Wexford summer days

Recent rumours

The commercial lobbyists are a strong united powerful and cohesive force that constantly tease at the commercial restrictions pertaining to Bass fishing. This is done not only in Ireland or the UK but at European level at EVERY opportunity that is presented to them. This type of message rings out at this time every year but only since the change in the necessity to ‘re-invoke’ the commercial ban every year has it taken on a new note or variation. It may keep us on our toes for a while but soon disappears over the horizon – most of us forget about it, while this group never takes its eye off the ball and invents and re-invents new strategies to appeal to politicians. They get closer and closer.

Having attempted to make a living from Bass guiding in this country for the past seven years, approaching the month of may was always a nervous time as the bye laws needed to be re-considered by the relevant minister, I mean how could you forward plan your business if your resource could be destroyed in a very short space of time? A double whammy a national resource that you hope are carefully exploiting by been sustainable coupled to something that you loved doing could be destroyed in a flash. And not only for you but for thousands of others too.

June was always met with a sigh of relief. So its no different this year – the rumours will start and hopefully go away as nothing but rumours, the illegal fishing will continue, and as I have worked very hard this year to sell an angling experience to people from Denmark, Italy, France, Ireland, America, Holland, England and Spain - whom will leave thousands of euros in the local Wexford economy, come the year end I will submit my numbers as I have always done in the hope that this information is in some way a preparation for some war chest to counter the lobbyists. Because I’m afraid some day it may well happen – how well prepared in hard facts and figures will anglers and other organisations like the IFSA, Bord Failte, the CFB be on that day, how strongly united, cohesively proactive and energised will they be, to stand up and protect what is a national resource and not just the imagined property of a reckless few who are quite prepared to destroy it?

Doing it on that day will be too late!

X-Layer Vs Clouser Minnow

Some thoughts on flies and soft lures in bass fishing.













THE BLURB

XLAYER is hand poured jerk bait with reverse rib design, which makes XLAYER’s stop & go action more precise and deadly. With an offset hook set in a certain way XLAYER will dog-walk under water, and set it in a normal way it instantly becomes a falling bait for dead-sticking. You can also shake XLAYER with a 1/32 or 1/16 oz jig head for sight fishing. In another words, XLAYER is the all round soft jerk bait you have been waiting for.













THE BLURB

The original Clouser Minnow, developed by Bob Clouser for smallmouth bass in the Susquehanna River AROUND 1984, was designed to keep moving through the water no matter what the angler was doing. Clouser’s rationale was that baitfish, when pursued by bigger fish, don’t stop to look at the scenery.
The Clouser Minnow sinks quickly when it hits the water. When you start a retrieve, the fly swims through the water. But if you stop moving the fly, it keeps moving as it sinks deeper (falling). The only time it stops is when it’s lying on the bottom (sticking) or being grabbed by a fish. Building an offset head can create an interesting walking motion!

This is not a post where one method is elevated in superiority above an other. I would like to demonstrate the similarity that exists between two different approaches to a particular aspect of bass fishing. Lefty Kreh has caught over 86 different species of fish on clouser minnows of many different types. Im sure if you were to take all the anglers in the world currently fishing soft baits you would probably find that that there have been as many species taken on plastics. This simply demonstrates that both presentations are extremely effective and are essentially very similar - they both imitate 'prey' fish darting around foraging or indeed escaping a predator - there may also be other circumstances exhibited like prey 'behaviour' that predators find attractive. Both clouser minnows and soft baits exhibit these characteristics very effectively.

The essential difference between the two techniques (apart from material) is of course delivery - one method of delivery is by a lure fishing rod and fixed spool reel, the other with a fly rod and fly line. I have put heavier clouser minnows on my lure fishing gear, cast, and caught bass and I have also 'fly-rodded' with soft baits to much success.

Pike - 30lbs plus on the Fly

Guide and pike fly fishing specialist David Wolsoncroft Dodds took this spectacular fish on Tuesday. Click Here to view!

Fly casting for saltwater

Let there be no mistake about it - fly casting for bass in the saltwater environment can be a challenging task! But too often that task is created by ourselves and the search for distance. Somewhere at the beginning, and often far too regularly, our objective becomes 30 yards as quickly as possible. And yes we measure it with footsteps and tapes and strips and congratulate ourselves when we get there, but we forget to look how we got there.

Satisfying your ego with distance often can make you both blind and deaf. Blind to your wide ripped open loops, blind to the broken wrist, blind to poor turnover. All we see is our tag and leader crash landing some distance ahead of us and we are happy! The poor hearing is a result of the shouting done by the voice in our head - we must cast further. The rational and cool tones of self analysis are drowned out - we cant hear ourselves think never mind remember the words of our instuctor.

Casting 30 yards in the local park to the background sound of summer blackbirds is different than pushing big flies into a headwind whilst terns hover overhead and you lean into thee foot waves. But we want personal satisfaction immediately and too many times we are not prepared to listen to our instructor and do as he or she says. We dont practice enough (short periods - regularly) and then wonder why we havent mastered the technique that we paid a lot of money to learn. We dont listen because we think we know better or somehow, magically we will assimilate the ability to fly cast before the next time we go fishing.

Some things I look out for

Rod - when double hauling over long periods of time a more mid action rod rather than a super fast version will help with your timings - you dont need to be as accurate ALL of the time.

Line - dont extend the overhang beyond your ability to control it - be aware of where the rear taper ends and the running line begins

Hauling - hauling wont make a 70 foot caster into a 120 foot caster - it will however make your casting much more effecient, and when blind casting to bass over long periods hauling will 'sprad the load', leaving you less tired at the end of the day.

Saltwater Fly & Lure Fishing Workshops

Bassfisherman - Saltwater Fly or Lure - One-day workshop

Tariffs available on request from Jim @ sportfishing@eircom.net

For those starting lure or fly fishing in saltwater there are often many skills to learn and numerous equipment requirements and choices to be made. This can prove daunting to the beginner or even the experienced fishermen. With more than 30 years of bass fishing experience and working at my eight year as a bass fishing guide my saltwater lure & fly fishing workshops are designed not only to help you fully understand the equipment, but also to help you learn about casting, advanced lure fishing techniques, and why it is important to understand various species their habitats, influences and life cycles. You will also learn how and where to purchase and use the best equipment. Having completed the courses you will have a comprehensive understanding of this intriguing and fast developing aspect of saltwater fishing, each customer is provided with over one hundred pages of notes and continued e-mail support - plus I bet too we can have some fun along the way as we spend as much time as possible with practical application on the water.

Options - bespoke to your requirements

One night stay 100 metres from SEAi HERE
Tea/Coffee and light breakfast
Saltwater Lure Fishing Workshop
Lunch at The Yard Restaurant

Total Fee €225.00 per person – group rate available on request – 3 people maximum.

Summary details ONE-DAY WORKSHOP

Session One at the SEAi Centre – 3hrs morning

Bass, mullet and seatrout a species overview
· Season
· Breeding
· Timings
· Feeding patterns
· History of, in Ireland
· General behaviour in locations like estuaries, rocky shores, open beaches
· Discover how to read tides properly and the effects they have on our fishing.
· Understanding the finer points of weather influences on the Wexford coast
· Winds
· Rain and its effects
· Air temperature
· Water temperature
· Discovering and understanding location development and bass patterns

Lure fishing gear
· Rod types and their different applications
· Suitable reels
· Braids, fluorocarbons, mono and clips
· Line loading
· Unique fluorocarbon and mono knots for braid
· Lures fishing and rigging
· Lure choice and type (recommendations)
· Surface lure fishing
· Sub surface lure fishing
· Surface baits and jerk baits
· Softbaits
· Metal baits

Break for Lunch at The Yard Restaurant

Session Two on the water – 3 to 4 hours afternoon and evening

On the water
· Safety and a quick location audit for your safety and fish handling
· How best to stay comfortable and safe when fishing
· Learning 'Location development' over a tide
· Watercraft and ‘running down the fish’
· Correct presentations
· Lure choice and selection for any given time and location type

· Catch and Return – its much more than returning fish (discussions)
· An emphasis on returning fish even before and after the designated 'closed season' as conditions dictate
· An emphasis on NOT killing mature fish but returning them
· Fish handling regarding

Leaving the fish in the water when releasing
Playing and then landing the fish - what to do over sand, rocks and other difficult areas
De-hooking,
Handling,
Photographing
Returning and recovery
OR proper dispatching of fish and reviewing the legislation

· Reviewing the different types of rods and their applicability to different types of lure fishing
· The lure profile, colour, its action and its role in fishing when conditions are tough
· Fishing and you—common errors to avoid and positive aspects to enhance
· Advanced fishing tactics and strategies
· Confidence when handling and returning fish and making super photographs
· Learning to apply your skills to a range of different saltwater fish.

Bass Fishing Guides Diary 2009

I have compiled the articles written for Irish Angler about life as a bass fishing guide working and living in Ireland onto a seperate section of my blog. You can view them here at this link. I hope you enjoy them - Jim

A lifetimes ambition realised at todays workshop!

Dave realised a lifetimes ambition today at the last workshop before the close of season. Some excellent bass landed -

first time bass mind you!

More details in Bass Lure Fishing Files later today!

Easy like a Sunday morning....fly & lure

Andrew and I took some wonderful fish on this mornings tide. Andrew fished the lure whilst I fished the fly. One or two of the eleven fish landed and returned ran to over 6o cms one > 65cms.
Success came both on fly (5) and lure (6) more details of the landing gear, flies, lures and tactics now in Bass Fly Fishing Files

Destinations Ireland - Coming Soon..

Destinations Ireland - a new service from SEAi
I am pleased to announce a new service as provided by SEAi – I call it Destinations Ireland. Over the past few years I have travelled to some of the remotest and most scenic areas of Ireland searching for quality angling destinations. These are destinations that can provide outstanding fishing, new and challenging environments, dramatic scenery and quality casual accommodations. With Destinations Ireland I hope to share some of these elements with you and your travelling companions. More later.

Bass Fly Fishing Season Begins

The first swifts of summer have arrived and can be heard screeching around the twin church spires in town. This to me, is my annual indication that I can truly be confident of attempting bass on the fly in Wexford coastal waters. A living indicator.

You may ask what has a bird that spends its time in our towns and cities got to do with Bass fishing!

During approaching cooler and windy weather parent swifts can spend long periods sitting on nests close together, or on top of each other with bodies hunched and feathers ruffled for warmth. In abnormally cooler and damp weather swifts may throw out complete clutches of eggs before themselves congregating in clusters on walls. Swifts will take shelter in their nests in heavy rain, even staying in for much of the day. Last summer they seemed to be totally absent.

If you cant hear them screeching or see them whirling above you house in town then consider the weather before going bass fishing!.

The approaching tide - Week 19/20.

Bass Fishing Outlook for the next fourteen days HERE

I have these new Rhode Island flatwings to try and a bunch of new lures from Japan - Its the first real opportunity for bass on fly and lure - cant wait!

Alans start of season

This is Alan from Waterford learning fly casting at a saltwater fly fishing workshop today. I met him on home ground last saturday morning after I had taken the greyish colored photograph below.
The net was strung about 150 - 180 metres along the coast. LAST FRIDAY evening I started to receive some calls from a few people about the net, I duly rang the ERFB whom had already received calls in relation to it and its location. I was told it was been looked after. I went to Waterford, then across to Kerry, back to Wexford and up to Cavan and arrived back home on saturday.
Allen called during the week, asked me if he could come up to do some practice casting and fishing as he was having a little hassle with the intermediate line.

I brought him to the location where I bring a lot of people to learn, which happens to be the place where the net was reported to be 10 DAYS AGO.

Pike fishing with Peadar O Brien and David Wolsoncroft Dodds

A pleasant days fishing in Carrigmacross with Peadar and David - the first signs of summer - see more HERE later today