Saltwater Boat Angling — November 2017

52 Saltwater Boat Angling

AN

IR IS H

BASS

ADVENTURE

A

visit to Ireland is one of my fishing

rituals. The reason I make the effort

to go is because the bass fishing over

there is quite simply the finest in

Europe. This is down to the brilliant

fishery management they have in Ireland. For

twenty years there has been no commercial

landing of bass in Ireland, they have a closed

season to protect the fish during their spawning

period and anglers are restricted to two fish per

day. The result is a staggeringly brilliant sport

fishery that makes it worth the cost of going. In

one day, you can catch more big bass than you

would in a month of bass fishing at home. Add to

that the mild climate, the genuine hospitality and

the craic that emanates from every pub doorway

and you have a mouth-watering recipe for angling

tourism.

I drove over with the kayak on the roof, opting

for the Holyhead to Dublin ferry with Stena Line.

Their ferry times are very civilised, leaving at

8.20am and returning at 9.30pm, these crossings

effectively give me an extra day of fishing in my

timetable. The road west from Dublin is very easy

now and Cork, even going steady with the kayak

on the roof, is only three and half hours’ drive

away.

AN EARLY START

I set the alarm for an early start as I wanted to

be on the water for 5.30am, just about as it was

coming light. As I drove down the narrow, bumpy

lane to the slipway and small beach on the coast

of County Cork, the sea was flat calm. There was

barely a ripple and there were no waves hitting

the shore. These are not good conditions to go in

search of bass. I like a bit of movement on, or in,

the water and some white water from breaking

waves on the shoreline helps too. The one thing

in my favour, was the fact that it was a spring tide

and, hopefully, the tidal push would bring the bass

on the feed.

In these clear, calm conditions I was putting

my faith in the fly. For some reason, a fly seems

to work better when things are not quite right.

Whether it is the subtlety of movement that gives

the bass the confidence to take I am not sure, but

I have been in conditions like these before where

lure men have failed to interest a single fish but

fishing a fly has accounted for several fish. I have

also fished alongside commercial guys, using both

live eels and live prawns, and they didn’t touch

Simon Everett goes fly

fishing for bass, on his

kayak, in Southern Ireland

PLUMP BASS ARE

GREAT SPORT