Duration: 5.00 - 9.50 pm
Tide: HW at 8.30 pm
Weather: Strong SW wind, mostly dry with one very heavy shower
Bait: Lug, razor, mussel
Rigs: 3/0 and 4/0 pennel pulleys, two hook flapper (1/0 hooks)
Results: 2 codling
Report: I dug some lug in the afternoon which was very tough going - but I got a few big juicy ones after a lot of digging. As there was a very strong southwesterly wind I reckoned my usual East Cork bass marks would be almost unfishable so I decided to try for cod on a beach that I hadn't fished at all this year.
I got there just before dusk and set up. There was quite a big surf so it looked good for cod. I set up two rods both with pennel pulleys baited with lug and razor and cast one in close and the other out as far as I could reach. The wind increased and when the tide reaches the steeper foreshore spray from the waves crashing on the rocks was blowing up the shore - it was like standing in a heavy rain shower. It was very quite for a long time. It didn't look good and the baits were coming back untouched. I eventually switched one of the pulley rigs for a two hook flapper with 1/0 hooks in the hope of avoiding a blank and baited it with lug on the lower hook and mussel on the upper hook and cast out. Not long afterwards the other rod with the 3/0 pennel pulley cast in close suddenly started bouncing - I grabbed and struck - I could feel a strong fish on the end - I reeled it in, reckoned it had to be a cod, as the fight didn't feel like a bass. Sure enough it was a 3.5 lb coding - my first of the season
As soon as I got the hook out I cast out again. Then reeled in the other rod and changed it back to a proper size hook - a 4/0 pennel pulley.
However, nothing was biting immediately - maybe an hour later I had another strong bite on the rod cast out farthest. As I hauled it in it felt a good bit lighter than the first - this was a 2 lb codling
It had managed to swallow the entire bait and was hooked with both hooks of the pennel. Later when cleaning it out I found it was stuffed with small fish including a tiny scorpion fish.Not long afterwards I had another bite, this felt to be about the same size as the first - but I lost it about 10 m from the shore
I had one more bite after that - something took a chunk out of the bait but was not hooked. May not have been a cod - a bass??
So I was happy enough with that - and both fish were bigger than any codling I got last winter.
