The ‘acid test’ – results?

So its the end of the second guided week for me– one where we have all experienced remarkable summer weather. Weather we haven’t experienced for perhaps five years or more. It was also a week spent in the company of two great people – John and Paul. John is an avid saltwater fly fisherman who travels to Florida regularly and Paul is much more relaxed about his fishing not having fished since his visit last year.

At this time the Wexford bass fishery remains very much below what it is capable of under these positive circumstances. I am speaking here only of what I know. The fishing is difficult and a little more challenging in the current conditions yes, but this is not the reason for the much lower returns. I have had too many experiences and years spent on the water, where it was a chore to climb into your waders not matter how breathable they were, in the middle of bright days hands shredded from unhooking and returning fish. John and Paul caught fish of course they did as can be seen below and they caught them by working and fishing hard, time spent on the water tactically, listening and doing. And boy have they worked hard, they got their results through perseverance and skill.

Now you can say many things at this time in relation to this particular weeks fishing, you chat to a few people (many of whom seem concerned about their fishing) and then we have a tendency to experience a ‘lets wait and see what happens on the next tidal phase’, ‘lets wait till it goes south Westerly’, ‘lets wait till the clouds come home’, ‘lets wait till October’. The fact is any improvement in comparison to current fishing is going to be a massive jump. Hence we hear ‘The bass fishing is back on…’  but that level of improvement is only measurable in terms of your own actual experiences over considerable time compared to the scale of your knowledge of how well it can actually operate. And so the myth is perpetuated whilst in fact the fishing deteriorates.

There’s nothing wrong with standing up and waving a flag when you feel something is wrong. In fact it might help to alleviate the problem. At the very worst you have made a mistake and the very best is that things can change, get better and improve! Having a mature conversation based on valid experiences with real data and expertise is what people do to resolve or determine a cause and/or possible solution.

Its been a great week for me, I’m tired, sore and whilst I avoided sunburn I feel very lucky a little sad the guys have gone and excited too, also I’m already challenged by the next guided fishing week during late July. After all its always about you!

This week is about me as i take myself working (fishing on the fly along the Co.Cork coast)

Another acid test…