Duration: 2.00 to 8.00 pm
Tide: HW at 3.15 pm
Weather: Mild, very calm, light westerly breeze, sunny, dry
Bait: Lug, razor, mackerel, squid
Rigs: 4/0 pennel pulley, 3 hook and 2 hook flappers
Results: 1 flounder, 9 whiting
Report: First day fishing in a month - I didn't venture out in the Artic conditions at the end of last month and early this month and then I was abroad for nearly two weeks so I was looking forward to getting back out fishing. I dug a bunch of lug at low tide in the morning and in the early afternoon headed to Youghal. I spend a couple of hours fishing the bay but there was not a hint of a bite - even the crabs were scarse. The bay was dead calm - more like a lake. So I moved on to another mark in West Waterford. The sea was again very calm, too calm, hardly a ripple never mind a wave. I set up three rods one with a three hook flapper with small hooks (1, 2, and 4), one with a two hook flapper (size 1/0 hooks) and the third rod with 4/0 pennel in the hope of something big.
However, the rod tips remained motionless for a couple of hours - then I spotted a quiver on the rod with the 4/0 pennel - I waited for a few seconds until there was another tap on the rod and struck - I reeled in a 36 cm flounder - he had managed to completely swallow the 4/0 hook and large bait - only the upper hook of the pennel remained free. The fish was quite scrawny - the thinnest flounder of that length that I have ever caught. But at least it was a fish and I was saved from a blank
Towards dusk I had a small knock on the rod with the 3 hook flapper - the first of the whiting, but quite small, only about 20 cm. After dark the whiting came on the feed - I caught a total of nine, mostly on mackerel, although a few on squid or lug. They were all small, the largest was only 23 cm
However, after about a hour the shoal moved on and the bites dried up.
So not the greatest session for the amount of time put in - but at least it was a nice warm afternoon and it was good to be out fishing again after a month long break.
