Mid June – Mid July Bass Fishing Wexford 2012

I just wanted to throw a few words together in relation to this particular period with regards to my lure fishing in Wexford. It has been bloody tough, not to put too fine a point on it! I have experienced and observed (the other lads I fish with.. struggle)  in our worst return rate based on hours put in on the water since we started lure fishing full time. For example 3 weeks ago I fished a good tidal cycle over a various of locations for a period of 15 hours (yes I was on/in the water for 15 hours!), historically these locations fished well at this time of the year. I did not get one single; follow, take, hit, splash, shadow..whatever…. not a Gannet dive or a Tern splash. I am omitting one vital (in my opinion) thing though, the weather..

Wheres our Jet Stream gone ?

The weather that session  encompassed the four seasons, creating varying sea state & clarity. Wind direction was all over the shop, started off at a promising Southerly which went East followed by North ( the forecast was South West by my trusted weather sites). Well where did that leave me apart from a sore shoulder blade ?. To be honest disillusioned, I mean there is an absolute abundance of Mullet about on some of our marks and Trout too, but where are the Bass? are they there but not feeding? is illegal fishing responsible? are the fish some where else? are we too complacent? have our expectations grown too much? or are we just unlucky? To be honest I dont know and don’t claim to know, but I reckon the fact that the Jet Stream has been a lot further south as reported numerous times on the News, weather sites and blogs has something to do with it ( well I hope so at least). This is not an isolated event either, the lads have hit marks recently ( the last 4 weeks) with near ‘perfect’ on conditions, fished it hard and long and not a sign of a fish. This cant be right can it?

Apart from that rant, we have been hitting some fish which keeps you pushing yourself as the hours wear the wading boots down….

This 5.5lb Bass missed my Patchinko 3 times before engulfing the Lure and giving a spirited fight in colored water.

Barry caught this Bass off the surface with a slowly worked Z Claw

Pat caught this Bass on a Feed Shallow

As a result of the fishing being a lot slower so to speak I have started using surface lures a lot more than usual. Purely just for something to concentrate on while there is no action, a by product of this is obviously a lot more fish caught off the surface for me, I think there could be no going back from here……

Another nice Bass off the surface…. Happy Days

Barry Nailed this Bass on a Z CLaw.

Marc caught this Bass on a Shore Line Shiner at the start of the rise

All fish when landed were very energetic, full off beans until they were put back into the water. All Bass were returned and swam off well.

My Bonnie worked with pauses on the surface caught this Bass

Another Bass getting ready to go back

Bass going back

I mentioned experiencing the 4 seasons above, here is an example of the extremes we have encountered in a short period of time:

Flat calm and crystal clear

Disturbed and murky

A reward

I finished work and made my way to the coast, it was lashing rain since lunch time and the roads were struggling to cope with the surface water. I geared up and entered the water, the weather had put off some of the lads, but I was not going to give in today.. I fished surface lures for 2 fruitless hours and I was soaked to the skin, the rain was now akin to a monsoon, it has been a while since I seen rain like it. It eased off for a brief moment, at which point a fish made a lunge at my lure and missed it. I made a second cast down current from the last splash and worked the lure, a splash and an arched rod resulted in my reward:

I was very wet ! but very happy with this little Bass!

Of course an update would not be complete with out giving my favorite lure a mention….

Accept no substitute

Happy Days

Afloat

We also made an attempt to suss out some new Bass grounds from the boat, first cast Crevan landed a Slug Go on the nose of a fine Bass:

Crevan with a fine Bass caught on a Slug Go

A closer look

It was a fine fish Crevan landed which gave a great fight with plenty of head shaking. We fished on in vain for another couple of hours but that was the only action we seen.

Well, all I can say is fingers crossed Mother Nature is the cause of the current situation we find ourselves in, if it is not her we could be in dire straits for the future….

Next Blog update will be about our experience at the Irish Bass Festival 

Your next one could be your best one.

Danny.

Drifting the Kilmore Reefs

We launched the Wahoo twice out of Kilmore Quay since my last update, both in contrasting conditions.

Bottle it and sell it…..

First trip out was over a spring tide, fishing into crystal clear water.  The second trip seen us fishing over a neap tide into murky water. We fished as ever on the drift, fishing light with the Soft Plastics targeting drop offs, plateaus and peaks. Our target Species were Pollock, Wrasse, Ling, Codling and Coalies.

Here is a Sample of  what we caught:

Crevan with a Cod caught on an Illex lure.

Pat with a Cod caught on a Fin S.

Barry with a fine Pollock that fell to Wave Worm OTD.

A Cod on a Storm Sand Eel.

Double Hook up.

Double Hook Up.

Another Double Hook Up.

Crevan With a Kiimore Pollock.

Pats new best friend..

Oh the hat is out lad …..

On the first trip the fishing was patchy, there seemed to be no trend to where or when the fish appeared. We usually have the better fishing on the fall, particularly if high tide is at dawn. The takes seemed plucky and timid compared to the usual smash and grab antics, leading  us to strike into the fish more than usual.

A day would not be complete without a Wrasee.

The lure hits the bottom and ‘BANG’, we were into fish straight away on the second trip, all doubts about the current murky conditions put firmly to the back of the mind.

The fishing was hectic at times, the fish were feeding very aggressively, ripping the SP’s to pieces when they missed the hook.  Slim profiled SP’s preformed particularly well on the Pollock. Wrasee were scarce, although a good number of Cod showed over the bottom of the tide, Ling also made an appearance, with Crevan getting his first one on a SP.

Ling incoming

Ling took a liking to the One Up Shad

Crevan’s Ling

‘A bird never flew on one wing’………no, but with 2 wings it flew straight into my line !!

Houston we have a problem.

Not impressed

It was very placid to be fair

The Heron Gull hit my line at full tilt and managed to wrap the line up around its wing. I got it to the boat and after several minutes we managed to free it, the beak was held as it appeared to have a taste for fingers !:

Here is a few more random pictures from the trips:

Business end – Pollock

Business end – Cod

Business end – Cuckoo

Navy on patrol

Look just above the wheel house, that is a retreating ‘Tornado/water spout’ !! Mental

A selection of some of the Lures I used.

The one that got away. I wont even bother telling the story..I am still raging over it!

In all the two trips were decent, both trips seen a good quantity of species up to decent size. Now if only the Jet Stream would go back to were it supposed to be, we might get some stable weather so we could head out again!

The Big Fish Hat.

Your next one could be your best one.

Danny.