Youghal, Co. Cork - 20th April 2008

Message

#1 Post by **RockHunter** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 9:58 am

People: Me

Duration: 2.00 - 6.20 pm

Tide: HW at 6.30 pm

Weather: Light northeasterly breeze, overcast, dry

Bait: Peeler crab

Rigs: 3/0 and 2/0 two hook flapper, size 1 three hook flapper

Results: 7 flounder, 2 coalfish

Report: The strong east/northeast winds of the previous few days had eased off so I decided to have a look at Youghal Pier and see what the wind was like. it was not too bad - there was a bit of a cold northeasterly wind but it was not too strong. It was bearable and I had fished the same mark last Sunday on a dropping tide and got three good flounder so I decided to give it a go on a rising tide. The wind actually slackened as the afternoon progressed.

After about 20 minutes I got the first flounder on the 2/0 rig. It was just a small one, 27 cm and about a half pound. After that they came fairly regularly. The next was a reasonable size - 40 cm and just over 1.5 lb. The next was 36 cm, 1 lb 2 oz, followed by a 37 cm 1 lb 5 oz flounder. After that I got much stronger knock on the rod, it was a flounder-coalfish double. The flounder was 37 cm, about 1.5 lb, the coalfish was 38 cm and a little over 1 lb. All were caught on the 2/0 rig.

Following that the next flounder was another 40 cm fish, weighing 1.5 lb. The final flounder was a bit smaller, 36 cm and a little over 3/4 lb. Both were caught on the 3/0 rig

It got quite after that, the only other fish was a small coalfish of about 25 cm caught at about 5 pm

There were no further bites after that and by 6.00 pm I had used the last of my crab. I tried a bit of razor but only succeeded in catching a crab so decided to call it a day - but not a bad result.

#2 Post by **RockHunter** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 10:03 am

A few more photos

#3 Post by **adrwdarcy** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 10:09 am

Great session. Well done!

#4 Post by **eyesreilly** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 11:33 am

Well done Rockhunter :lol: , you really have those flounder sussed out. Crab is King down there, they really worked for you. You had a busy few hours during daylight :!: :!: . And all caught on 2/0 or 3/0 hooks, I thought they had small mouths :? :? . Great fishing :lol:

#5 Post by **wayne riley** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 1:13 pm

well done rockster, was meant 2 get out in cobh over wkend but it was 2 bad so i jus had 2 drink all wkend and dyin 4 it now :D :D :D

#6 Post by **RockHunter** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 8:02 pm

Thanks guys,
It is good to be catching some quality fish after the lean spell over the winter.

Dave,
Yes crab is the only bait for Youghal. The sea bed must be alive with crabs, the fish come in looking for them.

But apart from that the crabs will strip the bait off a hook within minutes if baited with anything else. They will eventually eat the crab bait too but it usually takes a lot longer before they rob it. A few times I have fished in Youghal without crab and had to rebait the hooks every 5 to 10 minutes or thought I had a fish only to retrieve and find a crab stuffing my bait into its mouth. So I learnt my lesson.

It is amazing what a flounder can cram inside its small mouth. Yesterday the rig with the size 1 hooks was untouched - most of the fish were taken on the 2/0 and 3/0 hooks. However, last week it was the opposite - the three flounder I got then were caught with size 1 hooks. I cant explain that - I was casting in to the same area but yesterday the flounder has no interest at all in the bait on the smaller hooks.