Ireland – Hooks, Lines & Sinkers

Ireland 2018 – Part One

Another year and another fantastic week in the company of John and Lynn at Thatched Cottage Fishing Lodge in beautiful County Kerry has come to an end. Fishing was tough at times, particularly to start with – no two days were the same that’s for sure – but really and truly that just added to the challenge. I’ve said it before and will say it again, there’s something very special about this place and I don’t just mean the fishing – it’s the whole backdrop too it – the scenery, variety of ground to fish over, the people and above all it’s the spirit of the place which has really, really gotten to me.

This year’s trip saw the usual suspects of Nobby and myself joined by his mate Richard (‘UJ’) for whom this was a first delve into the wonderous world of lure fishing for bass…. excuse the pun but he was definitely in at the deep end!

After a few early inconveniences, like having a chat with Mr Plod about being slightly overexcited to catch the ferry and then the ferry itself delayed for a couple of hours, we eventually found ourselves on the good shores of the Emerald Isle. It was then the jaunt from Rosslare to Kerry before us…. you could have worse journeys and the anticipation of getting there meant the miles and time were eaten up – before we knew it we were through Caherdaniel, over the hill and before us was Ballinskelligs Bay (with some ferocious looking swells and waves I might add). Shortly after we arrived at Thatched Cottage to be greeted as warmly as ever by John and Lynn. A quick decant of fishing kit, chatter, a couple of wee shots, lovely food, and a couple more wee shots and we were ready for bed ahead of our first day of fishing.

I’ll make no bones about it, the first couple of days were tough – the big swells and waves were still there and the water colour was downright filthy in most places. Not ideal. Between three of us, in the most sheltered and best coloured water John could find, we had one pollack for Nobby and a lost bass to UJ to show for our efforts.

That provoked a change of plan from John for day three with us heading north to the Dingle peninsula to try the surf beaches there – a first for us on our trips to Kerry. There we also met up with a couple of well known bass anglers Ian and Malcomn who were giving the bait option a blast in the surf. The decision to head to Dingle finally paid dividends with our first lure caught bass of the trip landed, albeit only a small fish. The Savage Gear Line Thru Sandeel doing the business for my good self.

I had one one more hit that didn’t hook up as did Nobby but that was as good as it got despite fishing hard into the evening…. tough November fishing all round but at least the bass account had been opened. Our bait fishing friends only managed one in the same surf on the same session so not bad for us lure fishers we surmised…. we called it a draw anyway!

Day four back in Ballinskelligs and dawn brought us brighter, calmer conditions and thankfully clearing water with a nice table of surf running in the bay which John got us fishing first off. Nobby and myself cast out pretty much side by side and he shouted across to me “Looks fishy, doesn’t it?”….. “Oh yes it does” I respond with the devil in my eye as I’m into a bass first cast! Only a fish of a couple of pounds and again the Savage Gear Line Thru was on the money. That was the cue for a few more fish for Nobby and myself, here’s John with one of them…

UJ was still plugging away but was yet to be rid of his lure caught bass virginity – we were all quietly willing it to happen but it wasn’t to be in this surf session. The fish had moved on and that was the cue for John to get us on the road too and off the surf beaches altogether to fish some shallow reef on a flooding tide. This was a familiar and favourite spot of mine from previous trips and it came up trumps again with the ever reliable DoLive stick accounting for this bass…

Both Nobby and myself had further hits – alas no hook ups – but the tide was now pushing us off the reef anyway so it was time to retreat and once again move on. A couple more spots saw no action as we finished after dark but it had been a better day on the bass and a couple of pints of the black stuff made for a suitable reward.

Whereas Nobby and myself still had four days fishing ahead of us UJ was always heading back early so only had one more full days fishing ahead of him…. was he going to lose his lure caught bass virginity?

Until next time…

Ireland 2017 – Part 3

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Day 5

Refreshed from a good nights sleep and another hearty breakfast it was probably mid morning before we headed out and this time it was out of Ballinskelligs Bay itself to try and fish somewhere where there was a bit of movement in the water in the hope of bass being around. Again we had bright skies and a fresh northerly wind to deal with which weren’t ideal conditions but when we got to the piece of coast John had earmarked, despite the lack of fizz and the pretty clear water, we were encouraged by the water movement.

Rossbeigh 1

First area we could only manage several small pollack between us despite seeing a large bass mooching around with some equally big mullet – none of them appeared interested in feeding at all but then we were at the bottom of the tide by now. Soon enough John had us moving on and after an early lunch we were off fishing some likely looking reef with relatively shallow ground, intermixed with lots of boulders and plenty of weed. It looked good and it was time to clip on the Do Live Sticks for sure.

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It was slow to start with but then as the tide started to push and we found a particularly interesting looking boulder field we found fish. First I had a couple of plucks but no take and then a few casts later the rod slammed over and I thought I was into a really good fish the way it fought but as it turned out it was a feisty fine conditioned fish of about 4lb.

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A couple more followed on this stretch of coast and one was lost, all on the Do Live Stick, and all went like the clappers as if they were fish caught in highly oxygenated surf! Terrific ground to fish on and not a bad result in the end considering the bright conditions over head and the water clarity. We had a fair walk to get back to John’s car and set off in good time for dinner…. only to be way laid by an old boy who was repairing gate… I swear if we hadn’t rolled up our sleeves and helped him out he would still be there now! Nice too help out though and he was very grateful… not that we understood a word he was saying!!

A few pints of the black stuff that evening at Tig Rosie’s finished the day off nicely!

Day 6

We woke slightly bleary eyed to be met with an overcast sky and hardly a breath of wind on our penultimate full day in Kerry. Tides weren’t the best for bass fishing in the morning so we spent a few hours on deeper water marks having a blast at the pollack. We had a fair few in a short space of time up to about 4lb again I guess but no beasts!

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It wasn’t the easiest bit of climbing after a couple of those lovely Guinness drinks the night before and our general feeling of unsteadiness today was probably best demonstrated by Andy as he made his way across a particularly precarious little gully…

Andy staggering on rocks

After a spot of lunch on a nearby beach we headed around a headland with shallower reef looking for bass but it was still pretty calm and we only managed further pollack so John had us on the move again back into Ballinskelligs Bay over a shallow reef as the tide flooded. The wind had picked up but it still had a lot of northerly in it so wasn’t conducive to any swell or disturbance and the water was absolutely crystal clear… there were no bass to be had today.

Day 7

Our last full day in Kerry and it was raining with a nice bit of breeze…. the surf beckoned and we were joined by Nick and Ian at the same spot we’d caught right at the start of our trip. Conditions looked almost identical and we all waded in with hopes high…. but nothing! Not a single fish or even hit between the four of us!! So, John moved us on again to a more reefy spot where Ian quickly picked up a small fish…

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The rest of us were struggling until Andy moved further on round with John and found life! Cormorants on the water and terns overhead he fizzed his Hound Glide out amongst them and within seconds…. wallop!! Nick and I were probably some 300 yards back along the reef at this point but we heard the whooping as Andy pulled in the best fish of the week going 67cm on the tape…lovely fish!

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What a cracking way to end our final full day in Kerry and of course with a pint of Guinness to celebrate.

We did fish briefly on our final morning for one small bass but in all honesty we were fished out by now and it was time for us to reluctantly turn our thoughts to de-rigging, packing up and heading back cross the Emerald Isle for the ferry home. What an absolute blast it had been yet again!

Final Thoughts

I think one of my opening observations in the Ireland 2017 – Part 1 blog article about this trip was that this place gets under your skin and all I can say is that every time I come away it just gets that more tucked under. It’s not just the fishing… it’s the scenery, it’s the people, it’s the pace of life, it’s the quirkiness, it’s just the whole craic of the place…. it truly is magical being in this part of the world and it just wants you coming back for more.

I can’t finish without saying thanks to Paul, Rick, Ziggy and Monica for your company, to Nick and Ian (and Eileen!) for sharing fishing time and plenty of laughs but above all, once again, on behalf of Andy and myself a huge, huge, “Thank You” to John and Lynn not just for the guiding and the wonderful hospitality but for all the banter, laughs and friendship you show which makes our trips out to Kerry very, very special indeed. We will be back…. if you’ll have us!!

Until next time!

Ireland 2017 – Part 2

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Day 3

John had jokingly said “no two days are the same in Kerry” and he was right! After the wind and rain of the previous day we were greeted with sunny blue skies littered with broken fair weather cloud and calm winds on this the third day of our trip. It had all the hallmarks of a tough day on the bass front but with the previous days rain it did give us a different opportunity which John put to us… the river would have a bit of flood water so the option of trying for a salmon was now definitely in play… why not eh?

Quick stop off en-route to get licences and we were on our way for a completely different day in Kerry. Fishing for the salmon here is all single barbless hooks and strictly catch and release. It was spinning gear for me and both spinning and fly for Andy who had done a bit on the fly in years gone by. After a drive up the Inny valley and a couple of stop offs by John showing us marks we would fish later in the day we arrived at the start point for our jaunt on the river where he gave us the insight into how we should be spinning for the salmon here as well as giving Andy a refresher on the fly technique required. A little walk upstream until we found a pool where John said I should start and suggested a practice cast or two… I only had a follow first cast with the fish turning away last minute! That however was nothing compared to Andy who walked maybe 100 yards upstream from me to another pool where within a matter of minutes he hooked a salmon on the fly…. pretty good for a bloke who, by his own admission, has not fly fished in years and never for salmon! After a lovely scrap John slipped the net underneath and within the first half hour we had a salmon on the bank and then safely released!

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What a cracking start…. this salmon fishing must be easy eh? Oh how wrong one can be! We then fished the river hard for a few hours for nothing at all until an inspired spinner change from John got me into a fish! The take on the spinner felt for a split second that the lure had been snagged but then all hell broke loose with the fish hurling itself out of the water and running first up then back down stream. Just when I thought I had it under control and it was coming towards the net off it went again at a rate of knots. Finally, though it was beat and John was able to slide the net underneath a lovely fresh run grilse with a hand shake to follow! A proper good scrap!

Salmon handshake

Andy had a another take on the fly that dropped but other than that we then went fishless for the rest of the time on the river but we were more than happy to both have had our first Irish salmon!

Now, I can’t really leave our day on the river there without fronting up to my clumsiness and the general hilarity at my expense which John, with that Irish mischievous tinkle in his eye and knowledge of my blunder-bus ways, had the foresight to have his camera at the ready for!!! Let me set the scene… we needed to cross over two barbed wire fences about a metre apart with thicket in between – things looked ominous when first John and then Andy both struggled over the fences which were, let’s just say, less than rigid. So, John – camera at the ready was in prime position for what followed… I’ll let the video do the talking!!!

Needless to say both John and Andy were justifiably wetting themselves with laughter barely able to talk in the field beyond that damn fence!! It goes down as a classic that’s for sure!!

Anyway, back to the fishing! With the day on the river done and back at base we still fancied having an evening session for the bass at the mouth of the estuary where it met the surf and met up with Nick down there as the tide ebbed. White senkos were the order of the day in the small tables of surf where we waded to waist height and cast out. As darkness fell (though the full moon made it feel somewhat lighter), we started to notice sand eels skitting across the surface and all around our feet – literally thousands of them – when you moved you stirred them up even more! We started to get pulls on the senkos but no definite takes which was frustrating and which we put down to small bass though of course we could not be certain. We moved along the bay and it was the same all the way – just thick with sand eels. Eventually, Andy and myself decided our day had been long enough and bid our farewell for the night to Nick and started to walk back to the car…. only to get a wolf whistle as we were half way back – a quick flash of red beams on the head torches confirmed it was Nick and we guessed what was coming next! Sure enough by the time we got to him he had a nice 65cm bass on the sand in absolutely beautiful condition which had rammed into his senko! That was pretty much it though and we headed back to Thatched Cottage to get our heads down.

Day 4

Tough day. Don’t ever go to Ireland thinking the bass fishing is easy and if you want to talk about fishing in weather that’s all over the place then today was the day. We covered a lot of venues in quick spurts but could we find bass…. not so much as a sniff. The wind direction was inconsistent at best starting north to north westerly and for August it was cold with what seemed like incessant heavy squalls coming through…at times it felt more like November! We did hook into some small pollack and a surprise coalfish at one mark but that was it – not even a hint of bass during the morning. Back to base for lunch and a brew where we met John’s mate Ian who was over for an extended period from the UK – another fishing fanatic! The afternoon took us east around the bay to some decent looking bass marks but by now the skies had cleared and it was bright sunshine with the wind still coming in from the north but ever so slowly dropping off. We just couldn’t buy a bass so decided to bail early with a view to heading out under the cover of darkness which, after dinner, we did along with Nick once again. The water was much calmer now and it didn’t look too promising but the sand eels were back in their droves so it was on with the senkos again with more occasional plucks before yours truly finally caught a small bass of a couple of pounds…. it wasn’t really happening though and we all took the opportunity to have a relatively early night and were back at the ranch by midnight pretty tired out!

Ireland 2017 – Part 3 to follow!

Until next time…