West Waterford - 2nd & 3rd July 2012

[RockHunter]

People: Me

Duration: 2nd July: 10.30 pm - 2.00 am, 3rd July: 11 pm - 3.00 am

Tide: LW at 11.30 pm (2nd July)

Weather: Light southerly wind

Bait: Razor, Rag

Rigs: 4/0 pennel pulleys

Results:
2nd July: 2 dogfish, 2 coalfish, 1 Bull Huss
3rd July: 3 Dogfish, 1 Bull Huss




Report: After a few fruitless lure session last week and over the weekend I decided to return to bait fishing.

2nd July: All I had for bait was frozen razor but throught I would give it a go as I did not have time to dig fresh bait earlier in the day. I headed to a beach which produced a couple of nice bass two weeks ago and would be fishing much the same stage of the tide. There was a good surf and low cloud totally blocked out the full moon so I was hopefully of getting a few bass.

These was a lot of fine weed in the surf close to the shore so I had to cast out further than I would have liked. Shortly after setting up I had a good knock on one of the rods, at first I was convinced it was a bass since it was pulling strongly but as I retrieved the fight weakened. A few minutes later I hauled a large dogfish out of the surf. That was followed by a rather plump coalfish. I have never caught coalfish in July from that beach - probably an indication of how cold the water is, well below the average July sea temperature.

As the tide began to push in more strongly I had another dogfish. Again it was a large one which fought well and had me thinking it was a bass until I had it on the beach.

Another coalfish followed. Then I had a sharp tug on one of the rods, I picked it up and could feel a strong fish on the end. It was pulling hard so I knew it was definitely not a dogfish. As I got it in close I could see a good fish splashing about in the surf and was sure it was a bass until I had it on the beach - it was a Bull Huss!!

I fished on for a bit longer but had no more bites so packed up about half an hour later.

3rd July: I dug some rag worms at lunch time and that night returned to the same beach but fished a different location further to the west. The surf was much weaker compared to the previous night but it was relatively weed free. I cast out one rod and was setting up a second when I spotted some tugs on the first. I struck and began to retrieve. I could tell from the way the initial fight died off that this was another dogfish.

Another two dogfish followed. Then I had a fish which was putting up a much better fight. This must be a bass I thought - but I was wrong - it was another Bull Huss, smaller than the one I had the previous night.

The tide began to push in after that but there were no more bites. I fished for about another two hours with only a few gentle nibbles which were probably small fish pulling on the bait.

[tight lines]

unlucky with the bass frank but its not all bad when you get a few huss from the beach

[sparkey+1]

Fair play Frank great fishing and pics of the huss very similar colours to a few dogs we got over in Connemara a while back I thought they where huss!!

[Deleted User 3488]

Nice huss Frank,,does the same mark throw up the odd thornie aswell?

[RockHunter]

Thanks guys,

ice huss Frank,,does the same mark throw up the odd thornie aswell?

No but there are Painted Ray there.