East Cork mark 13/08/06, One last cast.....

People:Myself and phanover

Duration:8pm to 10.30pm

Tide:HW

Weather:Dull and flat calm

Bait:Lures

Rigs:|Spinning gear

Results:1 bass 3lb, 1 sea trout just under a pound.


Report:Headed for this particular mark on Sun evening with Phanover with the intention of doing a bit of plugging for bass. On arrival, bumped into The Clohessy brothers launching Skua on a bait trip, good to put faces to names lads, nice to have met at last. We headed for a series of tiny beaches interspersed with reefy ground. Hopes weren't overly high as by the time we had started fishing it was virtually HW and we would have preferred another hour or two of the flood TBH. However, given the contents of our various boxes which had virtually every top branded artificial lure from Rapalas to Yo-Zuris we thought there was at least an outside chance of breaking our respective plugging ducks.... :oops:

On our way to the mark we spotted a flock of gulls around 150 yards or so off-shore, somewhat beyond the reach of a J-13, just bobbing around lazily, looking rather well fed. Chucked a set of feathers in their general direction in case there was a mack or two around but only succeeded in failing to land what must have been a specimen sized stonefish :D Back to the plugging it was and began throwing out a steady succession of different lures, deep divers, shallow divers, surface poppers, flying cs, tobies etc. Not a sniff....

With the contents of the tackle box having been exhausted to no avail and with darkness closing in fast, I tied on a small silver spoon, which incidentally was 30-40 years old (it had belonged to my partners granddad who passed away 20 odd years ago and had been stored in the attic for years before that) A couple of shortish casts later with the lure fishing high in the water, I had a brief take which I put down to weed. On the next cast however, I hooked into a fish which behaved like a turbo charged mackerel, hammering around and splashing on the surface. It was too dark to tell at that stage what it was but on landing it, I was pleasantly surprised with my first shore caught Sea Trout, a grand little fella of just under a pound.

With the prospect of blanking saved and with darkness now upon us we decided to make the relatively short walk back to the car. On the way back whilst crossing one of the tiny beaches, I noticed all the fat gulls were now bobbing around at the shoreline. With thoughts of shoals of macks chasing in sprat or something, I decided to have just the one last cast. Well blow me down if I didnt get absolutely walloped immediately with my ancient little lure fishing not 15 yards from the shore. "What is it" followed by "Jammy $^$&^%&%" came from Paul, I replied thinking in the initial couple of seconds I had a mack, it became abundantly clear however very fast that it was most definitely no mackerel and after a spirited little scrap I beached a lovely Bass of 3lbs.

It was the end of what turned out to be a pleasant evenings fishing with 2 firsts for me, first sea trout from the shore and first bass on a lure. Met Jim and Sean again on the way back and they were kind enough to give Paul a few macks for the brekkie, not only that but they were kind enough to gut and fillet them for him too. Fair play lads. We got some pics and Ill post them as soon as I find the camera cable.


P.S. Is there actually anyone else on this site that is doing any fishing in Cork....????

that was some last cast - that grandfather knew his tackle :D

that grandfather knew his tackle

He was a Pike Fisherman.... :D Got a load of handmade wooden plugs and the like as well I just havent had the heart to try out yet.

surley youd hold onto those - handmade and wooden - one load of weed or a snag and theyre gone forever.... :shock:

Exact reasons why I havent had the heart to try them. :D

Regardless of that, I appear to be totally unable to catch bass on the latest shiny things so wouldnt fancy my chances much anyway. :D