House on the Sheep's Head
The weather has stayed very mild this week, so today it was back to Rosscarbery for some more winter mullet.
On arrival I could see a group of fish grubbing around in very shallow water on the west bank. I fished for them for twenty minutes or so, getting a couple of line bites but no proper takes. Then a couple of cormorants arrived and started harassing the fish, which soon moved on. The cormorants left and I fished on for a few minutes hoping the mullet would reappear, then I decided to move. I was just breaking down my first rod when the other pulled over hard then sprang back before I could pick it up - a missed chance.
Soon I was relocated onto the shingle where I'd had the 5:01 on Monday. There were mullet all along, but they seemed very flighty, whelming and bow-waving out of the shallows if a bird passed over or someone walked along the causeway behind me. Still, I was surprised how little attention my baits were getting, an hour fishing and just a few trembles on the tips.
Eventually one of the trembles developed into a good pull-down on the right-hand tip. I struck and a decent fish ran slowly out. It chugged back and forth for a minute or so, then it was gone. It seemed to have cut the trace on some sharp snag.
I tied on a new trace and was soon fishing again. A few minutes later my left hand tip dropped back then twitched around, and I struck into a mullet. It was a lively fish but not as big as the one I'd lost ... in fact 2lb 7oz.
I stayed in that swim for another hour, still seeing fish moving, further out now, but not getting any more takes. I walked back to the wall section where I'd had a couple of fish on Monday and put the leger baits out again. I saw a few whelms but I think it was just one or two fish going round ... anyway, no takes there today and another 90 fishless minutes passed.
It was shaping up for quite a disappointing session so I decided on another move for the last hour of daylight. I headed back towards the shingle swim but as I crossed over the bridge on the way, I saw a large whelm right in the tail of the outflow from the lagoon. I watched a couple of minutes and saw more whelms. Mind made up, I set up on the grass as close to the bridge as possible and welted both baits out as far as I could into the outflow.
A great hour's fishing resulted, really making the day, and tempered only by the thought that I could have moved sooner! Finally the mullet seemed to be feeding well, giving me a series of good solid bites. I had three more out, a little one of 1:15, a 3:06 and a lovely 4:03 to finish right into the dusk.
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Dennis Viator (Saturday, 03 February 2018 06:42)
That was a good fishing all the day. It was a great experience caught some muller. I love to read your article. I also love travel with fishing and my fishing experience more than 5 years.Most of the time i go for fishing in the deep sea using my <a href="https://waterkayaks.com/">Water kayak</a>. I also want to give a trip like you. It will be great to catch some Muller.