sessions here and there.
eventually i grew tired of tiny little rods and reels and trickling rivers and bowling spates not to mention finicky circling salmon and cooking for carp and whatnot i was only clean mad to lob out a 3/0 pulley pennel on a 5oz gripper to feel the whizz of the multi´s again and hear that splash in the distance,so meself and herself set off Saturday evening for one of my favourite beaches.
i had blonde ray in mind as the conditions were perfect for them in the sheltered corner of this massive bay so i stuck with 3/0 pulley pennels and 3/0 upside down pulley pennels and we managed to catch a few species.
in the past i´ve tried to catch into double figures of ray on this beach,my most ever in one session was 8,so i thought that surely there should be around.
t´was a beautiful evening for it,very mild and bright when we arrived and the sea looked like a mill pond,a slight roll of a wave so close to shore it did´nt have time to break.
as i set up my stand i extended the legs only to see all the dried salt come off them in a cloud of dust in the sunlight,jaysis it had been way too long!
this beach had been very good to me in the past and all i had was anticipation flowing through me as i baited up my first rig,an upside down pulley pennel with a decapitated and tailless sandeel sitting sweet on the two 3/0´s which were sent out eastwards about 90 yards.on the second rod i loaded up a nice 3/4 inch round bar of mackerel fillet and blasted in out in rusty casting fashion only managing to scrape the 110 yards,its been too long!!
within a few short minutes i had a bite on the sandeel,a real unusual suspect!
what was it only a gurnard!
something i have never caught from shore let alone this beach that i had fished consistently,feckn countless sessions in the past and never seen a gurnard of any type there.i have to say i am a teeny weeny bit jealous after reading florinc20´s report earlier tonight catching gurnard from shore on lures
as this lil fella didnt give much of an account of himself being skulldragged in on a 13ft rod with a 5oz dangling behing him,but a pleasure to see him swim off all the same.then all went quiet.
i thought it was that one fish curse,is it gonna be just the one? or is there more to follow?
it can be either or sometimes as we all know..
for an hour or so nothing at all at all was tempted by my baits as i chopped and changed between both rigs and the baits..mackerel,sandeel/launce and calamari,the holy trinity of ray baits,avoiding the bakers dozen of crab in my bucket,as all i wanted was a few blonde rays,hoping to beat my PB of 11lbs...
as the sun started to drop away i could see the bait thieves at work as both my rods glowsticks bounced around in the dusk sky,something in me was telling me to scale down my hook size and go live baiting for bass with whatever unlucky fish it might be,but all i wanted was a blonde ray,so i stuck with my 3/0´s.
darkness fell quickly,as it does this time of year and when the full moon rose it was blood red,so i turned to the crab bucket,blast out a crab i was thinking with the dull red shine,hoping for a bar of silver,so i did bout 60 yards and on the other rod a lashed out a launce barrel about 100 yards and sat back down to my pint of lee water
after a few sups (a firkin between us
) into me pint the two rods were tipping away like mad and herself decided to reel one in,while i reeled in the other,a little coalie was what i got for my efforts while herself landed a nice little dogfish,a lesser spotted fella,another species she has never laid eyes on,so all was worthwhile t´was well into darkness and the moon was high before i decided to ring my fishing freak buddy who kindly dropped us there and collected us so we could keep warm with the drams
so i had time for one more cast!
1 whole calamari clipped up on the USD pulley and i managed a great cast and the bait was´nt on the deck for 30 seconds,my spin arrived and i had what i came for
t´was a great fight from the ray as it took every opportunity to turn and kite on the surface in the red moonlight,i´ll never forget it,i thought i had my PB by the way it fought,hard as nails this fish was fighting and all the gods know i suffer from fierce adrenaline when i hook up with something weighty!
but i knew it was exhausting itself and probably drained of energy by the time i unhooked it,i knew i did´t have much time for a "photo shoot" as i´ve seen alot of anglers especially with blonde rays overindulge with the photos and the ray does not recover.so i got her back quickly..beautiful little ray that fought like a much larger fish.i´m guessing between 7 and 9 lbs,i really did´nt want to weigh her because she was so weak...it took her a few seconds and off she went...
needless to say me beachcasters are dust free now and i just put boca bearings in me multi´s n took out a mag or two here and there,feels like i was on holidays and just got home
two happy anglers we were
