They say February is the worst month for fishing. That my be so!!!! But we always hope March brings sunshine after the cold stormy winter and also many fish.
It was the 7th of March and while Dad was off fishing The Jimmy Smith in Wexford, Mom was in charge(always a lot of fun)
We had planned a full weekend of fishing. On Saturday we decided Dingle would be the venue of choice. I was hoping to catch a Thornback Ray, a spectacular fish . We arrived excited and looking forward to getting on to the pier it was a good 10 minute walk down to the pier and to top it all off when we got there it was to windy to fish. We took the 10 minute walk back to the van, disappointing to say the least.
We had a drive around for a while but it was no good, the weather was against us. so we headed home, just to finish off the day we decided to go to a local unfished venue to see if we could get a couple of casts in. By now it calmed down a small bit and we decided to have just one cast. I baited my small 3 hook rig. I could barely cast out as it was still very windy but I still managed too. When it was out I decided to pull the line to give the bait a bit more action. Mom spotted the rod moving and asked if it was me messing with the line, but I had a bit of fun and said 'no it wasn't me'. Mom said 'you should bring it in' so still messing around that is exactly what I did when I was half way through bringing it in I saw something small and silver come to the surface. When I got it in my hand I realized it was what I think was the smallest bass ever. Measuring in at only 12 centimeters it really was my smallest bass ever. After we took some pictures we put it back.
We came home and put the bait away.
The next Morning we made the decision of chancing another day fishing and today the weather was looking better. We ended up going to Fenit pier. The weather was sunny and there was a slight breeze I knew that today we would catch fish after catching 1 or 2 fish I decided I'll try for a conger. With a big bait and rig set up I dropped my line in to what I thought would be where a conger would lurk, suddenly I saw my rod bend went I lifted the rod the line was stuck in a ledge, the fish had took the bait and bolted, luckily Mom got it free. We soon found out that it was a huge rockling.
As it was such a nice day we stayed on the pier for a long time, we had chance to try some rigs that we had been given by Shamrock tackle. Mum had put on a 3 hook clip down with size 2 hooks on and was pulling out rockling, so we put one on Oisins rod and he started catching too,he even got a double. In the end we all caught fantastic rockling on those rigs and we put them away safely for another day. Thanks Shamrock tackle for the rigs, we had fun using them.
Here are some of the fish we caught including Oisin's double
The week flew by with only dreaming of fishing and at last the weekend arrived. We got one day fishing in this weekend on Sunday we decided to fished the pier again. It wasn't to pleasant with strong easterly winds. There is a saying when the wind blows east the fish bite the least!!!! Everyone always says it, even when we got to the pier we met a friend who said we might get one fish!!! But with a conger and a nearly 30 fish under our belt we were pretty happy with our couple of hours fishing.
In the end the wind cut through us and we had to go home.
More adventures coming soon.
Tight lines
Eoin Angler
Co. Kerry
Ireland
