Clonakilty Bass Angling Guide

Happy now Hardcore Hockley!

Great day out yesterday with Batt O Donavan. One of the fish caught from the channel on the sandeel.

A couple of the fish caught by Mark Canning on Friday.

THE QUANDRY OF THE HEALTH OF IRISH BASS STOCKS.

A tricky subject I know. This is only my opinion and I know some people will disagree but here goes.
First and foremost I am like a “pig in s # ” with the reformed bass laws brought in last year. About time too! Ireland had the good sense to protect the species a quarter of a century ago and the genius’s in Brussels have finally done something about it. Don’t you just love them! What I would love to know is…. how do they know?


How would you go about surveying bass stocks? I’ve owned a boat for the last seventeen years and I know the habitat they occupy. You can’t see them most of the time! They love the cover of the kelp beds and when you catch them from there the colouration of them is starkly different to a bass caught from the sandy areas near the shore. They are nearly black. So I’d love to know how they survey that. Also, bass spawn on the edge of the continental shelf and the offspring end up wherever the tides and wind takes them. My point being? A survey on one particular area has no bearing on overall bass stocks. So how do they get their figures?
My guess is feedback from commercial “line caught” fisherman and anglers. “Line caught” bass in the UK are big bucks and restaurants will pay high end money for them. Every year I am guessing their catches diminish and they put it down to lack of fish. Anglers too are finding it harder and harder to catch bass as the seasons pass by. But why?
OK. Here’s my theory. I firmly believe European Bass have been around even longer than Cliff Richard. An awful long time. They are supreme predators and most predators are smart. They have to be. On land a rabbit hasn’t got to wrack its brains as to where its next meal from but the wily fox does. The rabbit happily eats away at the grass in front of it (acres of the stuff) whilst the fox works out how he’s going to eat the rabbit. I hope you see where I’m coming from.


So, back to our beloved bass. Anglers have been fishing the surf beaches for many decades now with reasonable success. And then came the Lure Revolution. I know of a couple of people at the forefront of this era, John Hall was one (if you’re out of pocket don’t come crying to me. He owes me too!) and Patrick Gallagher. I wasn’t at the coal front then but pretty close and the fishing was unbelievably good. Patrick was telling me last year of his pioneering days of lure fishing and his results were nothing short of spectacular. It was like giving an eighty year old man Vi**ra for the first time! Think about it. Anglers were fishing virgin ground containing one of the most predatory fish Cliff has ever seen! I am talking about the “Rough ground” that covers the majority of our coastline. Now Cliff has reliably informed me that these fish felt very safe and secure in their environment. It is likely that some marks were fished on occasions by bait anglers losing six rigs in as many casts and walking away saying “F # this for a game of marbles” but that in all likelihood, was all the pressure they got. All the bass in these areas were supremely confident and would attack anything that moved if they thought it would fit in their gobs.


I could give you loads of analogies to back this up but I’ll pick two. A very good friend, Bat O’Donavan went fishing to one of our local rough ground marks, probably in 1999. Armed with a sh*tty eleven foot rod, fifteen pound BS monofilament and about ten percent of the finesse he has today (On the lures, Bat is a legend angler) he embarked on his maiden lure fishing expedition. He nailed eight bass to eight pound in just over a couple of hours. On a J13 Rapala. I have never heard of anyone doing better than that from that particular mark and doubt if I ever will.
My other one goes back to my childhood, not bass this time but Pike fishing. We used to fish a small tributary to the River Ouse called Cook’s Backwater. We would buy a pound of Spratt from the fishmongers on the Friday and share it between three of us. We pushed the boundaries one day and fell on a bonanza of Pike (probably fishing places that hadn’t been fished for years) and used all the bait up in two hours. One of the fish we caught was blind in one eye and we aptly named it “One eyed Jack”. C’mon, a jack pike with one eye. What else are you going to call it? So being young, stupid and craving more Pike action (I’m sure we had a dozen fish in two hours) we bought a pound of Spratt each the following week end. Guess how we got on? We caught one. “One eyed Jack”. That was it. We went a few more times that winter to that particular spot and old Jack would take our Spratt once more to say “hello”. We never had that bonanza again and I’m sure Jack didn’t want to be surrounded by three spotty t***s smoking Picadilly No7 (cheapest f**s going then) stinking of Bovril crisps and Irn Bru but the poor bu**er only had one eye and was hungry. The rest of the fish with two eyes didn’t have to suffer that humiliation.


So why is it that with our super sophisticated rods, reels, braids and lures we can’t come even close to the action of those early days of lure fishing for bass? I believe that the bass learned quickly that everything that swims in front of them is not necessarily food and comes with its inherent dangers. They got smart. Of course we can still catch them and have “Red letter days” thrown in there too. I think we use those early days as a benchmark of how bass fishing should be and we are wrong to do so. I was told once “The secret to happiness is to want less.” It’s great advice in all aspects of life, including fishing. I personally believe our Irish Bass stocks are very healthy and hopefully they will remain that way. During the last few years whilst fishing from the boat the band of water 200 to 400 metres off the shoreline has been the most productive of all. It just happens to be out of casting range from the shore. Coincidence maybe? I don’t think so.
I would like to dedicate this article to “One eyed Jack.” Without his help I’m sure we would have blanked three or four times through the long, cold winter of 1975.

WHAT HAPPENED TO TARQUIN?

In the last gripping episode, Tarquin had foolishly attacked the Abu Hi-Lo that had swam within striking distance from his and Randolph’s gulley and had indeed been hooked by a “Catch and decease” rotter! (At this moment I feel like Eric Van Lustbader deciding the fate of Jason Bourne!) Randolph and himself had often discussed escape and evade tactics when there were no lures coming across them to “Play the game” and Tarquin put them into action. He swam towards the kn****ad as fast as he could and dived into a depression behind a jagged reef. The cheap mono bought from one of the German run supermarkets chaffed against the reef and parted company. Another stroke of luck for Tarquin was that the hooks on the lure was rustier than my Transit van and hadn’t penetrated his top lip. A couple of shakes of his head and the lure was dislodged. Lucky bu**er!
So what information can you glean from the opening paragraph apart from the fact I’m as mad as a box of frogs! There is a subtle point in there, do not skimp on the business end of your gear. It’s all well and good having a megabuck Tenryu rod and a matching mag sealed reel costing a king’s ransom but close attention should be paid to your braid, fluorocarbon, links and hooks.
We will start with the braid. If you don’t fish with braid and use mono instead I cannot emphasise enough…… “Try it!” you’ll never look back. The diameter to breaking strain ratio is about half of that to mono which will extend your cast by half again. However, this is not the main reason for using it. Braids Uber quality is that there is zero stretch in it. A fish can hit the lure at sixty metres and the result would be the same as the fish hitting at six metres away. Direct contact. The hook up ratio of braid compared to mono is phenomenal. What braid do you buy? As with everything nowadays the choice is bewildering. Personally, I use Berkley braid. Whiplash, to be precise. Is it the best? Probably not but it has never let me down yet and I’m a great believer in the term “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” A three hundred metre spool of twenty pound BS will set you back about forty bucks which is a bargain compared to the braids in the upper price range. Most reels come with a spare spool so load the lot on (if your reel is 2000 to 3000 class a 300 metre spool of braid will fill it) and then top it up with mono until it’s perfectly loaded. Put the spare spool on the reel and transfer the first spool onto the second. The following season, add extra mono to the top of the spool to compensate for braid lost and find a big field. Pull the lot out and tie the new mono to the existing backing and reverse the braid giving you unused braid. Two seasons. Forty euros. Cheap as chips!


Once the braid is loaded onto the reel you will need to attach a length of mono or fluorocarbon. This is done for two reasons. Fluorocarbon is less visible in water than braid and it will also give you a bit of stretch when playing the fish. I know some anglers use a swivel for the junction but I prefer to use a standard Albright knot with the braid doubled up. The top ring of your rod will love you for it! This is tied at home and tested. If I am happy with the knot I apply a dob of superglue to it and tie on the quick link. The quick link is tied on with a grinner knot and nine times out of ten this is the point of breakage when snagged up. Simply tie on a new link and away you go. With 20lb BS braid I opt for 15lb fluorocarbon. Berkley again. It works and haven’t broke on a bass yet. I do carry a spool of the Seagaur fluorocarbon (11.6lb BS) for the super calm days when the water clarity is unreal. It is the best leader material I have come across and use it for my salmon fishing. It wants to be at twenty euros for a fifty metre spool!


Quick change links have come on leaps and bounds over the last decade and it’s well worth spending the extra dosh on these, especially when you have a megabuck, megabass lure on the end that cost thirty euro. Grauvell do a stainless “twist on, twist off” one which are superb. There are plenty of others too but avoid the old style “American snap swivels” as they’re crap! Unless you’re using spinners, swivels are unnecessary so go for the links that do not incorporate one. Another potential “weak link” removed.


The trebles on my lures get replaced each season with new ones. I crush the barbs down for my own sake as much as the fish. It’s a lot easier to remove a barbless hook from your hand or finger compared to a barbed one. The Owner range of trebles are ridiculously sharp and reasonably priced. Another good one is a Dremel tool with a wire brush attachment in it. In a couple of minutes it will remove any nasty rust stains off your lures and clean up the split rings. The split rings rarely need replacing as they are normally made of a higher quality metal than the hooks and the hooks act like a sacrificial anode on a boat engine, rusting the hooks before the split rings. A couple of hours at the end of the season spent cleaning your lures with warm, soapy water will massively increase the longevity of them. Let them air dry and a light spray with WD40 is all they need before you put them away for the winter.


Let’s face it lads, we are all tackle tarts! The bling and accessories that is available to anglers would be enough to make an Essex girl jealous. Keeping your braid and leader material in order, along with sharp hooks and good quality quick links will catch you more bass. Boga grips and super duper pliers made out of aircraft grade aluminium with titanium jaws will not catch you fish. Buy the bling by all means if you feel you need it but make sure the “Business end” is in perfect order before you splash the cash!

Here's another one if anyone is interested.

Understanding bass with Peter Aspinwall IFD: Peter Aspinwall is one of Ireland’s top bass angling guides. He specialises in fly and lure fishing and over the years has built up an intimate picture of their movements and behaviours.…