The gataride does the business....

Well done to Andrew Murphy who got this clonker of a bass today in very tough conditions on the Zonk Gateride Edomae Laser. Some great fishing being had at the moment roll on the next set of good tides.

A great morning session...

After the disappointment of last night, losing a decent sized fish I was determined to get out this morning to try to make up for my error of not checking my drag last night.

On checking the forecast last night it was giving a strong breeze from the North not ideal but I still set the alarm for 6am and was on the rocks by 6.40 chucking my feed shallow into filling gullies as the tide proceeded to push in.

As I arrived I noticed some sprats jumping out of the water and I could see terns working the water not 30 yards from the shore. Anticipation was building....

Almost immediately I had a follow from a nice fish, and after half an hour I had 2 3lbers and one just over 5lb landed with countless follows and one lost fish. The place was simply alive with bass, the days you dream about....

After a lull in activity I struck lucky again as I was reeling my feed shallow back in with the rod tip held upright I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a a big spikey dorsal fin and tail half out of the water homing straight in on my lure, with an almighty thump my feed shallow was seized by the fish no more than 6 foot in front of me the fish immediately turned on the water and I knew straight away that this was a nice fish. After an initial run of well over 20 yards the fish held up and did the usual viscous slashing on top of the water after an almighty tug of war where the fish really put my injection under serious pressure I managed to slide the bar of silver of just over 9lb onto the shore. Shaking uncontrollably after such an epic fight I popped out the hooks put the camera up onto a rock and set the self timer for a quick snap and back she went strongly......

All the fish were caught on the feed shallow sardine, a lethal lure over shallow ground.

Mornings like this don't come around to often, but it makes it all worth while when everything finally comes right.

Tight lines,

James.

One very happy angler.....

Worked very hard for this fish but it was well worth the wait, the smile says it all....

Tight lines.

The Mighty Xlayer....

Its a very simple method casting the xlayer up current and letting it bounce down current, and with the joys of braid you can feel every knock as it trundles through.

Anything out of the ordinary and I strike or lift into it, if your xlayer becomes weightless lift into it as this might be a fish after picking up your soft plastic, this happened to me a couple of times today its vital you connect with the fish quickly as they can drop the soft plastic as quick as they pick it up. I also had some very subtle bites and missed a few fish but thats all part of it. And your always going to get the fish that really smash your xlayer...the ones we all love!!

It is important to match you jig head size to the speed of the current you are fishing it into. Too heavy and your xlayer will not bounce through the current, too light and it will flow through too quickly.

A simple but lethal method for bass. There are some excellent reports coming in at the moment around the majority of Waterford marks.

Tight lines,

James

April Bass...

We fished a few marks in the last couple of days that had been producing fish over the last set of good tides and even on the slacker tides there is still good fishing to be had.

Fishing over some extremely shallow ground the lures that are working well for us are the megabass x-140 and the Feed Shallow.

Tight lines,

James.

Jackson Athlete...

We have just got in some of the much talked about Jackson Athlete lures.

We currently have the Jackson Athlete slim series in stock.

14FS (floating slim 21g) & 14SS (slow sinking 25g)

Due to inside moving weight system long casting distance is easily achieved and this lure works great in rough conditions as the athlete is very stable in the water.

Both the 14FS and the 14SS have a mixture of rolling and wobbling action both being medium divers.

140FS slim 21g (Pearl)

140SS slim 25g (chartreuse with orange underbelly)

Tight lines.

Some good reports coming in....

The bass fishing is really kicking off here, with reports of some excellent lure fishing all along the south east coast.

Heres one from a quick session I had earlier, the xlayer doing the business today.

During the last couple of sessions we have noticed the bass have been nipping lures and are not smashing them like you would expect in the summer months, moving to smaller lures such as the Zonk 77 or megabass edonis seems to be working well for us at the moment, something to try?

Tight lines,

James.

Time to get the lures ready...

We had our first real go of the year chasing bass with hard lures on a Waterford rock mark yesterday. Hopes were high, tides were spot on, life on the water and reports of plenty of bass around.

We made our way out along a rocky ledge (its going to take a while to get back into the swing of rock hopping again) out to some weed clear water. From the off the bass were hitting our lures. Cian moved out onto a promising looking rock, fishing his favourite megabass x-140 (hama shirasu) into a nice deep gully.......Cians first 4 casts resulted in 3 drooped fish and one landed!

At this stage I was all thumbs desperately trying to get on my own x-140 after seeing the damage it was doing. It didnt take too long, fish started nipping the lure almost immediately and a brief pause of the lure during the retrieve resulted in that unmistakable bang of an aggressive bass. These bass were really putting up great scraps and it was nice to finally have a bend back in the lure rods.

As I looked down to my right Cian was still hitting fish and managed to land a few more bass on the Zonk Gataride pm hot shad.

Plenty of action was being had by all of us along the rocks, a great session for this time of the year. Most of the fish landed were aound the 3-4lb mark however just as the tide made it final push Ger Carey stole the show as he connected with the fish below on the feed shallow, the fish came in at 7lb a great fish on the hard lure for this time of the year.

.

A great evenings fishing was had by all and hopefully this is a sign of things to come this summer.

So if your thinking of getting out with those lures dont waste any time the bass are back along our shores and are more than happy to hit some of those shiny lures.

Tight lines,

James.