July Report

I was out on my low water mullet mark in Bantry Bay on the 1st with twin aims. First catch a July mullet or two for 52 months consecutive. Second, clear some of the Japanese seaweed with my new cutting tool to make the mark more easily fishable ahead of Steve Smith's visit next week.

I arrived a couple of hours before low water and could immediately see plenty of mullet activity on the surface. I set a small waggler float to fish 18" deep and was soon getting interest. I had two mullet out on breadflake, then one on a small chunk of fish flesh when they seemed to wise up to the bread. All 3lbs class fish and fighting-fit on the open coast there.

As the tide bottomed out I set about the weed. It wasn't a perticularly big tide but I got most of the close-in stuff, so both jobs done as best I could.

I was still fitting fishing in around the last of my exam work, so I wasn't out again till the 7th for just a short session on the rocks west of the village. I took the wrasse gear with a selection of soft plastics, and a bigger rod to fish redgills for pollack as I was under orders to bring one back to eat.

The wrasse were really up for the plastics for 90 minutes or so early in the flood tide, pulls most casts as I worked the lures up the rock face and I landed nine, all much of a muchness sizewise around 3lbs. Plus a bonus pollack about 4lbs so I never got as far as the redgills.

On the 9th I collected my old friend Steve from Cork Airport, ahead of us potentially six days of fishing though the weather looked unpromising after about the midpoint of his stay.

Steve isn't in the best of health these days and prefers only to fish short sessions, so I wanted to make the most of the fine weather forecast for the early part of his stay to get on to the Bantry Bay mark which lends itself admirably to a session of three to four hours over low water.

On the 10th we arrived to a stunning calm day with temperatures expected to reach 26degC. Mullet were topping everywhere when we arrived, and as soon as the water had dropped enough to access the mark Steve was fishing.

He was a bit rusty with his striking at first, but soon enough he was into a fish, and he went on to land five chunky mullet from 2:14 to 4:00. I was happy to do my ghillie act but eventually Steve insisted I have a fish too and I landed a couple of my own the same sort of size...

It was a bigger tide than when I was last down so on low water I could reach more of the Japanese weed to cut it free. That would make the fishing easier tomorrow, just a few clumps left now out of reach.

The 11th was rinse and repeat really as far as Steve was concerned, this time four chunky mullet starting off with this lump of 5:07 which comfortably exceeded anything I've landed from this mark.

I just couldn't get into the fishing today - lost a fish early on, lost a set of gear in a snag, missed a string of bites, landed a mullet not even 2lbs, lost another, missed more bites ... I was happy enough Steve was catching anyway.

Unfortunately that was as good as it got fishing-wise for Steve's visit.

The 12th was the last day we'd be able to get on the Bantry Bay mark before the weather broke so we went for it though I was dubious whether it would fish well three days running. As feared, there were visibly far fewer fish present and the bigger fish in particular seemed to have had enough and moved on. We should have caught really as we both had enough bites but they were sporadic and fiddly and we ended up missing them all and blanking.

On the 13th we headed down to Rosscarbery. There was a strong wind blowing straight up the estuary and heavy showers forecast, so we settled for a spot on the lagoon where we could fish down the wind and get the brolly up behind. There was quite a lot of mullet activity close in but we only mustered one good take between us, a fish of 2 - 3lbs that shook out Steve's hook after half a minute or so. I did wonder if some, possibly most, of the mullet we were seeing were thinlips as they didn't seem interested in bread at all.

The 14th was a shocking weather day that we didn't fish, though we spent the time productively, finishing a project we'd been working on for NMC then enjoyed a nice evening meal out with Sylvi at the Brick Oven in Bantry.

The 15th was still windy but the rain had passed. We headed down onto the Mizen for an early lunch at O'Sullivan's then fishing. I wasn't expecting much compared to the winter sport but there's usually a few decent mullet in the pool there. Except today there wasn't. The swim looked a million dollars and with the wind against the flow there was a lovely slow trot through, but we couldn't muster a credible bite between us. As the tide bottomed out a couple of huge balls of small mullet showed - everything from fry size to maybe 8oz - interesting to see but not really what we were about. We packed up early and went for an icecream and to watch the waves at Mizen Head.

Next up for me, a couple of trips to Rosscarbery fishing the estuary this time. On the 18th I fished near the bridge. It was a quiet day for the most part, but a brace of 4:04s came my way in quick succession while I was trying to eat my lunch and a 4:01 later in the afternoon just after I'd made a coffee with the last of the hot water from the flask. Last knockings I missed a massive take that somehow didn't hook up - at first I thought it had broken my line but I wound in to find just the lead missing from my rig with an opened out snap-link.

I was back to have another go on the 20th, this time along on the grass so I could get the brolly up against the light rain.

Not many bites today either: precisely four, but at least they were hanging on well today and all four mullet ended up on the bank, fish between 3:04 and 4:03.

First off, a good pull on my left hand rod fishing at range just as the tide was starting to flood into the pool.

As the tide rose I started seeing fish whelming close in so dropped one bait just past the rocks. Nothing doing on that till the rod launched dead at the peak of the tide. The fish ran to the right along the front of the rocks, snagged in some weed as I stumbled after it but fortunately came out again then came in without too much more trouble. Served me right messing around with selfies, I dropped the mullet into my lap and got spiked on the inside of my knee through my jeans, it bled like mad.

Later on as the tide dropped away, two more fish on consecutive casts back at distance again.

An abortive trip out onto the rocks on the 22nd - a few taps and pulls from the wrasse but nothing that stuck in the 40 minutes before I decided it was getting too windy and swelly - then I was off to UK for a few days around some exam board work in Cambridge.

We were back late on the 27th to some unsettled weather, finally I headed out again on the 30th.

It was a grey day with low cloud shrouding the Beara, outbreaks of drizzle, a stiff breeze and more swell than ideal running up Bantry Bay.

I'm glad I persisted though because the mullet were there and in the mood ... I landed four up to a best of 4:03 which wiped the last 3lber off my NMC Top Ten list.

The last of the Japanese weed was gone as well, presumably torn off by some rough weather since my last day there with Steve. It's invasive and a nuisance as it grows so fast right up to the surface, but it's not the hardiest stuff.

I enjoy my mullet fishing obviously but after a while a change is called for.

On the 31st I headed for a beach mark in Bantry Bay. The weather had perked up since yesterday, broken sunshine and a NW breeze to give a little life to the water.

The same rough weather that had done for the Japanese weed seemed to have thrown a load of mashed up stuff onto the beach, and the first eight or ten yards of water were weed soup. That's not too much of a problem in itself but there was just enough lying on the bottom further out to shroud my baits on most casts.

It was nice to have the big rods out again but it was my first complete blank on this mark. I blamed the weed but also the time of year. Despite the clean ground out front this is mainly a huss mark and high summer is probably the least productive season for them.

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It's sad when any angling retailer goes under, but two recently I find a real pity. In UK, Hopkins and Holloway have ceased trading and their GuidesnBlanks website was my go-to place for rod rings and all rod building accessories (albeit only when over in UK because of their crippling international postage rates.) I managed to get the bits I needed from a tackle shop when I was over in UK in February, but it remains to be seen how long this lasts as many tackle shops used H&H for wholesale.

Then in Ireland, the online frozen bait supplier Screaming Reels in Ballyshannon has shut down. I always had a great service from them and their 1kg packs of sandeels were super value, arriving by DPD next day still frozen but just started softening enough to break down into session-size packs. Where to go now?