House on the Sheep's Head
It has been a desperately slow few weeks on my local rock marks as the 5km travel restriction has dragged on. To be fair the fishing always struggles a little in the early part of the year, but with no possibility of venturing further afield this winter has seemed particularly bleak.
We started off with some Atlantic weather, quite encouraging in some respects but in practice the swell rarely dropped to safe levels to be out before the next weather system arrived. When it eventually calmed down, the water looked fine from a distance but close up it had a milky sort of quality with very low visibility. I guess the protracted rough weather was to blame and I also noticed more bare rock than usual round the margins with the kelp and other weed stripped away.
More latterly the weather has come predominantly from easterly and northerly directions with cold winds and cold nights. The water has cleared but still feels perishing.
Anyway ... four trips for four fish, with exactly one fish each time so at least no blanks!
In order, a small conger, a coalfish just shy of 2lbs, a small bullhuss and a doggie. Until the last trip the LSDs had been conspicuous by their absence; I had very few other bites.
The coalies I know are very common in winter from the sandy beaches south and east of us, but we don't see so many on the rocky ground here so I broke out the camera for my one.
From tomorrow we are allowed to travel within County Cork.
The north wind is turning to a gentle westerly for the day so I'm hoping to reacquaint myself with the mullet at Rosscarbery. It's odd how perspectives change. On the south coast of England I'd rarely have bothered getting the mullet rods out before May. Now, after a few winters enjoying the winter mullet sport in West Cork, this year's enforced absence has seemed really difficult.
After tomorrow the wind looks set back in the east for a good while, we'll have to see how that affects other plans.
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