Big fish in unsettled weather.

Weather in October has been properly pants! Winds and rain over and over again along with work commitments really dampened my enthusiasm for fishing.
The other day though there was a slight dip to the wind's force and it was relatively dry, thus I thought it a good idea to visit one of my favourite distant marks in the SW part of the island.
I was hoping for some surface action but was also prepared for some soft plastics work as this mark is a steady good-fish producer.
Moreover it wont be productive for that much longer as fish tend to move out of it in winter and had to make the effort count...
I begun the long hike to the mark around 09:00 and was planning to hit some kelp beds with topwaters on the way to my spot. I realised that even though it wasn't very windy (Easterly wind) there was some swell running that made the conditions less than ideal.
I started casting my topwaters about but other than a few slaps from mostly smaller fish and coalies, they weren't doing much thus I tried metals and softplastics too. I was getting some bites but they seemed half-hearted and the fish wouldn't hit a second time... Very finicky.. Moreover Id expect far more fish-action in the ground I was covering..
Despite the slow first couple hours, I pushed on towards my spot and was there by midday.
The swell was significant there but I timed it well and arrived on low tide.
I started with 5" straights/soft jerkbaits on 15g-20g darting and swaying jigheads and had solid bites straight on. Hooked a couple fish that felt good but managed to do their usual thing and came unstuck in the kelp. Then I got one up of approx 65cm and in great condition, that's what I was there for!

A solid fish.

It was evident that I found a group of better fish as the bites were fairly localised and all of them felt heavy. They wised up fast though and I changed presentation to a 4" slim paddletail on 18g cheburashka. This presentation got more positive hits and I was soon connected to an even better fish.. It was just swaying along while I dragged it over clean ground and as soon as it came close to the kelp stared peeling drag! That's a common way that these larger fish tend to fight sometimes..
Nevertheless I soon had her up and scooped her in the net.
A lovely stocky fish that swam strongly back after a few photos!

Big mama...

I noticed that this pollock had lice on it, indicating that they were staying close to the bottom and not very active. Winter is approaching...
The tide turned and with it the waves from the swell got bigger.. I caught a little wrasse that took the lure in midwater almost (!) and a smaller kelpy pollock and decided to call it a day.
Don't think ill get the settled weather to give this place another try but theres always hope!
At least it would be great if I could get some more fish on topwaters before going in 'winter mode' with the usual soft plastics. Moreover I'm planning in doing 'something different' soon...
Here's a video of the session.

Tight Lines!

Gear used.
Rod: APIA Foojin'R Best Bower 96 MLX
Reel: Shimano Stradic FK C3000
Mainline: Duel Hardcore X8 PE 1.2
Leader: Daiwa Tournament FC fluorocarbon 20lbs
Lures: various

Oh Ireland!

Been a couple days back home from my holidays in Ireland and one thing I have to say is that I will definitely be going there again!
I went with my girlfriend Claire and we spent a week in County Kerry. This was most certainly not a fishing holiday but the travel rods went into the suitcase of course...
I didn't have any serious targets or 'must catch' fish list in mind, though I definitely wanted to get some wrasse and if possible a bass or two. Moreover I'd be taking the LRF gear as well so any of the smaller predators would be very welcome especially with some scad among them!
I had done some homework before the trip and had scores of points on Google maps ready to be sussed out...Most areas were exposed rocky coastlines and beaches with the occasional harbour/pier for the light stuff. I had heard only the best and was fired up to get started!
The weather was ok to begin with and we got a couple decent days but I only fished a bit here and there with the LRF and managed to catch my first Irish fish... Not a scad but a coalie 😆
Little did I know that the weather would turn bad and I'd get few chances to fish the more exposed marks I wanted.

Not a scad!

The first area we stayed in was Valentia Island and from Google Earth and the web I could tell that it would be very suitable for wrasse fishing, plus having some piers/harbours close by would offer ample opportunities to fish the light gear.
This being the open Atlantic, the swell was present at various intensities throughout the week and I only managed one HRF session for wrasse before the swell build up.
What a session it was though!
After a bit of a hike in the wind and rain with Claire we found the path down the rocks and on first look it was pretty rough (but still fishable). Thankfully we found a hollow at the rocks and out of the wind to settle down and fish from.
I was using my Spro Mobile Stick 80MH paired with the Shimano Stradic FK C3000 and the rig of choice being the good old Texas rig with a 20g tungsten bullet weight, glass bead and #1 wide gape offset hook. I would be using 3" Gulp Alive swimming mullets in a simple drag and pause retrieve.
From the first cast the fish showed their presence but instead of wrasse I got some pollock! Definitely not what I was looking for there..! Soon enough though, I started getting the familiar sharp taps of wrasse and after setting the hook a different fight ensued...
It didn't take long to get the first ballan out and there were many more to come!
All of them around the 2lbs mark but fighting hard and in a ravenous mood... Haven't had similar wrasse-fishing since I left the Channel Islands...

Toothy...

Them lips!

On the act!

Decent size...

Cant say no to them!

Big gob!

Conditions were lively...

I love wrasse!

That was my most memorable session of the trip. The next day the swell intensified considerably and
I had to find sheltered areas to fish. This meant more LRF and I had good sessions with mackerel, coalies and smaller ballan and corkwing wrasse but unfortunately no scad!

Dingle harbour breakwater.

Lovely corkwing.

Loads of mackies about.

My LRF setup was a 7'2'' (0.5-7g) Snowbee Kuroshio travel LRF rod paired with my Shimano Stradic 1000fc and using mainly small cheburashkas and metals. I didnt take too many softplastics with me as the space was limited and again I relied mostly on the Gulp.
We spent the last couple days on the Dingle peninsula and in retrospect we could've spent the whole week there as it simply has got it all!
Got pollock from the rocky points, wrasse in the harbour and while I snuck out before breakfast for a few casts, had a feisty bass on the trusty Megabass Zonk Gataride. Unfortunately this was gonna be our last day in Dingle and I didnt get the chance to fish there more... What a place.!

Before breakfast.

It was a great holiday in all and got some useful observations/notes for the next time:

• much cheaper and convenient to get the ferry there in my own car. Too much unnecessary hassle renting one there..
• No need for fancy rigs and many lures. 
• A tubular tip LRF rod might have been more suitable as when I encountered a bass following my tiny softplastics, I couldn't use a topwater or a jerkbait to potentially tease it into striking.
• Just 2 setups would be enough. a 1-10g for light game (but capable of something heavier) and a sort of 10-30g for the bigger stuff. 
• Swell forecast more important than weather forecast...

 I'm working on the videos now and should be up next week sometime!

Tight Lines!