The cove before the hurricane
Sat Oct 05, 2019 11:54 am
Decided to hit a beach while the sea was calm before the hurricane ripped through the country and potentially blew the house down and ruined any chance of getting out for at least a few days 
I had some decent huss fishing over the summer from a small cove and wanted to try it in the autumn to see how the fishing was. Autumn often produced some good huss on the east coast so why not down south? I had over 20lb. of huss and a dogfish on one cast here before(fishing highlight of the summer) and two really good individual double figure fish so it is always worth a shot when conditions are right.
The eery calm was complimented by half a dozen bats flying around above my head. Not just a bad hair day, they seemed to be feeding on the flies coming from the rotten weed. Good news for me as they can be a serious problem fishing here flying into eyes, nose, ears, and even down your throat kamikaze style. The downside was trying to get a cast in? I wanted to go fishing not exploding bats. The sky was thick with them so I had no choice but to back up the beach and get the lead away over the top of them.
No sign of any dead bats so after a quick check I got on with the job of baiting up another trace!
Ratchet set just incase any sea monsters decide to crash the party.
Bait was simple- frozen mack. I have used fresh mackeral, garfish and sandeel here and found frozen mackeral has given me best returns. I used three hooks to keep myself busy. Always the chance of a decent conger so I used heavy hooklenghts with a 20lb+ mainline. All this was towed out to sea with a green impact lead. The ground is mixed and most hang ups are in weed so with a bit of steady pulling things can be kept moving.
Lots of this followed for the first hour.
Halfway through the ebb a familiar rock started to show in the surf- this usually sees the fishing improve. Right on queue the ratchet went. I looked up and the tip wasn't doing anything. I kept an eye on it and still nothing. As soon as I turned away to do something else the ratchet went again! Line now slack to the tip and with a spare trace good to go I wound down steadily and raised the rod into a decent bit of weight and a few heavy nods I was pretty sure it was a huss.
It came in slowly through the weed and bumped a few times through the rock but the hooks held. A half decent huss came right to the edge and as it hit the shore the hook snapped. I made a run for it rod in hand and grabbed the huss by the neck. They can be tricky enough with two hands but I got away with it
Not the biggest but very welcome.
Bait back in the water and another bite came within a minute or two while I was dealing with the fish. I kept an eye on the tip but nothing else followed. On retrieve the rig was hung up and after pulling out of a snag I could still feel my lead but no fish this time.
Nothing happened for the next hour and I began to get pretty fed up... resorting to photographing the inside of my tacklebox
Balancing stones... the West Cork alternative to sandcastles?
I got out of there early as the following day was a busy one and the fishing wasn't up to much. It was a poor session and the least productive I've had on this beach. I would normally see up to a dozen fish over a few hours- dogs, huss, straps, and rockling.
It was as if the fish new the storm was coming and had vacated the shallower reefs?
I had some decent huss fishing over the summer from a small cove and wanted to try it in the autumn to see how the fishing was. Autumn often produced some good huss on the east coast so why not down south? I had over 20lb. of huss and a dogfish on one cast here before(fishing highlight of the summer) and two really good individual double figure fish so it is always worth a shot when conditions are right.
The eery calm was complimented by half a dozen bats flying around above my head. Not just a bad hair day, they seemed to be feeding on the flies coming from the rotten weed. Good news for me as they can be a serious problem fishing here flying into eyes, nose, ears, and even down your throat kamikaze style. The downside was trying to get a cast in? I wanted to go fishing not exploding bats. The sky was thick with them so I had no choice but to back up the beach and get the lead away over the top of them.
No sign of any dead bats so after a quick check I got on with the job of baiting up another trace!
Ratchet set just incase any sea monsters decide to crash the party.
Bait was simple- frozen mack. I have used fresh mackeral, garfish and sandeel here and found frozen mackeral has given me best returns. I used three hooks to keep myself busy. Always the chance of a decent conger so I used heavy hooklenghts with a 20lb+ mainline. All this was towed out to sea with a green impact lead. The ground is mixed and most hang ups are in weed so with a bit of steady pulling things can be kept moving.
Lots of this followed for the first hour.
Halfway through the ebb a familiar rock started to show in the surf- this usually sees the fishing improve. Right on queue the ratchet went. I looked up and the tip wasn't doing anything. I kept an eye on it and still nothing. As soon as I turned away to do something else the ratchet went again! Line now slack to the tip and with a spare trace good to go I wound down steadily and raised the rod into a decent bit of weight and a few heavy nods
I was pretty sure it was a huss.It came in slowly through the weed and bumped a few times through the rock but the hooks held. A half decent huss came right to the edge and as it hit the shore the hook snapped. I made a run for it rod in hand and grabbed the huss by the neck. They can be tricky enough with two hands but I got away with it
Not the biggest but very welcome.
Bait back in the water and another bite came within a minute or two while I was dealing with the fish. I kept an eye on the tip but nothing else followed. On retrieve the rig was hung up and after pulling out of a snag I could still feel my lead but no fish this time.
Nothing happened for the next hour and I began to get pretty fed up... resorting to photographing the inside of my tacklebox
Balancing stones... the West Cork alternative to sandcastles?
I got out of there early as the following day was a busy one and the fishing wasn't up to much. It was a poor session and the least productive I've had on this beach. I would normally see up to a dozen fish over a few hours- dogs, huss, straps, and rockling.
It was as if the fish new the storm was coming and had vacated the shallower reefs?