Duration: 3rd June: 7.00 - 10.00 pm, 4th June: 5.30 - 10.00 pm
Tide: HW at 7 pm (3rd June)
Weather: Great!!!, calm, warm, clear, sunny
Bait: Rag and lures
Rigs:
Results:
3rd June: 14 Pollock
4th June: 17 Pollock, 1 Garfish, 1 Coalfish
Report:
3rd June: I hadn't been fishing since the bass ban came into force so with warm calm weather forecast for the weekend it was time to get out and wet a line. I planned to mostly lure fish but I took along some rag too. I headed to a deepish water mark that I reckoned should throw up some pollock and maybe wrasse too.
I arrived at the mark at about 7.00 pm (high tide at 7.30 pm). It was a warm sunny evening and the sea was dead calm, like a lake. I put on an Xlayer and lobbed it out a short distance. On about the third cast I had a pollock of approximately 2 lb. I had a few more casts without a bite so decided to try some rag. I freelined a large king ragworm, letting it drift down over a ledge. I was hoping some wrasse would be lurking under there. Almost immediately I was getting tugs on the bait, and then hooked a pollock, again about 2 lb. This was followed by another three pollock in the 1-2 lb range. But no wrasse.
I was fishing a area of deep water just to the east of a shallow bay. The bay is a good mark for bass but once the water depth increases they dont seem to move any further east. However, I could see an angler fishing close to the western end of the bay. In that area he could only be targeting bass - despite the ban
I switched back to an Xlayer and after a few casts landed another pollock. I had another three pollock on the Xlayer, all in close but small, nothing above 1.5 lbs. I found a stop/start method of retrieve worked best, reel in at a slow pace for a few seconds, stop and let the lure drop, most of the fish then struck. I switched to a small metal spinner so that I could cast out further. I did pick up a few pollock 30-40 m or so out. As the sun began to set the pollock began to feed more ferociously. I could feel them hitting the lure on every cast, hooked some and lost some. Most of the fish were small but a few were about 2 lbs.
I packed up at 10 pm so that I could make my way a back up the cliff while there was still some light. It was a good session with a total of 14 pollock.
4th June: After the success of the previous session I headed to the same mark on Saturday but got there earlier at about 5.30 pm. I had a few casts with an Xlayer but nothing was biting. I then tried some float fishing with rag. However, unlike the previous day there was no interest. Then I spotted a disturbance in the bay to my right - a basking shark was crusing around very close to the shore. I stopped fishing and watched it for a while. It then swam out of the bay, at first it was moving westwards, but then turned and swam towards me, passing only 10 from the rock where I was fishing, before turning again and swiming diagonally away from the shore out to sea.
After that interruption it was back to fishing. I put an Xlayer back on and after a few casts had the first pollock, it was about 2 lbs. This was followed a little later by a second of approximately the same size. It was then quite for a while so I switched to the metal spinner that had been successful the previous day and picked up another 2lb pollock. I alternated between this lure, an Xlayer and various jelly worms for a while after that, but the bites were slow. At one stage when my lure hit the surface a fish lept out of the water close by. It looked long and slender, like a garfish but I wasn't sure as I only had a momentary glance at it. I had a few more pollock after that mostly on the spinner. Then suddenly I hooked something that was putting up a strong fight and not diving to the depths like the pollock tend to do. As I got it in close I could see it was a silvery fish but long and eel-like. I hauled it onto the rocks - it was a garfish!!!!
As the sun began to set the pollock came on the feed. They were hitting the lure on almost every cast and in amongst them all I caught a small coalfish. However, the pollock were generally small, mostly in the 1 lb range. I was intending to pack up at 10 pm so at about 9.50 pm I put on a wave worm hoping that it might produce a bigger fish. Second cast I had a pollock of just over 2 lb, shortly followed by a second of about the same size.
I packed up just after 10 pm. So another successful session with a total of 17 pollock, 1 garfish and 1 coalfish.
the fish just seem to love you 
just over a week ago i also saw 3 anglers on a local mark who were most definetly targeting bass 
. Oh for a week in a seaside cottage in Cork !!