October Report

I watched the worsening predictions for Storm Amy with increasing despondency. Would it derail my much anticipated week in Rosscarbery with Dave Matthews?

By the time I drove down to Ross on the afternoon of the 2nd it had already been raining heavily for eighteen hours ahead of the storm. The River Ilen was out of its banks, across the fields and starting to spread across the road in places ... in another hour the road was impassable.

I had a drive round Ross when I arrived. The water wasn't coloured as badly as I feared but there was dirty water pouring in from every drainage ditch so I doubted that would last. I moved into our cottage, unpacked, lit the fire and awaited Dave and Jane's arrival from a rough ferry crossing.

We decided on a late start on the 3rd. It was still raining heavily in the morning but there was a bit of a break forecast around lunchtime so we made the most of that to get our brollies set up under some trees on the west side of the lagoon. Soon it was lashing again and the winds reaching a peak. Sound on for the video ...

It was nice to be fishing anyway but the water was like coffee by now so I wasn't expecting a lot. The tips were waving about so much in the wind it would take a decent bite to even see one.

After an hour or so my left hand line dropped slack ... I wasn't sure it was a take but I struck anyway and was into a decent mullet. It came in easily at first then went mental close in, and after a lot of left and right stuff Dave eventually netted a 3:13 thicklip for me.

A few minutes later my right hand rod pulled over and fish on again ... and another 3:13.

An hour or so later, after the rain had finally stopped, one of Dave's rods pulled over and what seemed a better fish ran a long way out. Dave gradually worked it back and I was able to get the net under a long, lean mullet of 5:11, equalling Dave's PB in Ireland.

After yesterday's better than anticipated results, the 4th was a complete anticlimax. The water was still heavily coloured and the wind was still whistling, now with a cold edge on it on the trailing edge of the storm. We fished two areas on the sheltered west side of the lagoon, including yesterday's successful swim, and blanked in both. Then we braved the cross-wind to fish by the bridge across the N71 and blanked there too. We didn't see a mullet all day but we did see a big dog otter, hunting for crabs in the fast water flowing out of the lagoon. He was having much more luck than us.

The 5th was a more successful, albeit a rather mixed, sort of day. We had a drive round and saw a few mullet moving at the top of the lagoon but some better numbers in the shallows down the west side of the estuary so we set up there. They didn't seem to be feeding too well but eventually I had a take from a decent fish, only for it to come off half way in. Losing that mullet really seemed to put the others off and they made themselves scarce.

We moved over to fish near the bridge, Dave fished the edge of the flow out of the lagoon and I fished at range in the shallower water to his right. Dave lost a mullet after a good scrap and another that was on-and-off in an instant on the take. I also hooked two, and fortunately landed both, a 3:12 and a 3:05 ...

We couldn't raise another bite as the new tide started to flood into the estuary pool, so we relocated to the top of lagoon where we'd seen the fish moving that morning. It took a while but eventually I had a take, a 3:10, shortly followed by Dave with a 3:04 ...

The wind freshened again overnight and the 6th was a grey and chilly autumn day.

We started down the west side of the estuary again and Dave was soon into action, missing a few knocks then landing a 3:15 after a lively scrap.

Just as yesterday though the swim died after the one fish, but at least Dave put it on the bank today.

After staying a bit too long we decided to move up to the swim at the top of the lagoon.

It wasn't best comfortable in the fresh breeze but we stuck it out for a couple of hours without a touch before deciding to move over to the more sheltered west bank. The swim looked great but we couldn't raise a bite there either and didn't even see a fish. We packed up a bit early. I felt I hadn't come close to catching a mullet all day long.

We needed a better day on the 7th but the drizzle that greeted us this morning was forecast to turn to persistent rain before lunch. At least it was milder today. We started down the west side of the estuary again and this time managed to get a fish out each before the others took fright and moved away. Dave's was 3:10 and mine 3:06 ...

We moved across to the east side of the lagoon to get the brollies up on a grassy area ahead of the worst of the rain.

We had a long wait for any action, and when it came it was on one of Dave's rods. The mullet came in easily then went berserk in the edge, throwing the hook!

Another long wait then Dave was in again. This one stayed attached and fought well above its 4:00 weight. I'd been getting a few tiny twitch bites, and eventually a better one developed. Another good scrap and this mullet went 4:01. As evening set in the rain stopped and it calmed right off, we could see plenty of mullety activity on the surface but didn't get any more takes.

The 8th was our last full day, it was a lovely autumn day with broken sunshine and just a breath of breeze on and off to ripple the surface.

We started down the west side of the estuary again. There were visibly fewer mullet present today, just an odd one we could see moving well out, but we gave it just long enough for one to hang on to my bait. At 2:14 it was our smallest fish of the week.

We decided to move over to the bridge swim.

We could see good numbers of mullet moving here, some of them looking a good size, mostly

beyond range but plenty that would have been seeing my baits. Somehow I didn't get a touch.

Dave was fishing closer in, in and around the outflow from the lagoon, and it was he who hooked into a good fish. It was probably the biggest we'd contacted since his 5:11 on the first day but unfortunately it found a snag well into the fight and there was no shifting it. Eventually the fish seemed to be gone and Dave pulled for a break.

After that the swim stayed inexplicably quiet, and we decided on a move up to the top of the lagoon. Based on our previous experiences we might have quite a long wait for the flood tide to start filling the lagoon and trigger some feeding activity, but there's always a chance and getting some groundbait out ready would be sensible.

Anyway - it was indeed a long wait! Well into the evening I had a few single taps and then a more persistent knock. I struck and was slightly surprised to hook a fish. It was only on three or four seconds though before splashing on the surface and throwing the hook.

A few minutes later Dave had a slow pull-round on one of his rods and was into what proved his last mullet of the trip, a nice 3:12 thicklip ...

The 9th was a gloriously calm, sunny day in total contrast to Storm Amy a week ago. We had just a couple of hours to fish till Dave and Jane would have to head for the ferry at Rosslare. We settled for the convenience of one of the piers at the Lagoon Activity Centre. We spread four leger baits across an arc in front of us, but it was mine on the left that attracted all the interest.

After about an hour I had a good pull on my left hand rod and landed a 3:07. Next cast I missed a slack-line bite and next cast I was in again, this time to a 3:01. Then another quiet hour and just as I was starting to pack up, I missed a massive pull on my right hand rod, the fish was on for a second then gone in a huge swirl.

I've probably said before but one of the great truisms of fishing is you can only catch what's there in front of you. What's in front of you at Rosscarbery at the moment seems to be predominantly mullet in the 3lb class and a very odd larger fish. The numbers of big 4s and 5s that have been the mainstay of summer and autumn sport for years have been conspicuous by their absence this season. I hope it's a temporary thing but I can't say I'm not worried about what has happened to them.

On the 10th I was out just local on Sheep's Head for an outside chance at a late triggerfish. I probably should have had a day of recovery after Ross Week but it was flat calm today with a gradually freshening east wind forecast for the week ahead; so it was now or never really.

In the event, not a sign of a trigger, again. I think if they'd been here at all this summer then Storm Amy had probably sent them packing and too late in the season for them to bother with coming back.

As the tide picked up the wrasse started taking my baits, chunks of raw prawn. I'd sort of come prepared for this so after catching a few on float till they ran the bait out, I changed to working soft plastics close in and had a few more. Nothing much more than a couple of pounds today but pretty fish ...

After eight days continuous fishing I gave myself a break over the weekend, then extended a couple of days by a covid jab that made me feel decidedly grotty, as usual. The wind was set in the east anyway so I wasn't exactly rushing to get out.

On the 17th the wind was supposed to turn SE so I headed up to a mark in Kerry where I'd have it on my back. It was a spot I'd recce'd before but never fished, mainly because it's a nightmare long walk along a rocky shore, through fields and bogs. Anyway, I arrived eventually. The wind was blowing NE straight down the bay! Fortunately it wasn't too strong, and it did go round later in the day. There'd been some spurs caught locally the previous weekend but I wasn't holding out a lot of hope after a week of easterlies and, well, I'm an expert at missing the best spur days.

It was a pleasant surprise then, after a first-cast dogfish, to find myself latched into a halfway decent spur on my second cast, somewhere around 5 - 6lbs. A couple of casts later I was into a heavier fish, and landed a cracking male thornback about 8lbs. Both these fish came on squid/mackerel cocktail baits. I was fishing sandeel on the other rod but that was only attracting LSDs.

Alas, any fleeting hope raised that I might be in for an exceptional day was soon lost in a blizzard of LSDs. I think I landed thirteen of the perishing things and missed at least as many bites again off them, every one wrecking a carefully prepared bait. The only brief respite came when I hooked a mackerel winding in and I used it to replace my frozen mackerel baits. Oddly, the doggies didn't seem to like their mackerel fresh half as much as frozen. Unfortunately nothing else wanted it either.

I'd decided to pack up at 5pm, a couple of hours down the tide. At 4.55pm, I was back using squid/frozen mackerel, and my left hand rod pulled firmly over. I lifted into a heavy fish, but it let go after winding in a few yards. The bait still looked good to go so I lobbed it back out to the same spot and started packing up. Within five minutes the rod was dragged over again. This time the fish let go after maybe ten yards!

I was still tidying away so I quickly lashed a new strip of mackerel onto what was left of the bait and cast it back out. Within a couple of minutes the rod was yanked over again and this time the fish stayed attached. It caught briefly on a ledge in front but I bounced it over and landed a nice huss of 9.5lbs ... and yes I'd say it's entirely possible it was daft enough to have three goes at getting itself caught.

My exam work kicked off a few days later and, with the last few days of the month looking very unsettled, I was struggling to find a day to get out. In the end I went for it on the afternoon of the 26th, on the rocks just local to the village. It was already beginning to blow up a bit but there wasn't too much swell yet and the rain held off.

The session was off to a disastrous start. Five seconds into my first cast with the bass rod and an 80g metal lure, it was grabbed by a lump of a pollack that buried itself in the kelp and that was that. A few minutes later, tackled up again with a 60g metal now, a pollack about 4lbs dropped off right at the edge. Then another good fish that was on and off in a few seconds as I struggled to keep its head up. Next cast I lost the lure in a snag.

This wasn't going well so I decided on a change. I set up a lighter rod with a Zman Minnowz to fish for wrasse.

Straightaway I was getting lots of knocks and tugs but nothing was hanging on for a while till suddenly I was into a beast of a fish that had the rod bent over with the tip underwater. Then ... nothing. I assumed the fish had just come off but found the Gamakatsu worm hook I was using had snapped at the bend. Never had that happen before, I could scarcely believe it.

Tackled up again I finally put a couple of fish on the bank, very nice sized wrasse both well over 3lbs. Then it was back to occasional taps. I was contemplating swapping to a Crawz bait for a change but in the end I decided to set the bass rod up again with a Redgill and have another try for the pollack,

Suddenly everything was going right, with a string of chunky pollack, mostly around 4lbs size and taking fairly close in where the angles work better for keeping them up out of the kelp.

As you know I return most of the fish I catch, but I'm not a C&R fanatic. Sylvi and I are partial to home-made fish and chips and in the absence of cod or haddock from the shore here, pollack are a more than adequate alternative.

I kept a couple of 4lb fish which are ideal size for a big juicy fillet off each flank. They were both packed with semi-digested fish, the majority sprats as far as I could tell, and a few prawns.

November is always a month when I struggle to fit in sessions around work and this year looks particularly challenging with rough weather predominating at least for the first week or ten days. We'll see how it goes...