I can see clearly now the rain has gone!

Of all the fish we have caught on lure techniques in the past few weeks perhaps as much as 90% of those fish landed have been taken using surface lure fishing, my favourite type of bass lure fishing.

Current conditions contribute greatly to bass fishing as warmer temperatures increase their metabolic rates and hence their need to feed more frequently, its almost like a vicious spiral more frequent feeding requires more energy which is available through increased digestive time and then more feeding…..of course not all fish feed at the same time.

Where there is warm clear moving water with energy through either wave or current then expect to find hungry and aggressive fish. And boy are they aggressive, their often hidden ‘tropical personality’ emerges in the sun and they become the fierce fish they can be.

To tap into that aggression when fish are fast moving, hot and competing, small bright and noisy lures are often the key. Remember the fish are active and hunting throughout the water column. Is colour that important? For aggressively competing fish its lower down the list of my priorities and I tend to choose simple SOLIDS solid white, fluo yellow or orange and if its not working then I move to a more translucent type and clear or clear and a slight chartreuse is often perfect.

Fly fishing with lavender and grey and hot pink flies are often keys for me and have proved successful recently on the Cork coast. Its the blend that’s the key here and I’m afraid that’s just too much information for this post.

One of my favourite bright fly combos for Wexford is chartreuse and grey ‘hollow fleye’ from Bob Popovics as featured in these photos from an article I made for a Dutch fly magazine in 2008. Tied sparse almost to transparency its often very very effective. especially when its hot and bright.

Yes its often a little more challenging if you can see clearly then so can the fish so it pays to be more stealthy when making your casts especially of you are situated higher than the water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some HOT lure recommendations that have worked consistently for me in bright conditions and have now at last found their way back into action for provocation purposes are

• Rapala skitter walk white
• Illex bonnie 95 bone or ayu
• Smith zipsea pop clear
• Lucky craft G-Splash
• Jackson Ra-pop
• Lucky craft sammy 95