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Posted 09:00, 30 September 2010
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- I grant you that plastic lure boxes are hardly the most exciting things in the world, but these Sakura SK9145 and SK9165 ones have really, really grown on me. My lures get stored in all manner of different boxes here at home (only got a few ??!!), but when I go out fishing then I am always turning to these two different sized Sakura boxes. First off I like the way they keep the lures and associated trebles nicely separated. I did buy a couple of boxes though that are along similar lines when I went to Belle Ile a while back - but those particular boxes were missing what I believe is one of the best things about these Sakura ones............and at the time I never realised. If I had, I would not have bought them.
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- I do love my lures. Kind of. OK, I love them a lot. I always like to wash them down in freshwater after fishing. Always have done, most likely always will. Does one need to ? Not sure, but it's just one of those things that I do. My gear gets a hammering when it's out and about, but I do all I can to look after it afterwards. Or does that sound a bit like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted ?
- These Sakura lure boxes have loads of drainage holes - I have talked about this before, but the more I use them, the more I like the simplicity of coming home, burying the box(es) in a sink of freshwater, swilling them around, and then simply leaving them on the draining board to dry out. Really simple. The clips that secure the lids on these boxes don't seem to fall off either. Or at least mine haven't yet. It's often the simple things that are overlooked, but I am completely sold on these Sakura lure boxes. Check them out here - not cheap when compared to a basic plastic box, but they are the kind of things I see as "buying right". Those little bits of gear that just make perfect sense when you have used them for a while. And they make my lures look nice !! Not that I have a problem or anything like that.........
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- Photography is so much about the quality of the light - I am constantly torn between wanting awesome light for my photography and then also wanting the ideal conditions for the fishing. Usually they are not one and the same. Not that I am demanding !! We had some of the best light I could have hoped for last week over in Ireland, indeed sometimes I was utterly convinced that my most favourite country on earth was showing off to us. I am a complete sucker for putting the natural lines of an angler against outstanding skies and letting the light do the talking. Big skies do it for me. I love it where the land meets the sea.
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- Anyway, it's a huge weekend coming up - bring on the Ryder Cup. I love it. Looks like the weather is going to play a big part up in Wales, and especially on Friday and Sunday the forecast is saying at the moment. Seems to be the first set of autumnal gales coming in along the south coast especially, but we shall see.......
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Posted 09:58, 28 September 2010
- I got back home early Sunday evening - just fantastic to see my family and get back to the new house. I can't see how anything in life can ever get any better than my wife and two little girls throwing their arms around me as I walk through the front door. I love my work based travel, but nothing beats getting home. My wife has my utmost respect for keeping everything going so well while I am away working. Now it's eyes down for me on a load of computer based work..........
- We had a great week over in southern Ireland, but then we always do - whatever the fishing does. That first day we had over there last week will live with me for a long time. Any time you see bass like that coming to lures is something seriously special, and I get a huge kick out of being around such quality fishing. But one thing that an up and down week does do for me is to leave me with so many questions I want answered. And even if I know deep down that fishing being fishing, I will most likely never receive all the answers I am looking for. I guess that is a big part of what makes fishing so incredibly addictive...........
- Not a bass of any special size, but the early evening light was just extraordinary. Andy did so well to sneak a fish out just before we headed back to our house to pack our stuff up for the journey home. The MegaBass Zonk 120 Gataride just keeps on killing. OK, so it's got an inherent "flaw" in that the bib is not that strong, but you have to bear in mind that this lure was never designed for what we are doing with it. And I never broke a bib all last week in fact. The Irish lads I know are really into the Cruising Blue colour at the moment. It was flat calm, bright, still and warm - hardly the best open coast conditions you could ask for, but in Ireland you keep at it. You just never know when a fish is going to turn up when the fishing is tough, and over there it's always a case of the next hit could be a really big bass. Ireland is that kind of place.
- So many questions. Why did the fishing get tough after such a good start ? Was it conditions, was it tides, was it the fact that there seemed to be a huge amount of food around for the bass ? Did we make the right decisions as to where and how we fished ? Did we maximise our chances all the time ? Should we have done more lure fishing at night ? See what I mean ? There are a lot of far better bass anglers out there than I will ever be, and I am sure that while we struggled some of the time there was another part of the coastline that was fishing its proverbial socks off. But then that's fishing. We are lucky to have some really good Irish mates who are also fantastically talented bass anglers, but from time to time things just get tough.I want to say a huge thanks to those guys for helping us out so much. We had a blast.
- Southern Ireland is unique to me because it offers such a wide variety of bass terrains, and as such it forces you to think on your feet and adopt a range of different tactics in order to catch fish. I was so incredibly chuffed for example to put that new casting jig on and smash a fish on my first cast - in exactly the location that I was hoping the lure would work. And the moment that happens you naturally think here we go, fish everywhere. But it did not happen. Did I do stuff wrong, or was it a case of very few fish being around on that tide at that particular location ? I then lost the casting jig the next day out on the rocks to a decent pollack that hit me at range and close to the bottom. It did me in the bottom big time. Gutted !! The jig in question was one I had been meaning to get my hands on for a while - the awesome little 28g MegaBass Bubble Header (I got mine from my mate Cian at Absolute Fishing in Tramore). I am hoping that casting jigs like this become more and more available, because I think they are really important for a lot of our fishing. And they just kill for pollack as well.
- I am getting lots of really good feedback about the new "Bass Angler" part of Sea Angler magazine - here's a recent front cover of mine that shows my mate Andy with a nice fish from our June trip to Ireland. The smile says it all. A fantastic bloke and a seriously good bass angler. He's got Ireland as bad as me !! I have to give a huge amount of credit to the Sea Angler guys for listening to me about my bass related ideas last year, and then for deciding to go ahead with a whole "magazine within a magazine" on bass fishing. I love being involved.
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Posted 08:27, 25 September 2010
- The bass fishing here in Ireland has been up and down for us since that first epic day - we have caught fish all over the place, but there has been no real consistency, and apart from another good fish that I managed to shake off for Cian the other evening (don't ask !!), in general the size of fish has been small to medium. Not sure why, and conditions have been mainly good, but I guess that is why we keep coming back. There is a huge amount of baitfish in the water at the moment, so perhaps the predators out here are somewhat pre-occupied ? There is a reason I am sure, but you could drive yourself mad trying to figure things out !! When it does go off, it goes off big time - as we saw on our first day.......
- We have all been using a load of different lures throughout the week, based mainly on the areas and ways in which we have been fishing, but also to see what might work in different situations. Lots to talk about in the near future - lures, rods, reels, lines etc. As always, I have been learning loads and loads about bass fishing, and nothing beats actually getting out there and smashing fish. I was over the moon to take a new lure out the other morning and take a nice fish almost straight away. Sometimes I guess you just get a feeling that a particular lure is going to work on a specific place you are fishing, and this was the case. The same thing happened again with another new (to me) casting jig that I had earmarked for one spot that really gets me going. First cast, bass on. Hugely satisfying. A big part of the thrill for me. I love my fishing all the more when I am learning all the time.
- The quality of the light has been fairly consistently awesome for me out here - I never go anywhere without my cameras and a few lenses, and as we move from summer into autumn, in general the light gets far more interesting. We were driving along the Copper Coast road one evening, heading back to our house in Dungarven, and this was the scene in front of us. Driving to me is a means to an end, but that road is stunning, and when the light off like this you just have to look for a vantage point and rattle off a few frames. This Copper Coast would take several life times to try and figure out as regards the bass fishing on offer........what a place.
- My apologies for the lack of blog posts this week, but for various reasons the wi-fi stopped working for a few days. Technology is great when it works !! Much as the fishing has been up and down for us, it was firing big time just before we got here (sod's law), and it is going to fire again. The local lads have been so kind to us as always. There really is nowhere like Ireland if you are into your fishing. We have one last day at it and then we head for home on Sunday. It's currently flat calm with big blue skies, and while this might not be ideal for the open coast, we have a few places up our sleeves which might just work. That's the thing about southern Ireland - there is usually a bunch of different kinds of bass fishing terrain within easy reach that can fire at different times.
