First land based session in a while...should do this more often

[Niall]

I haven't been fishing from shore nearly as much lately as I've been pretty enthusiastically throwing myself into kayak fishing for the past 18 months.

One look out the window early this morning and I knew it was gonna be a tough one on the yak - big southerly and a sprinkle of rain.  Rain I can deal with on the kayak but anything over a moderate wind I find really uncomfortable.  I even made it to my launch at Birkenhead Marina this morning but bailed at the last second and decided on throwing a few lures around Iron Cove along the bay run.  Probably the best fishing decision I've made in a while.

The tide was still running out when I parked the car at sunrise.  Not too many dog walkers around.  I had an ever reliable MMD Splash Prawn tied on in the Honey Bee colourway - I have utmost confidence in this lure - it's caught me many, many fish.  To be honest though I wasn't very confident at that point.  The southerly was pretty nasty but I figured if I tried to fish with it on my back I could make things work.

First cast along the edge got smashed before I could really even move the lure - definitely woke me up a bit.  In came a 30 odd cm bream - not bad for a start.  From then on it seemed like I couldn't cast anywhere without getting a follow or a hook up at least.  In the first hour I think I landed 8-10 bream and a couple of tailor (they don't count in my world).  Nothing massive, but it was clear that I was fishing in a serious bite window.  That glorious "pop" of bream kissing at the lure was a near constant soundtrack for the morning.  Add a couple of proper whiting in there to change things up and the first hour or so definitely had my confidence sky high.

Good things never last right?

Wrong!

The bottom of the tide came and went.  It made no difference.  The sun came out.  They kept on biting.  Same lure, same technique.  Pop, pop, BANG!  

There was definitely an increase in bites whenever I came to a particularly wind blown point and the better quality fish were being caught off the shallow, oyster covered rocks but really they were just everywhere and hungry.

I kept walking and covering ground and just kept catching fish - there wasn't a dull moment in the full 4hrs I spent wandering the banks.  It got to the point where if I didn't get a follow I just knew there wasn't a fish in that particular spot.  I even managed a topwater flathead towards the end that would've been tipping the 50cm mark.

I only stopped fishing when a bream finally got the better of me and busted me on some oysters at around 1030.  Lure gone, I was tired, hungry and caffeine starved.  Time to call it.

I sat back in the car and just laughed at myself in disbelief - you really live for these sessions.  I must have landed over 20 bream.

Anyone looking to give this style of fishing a go - Now is the time.  This really is my favourite time of year to fish.

Tight lines, folks!

[bessell1955]

Wow, that is indeed a great session.

[Bennyg78]

nice session @Niall

Good to see you back on the land 😉

[Rebel]

Top report.

Well done.

[Isaac Ct]

Great stuff, lure fishing can be so addictive especially when catching lots of fish.

Well done

[Little_Flatty]

That’s a hot session Niall!  Sometimes it’s worth heading out even if it’s doubtful. You just never know.

Quite a bit of walking in a session, right there! Surely you got your 10,000 steps from that session!

[Gengar]

Cracker of a session!

[Fishingwazza2019]

WOW ! .. Now that is a great session. What Fun !