Fly Fishing....

We have had some inquiries into the possibility of opening a fly fishing section for the Irish Bass Festival this summer. We have no problem in opening a fly fishing section as long as there is enough interest. If you would like to fly fish during the festival please inform us and if we get enough numbers we will be happy to open a fly fishing section. 

Granted conditions are the key for fly fishing so if on the Friday of the festival we think that it will not be suitable for fly fishing you will have the option of entering the lure section...simple. However you cannot fish lures and fly you must decide on the opening day what it will be for you for the weekend. 

The fly section for the festival all depends on whether we get the interest, so please let us know so we can try to arrange it and publish it onto the website asap. 

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The pictures below are of Nick Hart who last season out fished us lure guys spectacularly during an afternoon session. It was one of those days, the sun high in the sky and the sea was calm and clear. The bass simply refused to look at all manner of hard and soft lures we chucked at them. 

Nick fished in between us and was using one of his very subtle sandeel patterns. He proceeded to land some fine bass while us lure guys blanked. 

If conditions are right the fly is certainly a very effective method of catching bass and has to be up there as one of the best ways to catch bass through the sheer exhilaration of the fight.  

So let us know if you would like to see a fly section in the Festival this summer.

Tight lines,

James.

Festival Website....

The Irish Bass Festival Website is now live and hopefully you will find all the information you need on the following site.

www.IrishBassFestival.com

 If you have any questions please contact us.


Tight lines.

Irish Bass Festival...

On the 20th-22nd of July this year the Irish Bass Festival will take place along the South East coast of Ireland. Anglers are free to roam around and fish wherever they please in search of bass. This is the first of its kind event running over 3 days with some great prizes up for grabs.

We will be running a fully "catch and release" concept and all the rules you need to know and how you can enter will be on the official festival page when it goes live early next week. 

There will be some great package deals available for visiting anglers which include ferry and accommodation deals. And Irish anglers will also be able to avail of the great accommodation deals available.

This will be a lure fishing event. All anglers will be welcome, whether you are a beginner or hardened lure angler. There will be people on hand to help and give tips and advice on any questions you may have.

So hold tight all the information will be on the official website which will be launched next week. 

Tight lines

Doubles up...

Well done to Ger Griffin who landed (and released) this specimen bass yesterday on lures. Ger was letting his jig flutter through a current when he hooked this fish. Coming in at 10.5lb on the boga it is Ger's personal best. A bait angler all his life, he took to lure fishing in a big way last season, its always nice to see the hard work paying off with a nice fish.

Well done again Ger on a cracking fish.  

This fish swam off strongly, so she is still out there which is always nice to know... I cant say it enough how important it is to release these mature fish as they are the most valuable to the species due to the large number of eggs they can produce at spawning time.

Tight lines,

James. 

Great week....

It has been a cracking week on the bass with a few sea trout making an appearance along the way. Since Sunday and this is no exaggeration between 5 guys fishing days when they could 87 bass have been landed.  Granted they were all schoolies it is great sport for January. 

The area where we have been fishing is full of herring sprat at the moment as you can see below a sea trout  coughed up this herring sprat just after it was landed..... 

Using metals and trotting them through a current the bass where hitting hard as we jigged them through...

Double hook ups were the norm and it was constant action from the off.

On Friday I brought a friend of mine lure fishing for the very first time, he landed four fin perfect bass and now has the lure bug bad. It is always great to see the face of a dyed in wool bait angler when he hooks a bass on lure gear....something tells me his bait gear might be gathering a bit of dust in the future.

 Conor with his first lure caught bass.

 One that got away....

When fishing this area there are some nice sea trout in between the bass. Here is Pat with a nice sea tout coughing up a herrirng sprat. And only a few minutes a go Barry Howlin from Wexford just arrived into the shop with a picture of a 8lb sea trout which he caught on a Gt shad .... fish of a lifetime. Well done again Barry a super fish. 

Eric with a nice schoolie caught on his beloved  jackson athlete

All in all it was great week and long may it last. I will do a blog post during the week on tactics and lures which worked well for us.

Just a reminder shop will be closed on Sundays for the next few months. 

Tight lines,

James. 

January Silver...

It is always nice to get a phone call from guys that come into the shop telling you how they smashed some bass, however not so nice when you were suppose to join them for the morning.....

Mark and Tony Phelan have taken to lure fishing in a big way and their hard work was rewarded during 2011 as they got out there and found some hidden away marks along the copper coast and smashed some very tidy fish on hard lures. 

As the water temperature dropped the guys concentrated on fishing xlayers in moving water and had some good sessions up until Christmas. With the mild settled spell and some good tides the guys fished a tidal lagoon yesterday and concentrated on bouncing xlayers into a channel that was filling with the rising tide. 

I wont lie it was hard getting the phonecall and hearing that their xlayers were in the water a matter of seconds before being hit by some very hungry bass. Here are some photos the guys send through.

                                  Fin perfect bass

                                   Tony with a nice January bass

They had 15 fish in total the best around the 5lb mark. Superb fishing for January, well done lads.

Gutted that I missed getting a few fish yesterday I headed out this morning before work. Fishing an xlayer into a current and letting it run downtide I had one schoolie and missed another before having to leave to come open the shop. So it seems there are plenty of fish around with this mild weather we are having, so dont pack up your lure gear just yet. 

*On another note the shop will be closed on Sundays for the next few months opening again on Sundays when the season is back in full swing*

Tight lines,

James.

Pausing your lure.....

So how important is pausing your lure and how many of you actually do this regularly while lure fishing? I have watched a lot of anglers simply casting and retrieving straight to their feet and pulling the lure out of the water.

At times I am guilty of just casting out and cranking the lure straight back in and not really thinking about what I am trying to achieve with the lure I am hoping a bass will hit. When I started lure fishing many moons ago I was retrieving a lure quite quickly when someone called me to say they had a fish on I stopped looked around (stopped winding) and I was hit straight away by a fish that was obviously following my lure. This of course got me thinking...how many fish did I miss, would I have caught more if I paused my lure for a few seconds mid retrieve and so on....

From that point on I started to pause my lure while retrieving a lot more and it slowly started to result in a lot more hits from fish. It makes sense when you think about it, an injured baitfish is not going to just fly past a bass it will move erratically and fast at times but inevitably if it is injured it will slow down and stop maybe only for a split second but this is most likely the best opportunity for a bass to hit its prey.

On most casts I make I do pause my lure at least twice the first occasion maybe half way through my retrieve for 5 seconds letting it move slowly back to the surface, I then pause it again about 5 to 10 yards from me at the end of the retrieve. Even if you dont see a fish following your lure it doesnt mean a fish cant see your lure and a very high percentage of the bass I hooked last season came at this point close in towards the end of the retrieve. Nothing really beats the rush you get from seeing a bass flare its gills and hit your lure under the the water right at your feet.

Below is a picture of bass I hooked on the IMA Sasuke 140 a fish I am sure I would not have hooked unless I paused my lure at the very last second, this fish hit the lure a couple of feet from the shore, I didnt have any idea this fish was following my lure.

                                            

There will of course be times when the simple but very effective cast and crank will catch you fish but if you think about what you are trying to achieve (injured baitfish) when you are retrieving a pause does make a lot of sense.

If you dont pause your lure on the retrieve give it a go in the coming season, try to get in the habit of incorporating it into every cast as I have no doubt it will result in more hook ups.

Tight lines.

James.

First fish of the year...

There is still chances to pick up the odd bass on the lures this time of the year but it does get difficult but if conditions are right you will still have a great chance as the water temperature is still high for this time of the year.

On New years day we could only get out for a evening session and with reports of some great ray fishing the decision was easily made as to where we were heading.

Pulley Pennels and One up one downs were the order of the day fishing onto clean sand, we had action from the off with some nice codling making an appearance, then came the ray which were great sport.

The majority of the fish came on crab and lug.

Here are some pictures of the New Years Day Ray.....

Just to let everyone know the Sale is on this weekend,, make sure not to miss out as there are some great offers....


Tight lines,

James