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Fishing Tackle
Ireland - south : Bass fishing the rugged southern coastline of Ireland
23 April 2009
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Two anglers stand high above the Atlantic Ocean, surveying the crisp, blue mass beneath them. A gentle southerly swell pushes perfect patterns of water onto the mass of rocky shoreline, creating those tell-tale creamy lines of life and vitality. Many miles of perfect bass fishing terrain lie stretched before them, exposed by the low tide, framed by the achingly blue sky, and simply demanding that they clamber down to fish such promising looking waters.
Both of them carry lure and fly rods; all necessary tackle (very little) is carried in small rucksacks or bum bags, no net, the essential polarised sunglasses, breathable chest waders, felt-soled wading boots, and most importantly, a good set of walking legs. If you want to catch bass around here, you are going to need to be prepared to walk; nothing too hard, but tide, time and bass wait for no man. You need to track them down.
The number of people who must come into Ireland through either Cork harbour or airport and then head straight for either Kerry or Dingle is vast. Quite naturally the above areas attract many visitors, drawn as they (we) are by some quite outrageously stunning scenery, a very friendly welcome, and of course, a fair few fish !! But what of the coastline in and around Cork itself ? Have you ever sailed or driven by, or even flown over the area and wondered what you might be missing by immediately heading west ? If you have any interest at all in bass fishing (and I suspect most anglers do), then by leaving Cork in your wake you have actually bypassed what may well be the most productive bass waters in the whole of Europe. A point fully open to argument and discussion of course, but whatever one says, it’s a mighty fine bass fishing coastline.
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Down over the rocks and on towards the first set of gullies that the bass fishermen can wade and cover with flies and lures. The perfect conditions dictate the need for popper fishing; creating surface disturbance, it is hoped, will draw the bass from cover, attracted as they are by the imitation prey haplessly skimming across the surface. Like a wolf they lurk, using fronds of weed and natural cover to hide their presence, until the time is right to dart like bullets and smash from beneath into your popper. Sometimes they are so vigorous in their hunger that they smash and boil right past the lures, leaving swirling patterns of sea water as a tell-tale sign. The clever angler immediately stops winding and waits with nervous fingers for the bass to circle again and charge successfully into the waiting hooks. Sometimes everything goes to plan…
Julian gingerly perches on a slippery rock and blasts a treble hook-loaded popper out across a number of underwater features. John meanwhile breaks open the fly gear and wanders off to plan his attack. Both anglers peer intently into the water in an apparent bid to see the bass lying in wait, so attuned are they both to the electricity of today’s conditions, the real feeling that we are going to catch fish, and the fisherman’s desire to get things right.
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As Julian is almost at the point of lifting his lure from the water, so a fish swirls right past the popper, but the lure is already being readied for the next cast (bass fishing happens fast). Excitement gets to every angler, it’s the nature of the game, indeed we fish surely to provide a fix for our craving. If it went right every time something would surely be amiss !! The next cast is designed to cover the exact same piece of ever shifting blue water that Julian worked over just before, and sure enough within five yards from the swell-strewn rocks a bass charges the lure, boils behind and then hooks itself. That typical mad grin of the lifelong angler spreads instantly across the man’s face and remains long after he tenderly releases over 4 lbs of pristine Irish bass back into the tumbling whitewash.
The bass is an immensely adaptable fish and can be caught from so many different areas. They feed from next to the shoreline in only a few inches of water right out into the deep water marks that are sadly so often torn to pieces by the commercial fleet. A true predatory shoaling fish, they are both slow growing and in desperate need of as much of our protection as possible. If the salmon is the king of (freshwater) fish, then surely the bass sits at their immediate right hand; catch one in deep water on heavy gear and you will doubt their appeal. But hook one in shallow water on balanced tackle and you will soon be signing up to fish for them more and more. It can be explosive fishing.
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It so happens that the extensive coastline running east of the massive natural Cork harbour is perfect bass holding territory. Miles and miles of lonely coastline, beset with a lot of shallow, (relatively) warm water, rich in nutrients, open to the Atlantic, and holding lots of shore based reefs and rocks that cover and uncover with the tide. These areas in turn hold a lot of food such as crabs, bait fish and worms, often herded into tight areas by the actions of tide and waves. Bass are clever and opportunistic, using every advantage open to them to feed, and the switched-on angler will use their knowledge to help predict just where the bass are likely to feed.
Perhaps the most common myth about bass fishing is that they are a hard fish to catch : never believe this, it is quite simply not true. The bass is an easy fish to catch. Its finding them in sufficient numbers that is the hard part, so as a result, look to fish areas that are known for healthy bass populations. Bass are savage and voracious feeders, but they are not everywhere and it goes without saying that stocks are universally down. But find bass and you will catch them, as they are not a sneaky fish like the mullet (is there a harder fish to catch ?)
Julian changes over to the fly gear and wanders another half a mile down the coastline, far away from where he has caught a couple of fish. Leave the area to rest, perhaps cast over it on the way home, but with so much ground to fish in front of us its easy to move on and leave the fished areas to rest awhile.
The fly starts that transition from overhead loops to landing on the surface between two inviting lumps of rock and then being worked back in the most appealing way possible. Next cast, I am sure we can smell the bass (don’t anglers have the greatest imagination ?), Julian goes to strip and work the popper once more, and a fish boils right behind the fly. Stop it dead, leave it for a second, another swirl and the line goes so gratifyingly solid and then rips from the hand.
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All loose line is quickly trailing the running fish, Julian goes stumbling over the rocks to help steer the fish away from impending trouble, apply strong pressure, keep the rod tip arched over, and after some heart stopping runs, the angler’s in the water and cradling surely 6 lbs of the most perfect bass you have ever seen. To see such a scale-perfect bar of blue-tinged silver swim from the hands never leaves the mind. Bass fishing is that kind of addiction.