Just Local

We arrived back in Ireland yesterday and I had some sorting out to do in the garden today, so a brief local session in the early evening suited.

I headed to this shallow gully on the shore about a mile from our house and arrived at about high tide. It has been a fairly reliable producer of mullet in the past but last autumn a flash flood through the stream that feeds into the gully rearranged the topography somewhat and it has seemed less attractive to the mullet since. I nearly didn't fish today. A brief recce revealed nothing till I turned away to leave and thought I saw a variation in the ripple that may have been a fish just subsurface. I watched a while longer and saw it again. I wasn't convinced, but it was enough to make me go and fetch my tackle from the car.

I fished from the shingle in the foreground and was getting bites straightaway - stabby little bites that were barely strikeable. I hit those that held the float under slightly longer but missed time and time again. Finally on about the 20th strike I connected - a scrappy little thicklip of 2lb 4oz. I'd forgotten to put the camera in my bag today so no pic unfortunately.

I fished again. Bites were now much scarcer. I missed a couple more. I tried out on the rocks that form the left side of the gully so I could get to some slightly deeper water, where I missed a couple more bites. Eventually it became clear that whatever fish had still been present had now gone on the ebbing tide. I packed up wishing I'd arrived a little earlier.