Duration: 7.30 pm to 2.00 am
Tide: HW at 10.30 pm
Weather: Clear, mild, no wind at first, southerly breeze increasing later and becoming cloudy
Bait: Lug
Rigs: 4/0 pennel pulley, two hook flapper (4/0 hooks)
Results: 2 bass, 1 Whiting, 1 Dogfish
Report: As it was a lovely sunny evening I decided to head out fishing. I went to the beach where I lost the monster bass a couple of weeks ago for another attempt at catching it. When I arrived there was quite a lot of weed but mostly concentrated in the eastern corner of the beach. I walked down close to midway and set up two rods. There was a weakish surf, but about the same as the night I lost the big bass.
Close to dusk I had a strong knock on the rod with the two hook flapper. I struck and could feel a strong pull on the line so I thought it likely to be a bass. But as I began to retrieve the fish came in quickly so I reckoned it was fairly small. It was a 42 cm bass
I was hopeful of getting a few more after dark. But there wasn't another bass bite for a long time. I noticed gentle knocks on one of the rods - something small nibbling on the bait. The bait was getting chewed up alright but I couldn't hook whatever it was with the 4/0 hooks. However, I eventually did manage to connect with one of the subtle bites - turned out to be a small whiting. I thought they had cleared off the beaches by now.
I had intended to quit shortly after high tide but I had a lot of lugs left so I decided to continue fishing until they were all used up. About two hours after high tide I had a small knock on the rod with the 4/0 pennel. I picked up the rod and then felt another small pull - I struck but from the fight I knew it wasn't a bass - turned out to be a dogfish.
At about 1.00 am I noticed some more small taps on the same rod. I picked it up again and waited - I could feel a series of small tugs but waited until I felt a stronger pull before striking. This time I could feel a stronger, heavier fish. It then charged in towards the beach. I quickly reeled in the slack line until I connected again. It put up a bit of a fight before I hauled it through the surf. This time is was a much better bass, close to 60 cm and almost 5 lb
As I was unhooking the fish there was a strong knock on the second rod but by the time I dropped the fish and grabbed the other rod the fish was gone. I stayed on for about another hour until all the lugs were used up but there were no more bites.
So I was happy with that session - it was worth perservering to get that last good size bass and a good way to end the month. April was a quite a productive month - 20 bass
Seven of the bass were caught on Cork beaches the remainder were from West Waterford.
and not a bite a bumper april for ya 20 bass nice 1
