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A Map, a Rod and a Box of Lures

John Hall 31 January, 2006 09:30:00

Long ago I stopped carrying too much tackle, when you walk for a few miles exploring new ground more than a small bag or a belt full of pouches can become far to heavy to carry. Especially when the seven-pound bass you are carrying home for your tea begins to weigh heavy and you are actually wishing your pal had caught it so he could carry it back instead of you. My hunting ground is the south coast of Ireland between Rosscarberry in West Cork to the river Barrow in Waterford and despite fishing here for the past twenty years or so I am still finding and fishing new marks.

I often fish along the Cork coast and I hear the deep rumble of the Cork/Swansea Ferry long before I see it emerge from the gloom heading for Ringaskiddy to disgorge its passengers. Most of the visitors who are here for the sea angling head immediately for Kerry a gruelling journey of 3 hours or so. I wonder if they realise that they have just sailed past some of the best bass fishing in Ireland where the average fish is nigh on 5lbs and its rare to have a blank day in these waters. Its not just bass either, the wrasse grow to specimen size on the deep water marks below the cliffs and the large pollack can smash you on the first dive if you hook one of the really big ones.

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The coastline is diverse enough to suit all anglers, deserted estuaries, storm beaches and rock marks where you rarely meet another angler are waiting for the adventurous person to cast a line. Bait is plentiful, especially in the estuaries where good-sized sandeel, peelers and lug can be collected at this time of year. Apart from collecting a few hard backs for wrasse fishing I much prefer to carry a few lures. I usually take a fly rod and a ten-foot spinning rod with 12 pound line. Its possible to fish lighter but the rocks can be very abrasive so it pays to keep to the slightly heavier breaking strain.

I usually study my ordnance survey maps looking for tracks that may well lead down to a beach or creek. I have ended up in a fair few farm yards in my time but the farmers are usually pretty helpful and you might find the odd one who will take you fishing himself although most of them target the mackerel and pollack. When they tell me no one fishes for bass in that particular area my heart rate usually rises because its probably another mark I will have to myself. I tend to look for shallow bays between headlands that are exposed at low water. The small fish and crustaceans emerge from under the kelp and from out of the rock pools as the tide floods in. You can often see bass foraging in over the shallow water with their backs exposed in the rush to grab an early feed. As the tide rises the bass will hide behind rocks and then they will ambush the sandeels and sprats as they swim by.

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My normal lure is a floating plug, preferable jointed and shallow diving. Storm Thundersticks are my best catchers, rebels and bombers follow close behind. In really shallow water or over kelp I have had good success using a large redgill on a long trace with a filled bubble float above the swivel acting as the weight. These methods have produced a lot of fish over rocks for me with a couple of fish in excess of 11lbs within the past year. Further west around Clonakilty the locals do use plugs but they also have great success on live sandeel. My friend Bat O'Donovan took 11 bass to 5.5lbs last weekend using this method and he also took two flounders over 2lbs.

One of the advantages of lure or fly-fishing is the fact that you can cover a large area while hunting for your fish. A common mistake is to stand in one spot and cast out continuously. I much prefer to cast into a gully a few times and then move on. You will pick up the fish that are resting behind rocks or in gullies waiting to carry out an ambush. Using this method it is not unusual to catch five or six fish in an afternoon over six pounds. Daytime fishing from September onwards is much more effective, in fact I much prefer daytime or dusk to night fishing. The lads who live bait in Clonakilty get the same sort of results by fishing during the day.

One of the features of this coastline is the fact that bass can be caught throughout the year. The months of December to March are best fished with baited rigs. Frozen sandeel, lug, squid and best of all, razorfish will all catch during this period. During early April the bass will appear in larger numbers and in my area lure fishing can produce some spectacular results. Around mid April the bass suddenly appeared one night and I landed 14 fish. Later in the same month I fished with Bob Moss from Kerry and we lost count after catching at least 30 bass in a two-hour session. Most fish were in the 3-4lb range with the best topping 6.5lbs.

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For those of you who are not familiar, Ireland is the only European country that has a conservation policy towards Bass and there is no commercial fishing allowed. Although there is illegal netting taking place from time to time. Anglers are restricted to taking two fish in any twenty four-hour period, the minimum size limit is 43cm and there is a close season between the 15th of May and 15th June when no bass can be killed. In fact a lot of anglers return their fish taking only the odd one for the pot. I have landed over 60 bass this year but I have only taken about 4 fish. Large fish over the ten pound specimen weight are often caught, some are returned and others are taken home without being officially weighed so only a small proportion of the larger fish are recorded.

Ireland has a population in the region of 3.5million and a third of these people live in the Dublin area. If you want sparsely populated beaches and rock marks that still produce excellent catches of fish and a variety of species then the south coast of Ireland is the ideal place to visit.

USEFUL INFORMATION

ACCOMMODATION
Waterford, contact 00353 51 875 823
Cork, contact 00353 21 4273251

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TACKLE SHOPS
Cork, Murray's Patrick Street 00353 21 4271089
The Tackle Shop, Lavitts Quay 00353 21 4272842
Cobh, Cobh Fishing Tackle Ballynoe 00353 21 481 2167
Clonakilty, Clontackle and Leisure, Spillers Lane 00353 23 35580

ANGLING GUIDE
Saltwater Sports Angling, John Hall, Cobh, 00353 21 4815508 00353 86 8256606.