East Cork beach - 15th December 2008

[RockHunter]

People: Me

Duration: 3 hours

Tide: HW at 7.20 pm

Weather: Misty, moderate southwesterly wind, mild

Bait: Black lug, razor

Rigs: 3/0 and 4/0 pennel pulleys

Results: 1 bass




Report: Having had dismal fishing results over the weekend - blanked off an East Cork beach which had been producing good results the previous couple of weeks on Saturday night despite a good surf and plenty of freshly dug large black lug, fished for 5 hours on Ballyquin on Sunday evening with only a 29 cm flounder to show for all the effort - I decided to give the East Cork beach another shot as I had a lot of lug left over.

There was a fairly good surf when I arrived. Set up two rods both with pennel pulleys baited with lug/razor. Weed was a bit of a problem, big stalks of kelp were catching in the tackle, ripping up the grippers and dragging the line across the beach. For the first two hours there was not a sign of a bite. Then I spotted a knock on one of the rods - sharper than the knocks I was getting from the kelp. I grabbed the rod and found the line had gone slack, I retrieved in the slack line until I felt some resistance and then struck - hooking into a fish. It was putting up a good struggle so I guessed it had to be a bass - it was - a 50 cm bass

I stayed on for another hour but there were no more bites - just kelp.

So despite a good surf I had one bass bite which I fortunately managed to land, on a beach where I had several good sessions over the last couple of weeks (4 bass each session, with a fair few missed bites), but had blanked on there Saturday night despite an even better surf - the reason?
Damn lowlife, vile, moronic, scum have been netting one of the best bass marks in Cork


I was lucky to get that one fish. But so much for "catch and release" when those scum can distroy the bass population over a few nights. Sometimes I didn't even keep one bass thinking that I was preserving the stock.

[saltydog]

Nice Bass Frank well done for getting him through the weed. Thats awful about the net men hopefully the authorities have been notified

[The Austrian]

...Damn lowlife, vile, moronic, scum have been netting one of the best Bass marks in Cork


...I was lucky to get that one fish. But so much for "catch and release" when those scum can distroy the Bass population over a few nights. Sometimes I didn't even keep one Bass thinking that I was preserving the stock.

pondering if I should take up a new passion then in future, might call it "turn a scumbag into a chumbag"

[eyesreilly]

Well done Frank, nice fish,good result with all the weed that was about,,,sorry to hear your report of the illegal netting,,, thats brutal as we say up here .Can something not be done about them? I presume theyre selling them illegally? People must know who is involved. Hopefully the authorities will take note.

[seanie35]

well done frank they are getting bigger, pity about the netting, imagine the netting that goes on that we hear or see nothing of,

[RockHunter]

Thanks guys,
I didn't actually see any nets but have heard from several sources that extensive netting was going on. Although a week or so ago I did see lights from a boat not too far out - I didn't think anything of it at the time but that was probably netters. Also a couple of anglers that normally do well in that area were suddenly blanking despite ideal conditions. So the obvious conclusion is that netting has been going on.

I presume theyre selling them illegally?

I doubt the sell them in Ireland, probably bring them over to the UK or France.

[Al and Jordan]

Thats awful about the net men hopefully the authorities have been notified

dirty, rotten, scumbag low lifes. xxxxxxx (mod edit) surely someone must know where these guys launch and land their boats in the early hours of the morning

[Pat]

There are a lot of people working behind the scenes trying to ensure that these buggers are caught and that the proper sanctions are applied. Many of these are unsung hereos and work tirelessly and selflessly putting in much of their free time (some are members of this site; you know who you are). It is very frustrating for them and for those of us who fish these venues that every so often these beaches are cleaned out of almost their entire stock of fish. The same thing happened last year at almost the exact time. These buggers just carry on giving two fingers to the law and law abiding citizens .

[thescotsman]

not sure if we are talking about the same beach, but I was down there monday night with basslover1 and we had no bites at all, looked clear, but after about 20yds out, just big kelp stalks dragging the lines around. There was also a balled up net on the beach, didn't pay much attention as I assumed it was some old net that had been lost etc, but maybe not....

[Pat]

That's an old net Lee. It has been there for a while now. Most likely one lost are sea by a beam trawler by the look's of it.