Hooks, Lines & Sinkers

Portugal 2024 – Day 6… The FOAL!

There was plenty of banter over dinner the previous evening about the shenanigans that happened with Nobby’s beauty of a bass he caught that day, but at the end of the evening John did call it…

“I fancy fishing that bit of coast tomorrow morning from the dark into first light”… he’s not a fishing guide for nothing.

Back at the accommodation later that night John confirmed his intention to give it a go early doors – he was on a flight home later that day so it was his last chance to fish – Nobby and myself agreed to join him, it was our last full day of fishing too… and so it came to be. Henry was staying in different accommodation to the rest of us so ended up not being directly party to what unfolded that morning which was a big, big shame.

Before I went to bed that night I had one last tinker with my kit, shoved a couple more different soft plastics into my bag as alternates to the Savage Gear Sandeel that had served us so well on that stretch of coast, tied new leaders on both the reel spools I had with me, and then very finally gave them a good old pull to check they were sound… I was good to go.

Alarms went off, we got ourselves up and fully booted, grabbed a quick coffee, in the car and we were off. Arrived in the dark and marched off along the same bit of ground that was becoming quite familiar to us now. John pressed on furthest while Nobby and myself chose to fish in pretty much the same places we had for the previous day’s chaos, again about 100 yards apart – why wouldn’t we?!

We could see that the water looked pretty decent even in the dark – probably about a half metre swell, small waves, but still bigger surges of water every now and then. The tide was the biggest of the week and was well into the ebb by the time we cast our lures out into the first light over that unforgiving bouldery, reefy ground. It really did look nice though.

I don’t recall the first lure I clipped on that morning but as the early sun turned the sky orange I do remember putting on a Heddon Super Spook surface lure and worked that for a few minutes. Nothing much was doing so I rummaged through my lure box again and chose to clip on a bigger profile 6.5” Keitech Easy Shiner soft plastic shad on a weighted weedless hook that I’d rigged up the night before. It’s a relatively heavy paddletail anyway but I figured I wanted to get it down amongst the boulders and be fishing the bottom quickly in the retrieve hence the added weight on the hook… right or wrong, that was how my mind was working at that moment.

First cast with it straight out in front of me was totally uneventful so I cast out slightly to my right second time around, no more than 30 yards out, let it sink to the bottom and then started a slow retrieve. I think I turned the handle no more than half a dozen times when the line went tight and stopped dead – my precise thoughts at that second in time were “Oh B*****ks, snagged it on a sodding rock”… but then the rock moved. My rod arched over and it moved again – this was no rock.

At this point in time I casually shouted over to Nobby “I’m in!”

He didn’t hear me at all because of the distance and the noise of the small waves hitting the boulders between us. At the same time there was a head shake – the fish had woken up and that woke me up a bit. My drag was set quite tight but now it started to sing as the fish lunged – okay, this might be alright I thought.

I shouted again but louder “Nobby I’m in!”

He heard me this time and responded casually over the radios we both carry “You need a hand?”.

By now I was trying to climb around the slippery boulders to keep an angle on the fish as it ran first right and then left – there was no way I could get to the radio tucked in my jacket to reply.

After a while I shouted, “This could be decent, get over here!”

He didn’t hear me again and radioed “Put your hand up if you need help!” – there was no way I could do that either as by now it was all I could do to keep the pressure on the fish and manage the situation. I now had an inkling I had a big fish and thoughts raced that there was a chance it was a double-figure bass. The fish continued to kite left, then right, then out, but I managed to keep the pressure on.

By now I’m probably five minutes into the fight and by chance the fish helped me out in terms of focus and a reality check – it did what I can only describe as a roll and thump on the surface as I managed to turn it once more… it was then that it first properly dawned on me the size of it.

I got excited and hollered “It’s massive!”

Nobby heard that alright and dropped everything immediately and began that perilous, slippery journey over those 100 yards or so of boulders – the same ones I’d done in reverse the previous day to get to him… except he forgot his Boga grip – yesterday’s lesson was we probably needed it, and he had to go back!

Meanwhile, I’m still dealing with massive head shakes and a drag intermittently singing as this fish lunged and ran between me attempting to gain line on it. I can’t tell you what the hell was going through my head at this point other than praying that knots held tight and trying simultaneously to think about where in this boulder strewn section of coast to land it… I just hoped playing it from the water’s edge I’d have a chance.

Then the fish did something it hadn’t done so far – it swam towards me so now I was desperately winding to catch up until it all went tight again, thankfully it did with one of those reassuring head shakes. A minute or so later it was nearly, nearly beaten and then I saw its head properly for the first time – it was huge. I focussed on doing everything I could to keep that massive head up just praying everything would hold fast. Then, as luck would have it, one of those bigger surges of water, like the one that hit me in that gully the day before, sailed her almost to my vantage point where I was able to grab the leader and quickly lock my small plastic fish grips onto the lower lip – I could see the hook hold was good – thank God right in the scissors of it’s mouth! Gasping, I moved this huge, beautiful, almost prehistoric looking bass carefully up onto the closest biggest boulder I could find and started to shake. Nobby was still making his way over to me and in my excited, adrenaline rushed, state I screamed out…

“It’s a metre long!”

It wasn’t…. but I quickly measured it – over 90cm on the tape, fat as butter and had a girth on a bass the likes of which I have never witnessed.

While this was all happening, on his way over to me Nobby was calling John – this is how that frantic conversation roughly went…

“John, Andy’s hooked a monster!”

“Yeah, yeah course he has!”

“No, no, John, he’s really got a monster – reckons it could be a metre long!”

“You’re serious? Christ, I want to see it! Don’t let it go, I’m on my way!”

Almost immediately after this Nobby arrives on the scene to find me sat on a rock in a state of shock.

“Where is it?” he cries.

He moves closer and then sees this leviathan of a bass a few yards away from me lying on the boulder I’d just beached it on. He was speechless but looked over at me and thankfully sprang me from my shock. We quickly unhooked the Keitech Easy Shiner from this colossal bass, got the Boga grips securely on its lower lip and supported it back into the water until John could get to us. We both of us held that fish in the water in our frenzied state for what seemed like an eternity waiting for him to clamber down to us – all the while being slammed by waves on the tide line… but we didn’t care, the fish was being oxygenated and it’s tail was lapping nicely in the current.

When John arrived we lifted the bass out of the water – he simply could not believe it in the same way Nobby and I couldn’t – our mouths were still totally aghast. I was still shaking through all this and when I lifted it from the water again for a few pictures it was like someone had asked me to hold a suitcase full of lead! We did try to weigh this fish but it instantly bottomed out the scales we had beyond 16lb… this was a really fat bass, belly like a carp. Nobby called it at close on 20lb, whereas I erred on the side of caution and called it nearer 18lb but honestly, it didn’t matter one iota other than to be able to give someone an idea of how big this beautiful, giant of a bass actually was – it was truly unbelievable.

We managed to get a few more pictures and a bit of video but the priority was getting her nicely recovered and sent back from whence she had came so into the water I went with her again and eventually, as a lucky surge brought her in to me, another one took her back out submerging me in the process – a dunking was the least I deserved for having been so blessed with catching this magnificent fish. That release, seeing that huge tail move off was honestly as big a pleasure as anything to do with the capture.

Still in shock I sat there for a few minutes trying to comprehend what had just happened, to take it all in, realising the luck I had experienced in everything holding whether that was the knots, the clip, the hook hold, etc. It just all came together for that one single magical moment in time, and for that I will be eternally grateful.

In the midsts of the pictures and video being taken John had phoned Henry who was still at his apartment. His commentary to Henry was caught on the video and his reaction, as a bass guide himself, is my favourite…

“Henry… Henry… We’ve got a f*****g fish that could be 20lbs here, I’m tellin’ ya!”

Nobby’s screech of “Look at the tail on it!” being a close second.

We gathered ourselves, an excited Henry belatedly joined us, and we fished on for a while after that, me in a daze, but that was to be the only capture that session…but what a capture, what a fish.

So there you have it. Even as I type this and try to recall everything that occurred that morning it still seems too surreal to comprehend it actually happened – I just cannot believe how lucky I have been. More than anything, as I continue to reflect on things, I maintain the nicest thing about that stunning fish, and indeed the whole week, was the privilege to be able to share it with guys who share the same magnificent passion for bass lure fishing, who marvel at these majestic creatures we pursue, and who are thoroughly decent blokes to spend time with. Thank you lads, thank you Portugal – what a fantastic trip!

FISH OF A LIFETIME… The FOAL!

Final word from me on this epic tale – the gear used:

Rod: Apia Foojin’RS Lynx 93M (6 – 42g)
Reel: Van Staal VR50
Line: Sufix 131 28lb Chartreuse
Leader: Seaguar Ace Hard Fluorocarbon 35lb
Clip: Seadra Speed Clip (15mm – 25lb breaking strain)
Lure: Keitech Easy Shiner 6.5” Wagasaki (24g)
Hook: Eagle Claw Trokar TK170 EWG 7/0 (12g)

The very lure… this Keitech Easy Shiner is officially retired!

Until next time…

Portugal 2024 – Day 5… The Storm Arrives

When I referred to days 1 – 4 in Portugal in my last blog post as being calm it’s safe to say days 5 and 6 were anything but… and I don’t mean from a weather and conditions perspective – this was two days of fishing that gave us, metaphorically speaking, an emotional storm full of calamity and ecstasy. In fact, it was all in the space of little under twenty four hours when I think about it. It’s fair to say it will be two days that will live long in the memory. Personally, it was a rollercoaster, that as I type, really is still too crazy to comprehend! Anyhow, here goes with Day 5…

Buoyed by seeing more plentiful signs of life on the south coast on day four, Nobby and I decided to start there on day five… flogging the west and it’s challenging conditions as we had for a majority of the time on previous days was bearing little fruit. You can’t ignore the signs, and that coupled with the lures spending more time working properly in the south coast waters it seemed a more logical approach. We returned to a similar area of the coast I’d picked up a nice 5lb fish the previous day and by the time we got there the tide had just about turned with the first of the flood. We began fishing a bit earlier in the coastline compared to where we had started the previous day and steadily worked ourselves along the water. It was rougher than the previous day but eminently fishable… I was fishing a small boulder ridden bay and about 100 yards away Nobby had perched himself up on a higher rock in an elevated position above the water surface.

We hadn’t been fishing long when the morning erupted…It started with a shout from Nobby saying “I’ve got one!”, and looking across the small bouldery bay I could see his rod with a nice flex in it but there was nothing in his voice at this point to suggest anything more than he was in control… but his next holler across the bay took things up a notch.

“I’m gonna need help, quick!” he cried.

I dropped everything and went. Now, you’ll recall I’m fishing in the bouldery bay about 100 yards away and these were those nasty, greened up slippery ones – ankle breakers – so there was no way of rushing over as quickly as I would love to have done – it seemed to take an age by the time I’d navigated the boulder field and then climbed up the first bit of higher rock to drop down the other side. I need to set the scene at this point, Nobby was, you remember, perched at an elevated position probably 2 metres or so above the water surface, and at this point, my good self. What I was greeted with was a huge bass partially beached on a rock below in a ‘L’ shaped gully that went back out to sea but which was constantly being washed through with some decent surges of water and waves. To make matters worse I could see the Savage Gear Sandeel Nobby had just clipped on for that cast was barely hooked in the fish and he had no room for manoeuvring his line as this lovely bass had gone almost underneath where he was standing. I had to try and time this right and get in there to retrieve the fish if I could without being engulfed by waves and surges of water. Adrenaline was pumping for both of us at this point and your mind is racing but in I went directly below Nobby, was able to grab the leader and grab the bass by the tail…. This was the point I really got to see how big this fish was for the first time and it was a beauty – dark and bronze, close on 80cm and my instinct said around the 12lb mark – this ratcheted the adrenaline levels up to another level but I managed to get my hand inside it’s huge mouth, grab the bottom lip and move it up a level in the gully onto a slightly higher level.

Nobby was shouting down to “Get your grips in it!”

However, at that moment I was hit by a big surge of water and accompanying wave, with those slippery boulders underfoot and before I could steady myself disaster struck – the hook popped out of the fish’s mouth into my finger briefly before in the next moment I was hit by another goffer of a wave which promptly removed the hook from said finger… excruciatingly, with the power of that water I just couldn’t hold on to that stunner of a bass and she slipped into a lower part of the gully towards the open sea. There was a lull in the waves and I made a last desperate, but ultimately fruitless attempt to grab her tail.

Nobby hollered “Dive on it!”

I wish I could have but I just couldn’t get there and so slowly and agonisingly she slipped back out to sea while I continued to be hit by waves of water – there was nothing I could do. My instant reaction on climbing out of that gully beyond the immediate cursing was to feel sick to the core, I felt I had let my mate down with a fish the size of which neither of us had caught before. I sat on a rock, battered, drenched to the bone, head in hands, pretty much unable to move or speak – Nobby was pretty much the same. I wanted him to have the moment I had a few years before in Ireland with a lovely fish that we were able to measure, picture and joyfully release but it just wasn’t to be – an unfortunate, error strewn largely on my part, and somewhat calamitous, set of events denied us that opportunity… if only the hook had held, if only we’d been more calm and measured in our actions we might have got a better result but we’ll simply never know now.

After that initial disappointment of us not getting to do the proper measure and pictures and so on, we had a stern word with ourselves… we’d grabbed the leader, we literally had the fish in our hands, and out of the water albeit all too briefly… that counts as a catch in most people’s book! We realised there was no reason to be too disappointed and should really be celebrating catching such an amazing fish – she was beaten and she really was an absolute beauty that I am very confident was around that 12lb mark given subsequent events. She swam off perfectly well which was something very positive to reflect on. Above all we had yet another cracking bass fishing story to tell and have a whole lot of banter about – mostly at my expense but I’ll willingly take that on the chin just to be a part of this calamitous fishy tale!

Lessons learned? You bet…

The big one for me was try and have a clear head on what needs to be done without getting over excited around big bass.
Having decent fish grips close to hand are a must when you’re dealing with big fish at the shore with waves and surges of water.
You have to really think about where you’re fishing to give yourself the very best chance of landing a big one.

Bass fishing in Portugal… good grips are sensible – lesson learned

As the saying goes, “you live and learn” and we managed to dust ourselves down after all that chaos, regain composure and began throwing the lures out again. I’m pleased to say Nobby did then catch three much smaller fish soon after and I picked up one much the same – all on Savage Gear Sandeels. What a day it had been, a proper storm of emotions, and importantly those lessons learned… we’re laughing about it now and I’m taking my medicine as “old butter-fingers” and there are words like “sabotage” being thrown around readily in jest but there will always be a bit of me that feels sick about it for my mate.

Little did we know what was to come on day 6, our very last day’s fishing in Portugal.

Until next time…

Portugal 2024 – Days 1 – 4… The Calm Before The Storm

Where do I start? First off, in the last couple of years I’ve been rather tardy with updating the blog but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been out chasing those bars of silver both here in the UK and further afield. Let’s just say I’ve been galvanised… all will become clear in my blog posts to follow, I promise!

Obviously, I’ve fished at relatively local marks during this time combined with multiple trips to Cornwall and Ireland again, plus last year south-west Portugal for the first time. Fair to say a mixed bag of results in terms of numbers of bass caught and the average size… a couple of 60cm fish was probably my best across these past two years and all caught local-ish to me.

More on Portugal….It’s fairly well documented that big bass can be caught there so the inaugural trip there in 2023 was eagerly awaited but we found it to be an unseasonably cold one and the group of us who went all struggled for fish of any size at all – best between us all week going to around 7lb. Think I managed a paltry two fish – it wasn’t easy! However, it wetted our appetite enough with the stunning ground and conditions on offer that some of us signed up once again for a return trip in January 2024.

So, here’s the first part of how events unfolded this year. Friends Henry and John had already been out there for over a week by the time my old mate Nobby and myself rocked up. Luckily we got out on our flight just in the nick of time before Storm Isha hit the UK shores. Sadly, the same storm put pay to our other pal Henry being able to join us – the weather Gods were really not smiling on him at all – he had very little choice but to cut his losses. A real shame all round.

What was cheering when we arrived was the conditions being noticeably warmer than the previous year, plus Henry and John already having had some nice fish including a lovely double figure bass for John. Things appeared encouraging.

But guess what?…It then got tough. The west coast where we were hoping to fish blew up and was tricky even when you could find semi-fishable conditions… the surges of water are way beyond anything I think you get in the UK, coupled with huge waves and surf it is extremely hard to fish even with the heavier lures in the 50-70g bracket. You have to be sensible and know when to walk away – anything over a 2 metre swell makes things extremely tough on that west coast.

However, that said we still picked up the odd fish here and there, just nothing significant for all our considerable efforts climbing and scrambling down cliff passes and gullies. It’s not for the faint-hearted that’s for sure with the step count and floors climbed by the end of the week looking pretty impressive!

With the west coast blown out for a majority of the time we had to adapt our plans to keep ourselves fishing and so attentions turned to options on the south coast – yes it was less challenging conditions we were faced with but there was a lot of weed inshore so you had to pick your spots carefully to fish smartly. The big difference was there were more recognisable signs of life with plenty of bait in the water, crabs on the shore and birds working the inshore waters. The other big plus was our lures were definitely spending more fishable time in the water rather than tumbling through surf as we’d found out west. That ultimately changed our fortunes with more fish showing albeit no monsters…. This one was about 5lb taken on a Savage Gear Sandeel – lovely dark and bronze fish.

And that was pretty much the story of the first four days Nobby and myself had after joining John and Henry, and it’s there I’ll leave it for now – it had all be relatively calm – the storm awaits, trust me.

Until next time….

Welsh Bassing

Last week was spent on a long-awaited family holiday to Wales, south Snowdonia to be precise, and with the coast on the doorstep it gave me the opportunity to get some early morning fishing in on a few of the days. Never fished this area at all so was very much an experimental few sessions based on a bit of Google maps research for some likely looking ground, Ordnance Survey map cross-reference to find access and checking out for any information I could find on the web that folk have kindly shared about general areas to try. Research complete I settled on a couple of marks to focus on as I’d only have a few hours before breakfast on the days I could get out. Weather-wise it was an absolute scorcher with little or no wind so on paper that was not ideal for the bass though the tides were decent.

After checking the weather and predicted surf forecasts I decided on the open sandy beach for my first foray as it looked likely it would be getting calmer and calmer as the week progressed. The surf was not big at all when I arrived on a rising tide but there was some white water to give me encouragement. On went the Patchinko 125 and I waded out edging myself along through the water every few casts. It didn’t take long for a first hit but it didn’t connect – they were there at least! Couple of casts later though one did connect and my first bass of the trip was landed… nothing huge – a 45-50 cm fish but good scrap nonetheless in what surf there was…

There then followed half an hour where I had good sport with half a dozen bass connecting in the surf and plenty of missed slashes at the Patchinko. The best was a fish around 55cm that completely engulfed the lure and in the process had cut it’s gill rakers to shreds – it was bleeding badly. I usually practice catch and release where I can but sometimes you have to weigh up a situation and it was more humane to despatch this one quickly and take it for the table. It was over the minimum landing size and it would not go to waste that was for sure.

The fish moved on and so I made my way further along the beach with the tide still on the flood. For half an hour it died, zero action but then once again I was back into them – all bass again in that 45-50cm bracket and I picked off a further half dozen or so fish…

The tide was a fair way up by now and it was time to head back to the ranch for breakfast. Nice first little Welsh bass session though and the bass that I took for the table was gratefully received. That evening it was stuffed with garlic, lemon, salt and parsley then grilled to crisp up the skin on the fire pit and finally served with a caper and lemon sauce. Pretty tasty!

On the next morning that I ventured out it was to some rougher mixed ground – plenty of boulders with patches of sand and shale in between but it was flat calm – not a ripple. Same as before I started out with the Patchinko 125 and first cast no sooner had I made the first twitch the lure was nailed by a small bass which was duly released. Then it got frustrating as there was an abundance of fine green weed in the water that within a few seconds of a retrieve was fouling up every lure I tried… weedless rigged lures or not. Tried to get away from it but it was everywhere so I made a decent trek along the coast to try and properly get away from it… this worked to some degree as eventually I found a clear patch at distance using a Savage Gear Seeker metal that produced a couple more small bass. Then something more interesting happened…. I had clearly hooked into another small bass and it was darting around in the water when the rod tightened up and line started being taken before going completely slack. Reeled in…. Both the fish and my Savage Gear Seeker were gone with my fluoro leader cut clean through just above my lure clip. I can only think it was either a seal, though I had not seen any surface at all, or more likely in my humble opinion a tope had picked the bass up and gone with it… but who knows, it will remain a mystery! With thoughts of breakfast I headed back having a couple of casts along the way but the fine green weed was worse than ever.

My final trip out was on the penultimate morning of our stay and was at the other end of the beach to which I’d gone to on my first session of the week. Again the tide was pushing in and there was a bit more surf this time. Same as before I put on the Patchinko 125 and within a cast or two I was in but this time it was a much smaller bass – maybe 30cm at best. At least there were fish there but then it got silly with almost a fish every cast and all small ones around 30cm. Swapped lures out and they were taking anything…. Savage Gear Sandeels, Tide Minnows, Zonks, metals and even the big Patchinko they weren’t shy with! Lost count but there was a plague of them so I moved on down the beach in the hope of snaring a bigger one but it just wasn’t to be… you know it’s time to come off the beach when you see garfish chasing and snapping at your lure!

And that was pretty much it on the fishing front but lovely mornings and what a beautiful part of the UK, completely new to me.

Aside from the fishing what a real tonic for the extended family following what everyone of us has been through – really great to catch-up in a truly beautiful location. We will be back I surmise!

Anyhow, I’ll finish with a few more snaps to round this blog post off including the spectacular scenery and incredible weather we were blessed with…

Until next time…

Dark Thoughts!

My oh my it’s been a long time since I’ve been fishing but today was the day I finally got out on the coast for the first time this year and in what seems an absolute age. Lockdown has just meant the usual period of ‘cabin fever’ was extended with endless surfing the internet looking out for new things to try…. and safe to say I’m rubbish at trying to resist.

So it was I headed out this morning with a few new lures in the bag and other things to try out along with a bunch of old faithful bits of course. Wasn’t really expecting much as water temperature is still down, light north easterly winds and smallish tides would not add up to my ideal recipe for success. However, I was just happy to be making my way back to the coast. Below zero when I arrived, brisk walk required!

Set-up today was a lighter one – Tailwalk Eginn 8’6” L-R 24g rod, Shimano Stradic 3000 FK reel with two spools – one with 12lb Tasline Elite White braid and the other with 20lb Savage Gear Silencer braid both with Seaguar fluorocarbon leaders and a Breakaway mini clip to the lure. A few hard lures with me but mostly had soft lures as those were where my will power succumbed more predominantly over lockdown.

First off though it was go with the tried and tested to see if I could get myself off the mark first time back in the saddle so on went the trusty DoLive. Plenty of cast and retrieve searching out rocks and gulleys but nothing doing. Wandered on enjoying being on the rocks again despite the chill in the air, clipped on the Patchinko 125 and for the first dozen or so casts again nothing stirred but then out of nowhere the surface erupted and I was in! Nothing huge at all but a very welcome first bass of the year…

With a blank saving bass safely caught and released it was time to experiment a bit so had my first play with a Savage Gear Gravity Stick – the pulse tail version. Really liked the action of this lure from my first cast with it and within a few minutes a bass followed it almost to the rod tip without committing. Tantalisingly close but that was as good as it got with the Gravity Stick today. Switched spools from the Tasline, of which first impressions are very good, to the spool of Savage Gear Silencer to see how that performed. I also put on a Megabass Dark Sleeper goby imitation lure to give that a go as I had seen a few snippets about them so decided to take a punt on one – could see no reason why it wouldn’t work and after a number of casts working out that a slow erratic retrieve gave it a good action I got the proof that I needed that they would indeed work! Retrieving through a gulley and the rod looped over with a better fish which gave a decent little account of itself before I was able to slide it ashore, a nice 57cm bass, circa 4lb…

That was it though for the session on the bass front, but I’ll take that for an opening attempt of the year given what we’ve all been through. Boy was it good to be back out there on the wild coast, a real tonic and now I just want more of it…. have missed it immensely.

Did get me surmising I may need to look into these Dark Sleepers in more depth as they come in different weights, lengths, and patterns… can see them being very useful at some of the spots I fish where you can just imagine the bass searching out prey like gobies and blennies. They look very realistic and it’s paddletail has a great action, definitely warrants more ‘Dark (Sleeper) Thoughts’ for sure…sorry that was an awful pun!

Until next time…

Getting out more…

Since the last post I’ve managed three more trips and all have been productive in their own way. Seem to be a few more bass showing themselves to lures though I’ve had nothing to write home about size wise – a lot of schoolies readily around with the best fish a fat mid-50cm fish, so I guess roughly 4lb.

Rewinding a bit, the first of my recent trips was not about the bass… it was about nurturing my son’s interest in lure fishing and that meant getting out for a spot of mackerel fishing with some small plugs and metals. Picked a nice, calm, warm evening and the mackerel duly obliged. In fact, as it turned out, we had some really good sized mackerel between us especially on metal shore jigs with the occasional ‘double’ hook up on the assist hook present on some jigs…

I used to take him when he was a lot younger but his interest didn’t really hold as I guess there were just too many teenage distractions shall we say! However, and by his own admission, he appreciates the benefits of the great outdoors a lot more these days and especially spending a few hours fishing with his old man! He’s got the patience for it which you definitely need at times, just need to get him on the bass now!

We had the added bonus of a spectacular sunset to end the session on…

The next two sessions were going solo and both produced decent quantity of bass if not any real size to them. First session was over reefy ground and almost all taken on surface lures and of similar size to the one below on the Patchinko 125…

The last of my recent sessions was at the weekend and this time it was back on the beach and numbers again good if size again fairly average. A variety of lures produced from metals to medium divers, like the Megabass Zonk, and also off the top again with the Patchinko 125 and it’s bigger brother. Some nice bouncy conditions and water colour to go with it meant the bass were nicely energised and whilst they were certainly no monsters they scrapped well and all taken at no distance at all, maybe 20 yards at most.

Hoping to get out again this weekend and this time getting my lad on the bass…. if I can get him out of bed at the witching hour!

Until next time…

Hard Slog…

It’s been a while…

As some may have noticed I’ve really been rather tardy in my updating of the blog since September last year and if I’m honest I lost a little bit of enthusiasm for writing things up despite another great trip to Ireland in November in somewhat challenging conditions! Fished some new ground for me around Courtmacsherry area for a couple of days before heading down to Thatched Cottage in Kerry to meet up with my mate Nobby for the excellent hospitality and guidance on offer from John and Lynn. Best fish of the week was actually the first one I had based out of Courtmacsherry and while quantity was better in Kerry the fish were on the smaller size and boy did a lot of effort go into catching them!

Fast forward to this year and the virus hits.

Until very recently fishing has been a bit of a non-event as it has for most and I have only very slowly started getting out there amongst it. First couple of local sessions with Nobby resulted in a single fish between us barely bigger than the lure itself and then on our first excursion meeting up in Dorset we both blanked on a half-hearted recce trip…. more depressing was seeing inshore netters once again throwing their nets out within casting distance. Let’s not go there.

And so to yesterday’s hard slog… been keeping an eye on conditions for a Chesil trip and with winds dropping down a little and having a fishing itch to scratch I booked a day off work, dragged myself out of bed at 2 a.m., drove for an hour and a half, walked for a further half an hour and was just about fishing for first light. From my start point it was walk and cast, walk and cast, walk and cast, and so on with lure changes to boot for the next three hours I think…. not so much as a sniff, zilch! Frustratingly, no more than 300 yards offshore I could see birds working the surface for whitebait and what I would guess were mackerel breaking the surface from beneath but couldn’t be certain from a distance. Water clarity was patchy given the winds of late but certainly not soup and eminently fishable…. it was becoming a bit soul destroying so by the time I’d reached as far as I thought I could go taking into account the return trudge I stopped for breakfast and had a quick shut of the eyes!

It was a good job when a shower passed over to wake me up and get me moving again…. only a nap honest! It was time to head back and follow the same process of walking, casting and changing lures intermittently largely on the basis of slight changes in water colour. I hadn’t long changed from my favourite Pearl Rainbow Zonk to the Hot Shad version of the same lure when out of nowhere… BANG!… the rod bent over and finally I had a bass! It may have only been a schoolie but I don’t think I’ve ever been so pleased to have a blank saver!

Being I still had a fair trek ahead of me I was freshly invigorated and every cast for a while I was expecting the rod to bend over again but guess what….. nothing, no knocks, no sight of a fish in the waves, absolutely nowt… and still the birds fed 300 yards off shore!!

A single fish was all it was to be and I don’t mind admitting I arrived back at the car shattered…. my health app told me 18000+ steps which on those stones feels twice that believe me! I just kept telling myself at least I hadn’t blanked but truthfully I had hoped for a little better. For the dedicated lure angler we can only hope things pick up now and into the autumn….. fingers crossed anyway!

Until next time…

Couple of nice one’s…

There’s been some lovely bass fishing conditions of late on the south coast and despite the limited time I’ve had available I’ve been lucky enough to get out a couple of times and get amongst some fish. The first session I had a couple of weeks back yielded over twenty bass with most being in the 50-55cm bracket with the exception that is of a nice fat 68cm fish pictured above.

I started this session as light was coming up using the ever reliable Megabass Zonk which produced a couple early on as did the Savage Gear Seeker which I put on next. However, as dawn broke properly conditions looked good for the infamous Xorus Patchinko II and that was what nailed the majority of the fish thereafter, including the chunky 68cm one. This top water lure certainly holds it’s own in a bit of surface chop where I think other surface lures struggle – it certainly came up trumps for this session anyway.

None of the fish were taken at any distance, 30 yards out maximum. Another shot of the 68cm fish…

Set-up for the day was 10’6″ Triple Cross TCX-1062Surf, Van Staal VR-50 loaded with 25lb Gosen braid, 19lb Seaguar Ace Hard Fluorocarbon leader and a mini Breakaway clip.

Second session was this weekend and again conditions looked good for bass with a bigger swell, more chop and even more white water than previous trip…

Again, started around first light and picked up a couple on the Zonk. What the above photo doesn’t really show was a stiff south-westerly blowing and the Zonk is one of the lures I find casts well into a headwind. It turned out to be the best lure I had in my box with all eight fish taken succombing to it’s action! The bass were all around the 45-50cm mark this time with the exception being a nice one that was again touching 68cm albeit not as fat as the one from the previous trip…

Set-up was similar to last time with the only change being I chose to go with the Tailwalk Eginn 9′ 6″ rod as opposed to the Triple Cross option. Once more none of the fish were taken at any distance – almost under the rod tip at times.

One final observation before I finish off with a few more pictures from the last couple of trips – the Van Staal VR-50 reel I am really liking, especially with the Gosen braid. Whilst I haven’t given it enough water time as I would have liked this year I’m not experiencing wind knot issues and whilst the line lane is not as good as a Shimano reel in my opinion, it is certainly not something that is causing me issues when fishing with it. I did load the braid on initially by submersing it in a bucket of cold water and have very slightly underfilled the spool which may have helped? I know some far, far, far more experienced and respected anglers than myself have found it does not suit their fishing but I’m loving it! Undoubtedly it’s a personal thing, no-one is right or wrong… it’s fascinating how things work differently for all us anglers eh?!

Anyhow, here are a few more pictures from the last couple of weeks…

Until next time…

First of the year…

Have been a bit slow to get going this year so after a couple of short sessions where I’d done nothing better than a blank and a wrasse it was nice to get a few bass this morning. Just the three – two off the top on the Patchinko 100 and one on the Shimano Silent Assassin 129F.

There could well have been a couple more had I managed to connect with takes on the Albie Snax. I haven’t used the Snax much to be honest but I know many lure anglers love it. It’s a tougher soft plastic and I’m wondering whether the hits but no hook-ups were because I had it rigged on the wrong weedless hook with not a wide enough gape on it? Or maybe, I should have drilled the hook hole slightly bigger to let the hook ‘dislodge’ easier on a hit as I’ve seen on an on-line video. Food for thought next time as the bass clearly like it.

The takes on the Patchinko couldn’t have been more different, the first smaller fish was on a very slow retrieve and it was the tiniest of plucks that snared it – was hooked very tentatively in the lip so much so that it threw the lure once landed!

The second fish which was slightly bigger absolutely launched at the Patchinko and was nicely hooked. The third bass taken on the Shimano Silent Assassin again nailed the lure hard and had taken it deep so it took me a while to delicately remove the hooks. Was very conscious I wanted to get it back as soon as I possibly could so no pictures of that one. Concentrated on the recovery and it did swim off strongly which was pleasing.

After the couple of early season blanks it was nice to get off the mark for the year with these bass – hopefully many more to follow in the coming months.

Until next time….

Ireland 2018 – Part Two

Well, you can see from the above picture that on his last full day of fishing UJ did finally lose his lure caught bass virginity…. and it really was getting near the last knockings when it happened!

The day started so dramatically different to any of the previous one’s we’d had all week – hardly a breath of wind and the seas had completely flattened off so first up we decided on a spot of pollack fishing for a couple of hours. The fish duly obliged with bends in rod aplenty! Nothing big but good sport nonetheless. Next up was a stunning bass spot John wanted us to fish where he knew there would still be a decent surf running given it’s location – it would have been totally unfishable earlier in the week. First cast for Nobby and ‘bang’ – fish on! We thought we might be in to a shoal but not another sniff…. strange how it can be at times.

With nothing more happening at this mark it was getting to the time in the tide where John wanted us back fishing the reef I’d caught at the day before. Back in the wagon and soon enough our lines were in the water. Nobby and I were fishing the DoLive Stick but UJ had switched to the new Gary Yamamoto Swim Senko in white. He was fishing between Nobby and myself when all of a sudden his rod looped over and a few expletives filled the air followed by a “you beauty”…. UJ had at last got his bass!!!! It wasn’t the biggest bass you’ll ever see but it was the most hard earned and well deserved bass I think I’ve ever seen experienced and we were just off the scale chuffed too bits for him….

It really was the fish that made our week when I look back on it – Nobby and myself have been lucky enough to catch a few in our time but to see someone who is new to the trade catch their first lure caught bass and work so damn hard to get it, in such a stunning place… well, it really was the highlight of the week and we could only do one thing after that to celebrate…

Day six and UJ didn’t need to take off until after lunch so with his bass virginity lost the day before it gave him the opportunity of a further half day fishing. There was a better swell and surf running so we were off to a mark we’d looked at earlier in the week which had been unfishable. Today it looked good and after starting on the far side of the bay we worked our way to almost the middle of the bay where there appeared to be a gulley running behind a sand bar – it created a nice bit of movement with water running against the incoming surf. On went the Line Thru Sandeel working it through the current and second cast ‘bang’ fish on!

Unhook, release, cast again and the next fish hits. By now Nobby and UJ are also into fish with UJ picking up a small sea trout and then his second ever lure caught bass…

Meanwhile, whilst we were obviously into a decent shoal of fish John is trying to get some scale samples and tags into the fish – I think at one point there were three fish hooked up and one on the beach!

These fish weren’t monsters but with the tough conditions we’d endured earlier in the week it was very welcome to get into a run of a few fish on the light gear… they certainly scrap better in the surf with the more oxygenated water giving them a bit of a turbo boost. The fish moved on though and so did we to rocks the other end of the bay where Nobby and I picked up a couple more bass including one off the top on the Patchinko 125. UJ picked up a pollack as well so he’d had a three species final morning – a nice way to finish you’re first foray into lure fishing I’d say and more than merited for the effort he’d put in all week.

After lunch at Thatched Cottage we bid UJ farewell and headed out again, fairly local thsi time, with a few more schoolies found over reef ground before an executive decision to declare early for a well earned pint. It had been a twenty bass day in total which was decent given the cold November winds, we’d certainly have taken that after the conditions at the start of the week.

Our penultimate day was once again different – things had flattened off again with much less surf running but given the success at the spot the previous day John couldn’t ignore it and we went back to see if the fish were still around. By now we had been joined in Ballinskelligs by Malcomn and Ian who had made their way down from the Dingle area. The fish were still there but not in the same numbers with half a dozen between us I think, here’s Ian with one…

The afternoon saw us back over a bit of reef where Nobby picked up one on the ever reliable DoLive before we headed back to the surf as the tide flooded – despite looking fishy, and one missed take, neither of us hooked up. The final mark for the day saw us fishing into the dark over shallow reef but aside from a couple of small pollack that was it – the bass certainly weren’t playing ball so it was time for a pint and John’s fish and chip supper!

Our final day was now upon us and the conditions could not have been more different to those when we rocked up a week earlier – it really was benign in the bay with hardly a ripple on the surface. We tried a couple of marks but there was nothing happening so it was off to a spot again we’d been too earlier in the week which had a better chance of some current in the water with the option to fish from the beach or from some rock groins. I stayed on the beach in the surf and picked up four schoolies while John took Nobby off the rocks where he nailed a few pollack on surf lures… spot the fish in this picture!

We were nearly done for the week but one last throw of the dice back in Ballinskelligs Bay as the tide flooded yielded a small bass each for Nobby and myself – both on DoLive Sticks – and that was as good a place as any to finish on as the sun headed for the horizon…

This was my fourth trip to Ballinskelligs and Thatched Cottage and as I said at the very beginning of the ‘Ireland 2018 – Part One‘ post it’s been a fantastic week. Tough at times, especially to begin with, but lots of smiles, banter and laughter along the way in a quite stunning part of the world. Big thanks to Malcomn, Ian, UJ and of course Nobby for your splendid company and enjoying the craic, but I’ll reserve my biggest thanks for John and Lynn….. yes, it’s the fishing that draws us back year on year but hats off to you both for the huge efforts you put in to make it happen for us anglers day in day out, often without a sign of a break – it doesn’t go unnoticed by many of us and is hugely appreciated.

Keep that spirit of Ballinskelligs Bay riding high my friends…. it’s a very special place and thing you have going there.

Until next time…