As most things in life all the good things have to come to an end. So I find myself sat in the ferry port waiting to board, reminiscing on my time spent in Ireland. Much fun was had, I met and got to know a few really nice people. For once it is nice spending time around people who like me are also nuts about lure fishing. Conversation flowed back and forth on subjects of favourite lures and rods and certain fishing tales and experiences. A change from the usual talking at someone about your fishing trip on your days of, being received by a blank uninterested face. Anyway the last 2 weeks in Tramore the weather has been pretty atrocious and made fishing very hard! Thankfully Cian at absolute fishing and my mate Steven Neely from fish on lures have both been helpful. A  few cheeky pointers and reassuring me that there are fish around. Because of this the last week I have actually pulled a few out the bag with early morning and bloody long walks. The first of the string actually came in at a length of 65cm and very chunky, a PB Bass for me so I was absolutely chuffed. I was fishing in a patch of slack water with the Fiiish Black Minnow 120 off shore head in Khaki. Fishing a sink and draw, and on about the fourth cast I followed the draw back down reeling up the slack. I went to draw again and it was solid, now I knew there was a weed bed a bit in front of me just about where I thought my lure was so I’m thinking that I’ve just snagged up. I start putting pressure on with hope of pulling it through when I felt two good pulls on the line. Now that certainly was not weed, my heart beat speeds up and I’ve got a battle on my hands. I keep good pressure on the fish as I can tell it’s more than my usual schoolie, he pulls me out into a bit of current where he knows he’s got the upper hand. After a few runs on my fairly tight drag I have him up and heading to shore. A beautiful thick black backed bass. A couple of photos again on a timer so excuse the poor quality, then returned strong.

The day after something truly magical took place. I ended up tagging along and fishing with a group of 6 British lads who were over for the weekend. Richard Cake, Mark Padfield, Martin, Joe, Steve and Tom. Great bunch of guys with a passion for bass, also very friendly and willing to give me a few pointers and tips throughout the day. hopefully I will get to fish with some of them back in England. Anyway we were in 2 groups on a couple different marks and after my PB the previous day I had high hopes for the day. It was a slow start and with 7 anglers not a sniff, the guys had already decided if nothing was happening here they were heading further down the coast in hope of bass. Luckily a second later after a change of tactics Martin hits into a fish, he lands a nice healthy 5lb 8oz bass. That made the decision to stay easy, and it certainly was the right decision. Richard follows suit and whacks out a big cast, working his lure well resulted in his rod doubling over, straight away he’s saying its a big fish. We knew ourselves when the fish started to pull him along the shore line, I’d say the fish was on for at least 5 minutes if not a little longer. Now for a bass that is really a long battle, as the fish makes it way into the shallows it’s confirmed and the pressure is really on. This is probably the easiest place to lose a fish especially when there is weed to contend with. Mark worked his way around the back of the fish and herds it in as Richard pulls it in, Marks grabs the fish firm and walks it to shore and places it on a weed bed. Wow, I’ve never seen a double first hand un till now and I can say that photos do not do them justice it was magnificent and huge. After all the weighting and screaming like little girls with excitement and photos the beast was returned. What a sight, seeing a bass of that size swim off in the shallows. Well done Richard Cake, a fish I believe he has waited 11 years for.

After a little break for some food and drink and to try to take into account what we had just witnessed and achieved. We began to fish again with hope of more fish. The guys did not disappoint, next in was Martin with another nice fish. This was a nicer fish than his first and was certainly giving him a good fight, he slowly brought the fish up on to the shore and it was a nice thick 7lb fish. A couple of photos and a quick release in order to get the lure back in the water. Not wanting to be beaten Richard replied with a 7lb 8oz bass straight away. There was certainly a good stack of fish in the water and seemingly very willing to nail the lures, well at least Richards and Martins. Nothing had happened for a while and I was thinking as the tide neared low that might be about it for us. But no, not from Richards point of view, fish on. His rod really bent over and he’s saying it’s big, in my excitement I grab my camera a follow behind as the fish drags him along the shore. Richards getting very excited at the thought of another big fish and slowly works him into the shallows, at first sight we can see it’s possibly similar to the first double. Once again Mark follows the fish from behind making sure its safe and landed. Another serious sized fish has just been landed, Richard is again smiling like a Cheshire cat while the steadier hands are in charge of weighing and measuring. Now it was possibly shorter than the 11lb fish but was an absolute pig dragging the scales to a whopping 11lb 8oz. What an achievement  2 double figure fish, a feat I’m sure will never be broken. Richard racked up a total of 30lbs of bass with 3 fish in about a 3 hour period. What  a day, when considering Richard and Martin were walking into the day with no fish from the trip and a possibility of going home with a blank from the trip. They returned happy anglers although I think they might have been a bit jealous with the fact that I had 3 more days fishing before I returned.

After the recent fishing my choice of mark was a pretty easy decision to make for the next couple of days. As much as I enjoyed fishing with the other lads it was nice to have this awesome mark all to myself for a couple of days. As with the previous days the start was always a bit slow. Right on queue I get the normal hard tap then nothing, then the rod bends over. Ok this wasn’t a big one only a couple of pounds but it’s always nice to get one on the board for the day. Over the next couple days I managed to land 7 bass. Not epic amounts by any standards but after the horrific weather over the last couple of weeks they were more than welcome. They were averaging around the 4lb mark so overall they gave me a good bit of sport. I had one of the classic fish that got away, had it in the shallows in less than a foot of water trying to walk it up onto the shore when it shook its head out of the water and chucked the hook. A fish probably touching the 6lb mark but never mind that is the challenge of the chase.

There was no way I could come over to Ireland without paying a visit to Kerry, it’s where I came in august on my fishing trip and it was love at first sight. Its one of those magical places that you can’t help but love. My time was spent in and around Ballinskelligs bay, wherever you look it’s like a postcard image of either cloud topped mountains or huge cliffs plunging into big seas. Putting all that aside the fishing can be just epic and plenty to choose from. Hunting big rock Pollock with soft plastics or getting abused by them in my case. Then to hard hitting, smash you about wrasse of the rocks. And the king of all, the bass. Whether it’s from the big sandy surf beaches, the big flats littered with boulders or of the rocks fishing the gullies. Ok so In no way have I really smashed some fish while down here but I have caught all 3 of these species and overall some nice fish. It’s been very tough work finding the fish, but when I have it has paid of.

Fishing for some big Pollock was something that was definitely up high on the to do list when I got to Kerry, although the first few days were a bit of a write off. With strong winds and huge swell there was no way of getting close to the sea to get a decent cast, and when I did get one out I think I would have needed a 6oz lead to get it to hit the bottom. Anyway I remember a mark from august which we had a few good Pollock from and a nice bass as I remember. This mark had its pros and cons; it was a spit of rocks sheltered inside the bay so it wasn’t getting battered by huge swells. Although on the other hand it only had about a one hour window of fishing it before it was cut off. I fished it a few times over my time here and has done me well. The first time I fished it was a good sign, I was fishing 120 Black minnows with the off shore heads. The heavier head was needed to cope with the strong run of tide it had there on the flood. I was fishing a mixture of sink and draw and just sinking it and straight retrieving it along the bottom, essentially fishing for Pollock. About ten minutes in and I had my first knock and it resulted in a 3lb bass, very nice surprise and chuffed to start the account with a bass. Next cast another hit and this time a 3lb Pollock again chuffed to see a nice Pollock.

After that session I was desperate to fish it again so the next day I returned in the hope that with the tides building there might be more fish around. Fished it exactly the same as I did the day before but with nothing, a couple bites but not resulting in anything. By now the tide had really started pushing in and this was prime time for a hit with the good run of current but nothing. It had got to the time where I needed to start making my way back before getting cut of so the famous words “Last Cast”. A nice long cast, hit the bottom and straight retrieve it back. Nothing but hang on is that weed on the lure? It doesn’t count as a last cast if it comes back weeded. Take 2 “ Last Cast” another nice long cast, hit the bottom straight retrieve back, half way back and I get a knock from a fish with no hook up. No way does it count as a last cast it I get bumped on the retrieve. Take 3 “Last Cast” A huge cast out, hit the bottom and straight retrieve back. Half way and nothing, then wallop, I get hit and it’s a fish on. It’s fighting hard and with the current on his side its making it hard to keep him up. First thoughts are Pollock as it was diving hard but as I get a bit of line in I see that shimmer of silver to confirm we have a bass on. After a little more fighting I now have him of the surface and guide him towards the rocks into my safe hands. After a few photos and a quick measure it’s returned strong for another day. A 60cm thick Bass on my 3^rd “Last Cast”  I was chuffed.

So what else could I do but return to the same mark again. With the tides building it meant I could get onto the mark for longer, so I managed to fish about an hour before low. To start with I was getting a good few bites and interest with the tide still pushing out but as it approached slack water they all dried up and it was a case of waiting for that tide to start pushing in. Now due to unfortunate circumstances of losing all my off sure heads I found myself in a bit of a predicament. The fact was I had nothing with enough weight to get a lure to the bottom where the fish will be holding. A few things were tried with no success, until I had a brainwave. I had a couple jig heads which were not heavy enough with a standard soft plastic mounted on but I had the mother of all soft plastics. The Megabass Dot Crawler 7”, weighting in at about 18g and in combination with the jig head I now had a total weight of about 28-30g. Easily heavy enough, so I adopt the sink and draw method in hope to give the lure a bit more life as it was essentially a stick bait. Straight away I was getting interest on it and I started hitting into some nice Pollock of 3lb or so. I was amazed as I would never have even dreamt of using this lure in this way. But on I went and more Pollock were landed, the best going about 5lbs. No monster but hitting into a 5lb Pollock in strong current on a rod rated at 5-25g with them doing everything they can to hit the bottom. Well thats good enough sport for me. I will admit though there were 2 Pollock that really did abuse me, the first one hit me like a steam train. And with my tight drag I had to take all that force in the rod I thought I had just about turned it when it took another dive and the line went, gutting but that’s what is to be expected when fishing for big Pollock. The second was near enough the same story but he just took me hard in kelp, there was no way I could turn him without my rod snapping in two.

Finally it was time to go wrasse bashing, and with bright sunshine flat calm seas there was no better way to be spending it. I wanted to return to a pretty successful spot we fished back in august, only drama with this was the crazy horse that resided in the field in which I had to pass through. It was bad enough with 3 of us last time, so going solo was not my idea of fun. I scouted the field and spotted her chilling in the bottom right of the field so I stealth fully sneaked down through the field, on the last stretch she perked up and spotted me and decided to start trotting towards me, at which point I proceeded to run like a little girl to the nearest fence and jumped over it!! So to the fishing, it was a fairly slow start with not much interest, I moved about in hope of finding some hungry wrasse. I would get one then nothing for a while then another. I tallied up 6 fish, now for the time I spent there I thought I might have had more. But at the end of the day I’m quite happy to catch 6 fish, I started to make my way back along the rocks when there’s this one big deep gulley that’s just shouting at me to hit it. I thought ill have a few casts, see if I can’t pull one more up. My god I think I definitely found there gathering hole, first cast and I hit into a nice fish really put a bend in the rod, a good fish around the 4lb mark. Then the next 5 casts all resulted in fish, yes 6 casts on the trot and 6 fish. In well under 10 minutes I had just doubled my fish count, this is certainly one epic end to a session. Wrasse may not give you a long fight but in those first few dives they are certainly a powerful fish for their size, as with Pollock there is only one way to fight them and that’s with a tight drag and brute force. I can only imagine King Leonidas was referring to wrasse fishing when he addressed his troops with “Give them nothing, but take from them EVERYTHING”

So far I have been in Ireland for 2 weeks now and with a one way ferry trip could be for a little while longer, in an ideal world I would be able to come on here and blog about lots of fish being caught with a good few big ones and epic fishing sessions along the copper coast of Ireland and down in Kerry. This however is not an ideal world, at least not for me, I’m sure if you Follow “Henry Gilbeys” blog or follow “Fish on Lures” and “Absolute Fishing” on Facebook as I do you will be seeing wonderful reports of good numbers of fish being landed along with a handful of double figure fish! I have caught some fish myself but bearing in mind I was fishing the same area over the same period of time and sometimes the same exact marks, this just proves fishing for bass is so much more than chucking plastic and metal at the sea.

Don’t get me wrong I never expected to rock up to Ireland start plugging away and start landing numbers of bass, that’s just not how it works, bass fishing takes time, effort, knowledge, dedication and I think a slight obsession for all things bassy. And these guys have got all of this from fishing this coastline in some cases for over 20 years, I’ve been here 2 weeks. For example today I spent about 5 hours fishing this one mark, okay I know that’s a long time on one mark but there was plenty of ground to be covered and my god did it look fishy, casting away perched on single rocks in 30mph wind coming at me side on with the aid of torrential rain for the whole period I was there. As you can imagine with this sort of wind it’s going to be kicking up some sort of waves and oh yes it was, every minute or so I would have a set of 5 or 6 seriously big waves crashing in on me with each one chucking a wall of sea water at me. Anyway about 3 hours in even with waders and full waterproofs you can imagine I’m wet through but no way am I accepting that there is a bunch of bass hunting through this surf over the minefield of boulders that does not want to hit my lure, no way! Between sets I manage to spank out my sasuke 120 right out amongst it 1, 2, 3 winds of the reel and I get hit, straight away I see a big splash on the surface and it’s a bass I start cranking and I can feel it’s a decent fish, I get it about half way in and the fish decides to take a dive and ping went the line, my leader knot went. Now I must say that my Daiwa is very lucky not to have ended up in lots of tiny pieces littered amongst the rocks. The thing is I will be up early again tomorrow morning in what’s forecasted to be the same weather doing the same thing all day, now I ask the question is this dedication or am I just totally mental with too much time on my hands!! Maybe the latter but the more I fish the more it takes over me, even the shitty times as I’ve just described these just make me fish harder and longer. I know I’m not alone in this but I’m sure any normal person who hears of lots of fish being landed while not catching themselves would just throw in the towel!! But there’s something different about lure fishing for bass, something that drives you on and on through the bad it may not affect everyone but when I’m out there fishing against the elements I love it! It’s the fact that they can be so hard to catch that keeps me going as I’m not one who likes to be beaten but neither do I want to be handed something on a plate, so when it finally comes together, all those hours spent finding out what state of tide, what size of tide, day or night, weather conditions, type colour or size of lure, water temperature clarity and conditions and where the fish holding areas are on a certain mark the results can be just epic. It’s simply the satisfaction of the reward from working so bloody hard for something that keeps you going at it, and at this moment in time I don’t really see an end to this obsession!

In my short period of time I have had in Ireland I have been lucky enough to meet some cracking people and they have nudged me in the right direction and given me a few pointers. Being that I was based around the copper coast for the first week or so there is no way I could not pay a visit to Cian in his shop Absolute Fishing in Tramore, I must add for your own safety it may be wise to enter with the exact money in which you intend on spending or it could end up being a lot more, but on a serious note it’s a cracking shop very welcoming and very helpful and Cian makes a decent coffee!! I was also very happy to meet Steven Neely and his dad who were down for a weekend fishing the copper coast and they are two bloody nice chaps and seriously good anglers, I’ve been talking to Steven for a while over the internet so was nice to finally meet face to face, plus they cooked me a fry up so that was as bonus. I must also say congratulations to Steven’s dad John for landing a PB bass of around 12lb.