After initially ticking off the obligatory first smoothie of the summer locally, I headed in the Kilmore direction in search of a shore tope. Armed with all sorts of local knowledge and a pack of joey mackerel, I hit a south-facing beach with my hopes up. There was a dodgy easterly breeze which was far from ideal but when you're out you might as well keep going! The fact that the angler next to me was sending out joeys on huge pennel rigs at least reassured me that there was a method to my madness. Alongside the mackerel baits, some previously dug lug and maddies were lobbed into the surf in the hope of scratching out some species.
Alas, over 6 hours or so, the only answer to my calls to the sea was a little schoolie bass who took a lugworm bait very close in: At the very least, the reccy session was complete and from there I could plan future trips.
Armed with another bucket of lugworm and maddies, I hit a local pier purely to get out for a badly needed session this evening. A strong westerly breeze greeted me upon arrival, and lugworm baits tipped with maddies were lobbed at short distance over the pier wall, with flatfish and bass in mind. Within the first five minutes, some reassuring tap-taps on the bass rod preceded a little flounder: Internally, I was assuming that despite how active they are in the water, smooth hounds wouldn't really go for maddies, especially with the lugworm next to it. I was proven very wrong over the next 2 hours as two hard-fighting hounds smashed the little flounder-sized baits that were close in: With the tide well-risen at this point, I decided to cut the session short and save the remaining lug for tomorrow. The tope hunt continues, and I'll need some extra bait to scratch out species on the side, just to keep me entertained
All in all, a nice little start to the summer season for myself. I have notions of giltheads and rays before the season comes to a close, but I'll happily take the above for now! All fish returned.
Tight lines all!
