Jason O’Riordan, South East Game Angling reports:
I set off to my chosen mark and there was a serious blow so plugging wasn’t a realistic option for me. I tied on a weightless weedless soft plastic and chucked it out into a gulley. I was retrieving it in the surf on the third cast when, at the last second, I felt something hit and almost didn’t react as I had convinced myself I was going to get stuck in the bottom. Except, the line moved to the side and so, instinctively, I struck and he was on. Not a monster but giving a good account of himself and beaching him was a problem as I had to stay so far back the rocks for safety. Eventually I got him in – a nice plump school bass.
I moved further along the rocks to a higher platform as the big tide was really racing in with the southerly wind. I wasn’t long in that spot when WOLLOP, and I’m in again. Another nice bass. This one really hit as he turned in the strong upsurge of water. Still his bright scales were glistening through the mass of white foam and suds. As I prepared to pick him up and release him back into a surging wave I noticed he had a rather strange gill plate!
Once again I was forced along the rocks to an even higher platform. At this stage I was joined by my friend Mossy who called down to meet me for a cast. The tide was filling fast and even on this high outcrop the waves were crashing in over our heads and the saltwater was running down our necks. It was time to make a judgment call. This was a good spot at this height of tide and there was a cracking gulley in front of us but for safety reasons I decided we should (well me anyway!) move to far end of the rocks to fish from the safety of a shingle beach. I led the way on what was something of a lengthy trek. By the time we made it to the shingle, a lot of the tide had filled which was good for us as the water in front of us was reasonably deep and we were perched nicely above the crashing waves. I switched to weighted Molix soft plastic and Mossy went with a weighted lure that had worked for him in Tramore recently that he had bought from the local shop there. There were a few noticeable areas along the beach where the water was more coloured up than others. I decided to fish along the edge of the coloured water and Mossy fished along the edge of the rocks. It wasn’t long before I was in again! This fish had really swallowed the lure and my attempt at removing the hook caused more bleeding for me than the fish!
After my close encounter with little Spikey , I suggested that Mossy try one of the lures from my box. Success was almost instant and he was delighted to get off the mark. Here he is with his little schoolie.
Mossy had another close encounter with a big wave as he was releasing this fish. I won’t go into details but it was pretty funny. In no time at all he was into another lively fish. He was catching up to me with this one!
I had to up my game as this guy learns fast. Unknown to Mossy I spotted something surfing up on the wave – it was either bait, or fish, or fish chasing bait. Saying nothing, I moved closer to that spot and started fishing again. Yep, it was more school bass. Instant success!
The final fish of the day fell to Mossy on the weighted Molix lure I gave him. I just need to get it back off him now!!!!!!!!!!!!
Overall, we weren’t really fishing for that long and while we didn’t get any big fish we both agreed that it was a pretty awesome session. With a lengthy walk back to the parking spot we decided to call it a day when there was, in reality, still a lot of fishing time left and I suspect we could have continued on catching. But there were no complaints from either of us.
Compliments of:
Jason O’Riordan,
Web: www.southeastgameangling.com