Duration: Various
Tide: LW about 8.30 pm
Weather: Mild, clear, light westerly breeze
Bait: Lug, razor
Rigs: 3/0 amd 4/0 pennel pulleys
Results: Me: 3 bass; Patk: 4 bass
Report: I got a PM from Patk last Thursday to say he was heading to Kerry for the weekend and if I was interested in meeting up with him there he would very kindly show me some of the better marks. That was too good an opportunity to miss, especially since I had never fished there before.
I dug a big bunch of lug at low tide on Saturday morning, then Melissa and myself headed off. We got to Waterville at about 3.00 pm and checked into the Bay View Hotel who are doing a good deal on B&B at the moment. We met up with Pat shortly afterwards and he took us to the first mark. There was quite a nice surf but as it was still daylight we were not too optimistic. We fished there for a couple of hours without a bite, then headed back to the town for something to eat.
Later I met Pat at the next beach mark, one that fishes well late in the ebb and over low tide. I arrived just before dark, Pat was already there. It was a popular spot - 4 other anglers were already set up. I set up two rods both baited with lug/razor on 4/0 and 3/0 pennel pulleys. It was quite for a while until it was dark. Pat got the first bass - a small one, less than 40 cm. A little later I spotted a small knock on the rod, it didn't look like a proper bass bite - more like the fish was testing the bait before engulfing it. But then I saw the line going slack, I grabbed the rod but it was too late. The fish must have grabbed the bait and swam in towards the shore before dropping it.
A little later there was a very similar twitch on the rod tip. I instantly grabbed the rod, rapidly wound in the slack and struck. This time the fish didn't get away. But it didn't feel to be of much size, and when I hauled it ashore it was a small bass, only about 35 cm. But nevertheless it was my first bass of 2010
It was cleanly hooked in the side of the mouth so was easy to release.About 20 minutes later I had another very similar bite, again a slackliner, I quickly caught up with the slack and struck. This one felt a bit stronger, although when I landed it I found that it was not much larger - about 38 cm. Again it was cleanly hooked in the mouth.
Shortly afterwards Pat got the best fish of the night - a bass of about 48-50 cm (not sure if Pat got an exact length for it). Pat had one more undersize bass after that.
The tide was beginning to push strongly forward and the bites stopped so it looked like the fish had moved on. We decided to move to the mark we that we had fished earlier in the afternoon. There was still a good surf rolling in so it looked good. However, Pat didn't stay at it for too long as he had been up very early that morning, but I decided to stick it out to high tide.
It was quite for a while then I had a good knock on one rod - again it was a slackline bite, the fish swam to the right with the bait and crossed the line from the other rod but dropped the bait before I had reeled in the slack and could strike. As I was retrieving I snagged the other line. I got the two lines untangled fairly quickly but then got into a terrible tangle with the shock leader and the main line. It must have taken me over an hour to sort it out, and I only did that by cutting a chunk off the shock leader and the main line. In order to try to sort out the mess I moved back up the beach to avoid the occasional surging wave. While I was trying to untangle the line I saw the other rod tip bouncing madly but by the time I got to it the fish was gone
In my rush to the rod the shockleader got caught around my feet, I almost fell over, and had dragged the leader down the beach. A wave rolled in and I thought the leader was washed away, but a little later I found it wrapped around the base of the tripod. Eventually I got it reattached and set the rod back on the tripod then as I walking back to the bait box to get some fresh lug the rig must have been caught on my boots and I succeeded in pulling both rods off the stand just as a big wave was surging in I rescued the rods and was very tempted to pack in at that stage after an hour of frustration and missed bites but I wasn't going to let that get the better of me and decided to fish on until I had one more bass.About half an hour later - while holding one rod I felt a small tug - I struck and reeled in the smallest bass of the night at just over 30 cm.
I gave it another half an hour just in case there were a few more about but there were no more bites. So while not much in terms of quality at least I had made a start on the bass score sheet for the year.
The next day the sea was dead calm, like a lake. We met up with Pat again and decided the the best option was some plugging. It was very quite at the first mark we tried. Then Pat suggested trying another spot the fishes well close to high tide. When we arrived we found a few other anglers already there, including John Quinlan with whom we had a chat with about IrishBass.org and Sean Connick etc.
John was guiding for the other guys. They were fly fishing and had a few takes but nothing hooked. We gave the plugs a lash. Then just as they were moving off, John spotted a fish and cast out a surface plug and landed a bass probably of the order of 3 lb. That gave us encouragement so we fired out the plugs for a while but there was no more takers. But at least it was good to see that a bass can be caught on plugs at this time of the year.
At about 4 pm we packed up, as we had a long drive home and wanted to stop for a meal on the way.
I enjoyed the weekend so I would like to say a big thank you to Pat for inviting me along and sharing his knowledge on the various marks we fished. I will definitely be back when the weather warms up and the bass are more prolific.
