9th December: Seanie, Patk, Me
12th December: JimmyMellis and Me
13th December: Me
16th December: Patk and Me
19th December: Me
22nd December: Me
Duration: Various
Tide: Various
Weather: Mostly calm, cold and dry
Bait: Crab, lug, razor, squid
Rigs: 3/0, 4/0, 6/0 pennel pulleys, two hook flappers (4/0 and 1/0)
Results:
9th December: 6 codling, 9 coalfish
12th December: 3 codling (largest 2.5 lb)
13th December: 5 codling, 5 coalfish, 1 flounder
16th December: 1 bass
19th December: 9 codling, 1 five bearded rockling
22nd December: 3 codling, 1 flounder
Report: As I was very busy with work over the last few weeks I didn't get the chance to do any shore reports so here is one that summarized my fishing over the last two weeks.
9th December: Fished Green Park in Youghal with Seanie and Patk. There were lots of small codling and coalfish about, but nothing worth keeping. All the codling I got were less than 30 cm. There were fairly constants rattles on the rods - probably the small coalfish nibbling on the bait. Initially I was using 4/0 pennels but after a couple of hours I switched one rod to a two hook flapper with 1/0 hooks and started to catch plenty of tiny coalfish. Highlight of the night was Seanie's conger - it was very big, Seanie got it to the wall and we could see it trashing about below but it was impossible to lift it and as soon as he tried the line snapped. As we didn't see it fully out of the water it is difficult to put a weight on it - 30 lb?? or maybe much more.
12th December: Met Jimmy Mellis on Ballinwilling. We fished the last few hours of the ebb and the rising tide. Shortly after I arrived I got a small codling. About an hour later I got a more substantial codling, about 2.5 lb. Then early on the rising tide I got another small one. All take on crab. Jimmy also got a couple of small ones. After that the bites dried up. Jimmy left but I stuck it out for a couple of more hours but there wasn't a tap.
PS. Thanks very much for those lures Jimmy - I will give them a try next summer.
13th December: In the afternoon I tried a West Waterford beach for bass but there was not a bite despite a nice surf. At high tide I packed up and decided to fish in Youghal for a hour or so on the way home. It was close to dusk when I got there and as soon as the light began to fade the fish came on the feed. In about an hour and a half I got 5 small codling (nothing over 30 cm), 5 small coalfish and a small flounder. All fish taken on two hook flappers (1/0) baited with crab.
16th December: I met Patk for a bass session on an East Cork beach. There was a bit of a surf so we were hopeful of a bass or two but the bass weren't playing ball. It was very quite for a long time apart from Patk getting a coalfish. I guess it was after midnight, I put the extra big thick juicy lug I had been saving on a 6/0 pennel along with most of a razor and cast it out far. A few minutes later I saw a small knock on the rod - picked it up and could feel gentle tugs - I thought it was probably coalfish or flounder pulling on the bait - then suddenly there was sharp pull on the rod - I struck and knew it had to be a bass - sure enough after a bit of a fight I hauled a well fed 47 cm bass out of the surf
Patk had been in the process of packing up at this stage but changed his mind and stuck it out for another hour or so but there were no more bites.
19th December: I decided to give Ferrypoint a go. I fished it for about an hour either side of low tide. On the first four casts I had a codling on each cast. The bites slowed as the tide began to rise - presumably the fish started to move up river. But in the end I caught 9 codling, all taken on crab on 4/0 pennel pulleys. However, there was nothing worth keeping, all fish were less than 30 cm.
On the way home I stopped for a few casts in Youghal to use up the last of the crab. I was getting constant nibbles but couldn't hook anything, probably those damn small coalfish again
However, on the last cast I hooked a five bearded rockling.22nd December: I headed to an East Cork beach for a cod session. It wasn't as cold as I was expecting, and fished it from high tide down to low tide as I had heard it fished well for cod on an ebbing tide. But not that night - I got 3 small coaling, again all less than 30 cm, and a small flounder. Fish were taken on lug/razor on 4/0 pennel pulleys and the flounder on 1/0 two hook flapper.
That was my last session before Christmas but hopefully I will get out a few times before the end of the year - and hopefully a few bigger cod will make an appearance.
