merv
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Waterford bass hunt 12.07.08-18.07.08Me and my mate Steve travelled dungarvan Co. Waterford in search of some bass we left my house at 6pm and arrived at Arthur’s house about 11pm after travelling 250+ miles we were both tired and wanted to set up camp as soon as possible Arthur told us it was too late to make camp and we could sleep in his living room.
Dungarvan estuary is like nowhere I have ever fished before at low tide there is a patch of sand in the middle of the estuary that you can beach your boat and fish its about 1 mile from the nearest land inshore there are oyster beds were the bass will feed at high tide it’s a real bass paradise and can hold some big fish.
Day 1
the next morning we got up and went to set up are camp for the few days on a storm beach just outside dungarvan with the tides being the lowest in the month Arthur told us that the bass fishing would get better as the week went on and the full moon was on Saturday so that’s when the bigger fish will show we headed out to see if we could pick up a few bass from the boat around the channels.
the tent that would be home for the next 5 days
we managed a few Pollack from the boat Steve had 3 and I had 3 that night we headed to are camp and fished below us on the filling tide and managed nothing but a few bites and 2 dogfish So off to bed and await another small tide the next day.
Day 2
We headed to a rock mark outside the estuary in the afternoon searching of bass as they where obviously hiding with a long hike down we got rewarded with two small bass for me and Arthur on lug worms and a follow on a plug for Steve who was lure fishing.
my first bass of the trip
That evening we went to try the dusk over at the oyster beds, wrecks and other food collecting things out in the bay to get here and fish it on foot or should I say he drove a boat into a bank we fished either side of low water moving around in waders. The results? 4 bass to Arthur on plug while they chased and slapped at steves lures they didn’t fall to his rod and I had 2 from the channel on lug worms Never seen anything like this in my life the bass where behaving like mullet, didn’t seem put of by people at all.
Day 3 & 4
We fished the channel for the next 2 days Results? One bass to Arthur missed strikes on the plug for Steve and I didn’t get a bite fishing the channel with worm. Hurry up tides and get bigger we all thought. Fishing pretty much continued like this for the 2 days with only the odd one making an appearance and a suspected gilthead bream bite for Steve but no hook up so the fish was lost.
Day 5 the finial day
Frustration was kicking in badly until are final day or should I say evening, with a nice big tide a nice moon phase and dull overcast conditions it was the best we had seen all week. The only thing that was putting the sprits down was lack of surf on the beaches and everywhere we looked. It was just to calm so we shot off to the rock mark where Arthur and me had a few on the 2ed day after the long hike down Steve and Arthur went walking with the lures along a section of coast line 300 yards made up of sandy patches, broken reef, and gullies in other words bass paradise.
I was fishing were I had caught one before Steve and Arthur worked the rock mark with lures firstly and Arthur managed two good fish on the lure while Steve was getting tortured by Pollack so they walked back to fish were I was I had one bass about 6lbs in the clean patches among the reef with lug.
arthur with 2 fine bass
Darkness set in and Steve and Arthur came over and fished beside me to see if they would come out to play. We all were using spinning rods, 1 oz leads and a few lugs Steve and Arthur got stuck in and the fish were very quick at tracking bait down. I’ve never felt so much power in a rod or should I say a fish in my life, bloody brilliant to say the least.
me and a bass
At the end of the night we even got to fight 2 at the same time ans had a race to see who could land one first at the end of the night Steve had 3 bass up to 6 lb, Arthur had 5 bass up to 6lb, and I has 7 bass up to 7lb a good trip that was slow at the start even slower half way throw but it all came together on the final nights fishing the next day we packed up went for a chuck with a lure close to were we camped we had a couple of follows but that was it only killing time relay then we went to Arthur’s for a cup of tea and to say thanks for a great trip and we headed home.
me and steve with a bass after a 5 min race lol
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