Action at last....
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The fishing has improved with the calm weather I'm pleased to say.
Had to fish real slow and deep but was finally rewarded with this moderate but beautiful fish..........
The fishing has improved with the calm weather I'm pleased to say.
Had to fish real slow and deep but was finally rewarded with this moderate but beautiful fish..........
Calm
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Calm conditions have finally returned and with it the water clarity after at least 6wks of high winds and rain. Saturday the swell was still quite big and dropping, I lost a fish in a new spot that I know will produce for me in the future. Sunday looked absolutely perfect for this time of year but no interest despite fishing hard into the dark.........
Thought for the Day..........
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A SMALL change in the weather can make a BIG change in the fishing conditions.
Tough conditions......
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Fished yesterday and felt very rusty after such a long period of inactivity. I decided to pack it in with the light fading when, perched on a rock, getting covered in spray from the surf ,a wind knot appeared from nowhere mid cast causing my 9kg braid to part and allow my expensive Japanese lure to sail off into the dusk on it's first outing, never to be seen again
Despite a couple of calm days conditions here conditions are still not good for Lure fishing. The massive rainfall we've had is still draining off the land and taking with it suspended solids which give the water a coloured appearence. To make things even tougher the Wind today is blowing a gale from the North East and the wind chill will be ferocious when I head out later, must get the neoprene chest waders out of the loft. they will be great for winter eastuary fishing but not rock fishing as they don't provide the ankle support or grip of Stocking foot waders and boots or active summer fishing as you overheat very quickly in them when walking between locations.
Hoping for calmer conditions over the next few weeks and some quality fishing..........
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Surf's Up.
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Perfect surf here yesterday. Surfer's delight and as you can see, not too crowded......
Galway Bass - Part 2
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The following day I returned to the same location and enjoyed a fine walk surrounded by bird life and with high hopes after the previous day's success. I arrived to find the spring tide at its peak and unable to cast into the areas I felt might hold fish so I bided my time, took a few risks and eventually moved forward with the now falling tide. I targeted the area with large 175mm plugs in and around the surf washed boulders and eventually was rewarded with an almighty hit on the lure followed by the unstoppable run of a big fish. I'd only felt this kind of power from a fish once before in my life whilst fishing in Waterford with Patrick Gallagher and that ended in a lost fish due to inexperience on my part. As the battle commenced the words of Padraig my Father in Law, a very experienced river angler, came in to my head. He had been recalling the tale of a battle with a big Salmon, to me, just the previous day, and how he used patience and guile to subdue and land the fish. These words came back to me just when I needed them because any attempt to bully this fish was going to end in tears. When the fish came to the surface my heart rate went through the roof, this was the biggest Bass I'd seen to date and I was determined to land it successfuly. After what seemed like an age I was able to enter the water, from my rocky perch,and gently tow the beaten fish far from the reach of the foaming waves to unhook and inspect it. This was a brute of a fish and in perfect condition, I quickly unhooked the fish and measured it at 74cm in length which according to my B.A.S.S. tape measure is a 9Lb fish I was over the moon and shaking like a leaf. After a few photos I revived the fish in calm water then released it totally unharmed although maybe a little embarrassed to have been fooled by a piece of shiny plastic....
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This beauty arrived yesterday and I will be using it for finesse fishing with plastics, lighter braids and a light 7' rod when it arrives.
It's robust and silky smooth, looking forward to testing it at the weekend. Hope it warms up a bit!
Update: Fished with the Certate yesterday and it is insanely smooth and feels very solid.
Galway Bass - Part 1
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After a couple of evenings scouting and fishing, and after much treking I came upon an ideal looking spot. After an hour of casting, the lure was hit by a solid fish right where I would expect to find one, things were about to get interesting.. As the fish was getting closer I had to get down off the boulder I was casting from to tackle the fish in four feet of lively surf over a field of smaller boulders so typical of the Galway shoreline. As the fish came to me it was pushed towards a handily placed boulder and I managed to gently pin it to the side of the boulder with my left hand, rod in the right hand, I then realised I was stuck for my next move? This was a fish I was determined to land, my first Galway Bass and not a common thing according to local knowledge. The only thing to do was abandon my expensive rod and reel to the surf giving me a free hand to complete the capture which I duly did, getting a good soaking in the process.
The fish weighed in at a fraction under 6lbs and was humanely dispatched for the table, well P&T's table to be precise, and then it was off to locate rod and reel. After ten minutes of wading and searching things were not looking good and I was starting to feel more than a little foolish when, finally I spotted the the lure and hoped the rod was not too far away, the braided line had snagged on the very last growth of Bladderwrack before deep water and certain loss, a narrow escape.
All's well that ends well.
To be continued..........
Back in Business.
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Somthing slightly different.......
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Just received this picture of Anton (My brother) with a 50lb + Mekong Catfish and according to Anton "He fight velly long time"
I will try to get some more details such as How, When, & and Where?
An amazing journey.....
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Just yesterday another piece of the jigsaw fell into place with the locating of feeding fish at a mark I've had my eye on for a year but had never quite caught it right..........
To be continued
Things that go splash in the night....
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Landed four fish this evening after dark, the last definitely had me thinking I'd hooked that illusive double. The fish went on some powerful unstoppable runs in a very rocky area and I had my hands full for a good while. Eventually as the fish drew closer I put on my head torch to reveal the truth........ a decent fish at well over six pounds but............hooked in the tail : (
O well good practice for when the Daddy finally hits my lure.
All fish were returned unharmed.
A Marvel of Engineering...........
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For various reasons I am now the proud owner of the Elite Shimano reel known only as the STELLA, in 4000 size.
It is a thing of beauty and highly regarded by serious fixed spool anglers.
I have given it a pretty good test over the last few days and so far it's living up to the hype................
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Waterford
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I'm in Waterford, South East, Ireland with work for the week and looking forward to fishing later in the week.
The weather is calm after a big blow so it could produce some good fishing.
Will let you know how it goes.....
Surprise Surprise..........
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I was expecting to write about how I went fishing not expecting to catch because of Tides Weather blah blah and that's exactly how it turned out but in fact the opposite happened.
I called in on a spot to finish the evening tried something that's never worked for me in that spot before and, as they say on local radio it was hit after hit. First cast and an almighty disturbance near the lure second cast the same, next cast, bang fish on and quickly gone again with lure!
Schoolboy error, I hadn't clipped up properly. Next problem ,that was the only lure of its kind I was carrying and the vehicle ,unusually, was half a mile away, nothing for it but to run back get all similar lures, returned, carried on fishing and catching until it got dark. Between ten and fifteen fish landed in the end, all returned safely except one deep hooked fish which was kept for the table. I have no idea why the fish were where I found them and hard on the feed.
This week I will be mostly catching.........Pollock !!
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Been catching plenty of Pollock, yesterday it was five with a couple of Bass mixed in and today it was five in an hour, good fun in the glourious weather we are having.
Hope it continues for a while, we deserve some good weather with it having been the third awful summer in a row we've had here.
My Greatest Enemy.....
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No this is not a field, its a beach, a local Blue Flag Beach after a Spring Tide.
The green stuff is Lettuce Weed which is thriving due to an over enrichment of the estuary waters from farm run offs, poor sewage treatment etc, so I'm told.
It's a nightmare for fishing when its bad and also effects windsurfers, surfers, walkers, wildlife, etc . It stinks as it starts to decay so when it gets really bad the council are out with Diggers scooping it up into tractor drawn trailers for disposal at sea, which is also controversial.
Apparently there has been a public meeting about it recently, I will be attending any further meetings. We need a solution.......
Anton's visit to West Cork - Final Day.
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After the horrific weather, but good fishing, of the previous day we set out for one last try before it was time to head to the airport. Things started very well with Anton hooking a fish straight away but alas, it made good it's escape after a brief struggle. The one that got away, and the only one that weekend so we couldn't really complain, normally the statistics are much worse for hooked to actually landed fish. We fished hard with all our experience of the previous two days but it looked like we were going to have our first blank until, with my very last cast I landed a small but beautiful fish on a new method which pleased me and was a great way to finish off a memorable weekends fishing. It was really great to spend some QT with my big bro and share some great experiences in beautiful West Cork. We caught in all of the locations we visited and we had all manner of weather from howling winds and lashing rain to calm and sunny, I guess that's classic Ireland for you......
Anton's Visit to West Cork - Part 4
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So, with the pressure to find a fish gone, I wandered off down the estuary towards the deeper water to see if it was fishable. Alas , as I proved in a couple of casts, the narrow estuary mouth was choked with lettuce weed, stirred up by the storm waves. On looking back to the now distant Anton, who was fishing in a spot I'd have told him not to bother with were he in earshot, I did a double take..... the body language looked different he seemed to be standing bolt upright in the howling wind and lashing rain but sort of jigging around a bit..... strange I thought...... maybe trying to keep warm?.......... I don't believe it, FISH ON !!
Its not easy trying to do the hundred meters sprint across quicksand, in chest waders, with a fishing rod but I managed it just in time to see a beautifully dark fish of a decent size landed by Anton much to the delight of us both. He was on a roll now and we finished off the session with a further fish each in quick succession from another spot before seeking warmth and shelter in the local bar. A sandwich with a pint never tasted better!
To be continued.........
Anton's Visit to West Cork - Part 3
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Sunday dawned and the pressure was on Anton. He'd seen fish caught learnt about the gear and today was going to be his day (Or so I told him). The forecast was bad, really bad, high winds and heavy rain but still we headed off into the teeth of the storm.....
The only place to fish was the estuary so we started to fish as the weather deteriorated and just as I thought Anton would demand an adjournment to the Pub his rod bent and he was in! A nice fish not cleanly hooked but a good start.....
To be continued.......
An exciting afternoon....
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Was out fishing one of my favourite wild spots this afternoon when it all happened.....
I was covering an area which had produced fish for me on previous occasions when I got hit by a good fish just below the surface.
I managed to control the fish in the surf and rocks around me but had a problem, I was about six feet above the water, I managed to climb down, fish close to freedom a few times and then ping!
The top few inches of my very expensive Japanese Plugging rod come sliding down the line towards me and the rod has become slightly shorter than when it left the factory ; (
Oh well at least I didn't break my leg or my neck!
Stay tuned sport fans......
Anton's visit to West Cork - Part 2
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On arrival at our next venue, after risking life and limb scrambling over slippery rocks to reach the waters edge, things looked more promising. The falling tide was exposing rocky areas with pools and gulleys, perfect holding areas for our quarry. We set to work with Tide Minnow 125 SLD jerk baits and proceeded to cover the fishing grounds at our feet the ocean swell foaming as it crashed over the rough coastline. After moving a few times I cast into a likely looking spot and BANG the light but powerful 8 ft rod was wrenched over the clutch screamed and the fight was on! Having hooked only two fish previously in this location and lost both I was determined for the same not to happen this time and thankfully it didn't, the fish was soon landed. I think Anton was amazed to see our beautiful Bass for the first time and also the enviroment they choose to inhabit, either way, we had opened our account early in the weekend and that had to be a good thing.
Anton fishes West Cork.
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Last friday the day finally dawned for Anton's visit to West Cork for a spot of fishing and a few nights out. His collection from Cork airport by myself was immediately followed by a visit to "Cork Angling and Outdoor Centre" who looked after us for Chest Waders and we were off heading West.
After settling in at my place we went in to town for what would be the first of THREE trips to An Sugan that weekend.
After settling in at my place we went in to town for what would be the first of THREE trips to An Sugan that weekend.
Seafood & Guiness for me, Chicken Goujons & Lager for Anton.
Saturday came and glourious it was, we headed for our first venue with great anticipation but alas it was not to be. The weed that had been pushed into one corner of the Bay had spread with a slight change of wind direction and, despite numerous attempts, proved unfishable : (
Saturday came and glourious it was, we headed for our first venue with great anticipation but alas it was not to be. The weed that had been pushed into one corner of the Bay had spread with a slight change of wind direction and, despite numerous attempts, proved unfishable : (
To be continued.....
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