December Report

On the  2nd I was down to Rosscarbery for my December mullet. It was mild and flat-calm and it was immediately apparent there were thousands of fish in residence. Most of them seemed to be in a wide band starting well out from the bridge and diagonally right away from there across the middle of the pool, but there were odd fish topping wherever I looked. I set up close to the bridge where the main concentration was closest and welted one crust bait out towards them, dropping another closer in.

Second cast with the distance rod, the tip pulled round. I was into a decent mullet but it came off after a few seconds. I wasn't unduly concerned given the numbers present, but you never know with winter mullet how well they'll feed.

I put the next bait back into the same area and within seconds I was in again. This one hung on, a nice little thicklip about 2:04 for 45 months consecutive since April 2021. A very enjoyable session followed with bites coming on and off all day and I finished up with ten mullet landed. They were typical winter fish of 2lb-this and 3lb-that with a best of 3:11. They always seem to scrap longer in the colder, better oxygenated water in winter.

Mullet run secured, the last couple of days of exam work and Storm Darragh out of the way, and on the 7th I was up to Kerry hopeful that the spurdogs would still be running and maybe some bigger ones among the 5lbers.

To my mind the conditions seemed perfect, calm but a good colour in the water from the recent rainfall and swell, though I wasn't so sure about the neap tide which would be ebbing most of the session. I fished one rod well out alternating sandeel and sardine baits, the other closer in with bigger squid/mackerel cocktails.

First off with a doggie on sardine, and they kept the tips nodding all day. I landed a half dozen or so. Second cast,  a better bite on sandeel and livelier fish ... 

The first spur of the day was soon on the rocks, very much the size I'd been catching this autumn around 5lbs.

Dead on high water I had a big slack line bite on the squid/mackerel and wound down into a very heavy fish. I knew what this would be and sure enough, a large huss came to the surface under the rod tip. It looked every bit as big as the 12lber I had last time out at this mark, but I'll never know for sure as with a shake of its head the hook was out and the huss headed back for the depths.

As the ebb tide picked up strength the doggie rattles were punctuated by better bites, and I landed four more spurs. I started and finished with two that were the similar 5lbs size but between them landed a couple of better fish I estimated at 9lb+ and 8lb+ ...

Today panned out more like January ... I could see fish topping all over the pool and hurried to get my float rod tackled up with light waggler gear.

I could see quite a lot of the surface activity was from what appeared small fish, and sure enough after a couple of missed bites I hooked into a mullet of barely a pound. I began to worry they might all be that sort of size but I'd soon added one about 1:12 then a 2:08.

It was a great session for numbers of fish and I finished with a bag of sixteen up to 2:13, most of them just either side of 2lbs. Not massive mullet by any measure but still nice enough to catch on the float gear. I'd expect the average size to improve in the New Year but I'm not sure if there were any bigger mullet present today. There were certainly some impressive swirls and splashes going on but I think mainly from some very chunky trout that were motoring around the pool, fry-feeding I would guess. 

Into the final hour and the daylight beginning to fade, and at last a couple of better bites. A good pull on a small mackerel/squid bait fished at range and I played in what I thought was a smallish spurdog ... then had a double take when it was out on the rocks, a small tope!

It was my first of the species in Ireland, though going back a few years I had some many times bigger from the beach in England. Stephen had a small one too from this area earlier in the year. It's not known for tope fishing but I wonder if bigger ones ever swim past?

Barely had I returned the tope when I had a lot

of slack line on my other rod, fishing a larger mackerel/squid bait closer in. I wound down into a bigger fish that seemed to get heavier and heavier as it neared the rocks, in true bullhuss style.

Sure enough, a decent huss surfaced and I soon had it out on the rocks. It was on the lean side as they go, I'd say around 8lbs, and was perfectly photo-bombed by the crazy collie...

This was my second trip running without a spur. Hopefully they'll be back in the New Year but maybe they won't. I do wonder why they would show up again now the pair trawlers have emptied the bay of sprats which I'd think must be their main winter food source.

On the 29th I was back out west to check out the mullet situation on the Mizen. I found a big shoal in the low water pool again, and this time judging by some of the tails scything through the surface there were bigger fish present among the middle-weights.

Over the next four hours I enjoyed a wonderful session, landing fifteen hard-fighting mullet. They included three over 4lbs with most of the others around 3lbs.