25 Hour Bass
It’s been a mad few days. On Thursday I was up by 6am for last minute Ireland preparation before heading off to look after Hugh Caslake and Martin Baum. These guys are regulars and make an annual pilgrimage to the Exmoor area to indulge their growing addiction for fly fishing. It is awesome to see how they are improving with Hugh now making a move towards double handed Salmon fishing … he was popping some sweet loops. Meanwhile Martin got to grips with the finer points of hauling to improve casting accuracy while river fishing.
I left the guys fishing by 3.30pm and headed off for Bristol Airport and my evening flight to Dublin. The meet and greet parking was brilliant as usual, but I could have done without the £80 overweight baggage charge levied by Ryanair. Perhaps I should have taken the ferry? Too bad, the Irish Bass are worth it and I kind of forgave the airline company because the flight arrived 20 minutes early! There was to be no lonely trip down towards Dungarvan either because Florida fishing maestro Rodney Goodship was there to meet me for the journey. On a break from his Fish the Dream operation, he was about to sample something quite different, Irish Bass Fishing. The last time I met up with Rodney for a fishing trip was several years ago in Miami so the chatter was nonstop during our 2 ½ hour drive.
We arrived in the wee small hours of Friday morning and after catching up with the guys various members of the party including Henry Gilbey, Andy Bignell and Rodney quite sensibly retired to bed. That left Cian of Absolute Fishing and me. After trying to talk ourselves into getting some much needed shut eye we took the slightly insane decision to put our waders on instead. Cian had been up since 7am too and it was now 2am the following day. Rods were thrown into the car and we set off eager for a fish; we could sleep later. We fished hard but drew a blank, even though conditions seemed perfect. Some thanks for our effort! We had to be back to catch up with the other guys by 4.30am, at which point we did a U turn and set out for a favoured mark that produced fish during our last trip in July. But once again sport was slow and I have to admit that I was starting to feel the effects of 24 hours with no sleep.
The wonderful Wave Worm soft plastic - Bass love them!
Local Bass fishing junkie, Ger, came to the rescue. He had joined us for the morning session and managed a Bass of around 5lb using his favourite Feed Shallow lure. I fished my Wave Worm soft plastic with renewed anticipation, a method of lure fishing that shares many characteristics with the world of fly fishing. Rigged to swim weedless without any weight, I cast into some mouth watering gullies adding lots of tip flicks, pauses and other movements to simulate life. I got it right on one of the occasions and was hit hard by a Bass of 4lb. This was a fish to be savoured, not only because it was my first ever on a soft plastic but also because it looks like the next few days could be no good for anything except bait. Not to mention the fact that I had now been awake for over 25 hours!
The 25 Hour Bass!
The weather is now horrendous! At one point the barometer on my Casio Protek just crashed signalling the arrival of massive South to South West winds and driving rain, interspersed with periods of relevant calm, even sunshine. But the weather has taken its toll and many of our intended marks are now unfishable. Frustrating yes and the forecast doesn’t offer much comfort, but time spent in the company of like minded anglers is just as good and I am sure we will find some more fish in the days to come. Andy has been doing just that and I am constantly amazed at this guy’s ability to extract fish from about every location we go to such as this fish taken on Crab. Hopefully we will get some more fish for Henrys camera soon. Writing this blog late on a Sunday night I should probably do the sensible thing and get some sleep!
Andy seems to extract Bass everywhere we go - despite the weather!
Picking & Choosing in Ireland
Since we began stocking a bit of lure tackle at the shop we have had mixed reviews. Opinions seem to range from “why have you got this in a fly shop” (the phrase “going over to the dark side” has been heard being quietly whispered in a corner) through to those who see lure fishing as a method with characteristics not too dissimilar to fly fishing … and are keen to give it a go.
If you fancy targeting Bass with light tackle, then it is the definite way forward. Take a look on the internet and you will find any amount of blogs, forums and general banter related to this exciting form of angling. And I think we fluff chuckers should be taking note. Make no mistake that during my current visit to Ireland I am longing to catch as many fish with the fly as possible. On some marks the fly has even out fished the lure. But there is a “But”. Had I decided to head out early this morning with just fly gear then I would have been in deep trouble.
Henry photographs James Barrys huge Bass caught on lightweight lure tackle
For sure looking out over the coast things looked just perfect, light winds, mixed clouds and sun, just the conditions which produced fish to the fly earlier this week. Arriving at a stunning looking set of ledges I reckon I could have spent around 10 minutes comfortably casting and not with a #8, no it would have required a #10. Soon afterwards I would have been sunk, that is unless I was carrying a lure rod.
Chucking a stunning bit of plastic known as a Feed Shallow with ultra fine braid and a super lightweight 7’ 6” Mazzera lure rod I would love to say that I went on to bag up as the wind steadily increased in strength whipping up a substantial surf. My efforts were rewarded with a follow early in the session but our conclusion was that the drop in pressure and temperature had taken effect, leading to slow fishing.
James Barry with 5 1/2 lbs of Irish Bass
But it’s not just about the fish. I had a thoroughly enjoyable session in the company of James Barry of Absolute Fishing, chatting tactics, weather conditions and hanging on to his every word regarding technique. These guys are just so willing to help. But this session was only possible because I was carrying a lure set up … now is that going to the dark side or plain practical? Fishing is very personal of course and some anglers just love casting flies so much that nothing else will do, but if you are struggling at times to cope with conditions while fly fishing for Bass I urge you … grab yourself a lure set up! I have some thoughts on this subject with regard to the similarity to fly fishing but that is for another blog.
If you are thinking about it, but are not quite convinced then I urge you to head over to Henry Gilbeys blog and check out a simply sublime session that we enjoyed yesterday, Bass maestro James Barry scoring a trio of stunning fish including a double.
Bass Chomping in Ireland
I am lucky enough to find myself in Ireland again after my visit in October last year and as usual I am loving it! While the area around us, including North and South Devon offers a great chance of Bass it has to be said that landing quality size fish using fly gear is not the norm. However Ireland represents a great chance of encountering a tidy fish with the fly and of course for anglers who are willing to diversify there is also lure fishing.
During the whole trip (we are three days in as I write this) I have been carrying both, but so far other than a couple of tentative chucks with the Sakura Mazzera it has been a #8 Hardy Sintrix Proaxis that I have been relentlessly casting at every Bassy looking nook and cranny …. of which there are plenty!
I am over here with Bass junkie Henry Gilbey who has fallen in love with the coastline and makes several trips every year, those of you who know Henry will now how buzzed up he is right now! Sure the fishing has not been easy, but honestly I like to work for fish and while I have fallen in love with the lure … this time I was determined to land a fish from the shore using fly gear. The first day proved tough as we visited several marks in the company of Cian from Absolute Fishing and a real gentle giant, Ger, a local angler with phenomenal talent. It was his remark that “don’t worry Nick we will find some Bass chomping at our lures soon” which gave me the confidence to keep chucking my Rio Pike line and a DNA sandeel pattern … and when we were tired Ger producess the most incredible lunches. Great for my enormous appetite!
5 1/2lbs of shore caught Bass on fly ... and one very happy angler!
I don’t have much time to go into the details right now, dinner and an early start are calling but all I can say is that I am one very, very happy angler having landed this 5 1/2 lb fish on a sandeel pattern yesterday. There are a million other things that I would like to say right now but all I can honestly do is thank Henry, Cian and of course Ger for sharing their knowledge of the coastline around here. The marks we have been fishing have been outstanding and for us guys who like fly fishing it has to be said that there is some very fishable water around here … and if the wind blows up, chuck a lure! Henry has done just that and landed fish everyday, while Ger has had moments of brilliance, picking up fish on pretty much every spot he tried this morning. More soon …
