Merry Christmas!

Looks like i wont get out again till the holl's..........Sooooooooo.......

Happy Christmas!!!!!!!

Not a good night.

Out the other night for a cast and had razor/clam/squid and mack for bait.
Trundled out to a rocky mark with deepish water and set up. First bait out was a nice clam and after 10 min a solid bite which resulted in a very nice sized K9.
But while lifting him up i heard a funny noise and when i checked my rod the tip ring was snapped off!
Ouch!
I dropped the doggy back to the water and inspected the damage....ah well ...
I fished on but the line kept wrapping around the tip section, so after another while i packed it in.
A repair will be done over the weekend.


Not nice on your first cast.




Also ...... i had company for a good while ............

Dusting off the beach caster.

Got my beach casting gear out the other night to try for a cod or whiting off a Cork beach.The rod is a Century 14" with a Penn Surf master 70 reel and Penn long distance Surf Co-polymer line.
My rig was a home made 70lb body with a single snood clip down (Gemini clip) with a size 4/0 Kamasan B940 hook ..all ending in a break out lead about 4oz.
The idea is to chuck a big bait out(tied on with bait elastic) as far as possible at night and hope a big fish will slurp it up
The bait i had were some Razor clam i collected a few months ago and frozen down, and some Ammo blast frozen Mack.
I set up and cast out and it flew away nicely.....so i hadn't lost my touch after six months of lure casting!!
Or so i thought ...the next one cracked off mid cast, and i stood there in the dark up to my waist in water, with one hand over my head and eyes squeezed shut waiting for the return to earth!
Very nice......
Anyway................after several hours fishing all the baits came back untouched (not even crabs about).
Then i had one massive bite and the rod slammed over and and back ...i waited...nothing.... after a while i inspected the bait and it was torn badly .....something big??
A Bass??
Who knows?
Nothing more for the night and home i went.
I dont mind too much because i got the gear out and it all works (apart from catching fish).

Bait ready to fly....................

Playing the game....it was cold ... 2 deg. C.

The broom handle!!

Some frozen mack.

Some Clam ..........i collect my own.

winter blues again

Well the yak is in dry dock ...and the bass are thinning out...and the weather is really poor, but hopefully i will get out this week with the beach caster.
Winter cod on the menu?
Nothing like a fresh cod off the beach for C&E....
(catch and eat)
Hope this season will be better than the last two!!!

Evening Estuary Trip.

Out tonight for an evening trip, fishing a mark with a channel, at low tide.
Razor clam for bait, and an 11.5 foot rod (light) with a small 1oz lead to let the bait find the food holding spots.


The bait...razor clam.

Waiting for a bite.....

The rod..reel..and tackle....

Still waiting...........COME ON!

Well...this guy, and lots of his mates were all i saw...along with an Otter...
Ah well.....that's fishing
(by the way the crabs were C&R)
OUCH!

Night plugging.

Out tonight with top water Plugs..fishing an out-going tide in an estuarine type sandy mark.
After it got dark i could hear splashes but could not see the fish.
I cast the lure (dual aisle mag green mack) in the direction several times and after a long time i thought i hooked some weed.
As i wound in slowly the weed gave a kick and some seconds later i beached a nice bass.
This is my first bass on a surface popper!
I had some pollack before and also in the dark but this Bass is a breakthrough!!

The lure....

The Bass....

He/she went back no problem......

Is this my last lure caught fish this season????

Sat. 3rd Oct. Golden Grey Mullet on the fly.

Out today on the yak...the weather was a bit windy, and the sea a bit lumpy.

I set the fly rod up with some 4lb fluorocarbon tippet joined to 10lb line and some various flies, nymph and hare's ear type things.After a while the mullet arrived and in plague proportions!

I began to fish and later hooked a mullet just behind the dorsal fin.After releasing it the sea was now "boiling" with mullet they were under the yak and in their thousands!

I fished on but kept landing fish that were hooked in the back, there were so many of them!

Eventually i landed one which was hooked in the lower lip! (he did a Sargent Barnes on my yak!)

After that i hooked my first bass on a nymph type fly and even though it was only a school it dropped off at the last second....typical...i still have to boat a bass!

The sea was kicking up and i was getting cold, so i chucked a few more and headed for the car.

7 golden grey mullet and nearly a sea bass...how bad.

Another big one for me...My 14lb bass!

Out again trying my best to get a specimen..and as luck would have it...i did it again.

K2 was very jealous this time and who could blame him...

Oh you may notice the photo has been edited ...i had to crop the picture to hide the location the fish was captured....

early morn kayak trip.

Set the alarm and got all the gear ready (had made a list) .....5A.M....out a bed..
planned to fish a mark i had heard about a few years back..
Off i went and fished from 6.30 ish to 11ish ..
had a surprise foul hook up on the fly rod but nothing else...
The paddle back was tough ( gettin old)...
My plan to ambush the bass failed...how will i live with the shame...........
never saw so many mullet in one spot in my life!
Must make more of an effort to catch them..some big fish there..
Where are the bass?????

Fished clousers on the fly various colours, and a small shrimp-like fly called a mini puff..(this one foul hooked the mullet in the tail, so it must have been swimming away from the fly!)

First yak fish (on the fly)

Out today and had my first fish(on the yak), a small pollack on the fly rod.

FIRST BLOOD!

Actually i put it back...great sitting above it to watch it swim down into the depths..

No pic of the fish..nice kelp colour....

My account is open............................................................................

First launch.

Out today for the first time on the prowler 13
Did a lot of paddling to get used to the yak and a little fishing.But it was mostly enjoying the calm water at Fountainstown. No fish, but here are some photo's.......very enjoyable!

She's here!

Well she finally arrived (nearly 3 weeks!) my Ocean prowler 13 Angler.

I hope to get her out on the water for a test drive in the next few days.

My 4 year old loves it!! She says it hers!!

A launch report will follow....i may even bring a rod......( fly or spin???)