My PB Smashed With This Lure Caught Bass..

Is this fish older than me?

Report to Follow including video of her release.

Danny.

Back on home soil ….

After our Kerry trip I had a few days off, so I hit the water and connected with some nice fish around Wexford on the lures. My main target was Wrasse and later some Bass. The New moon was on the Monday and I fished until the Thursday at all hours of the day.

Yes September is here!
Here are some of the fish I encountered:

Avocado & Silver Wrasse.

Wrasee over 5lb, the pic does not do the fish justice..

A crabs worst nightmare..

Senko Wrasse.

Another Wrasse at the start of the rise.

Mission accomplished 5lb Bass on a new mark...

My first Bass in Wexford after the Kerry trip... Happy Out.com

Getting ready to head back home.

Another Bass comes ashore.

Ready..?

Gone.

Another Billy swims off.

I landed a specimen Wrasse shortly after I fought a Specimen Bass to my feet, it was after 10mins of head shaking, long runs and multiple rapid change of direction that I brought her to (nearly) my hand. I grabed the leader but she was to heavy and lying a couple of feet down from me, she gave a hard head shake and straightened the 7g Bachi head….Well I have never been as ………..not impressed.com, I nearly threw the rod in the water and when I hooked and landed the big Wrasse Il be honest, I didnt give it the time of day I was that distracted at losing the Bass, quick picture and I put it back.

On one of the sessions I arrived ( knowingly) about 2 hours too early and I just sat there watching the tide rise and the fish to filter in, Gannets and Terns patrolling, seals moving through and the odd swallow streaking past myline of vision….. truly a lotto moment, no work to go to, no phones to answer and no problems to fix …someday maybe I can do this at will : )

Observations:
Pick your fishing platform with caution, where will you land that big fish!?
Middle of the tide fished best for me on the Wrasse.
The Storm Sand Eel still has it..

Up she flew....

Its good to be back.

Danny.

Waterville County Kerry 26th – 29th of August.

I had promised myself back in March that I would return to Kerry and explore and fish some of the excellent coastline that was on display during my family trip.  A week before the trip it was looking like I would be travelling solo until the lads got wind of the idea and the party suddenly rose to 5 eager anglers ! Barry, Crevan, Marc, Pat and Myself ( Padraig was penciled in but couldn’t make it due to work commitments )

My aim of the trip was to go after some decent Pollock on the lures from the shore and maybe some Bass fishing at night. This was agreed to by all, accommodation booked and two jeeps loaded to the gills with gear we pointed ourselves West and didn’t spare the horses !

The accommodation was top notch for the price,( I think the lads were impressed with my late Google search !) it was also right in the middle of the action and only a couple of minutes from the high tide line.

I had put out a request on a couple of forums looking for some areas that produce some decent Pollock, and fair play to the lads as they offered up some great information. Local knowledge is always key.

We got straight into the fishing on arrival Friday evening, out the door and hard after Bass and 48 hours later I think we only had 3 hours sleep and I was breathing Red Bull. We are here to fish as the man says…

POLLOCK

Our target species was elusive to say the least, the first few fish fell to Barry and Marc who nailed a few juvenile Pollock off the top in depths of Friday night. A first for Marc, who was truly delighted with his catch, get in there lad! Saturday seen us venture further afield after studying some of the information given to us, a call was made and off we went armed to the teeth with Soft Plastics. On location we split up Barry and myself got into the mix while Crevan and Pat ventured furter afield ( Marc was back at base camp manufacturing a few ZZZZZZ for all of us). I got my first Kerry Pollock on a Kilty Catcher when I changed my retrieve speed to warp 9. fish on and the Monkey was off my back.

Me with my first Kerry Pollock.

Pat with his first Kerry Pollock.

A new Pollock Personal Best for me from the shore.

Me with 9lb of Golden Power.

Getting the 9lb Pollock ready to go back.

As the day progressed we realized the fish were playing hard ball so we moved around until we settled on a nice looking spot were clam water met the rougher sea. A serious depth of water lay in front of us as we launched a full scale attack on the depths. I picked up a packet of Fin S SP’s before I left Wexford to give them a try and first cast I lost a decent Pollock who threw the hook right at my feet! typical.. anyway I shared the Fin S SP’s around to the lads and soon Crevan and Pat had landed Pollock. Happy Days…

Cue the Golden Torpedo, after a slight adjustment after an entanglement with Crevans line I take up the slack and feel a vibration I strike and hang on for the next few minutes!! Line peels off the Twin Power…. the Pollock was sending me a message…… whos your Daddy !! Line still peeling and the message understood, quick drag adjustment and I begin to pump the fish up the depths in between some serious crash dives. We eventually see the fish, and it is big one, and gives a clear signal it is not readyto be landed just yet cue another crash dive that nearly cuts the line on a submerged rock ledge…a few moments pass and up she came and Barry Boggas her.

Mission accomplished with a personal best as it swings the scales over 9lbs, what a fish !, a few pictures and the fish was released to make another angler a very happy camper in the future!

BASS

The Billy’s were playing the same game as the Pollock, and were proving difficult to say the least. We moved around alot under the cover of darkness until we located a spot where Barry connected with a bar of Silver off to my left which lifted the spirits early hours on Saturday.  I tune back in from my daze and connect with a Bass, a welcome sight it was which woke me up… Barry picks up another before the fishing goes flat and we move on.

On a beach in the dark of night spirits are not at the highest, even Red Bull cant mask the aches in the shoulders and arms due to the thousands of casts that have been offered so far…. Crevan, Marc, Pat and me are standing on the waters edge having a bit of craic at the expenses of the poor fishing we are encountering when Barry takes a small walk up the beach.

Billy after dark.

Playing with his Patchinko 100 ( the one he used to hate !!!) ‘Fish on’ is the shout’, we all tink he is taking the Pi$$ until we see his rod bent clean over and nodding hard. A great fight plays out on the beach an excellent condition Bass is landed which swings the scales over the 7lb mark. A1 Sharon.

Barry with his 7lb Bass.

Happy Days

Billy going back.

Off it goes.

WRASSE

Not our target species, but we were bound to encounter them as by-catch when chasing the Pollock. Marc had a savage day on the Sunday when he picked up 4 Ballans in about an hour and missed as many too on a black Wave Worm. Barry and Pat also connected with one but it was Crevan who stole the show it a Pig.

Kerry Wrasse.

Pat with a Kerry Wrasse.

Perched out on a rock out crop with Pat, we look on as Pat shouts ‘Oh laaaad look at the size of that’ ( No Crevan didnt have his trousers down !). Crevan on the QT lands a Pig of a Wrasse, he hooked it in tight to the rock he was perched on using an Xlayer if memory severs me. A fine fish and a new personal best for Crevan at 5.5lb. Oh yeah..

Crevan with his Specimen Wrasse.

GARFISH

Another by-catch, I had mine on a Feed Shallow, which jump clean out of the water when it hit the lure, I didnt know what was going on for a minute ! Crevan also landed one, I dont know what lure he was using.

My first Kerry Garfish.

Conditions

Bright sunshine mixed with some cloud passing through, dumping  the odd shower on us. Wind was North Westerly varying from fresh to strong. Sea conditions were calm for the most part.

Great weather.

Crevan and Pat scouting.

Conditions ideal for top water antics.

Marc in his element..

Crevan investigating....

Some random and underwater pictures

Hiking at the crack of dawn.

How did you get up there Marc?

A Launce I hooked bang in the gob on a Kilty Catcher.

Pollock swimming by.

That mouth swallowed a fist no problem when being unhooked!

Conclusion

The quantity was very poor for our trip, we had five rods firing on all cylinders for the duration of the trip but the fish did not play ball unfortunately. We put the hours in (I think Crevan now understands why we drink so much Red Bull !). However the quality of the fish was excellent in relation to the quantity landed.9lb Pollock, 7lb Bass and 5.5lb Wrasse is not to be sniffed at.

On a further note we were speaking to John Quinlan on our travel’s who informed us there had recenlty been a big down pour which flooded the land. The run off turned the bay brown and pushed all the fish out to sea, and the fishing had been very poor since.

So maybe we didn’t do too bad after all?

Special Thanks

I would like to thank the people who responded to my request for information on the area we were fishing:

Pete Smith – The man sent me Kevin Brains Book of the area, one word GENTLEMAN.
Richard of  http://bassfishingcork.blogspot.com/ again sent me some valuable information on the area, much appreciated.

Chris Davies for sharing his previous experiences and tactics with me. Cheers.
Tanglerat ( Thanks Ger, appreciated that info)  joebhoy & alanmcc64 from SAI

Great Craic was had even though the fishing was a bit slow, I hope we have many more adventures around the country in the near future.

Until next time.

Your next one could be your best one…

Danny.