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Posted 09:23, 14 May 2012
- How times have changed for me. For years I bought and fished with multipliers like it was going out of fashion, indeed you should see the collection of various SLOSH 20s and 30s I have here – I even have a pair of the older, original SLOSH 20 and 30 reels where you could replace the frame screws with countersunk stainless steel ones and they are as tough as old boots. Spinning reels for me back then were used principally for my mullet fishing and were viewed as not much more than an add-on to my “real” reels – much like spinning rods compared to beachcasters. Now though and I look at fishing reels the other way round – whilst I will always have the multipliers here, it’s the spinning reels that really get me going these days, and yes, I do like messing around with different ones to see what’s out there for the money.
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- For a while now it seems to have been the outstanding Shimano Rarenium that has been the must-have spinning reel at around the “just over the £150” mark and I see loads of them out and about – I also hear of very little going wrong with them, indeed with what we put then through near and sometimes in saltwater I think some modern reels are marvels of modern technology. The Rareniums are class bits of kit, but how about this new Daiwa Theory spinning reel that I must presume has been priced to compete with the Rarenium ? I have been using and thoroughly abusing one now for a while and I am that impressed with it that I have to ask the question – is this new Daiwa Theory simply too good to be true ? Compared to what I used to spend on spinning reels the princely sum of £170 for a reel like this is a fortune, but with what I know these days I reckon this not insignificant amount of money represents outstanding value for money. By no means is every single lure angler able to or even prepared to spend north of £150 on a spinning reel, but the simple fact is that these days if you look around and buy wisely you can get some incredible products for the dosh, and with my own experiences of this new Theory I reckon it’s pure class………..
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- I don’t know this for a fact, but I presume the Daiwa Theory that we are seeing here in the UK is a renamed Daiwa Freams – I might well be wrong, but they sure look pretty similar to me, and instead of me trying to waffle on about technical specs that don’t remotely interest me, take a look here for a load of info on the Daiwa Freams/Theory. I have to guess that this new Oil Seal is a cheaper version of the Mag Seal found in the Caldia (sublime) and the Certate (desire !!), but with what I have been putting the Theory through it seems to work just fine. In the UK we can get this new Theory in 2500, 3000 and 4000 sizes – I have been fishing with the little 2500 size, but my friend Ger Carey over in Ireland has been fishing with the 3000 size since it came out in the UK and he’s loving it. I will keep you posted because if there is one lure angler out there who will find a weakness in a reel it’s Ger. He fishes a lot. I mean a serious amount, plus he catches a mere bass or two along the way !!
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- It’s almost pointless telling you how smooth this new Daiwa Theory is to fish with, because you know as well as I do that spinning reels around this price from the likes of Daiwa and Shimano are sublime to use. I fish with a very tight drag and I don’t like giving bass much if any line if I can help it, but yes, line comes off just as easily as you like if needs be. Some reels feel right in my hands and some don’t, and from the off this Theory just felt about as perfect a reel as I have picked up. Close your eyes and I swear it could almost be a Certate. Seriously. The line lay is very good and I love the fact that a spare spool comes in the box. I always, always take a spare spool loaded up with braid when I go out fishing. I don’t tend to suffer from wind knots but you just never know when it might all go a bit wrong, and having a spare spool ready to go could be vital. It can also be useful to carry a couple of different kinds of line or breaking strains. And yes, it drives me mad that the really high-end spinning reels don’t come with spare spools as standard.
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- I can usually find something about an item of fishing gear that I don’t like/get or would like to change, but try as I might I can’t find one single thing about this new Daiwa Theory that niggles me. As much as I love the handle shape on the Luvias 3000 for example, I am really liking the handle on the Theory. I can’t tell you whether the reel is going to last and become a classic like the Shimano Rarenium, but my gut is that this Daiwa Theory is pure class and I guess that if you are looking for a new spinning reel at around the “just over the £150 mark but well below £200” then I guess there’s a new kid in town. Too good to be true ? I don’t reckon so………….
- Yesterday was a pretty big day for me – I took our puppy Storm out for her first fishing trip on the rocks. She’s been to the beach enough times and I know she can swim perfectly well (she has been “encouraged” to go in the sea and various rock pools a few times), but the time had come to get her out fishing with me to see how she might do. I had forgotten what having a puppy was like after I got so used to how Jess was as an adult for so many years, but Storm is doing brilliantly and she just loves my girls to bits – and they love having her and being with a puppy as she grows up. I do the bulk of the training but then they all chip in when needs be. Talk about energy, but then as a family we have always been used to going on loads of decent walks, indeed my girls I reckon walk faster and further than most adults. Aside from catching a bunch of smallish wrasse yesterday on the soft plastics, I was over the moon at how good Storm was on the rocks. My new fishing dog. As an aside, what on earth is up with this weather ? I put suncream on yesterday to go out fishing yet this morning it’s back to rain and cold. Early summer ? Drought ? Never a dull day when it comes to the weather here in good old Blighty !!
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Posted 09:16, 11 May 2012
- Sometimes the bass fishing in Ireland is so good that I keep looking around the rocks and beaches to check that there really aren’t thousands of other anglers out and about enjoying it. When their fishing for bass fires I would have no hesitation in classing it as world class sport fishery, indeed if you gave me but one more day to fish in my life then I would choose lure fishing for bass in Ireland. Simple really. But we all know that from time to time fishing is going to give you a good old fashioned kicking, and that’s what I got this week. The last few years in southern Ireland have seen close to mad bass fishing before their close season, and although the fishing had been firing a while back with that warmer weather we all had, I have to conclude that this long spell of abnormally cold weather has had a serious effect on it all. On the flip side though it’s going to fire sometime soon, and I dread to think how many fish are going to pour inshore. One again though it drives home to me how the “art” of weather forecasting continues to me to seem like a best guess “science” - and of course that no year is ever remotely the same as the last when it comes to the weather. Thermal Buffs and hats in May ?
- For all the local knowledge that I am lucky enough to be able to tap into, and indeed for all that I have learnt and continue to learn about the coastline, when you don’t live in an area and therefore have to book fishing/photography trips away, you can do no more than go on the right tides at the right time of year and simply cross fingers that the weather and conditions behave a bit. It’s no different to booking a trip to the remote Seychelles or the wilds of British Columbia. When it all comes together I continue to be amazed at what Ireland has to offer the saltwater angler, but that’s just it. You live for those times when it does all come together and fires like I know Ireland can. And when the fishing is tough then all it does is make me want to head back over there even more, and because I know how good it can be.
- Sometimes I think that anglers might read this blog or perhaps my articles in Sea Angler and come to the conclusion that I am on the secret payroll of the Irish tourist board – yes, I rave about Ireland, and yes, I love the country and its fishing with a passion bordering on a serious obsession, but at the end of the day I can’t help loving what I do and the places I am lucky enough to experience (not forgetting the people that I get to meet, fish with, work around, and in some cases get to call my friends). If I can translate this across to other anglers then I feel that I am doing my job and giving something back to the sport that so drives us all. I don’t have to go to Ireland. I choose to because I want to. I need to for my own well-being and for my work. I live for my fishing/photography time in Ireland and if my passion for the place in any way rubs off on you then I hope you will one day get to experience some fishing that blows your mind and leaves you’re a gibbering wreck that wants for nothing more than to get back over as soon as possible.
- Over time I will put some information up here about some of the different bits of gear I/we used on the trip and indeed for my own fishing back home. Some of the stuff I am coming across these days makes me wonder how on earth it’s possible to get better gear for the money. A few rods and reels lately have left a big impression on me and I just love the fact that it is more than feasible to lay one’s hands on “proper” gear for lure fishing for sensible money – and the fact that this “proper” gear really is out and out “proper” lure fishing tackle surely has to have a positive impact on the increasing numbers of anglers who are finding their way into the joys of chucking lures. Expensive shiny gear is just great, but at the end of the day we need to see gear at all kinds of prices. But do you know what almost broke me the most on this trip ? I like to think that I am pretty much “up” on some of the different lure colours that can and do work, but then the Irish lads I know start showing me some of the colours that have been working well for them and it leaves me weak at the knees !! Should I feel good that I perhaps don’t have as bad a problem as I thought I might, or should I be berating myself for not having some of those colours myself ? At least I can talk myself into believing that I don’t have a serious problem with lure fishing tackle. The power of positive thinking – or is that the power of being able to con oneself ?
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Posted 09:57, 9 May 2012
- I can’t think of a better way to highlight how important good local knowledge via anglers who seriously know their stuff is in fishing. The bass fishing out here at the moment is seriously tough, and I would think that the reasons for this are many – up and down weather, lack of food inshore at the moment, coloured water etc., but the simple fact is that when you know your local patch backwards like Ger Carey does then you are always going to be in with a shout at a fish or two.
- The weather kicked up stink on Monday out here and essentially blew large parts of the coastline out for lure fishing, but the hope was that as the winds died down then that bit of kick to the water might get some bass moving around a bit more. We thought about things and made a plan to meet up very early on Tuesday morning at a mark on the Copper Coast that tends to fish about half tide up and on to high water. I have seen some serious bass come out of the place before in some really lively conditions, including a 10lb and an 8lb fish to Cian almost in consecutive casts if one takes into account me pulling him away from the fishing to get some photos of his bass. Photographers eh ?
- Anyway, we turned up bright and early and almost raced down to the spot, but all too quickly it became apparent that it was completely weeded out and the water was still very coloured. We moved a little further back along the coastline and found a place without too much weed in the water, but there was still a lot of colour/murk. Not great. Was it a wrong call on our part ? Looking at the conditions I suppose it was, but that’s a part of fishing.
- Ger meanwhile had thought about things the previous evening and had (correctly) concluded that where we had chosen to fish would be unfishable. He had very kindly tried to call us on our mobiles but we had switched them off. Our fault entirely, but later on in the morning Ger got hold of Cian to tell him that he had caught six bass to just over 7lbs !! It kind of helps that Ger is massively wired into his local patch in a way that sometimes astounds me, and once again it proves to me that for all the theories, tackle and chat, nothing in fishing is ever going to beat strong local knowledge, instinct and natural talent. Fishing does it for me because I know that I am never going to come close to learning all that I want to try and learn, but at least I can keep trying………….(and Ger continues to smash bass on that IMA/DUO Nabarone 125F in the sardine red belly that l left for him last year !!)
