Duration: 11.00 to 15.00
Tide: HW @ 12.25 (ish)
Weather: Clear - Strong Wind from south
Bait: Frozen Sandeel / Frozen Razor / Dyed Shrimp
Rigs: 2 hook flapper & Pennel Pulley Rig
Results: 1 Bass @ 7lbs
Catch and Release:: No
Report:
Finished work at 10.45 and decided to go out for a few casts with my new sports mag
(sweet reel - very smooth). Wind made casting too hard so decided to do a bit of fishing. Fished the far side of Clonea as there were kite surfers and regular surfers on the hotel side to the middle of the beach. Parked up the van at the slip and setup directly below it. Nothing much doing for a long while - surf was running fairly strong with a lot of small waves breaking - Art (Cortaz) came down with the intention of going spinning but decided against it as wind was blowing hard and water was too coloured. Had a chat with him for a while where he passed on a few good tips 
.After about 2 and half hours hadnt even a bite
decided to try some of the razor again but used a full one on the pennel pulley rig with size 3/0 hooks.Cast it out about 100 yards to the 4th / 5th wave and waited. At this stage I was frozen so decided to watch the rod from the van for a while until I heated up again (forgot my floatie jacket in my rush to get out
). While I was cozy in the van my rod gave a small twitch - damn wind again
No - there it goes again - and again and again ..... RUN!!!!Made it to the rod and picked it up and felt little resistance - Have I dropped it I thought?? But no - there it was... a solid kick and getting stronger - OOh... bit of weight there now - slackened off the drag (remember what Art had told you I said to myself
) - Theres the shockleader - look around... a bit of a public gathering now behind me - 10 feet out now - was really heavy - hard going to keep reeling then whoosh - bass!!!!! and a good sized one - he made a run down the beach kicking and churning and turning and generally putting on a good show (for my adoring fans
) - I followed him 
Bullied him back up again and beached him with the assistance of a wave.
Just as I got to him my snood broke but luckily I had managed to get a good grip of him - On closer inspection he had swallowed both hooks
- the bottom one was stuck down his throat and the top one was in the corner of his jaw. Ran back to the van and got my scales - Lifted him up and to my surprise he clocked in at a respectable 7lbs on the button.
Well pleased with it as this was a PB for me - smashed my previous record by over 2lbs.
Unfortunately - I did not return him (had intended on and had taken the photos etc in preparation for return) - the hooks (in particular the bottom one) - had done some major damage to him internally and he was bleeding heavily.
I dont feel too bad about it as I have only taken 1 bass for the table so far this year but it would have been nice to see him swim off
Tried again for another hour or so but nothing was interested. The wind ( was a lazy wind - would rather go through you than go around you) was getting the better of me and my belly was talking to me so I headed for home , heat and food.
Gonna try and get back here again towards the end of the week - should be some good tides (according to my Mentor
)John.
, not even a doggy 
)