As I read back through my posts for the last year the one dominant issue seems to be the weather and in particular wind. I cannot remember a year when more trips have been cancelled due to poor conditions and from the lads I am in touch with in the West of England and Wales it has been much the same there with the exception that they did have a summer.
In a brief respite from the wind I dug Worm Monday. I am sure I have mentioned it many times before but in my experience winter fishing in Clare leaves much to be desired. If anyone thinks otherwise I would be pleased to hear from them with just what they are catching and where.
I dont understand why cod appear not to come in and feed on the coast of Clare or are we just not fishing for them?? the lads pick up codling on the Galway side of the bay but to be honest I have never heard of a decent sized fish being landed. Which leaves us with only bass and flounder to keep us on the shore.
By the time I had finished digging the wind had turned, picked up strength and brought rain with it.
So the worms stayed in the fridge until Thursday night. I did not do anything to preserve them, just put them in a small bucket with some damp newspaper. I did not even sort out the damaged ones. Much to my surprise they were all still in perfect condition and the Razors I had thrown on top of them were still live as well.
So I headed off west under cover of darkness and spent a few hours with two rods and pulley pennels trying worm, mackerel, razor and squid. the sea was no way near as calm as it had looked on the webcam when I checked it earlier in the day and a six once grip would not hold position and was being swept slowly to the left. This was not a major problem with the exception of the one time it appeared as a slack line bite.
The weather again closed in until the wind was almost lifting the rods off the tripod and I decided to call it a night. I did manage one small bass which was quickly returned.
I was sure that more fish would have shown after days of strong winds and rain but it was not to be.
For now I will keep watching the weather and make do with reading the fortunes of the cod catchers in the UK
