Loads of sub 4lb bass around the West Cork (and probably East too?) coast at the moment . Easterly winds , neap tides and bass all over the place.
Its been so mild (hot !) for this time of year and the fish have responded . Its going home once you've caught 10 kind of fishing , a bit like shooting fish in a barrel, too easy, but blows the cobwebs off nicely.
Normally the bigger fish wouldn't start showing till the second half of April at the earliest , I'll be keeping an eye on that situation this year. 2012 has really started well lets hope it continues , Happy Bassing.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Friday, February 10, 2012
Quick Report.
Julian fished a local rock mark tonight as the weather had been warm and sea conditions perfect.
He dug ten lug and a clam as he'd planned to do a bit of lure fishing then switch to bait as darkness came on. February can be hit and miss on the lures with bait more reliable into the surf.
Making a few casts with his shallowfeed ,now re-armed with single hooks, he thought he could feel fish swiping/hitting at the lure but wasn't positive as he was out of practice.
Sure enough the rod buckled over and let him know his hunch was correct as he landed a 4lb bass in great condition.
After a few more casts he clipped on a komomo and caught and released 5 more fish including one of 5lb to round off a great hours winter lure fishing . All 6 of them were nice and fat and he was delighted as we finished our phone call , his bait now cast out , would there be more to come?
I'd better get my act together and have a look with the lure rod myself this weekend.
He dug ten lug and a clam as he'd planned to do a bit of lure fishing then switch to bait as darkness came on. February can be hit and miss on the lures with bait more reliable into the surf.
Making a few casts with his shallowfeed ,now re-armed with single hooks, he thought he could feel fish swiping/hitting at the lure but wasn't positive as he was out of practice.
Sure enough the rod buckled over and let him know his hunch was correct as he landed a 4lb bass in great condition.
After a few more casts he clipped on a komomo and caught and released 5 more fish including one of 5lb to round off a great hours winter lure fishing . All 6 of them were nice and fat and he was delighted as we finished our phone call , his bait now cast out , would there be more to come?
I'd better get my act together and have a look with the lure rod myself this weekend.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Irish sport fishing dot com.
I'm enjoying this site , it's informative and has good variety and pictures.
http://irishsportfishing.com/2011/08/
http://irishsportfishing.com/2011/08/
Fish Grip Science
I've said before I'm not a huge fan of the trend for using fish grips and this evaluation of the injury and short term survival rates of fish only re-enforces my opinion.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165783608001781
If you have a habit of getting hooks stuck in your hand maybe you could consider crushing the barbs , also swapping the trebles for singles and rubberised landing nets can help in this regard.
Its been debated many times and is currently on topic again on WSF , it will probably always be a contentious issue I suppose?
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165783608001781
If you have a habit of getting hooks stuck in your hand maybe you could consider crushing the barbs , also swapping the trebles for singles and rubberised landing nets can help in this regard.
Its been debated many times and is currently on topic again on WSF , it will probably always be a contentious issue I suppose?
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Bass fishing in Cork 2011,..........well from my point of view anyway.
Reflecting on 2011 it actually suprises me how good the bass fishing was through the winter months of Jan, Feb and March . Given the severity of the winter and the below average temperatures we experienced in Cork, "bass lore" would have you believe that the fish would move off to deeper water and stay there until spring. Here they would find a more stable temperature uneffected by icy cold water run-off from the land and convection cooling from the shoreline.
If they did move off-shore it would seem they didn't move too far because any time a low pressure with onshore winds came through the bass came with those winds, and fed heartily in the surf tables. Those in the know were making great catches mostly while bait-fishing and I'm not just talking about shool fish here. Specimens were turning up around the coast with lures also taking the odd fish , a 15lber was the pick of the bunch taken in Cork Harbour .
"Bass lore" or the general beliefs about bass fishing have only ever served to hinder my catch-rate and I prefer to generally ignore them nowadays , by example easterly winds and the smallest neap tides gave us very good fishing on numerous occassions last season, the type of fishing that I get bored and pack in because the fish are too easy to catch.
If that sounds like a load of bull' I can assure you its not , numbers of fish don't impress me much anymore, size and difficulty of catch (new venues etc) have far greater value to me. If I'm catching a fish every few casts , 10 fish is more than enough to satisfy me and I just stop fishing or move to new ground.
I'll get onto "bass lore" again in another blog as its a big subject in itself . I will say though that if you want to improve your catch rate and knowledge this season ignore the traditional beliefs about bass fishing and just get out there and go for it . You'll learn far more than you will waiting for that perfect tide, with a SSW breeze and a setting newmoon etc, and you'll catch more for the season aswell.
Lures started to take fish on a more regular basis from mid March in 2011 , I'm still not sure whether that was down to the fish or the anglers, a bit of both possibly?but my records show this date onwards was when finally the lures started to seriously compete with bait .
April out-performed all expectations with higher numbers of fish in the 5-7lb bracket turning up amongst catches and super fishing to be found , towards the end of the month it was like the shoreline was carpeted in decent bass and I revelled in covering new ground , the fishing was easy.
Unfortunately May didn't stick to the script and the two weeks up to the start of the closed season, on the 15th ,were tough going. High winds and a drop in temperature made sure we really had to work hard to pick up a few fish.
When the closed season was finished mid June the weather was settled and fishing was good , surface lures were very popular with the fish, happy days!...........:-)
July and August were challenging enough ,but a new approach Julian and I had developed kept us in the fish and our numbers were up on the same period from 2010. That particular season (2010) had been exceptional and even relative novices had found the fishing easy through the summer.
High summer 2011 was back to normal in my experience , lots of food about, the fish well fed and not that interested in chasing your lure about the place. Thinking outside of the box was called for , past successes meant nothing .Some people were moaning on the internet, others were out catching doubles .Two were caught in my area on the same day ,the 18th of Aug .
The much waited for month of September came roaring in bringing with it disappointment . A top month in "bass lore" , it was made a mockery of by strong onshore winds . Lure-fishing was impractical until the latter half of the month. Even then September never lived up to its "reputation" as I think the fish had fed so well during and after the rough weather. I still enjoyed taking fish on lures and live-eels but it wasn't a patch on April !
By October my attentions were elsewhere. Weeks before this month I had lost my lure box while jumping in to rugby tackle a bass that had snapped off at my feet. I retrieved my lure from its mouth and sent it on its way , little did I know my lure box had fallen out of the back pack and was following it out to sea. It hurts to lose one 25 euro lure, a box full of them is another matter. I had also snapped my first ever rod playing a very big fish in the swell. I was getting a bit annoyed with it all and was glad to have a break and concentrate on match fishing and the Master Angler 2011 in lovely county Sligo.
October though was generally like November in that if the conditions were suitable the fish were about and feeding. Neither Julian or I fished much through what can be the best time of year for big fish, but when we did it was fairly good,unfortunately our enthusiasm had waned a bit.
Ditto December , bass were about and taking lures when conditions were good, and munching on baits intended for cod in all conditions. We didn't get the sub-zero month that was forecast and if it stays that way into 2012 the baby bass from the spring of '11 will have a good chance of surviving and keeping our year round fishery in good shape.
Good luck for the coming year and as I said if you fancy wetting a line just get out there and do it , ignore the rule book.
If they did move off-shore it would seem they didn't move too far because any time a low pressure with onshore winds came through the bass came with those winds, and fed heartily in the surf tables. Those in the know were making great catches mostly while bait-fishing and I'm not just talking about shool fish here. Specimens were turning up around the coast with lures also taking the odd fish , a 15lber was the pick of the bunch taken in Cork Harbour .
"Bass lore" or the general beliefs about bass fishing have only ever served to hinder my catch-rate and I prefer to generally ignore them nowadays , by example easterly winds and the smallest neap tides gave us very good fishing on numerous occassions last season, the type of fishing that I get bored and pack in because the fish are too easy to catch.
If that sounds like a load of bull' I can assure you its not , numbers of fish don't impress me much anymore, size and difficulty of catch (new venues etc) have far greater value to me. If I'm catching a fish every few casts , 10 fish is more than enough to satisfy me and I just stop fishing or move to new ground.
I'll get onto "bass lore" again in another blog as its a big subject in itself . I will say though that if you want to improve your catch rate and knowledge this season ignore the traditional beliefs about bass fishing and just get out there and go for it . You'll learn far more than you will waiting for that perfect tide, with a SSW breeze and a setting newmoon etc, and you'll catch more for the season aswell.
Lures started to take fish on a more regular basis from mid March in 2011 , I'm still not sure whether that was down to the fish or the anglers, a bit of both possibly?but my records show this date onwards was when finally the lures started to seriously compete with bait .
April out-performed all expectations with higher numbers of fish in the 5-7lb bracket turning up amongst catches and super fishing to be found , towards the end of the month it was like the shoreline was carpeted in decent bass and I revelled in covering new ground , the fishing was easy.
Unfortunately May didn't stick to the script and the two weeks up to the start of the closed season, on the 15th ,were tough going. High winds and a drop in temperature made sure we really had to work hard to pick up a few fish.
When the closed season was finished mid June the weather was settled and fishing was good , surface lures were very popular with the fish, happy days!...........:-)
July and August were challenging enough ,but a new approach Julian and I had developed kept us in the fish and our numbers were up on the same period from 2010. That particular season (2010) had been exceptional and even relative novices had found the fishing easy through the summer.
High summer 2011 was back to normal in my experience , lots of food about, the fish well fed and not that interested in chasing your lure about the place. Thinking outside of the box was called for , past successes meant nothing .Some people were moaning on the internet, others were out catching doubles .Two were caught in my area on the same day ,the 18th of Aug .
The much waited for month of September came roaring in bringing with it disappointment . A top month in "bass lore" , it was made a mockery of by strong onshore winds . Lure-fishing was impractical until the latter half of the month. Even then September never lived up to its "reputation" as I think the fish had fed so well during and after the rough weather. I still enjoyed taking fish on lures and live-eels but it wasn't a patch on April !
By October my attentions were elsewhere. Weeks before this month I had lost my lure box while jumping in to rugby tackle a bass that had snapped off at my feet. I retrieved my lure from its mouth and sent it on its way , little did I know my lure box had fallen out of the back pack and was following it out to sea. It hurts to lose one 25 euro lure, a box full of them is another matter. I had also snapped my first ever rod playing a very big fish in the swell. I was getting a bit annoyed with it all and was glad to have a break and concentrate on match fishing and the Master Angler 2011 in lovely county Sligo.
October though was generally like November in that if the conditions were suitable the fish were about and feeding. Neither Julian or I fished much through what can be the best time of year for big fish, but when we did it was fairly good,unfortunately our enthusiasm had waned a bit.
Ditto December , bass were about and taking lures when conditions were good, and munching on baits intended for cod in all conditions. We didn't get the sub-zero month that was forecast and if it stays that way into 2012 the baby bass from the spring of '11 will have a good chance of surviving and keeping our year round fishery in good shape.
Good luck for the coming year and as I said if you fancy wetting a line just get out there and do it , ignore the rule book.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Funny Endorsement.
I had a good laugh yesterday, a friend of mine gave me a dozen copies of "Sea Angler" to have a read of.
I found an advertisement in a copy from the company "Italia Fishing", talking about the Alcedo Aluminum Pro spinning reel, they use the headine ;
"Currently in use by many of the top bass anglers in the UK such as Danny Wise of Jersey Bass Guides and Julian Smith of Kinsale Bass Guides in Ireland."
Besides the obvious mistakes in the advert that made us laugh , I just want to put on record that,
"Julian and I do not endorse or recommend the use of equipment sold by Italia Fishing".
We gave some of it a try :-(
Nice guy who runs the company but thats that for us.
Back to the fishing,........the high temperatures we are getting this winter have been very welcome considering the last two winters we've had . Plenty of bass are getting caught on bait at the moment and even the odd ray is still picking up baits intended for cod .
If the mild weather continues the bass will probably stay close to shore and good fishing should be found through february and march when the conditions are suitable.
I found an advertisement in a copy from the company "Italia Fishing", talking about the Alcedo Aluminum Pro spinning reel, they use the headine ;
"Currently in use by many of the top bass anglers in the UK such as Danny Wise of Jersey Bass Guides and Julian Smith of Kinsale Bass Guides in Ireland."
Besides the obvious mistakes in the advert that made us laugh , I just want to put on record that,
"Julian and I do not endorse or recommend the use of equipment sold by Italia Fishing".
We gave some of it a try :-(
Nice guy who runs the company but thats that for us.
Back to the fishing,........the high temperatures we are getting this winter have been very welcome considering the last two winters we've had . Plenty of bass are getting caught on bait at the moment and even the odd ray is still picking up baits intended for cod .
If the mild weather continues the bass will probably stay close to shore and good fishing should be found through february and march when the conditions are suitable.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Poachers , Cod and Lifeboats.
Apologies readers, I haven't been posting much lately and the truth is I've only been fishing twice in the last month or so. Both of those outings were to target cod for the table aswell ,so I haven't had my finger on the pulse as regards the bass fishing lately.
I've heard of some big ones getting caught but can't confirm any particular catches. We've had a decent run of cod here lately and with all the catch and release of the slow growing bass through the year its been nice to bring home some fresh cod, as I do enjoy eating seafood. Ofcourse I've no problem with anyone keeping a bass for the table I just personally prefer to keep the faster growing species of fish to eat if I can. I get more of a buzz catching bass than eating them.
Apologies also to you guys who have left comments without reply. Every time I've tried I couldn't get it to work (I'm no computer whizz thats for sure) but now it seems I have it sussed so won't be ignoring your comments in future.
Some of my spare time has been taken up with volunteering for the Kinsale Lifeboat boat crew and I've been enjoying the comradery of the lads and ladies involved in the boat crew, shore crew and the fund raising team. The training is of the highest standard and for me very stimulating. It is a big commitment but I hope to become an integral part of the team and give something back to the community over the next decade or so. Even though I've years of experience on the water I never saw myself joining the RNLI , that was for "other people", but we all change as we grow and I'm delighted to be involved now , I'm sure it will become a big part of my life.
A nice day off The Old Head of Kinsale
Travelling at speed out to "shouts" in force 6's and 7's at night or day will test the knees and back of anyone to the limit. The retirement age of 45 on inshore lifeboats as opposed to 55 on the bigger all-weather lifeboats is a reflection of the working environment . If you can stay in good shape, a medical each year after retirement age can prolong your service. "Going with it" I'm told is the key to protecting the body (trickier at night when you can't see the next wave too well) . So far so good, but bigger tests to come , its a good job I love the sea.
A fine winters day in Kinsale and we've just washed the boat down , time to put the kettle on :-).
On a more serious note ,and I'm a bit late with this, but please watch out for bass poachers this time of year and especially in the East Cork/Ballycotton area . Big catches may be landed into harbours or even quiet coves for export to France by unscrupulous fish buyers. With prices for fish rising this time of year, plenty of darkness to operate in and lots of bass about these people cash in on this seasonal bonanza . The fisheries boys are too understaffed to keep watch on these activities and the poachers are sneaky ,so its up to us anglers to try and get some information together that may help lead to a prosecution.
Targetting the buyers is the way to go in my view as if there is no market there will be no poaching.With catches of a dozen boxes and more at times, its obvious that this is no restaraunt back door operation , to shift large quantities of illegal bass you need good contacts and people in the fish business have good contacts!
If any of you have any info regarding poaching please email me at d_jwyse@yahoo.co.uk , thanks.
I've heard of some big ones getting caught but can't confirm any particular catches. We've had a decent run of cod here lately and with all the catch and release of the slow growing bass through the year its been nice to bring home some fresh cod, as I do enjoy eating seafood. Ofcourse I've no problem with anyone keeping a bass for the table I just personally prefer to keep the faster growing species of fish to eat if I can. I get more of a buzz catching bass than eating them.
Apologies also to you guys who have left comments without reply. Every time I've tried I couldn't get it to work (I'm no computer whizz thats for sure) but now it seems I have it sussed so won't be ignoring your comments in future.
Some of my spare time has been taken up with volunteering for the Kinsale Lifeboat boat crew and I've been enjoying the comradery of the lads and ladies involved in the boat crew, shore crew and the fund raising team. The training is of the highest standard and for me very stimulating. It is a big commitment but I hope to become an integral part of the team and give something back to the community over the next decade or so. Even though I've years of experience on the water I never saw myself joining the RNLI , that was for "other people", but we all change as we grow and I'm delighted to be involved now , I'm sure it will become a big part of my life.
Travelling at speed out to "shouts" in force 6's and 7's at night or day will test the knees and back of anyone to the limit. The retirement age of 45 on inshore lifeboats as opposed to 55 on the bigger all-weather lifeboats is a reflection of the working environment . If you can stay in good shape, a medical each year after retirement age can prolong your service. "Going with it" I'm told is the key to protecting the body (trickier at night when you can't see the next wave too well) . So far so good, but bigger tests to come , its a good job I love the sea.
On a more serious note ,and I'm a bit late with this, but please watch out for bass poachers this time of year and especially in the East Cork/Ballycotton area . Big catches may be landed into harbours or even quiet coves for export to France by unscrupulous fish buyers. With prices for fish rising this time of year, plenty of darkness to operate in and lots of bass about these people cash in on this seasonal bonanza . The fisheries boys are too understaffed to keep watch on these activities and the poachers are sneaky ,so its up to us anglers to try and get some information together that may help lead to a prosecution.
Targetting the buyers is the way to go in my view as if there is no market there will be no poaching.With catches of a dozen boxes and more at times, its obvious that this is no restaraunt back door operation , to shift large quantities of illegal bass you need good contacts and people in the fish business have good contacts!
If any of you have any info regarding poaching please email me at d_jwyse@yahoo.co.uk , thanks.
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