Once

Once it was just binoculars. Then hidden cameras and infrared video. Today, keeping an even closer eye on nature, computerised mini electronics and spies in the sky track the travels and habits of creatures great and small.

Bulky radio collars are just about tolerated by lions, tigers, wolves and bears. Miniature lightweight transmitters are stuck to the backs of birds, bats and even butterflies. Now deep-ocean animals report on their wanderings by attachments that pop up to the surface, on command, and send radio packages of data to satellites. These trace the course of long journeys, the nursery and feeding grounds, the depths of dives, the temperature and salinity of the water, and levels of light.

Around Ireland such “tags” have been fixed to basking sharks, porbeagles and blue sharks, bluefin tuna, leatherback turtles and sunfish. Some of these tags have tracked transatlantic migrations. But some species can be less accommodating. Leatherback turtles, for example, need to be captured first – often rescued from entanglement in nets or ropes – and fitted with a harness to carry the tag.

• Eye on Nature: Your notes and queries

But how do you engineer a 50cm fish to report on its travels? This summer has seen more tracking of the movements of sea bass, Ireland’s most prized catch of inshore angling and a fish in dire need of conservation. A collaboration of the Marine Institute andUniversity College Cork mounted a study that began in Cork Harbour and has since widened to the coast of Co Wexford. Implanting the bass with tiny acoustic transmitters, it tracks their signals by receivers mounted on buoys around the southeast and retrieved, once a fortnight, by computer at UCC.

The fish are caught by the region’s many bass enthusiasts – the sort of angler found in winter braced waist deep in tables of windblown surf to cast a lure beyond the third wave. In summer, however, bass move into estuaries to chase shoals of sand eels, which makes catching them a more comfortable challenge.

Fitting the tiny transmitter involves delicate surgery, with a preliminary anaesthetic bath and fresh seawater piped through the gills. An incision in the belly implants the transmitter, the skin is stitched up, and the bass, after recovery in a bucket of oxygenated seawater, then swims strongly to freedom (so I am assured), its progress marked by electronic pings.

This silvery, muscular, but slow-growing fish – a five-kilo female might be 16 years old – was once prolific around the southern coasts of Ireland. Commercial overfishing through the later 20th century concentrated on Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney, but was halted by government order in 1990, with a two-fish-a-day bag limit also extended to anglers.

That protection was echoed this spring by an EU ban on commercial fishing of bass around most of Ireland and Britain, and a recreational-angling limit of three bass a day from the top of the North Sea around the south to Dingle, including the Irish Sea.

The Irish conservation laws did indeed produce a local rise in bass numbers, as young females grew to maturity, and a new influx of tourist anglers to Wexford and the southeast. But the good years have not held up since 2007. Among delegates to a conference at Dublin Castle last September was the Wexford angling writer and bass enthusiast Ashley Hayden. After 24 years of conservation, he declared, “estuaries, headlands, beaches and tide races from Carnsore Point to Galway Bay should be alive with midweight bass in the four- to six-pound bracket. Sadly and mysteriously they are not.”

Source – Michael Viney – Irish Times News Review – Saturday August 22nd

A Journey 2004 - 2014

 

Using various strategies to get your business and services ‘visible’ is beyond doubt essential. In todays world that definitely means using social media tools, websites, mobile friendly accessibility, and a strong reputable and credible online presence.

The use of ‘Feature’ articles in angling publications is one of those strategies that I adopted early in 2003 through the advice of David Byrne. The first International ‘Feature’ that effectively portrayed the potential of South Eastern Irelands bass fishing appeared in VoyagesdePeche in 2004 (here). Nico Jamin was the chief Journalist working with the magazine at the time and his photos feature in the article.

Julien La Journade the editor in chief of the magazine has a close and highly developed relationship with Irish angling promotion. A constant champion of many guides and services in this country Julien has done me many small promotional ‘unprompted favours’ over the past ten years. Subtle in context, a paragraph here a photograph there, just enough to keep things ticking over.

I have been very lucky with the journalists I have had the opportunity to work with over the past ten years. When I want to work with somebody I’ve already made the decision on the basis that I know that their objectives are based simply in carefully promoting the angling, the local support services and of course the guiding as provided by Jim Hendrick. Here’s the kicker though, many angling journalists are interested in promoting themselves and their angling prowess in preference to either the fish the environment or the services. This is often achieved by being facilitated into positions of angling opportunities that they could have never ever dreamed of experiencing!

I have been careful and lucky too.

But I’m guessing now that this is always the case, there’s always a little bit of quid pro quo, and that’s fine until you find their friends are casually ‘guiding’ on places where you have worked for years to develop. Somehow the quid and the quo are not the same.

The something special about Julien LaJournade is probably in his passion, his depth of understanding of both what it means to be a genuine fishing guide whilst being aware of the impacts of local recreational angling and the associated risks of over development of any fishery in many environments. I have learned to believe that these are some of the characteristics of quality angling journalism.

My personal strategy with magazine features was to use many different International publications across many countries over time. Coupling this to reporters who viewed Wexford in the same way as Guinea Bissau, Gabon or Norway and that in these places were unique fishing possibilities available to you if you used a local fishing guide – simple, this is their job. I know how to do mine.

Julien returned to Ireland this year and we worked on an article for his magazine. We had an incredible week. Both tough and at times awe inspiring. I find it appropriate now as I change my life and my angling, again, that the magazine I started with in 2004 (as above), the first of its kind to visit South East Ireland and particularly Wexford,  is the one I close with for the time being.

So much has changed since then. The magic of technology and photography has moved so much that these photos here were taken on my mobile phone, unheard of in 2003! Some of these and more feature in the latest edition of  Voyagesdepeche.

Julien has completed 9 pages of an article about his latest experiences of Irish bass fishing on the wild coast of Ireland guided by Jim Hendrick.

Julien is a balanced writer, a great lure fisherman and someone who has inspired me never to get engaged in the online bullshit of expertise that’s so prevalent around bass fishing.

I believe that not everyone has agreed with what I did as a guide, I tried to do my job as best as I could and with as many like minded people as I could find. I’ve had incredible bass angling experiences and I have been lucky to have shared some of those times with great angling journalists. Journalists who have done bass fishing and Ireland proud.

Thanks to you all – Jim Hendrick

Adaptation, flexibility and knowledge in bass guiding services

I woke this morning early and lay awake remembering and thinking about the fishing we had last week.
There were days during the week when not only was the fishing beyond belief but so too the circumstances and the environment. I left Dublin airport last Saturday morning, the 4th of October, with David and Julien as the crew, I had devised a plan that saw me guiding the guys around and through the weather all along the Atlantic coast.
We would not be stationery for any long period of time unless things proved otherwise
Within one hour of our arrival at Cork we were hitting fish, we stayed at Bella Vista in Cobh on Saturday evening and tried on Sunday morning before we began our western escapades – Sunday morning proved to be a damp squib!
Throughout the week, each day during the early evening, I made my regular phone call home and of course the weather proved to be a major part of that conversation. Wexford and the south east was being hammered by heavy rain and thunder storms on a daily basis. We had avoided this by being flexible, adaptable and by my having several alternative options open to us along the coast.
These options are not only knowledgeable angling solutions but also timing solutions, flexible accommodation solutions, food and drink and quality of fishing environments, transport and others. All these things need to add up to provide a quality experience that also doesn’t create a sense of ‘chasing’ the fish. I have achieved this through weeks and indeed years of hard ground work both fishing and researching over long periods of trial and error. At this time I have created a ‘network’ that provides me with a continuously evolving customer experience that fits the variable demands of the bass fishing environment.
This type of knowledge and experience doesn’t come easy nor is it given to you second-hand, its earned the hard way as a bass fishing guide through months and years of personal investment and effort. I guess that’s why I believe that bass angling information, determined through personal investment, places both a different sense of responsibility and ‘value’ on that information in comparison to say if it were simply volunteered to you. This is what makes you different as a guide, this depth is what is reflected through your services and how you go about your business.
Neither my customers nor I are  ‘condemned’ to only one option should it prove blown out. We go..we find the fish!
In a week where Julien LaJournade broke his personal best bass from the shore with a double and then two days later beat that double again by at least a kilo! In a week where we caught and landed all fish 'drop and drifting' on sub surface stickbaits and surface lures or flies, in a week where we never had to resort to lifting any jigheaded plastics, in a week where we were regularly stunned into silence by the beauty of the places we found ourselves, in a week where I lost count of fish and cared less about size, in a week it was a week of a lifetime.
This morning I’m waking from a dream, slowly!

Under the influence–of high pressure!

I sat in terminal 2 at Dublin airport watching the match whilst awaiting the arrival of my French customers. Always tense moments an all Ireland final and the anticipation of a weeks guided fishing that lay ahead. This was one of the larger groups that I had guided in the past few years – there was Philippe, Dennis and his wife Solange, and Giles and his wife Agnes. A challenge no doubt!

The balance lay in striking the correct fishing strategy and timing whilst allowing Solange and Agnes time to explore some of the historic sites of south and eastern Ireland. The group was based in Wexford town at Rosemount B+B for seven nights and six days but we had flexibility to move and travel as the fishing dictated.

The fishing strategy for the next six days lay as follows -

4 Mornings rising tides fishing 04:30 to 08:30

4 Evenings top/falling tides fishing 20:30 to 24:30

2 midday sessions over mixed tides on different but close locations. Room to plan and manoeuvre as the fishing dictated of course.

The three guys have a surface lure fishing obsession and had told me very early in the planning that even if conditions were tough they would remain fishing on the surface in preference to fishing hard diving lures or soft baits. In fact they arrived with no soft or diving lures such was their passion for surface lure fishing.

The guys had been bass fishing together in France for some 20 years  both from the shore and in a skiff in many different locations, travelling was part of their game. They also had regular experiences of tropical fishing in Bijagos, Guinea Bissau, Panama and Gabon – this was to be their first time in Ireland.

Gear was exceptional and front end.

With such a large group, which at times was, travelling all together I had hired a seven-seater from Enterprise Car Hire.This facilitated our airport collections and returns, luggage, it provided significant comfort over a weeks travelling, fishing and exploring. A voyage really, for many reasons, and it needed to work from both dimensions – fishing and tourism both for the guys and the girls, it needed constant management. It was demanding from several different aspects that needed to fit.

The weeks weather was to be strongly impacted by, and remained under the influence, of a constant easterly and north easterly airflow that was a consequence of the high pressure system that lay over Ireland and much of the UK. In fact the high pressure extended into a lot of western Europe too. Mild sunny breezy days with calm evenings and mornings, and as any bass fisherman knows, fishing Wexford under extended conditions such as these was in itself a considerable challenge. This can be at times difficult to convey to customers who aren’t ‘tuned’ to local influences.

Monday came and went as we travelled into the western sections of the coast and on Tuesday we had the opportunity to travel to Cork and work with a film crew.

SEASONS a French film company happened to be in Ireland filming Trout Salmon and Pike fishing – so why not bass? We ventured down the coast and met the guys, and IFI, its always interesting to have French bass fishing customers filmed in Ireland by a French film company, it adds another layer to the possibilities of promotion.

The girls ventured along the coast on a considerable hike, the boys played with their fish as we were overwhelmed by vast shoals of mackerel chasing sprat and sandeel into every gulley available….and so it went, we voyaged into fantastic places every day, simple but inspiring in their uniqueness and quality. And this became our routine

Having spent time fishing or exploring or both, we stopped for refreshments along the way, this was often the case wherever we went during the week, Wexford, East Cork, Dungarvan, Kilmore quay, Kilmore village, the Hook, Tintern Abbey, Kilkenny City, New Ross, Johnstown Castle – Greenacres, The Yard, The little Yard, Mary Barrys, Pat Shortts, Spice, Mackens, Kehoes of Kilmore, The Lobster Pot, The Thomas Moore, JM Kellys, Kilkenny Design, Kilkenny Castle and gardens, Butterslip, Westgate design, the Bullring Market, Corcorans Menswear…..

It cannot be denied the significant local economic impact that such a group has left behind in the many places and businesses which they visited. Across the entire southern eastern region – all in pursuit of a fish and a further experience that is uniquely Irish, and completely sustainable.

The wonderful coastal environments and scenery experienced every day, the relaxed acceptance and fun, the pace, the peace, the sound of silence not subject to any pressure. And of course the fish, the fish, the magic of the fish persists and persists.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you all for making it an experience for me that I wont forget, for making it easy to be a bass fishing guide in places that are close to my heart.

Bass fishing workshop

I met Sean Kelly two days before we went to France and we completed the ‘theory’ section of my bass fishing workshop over a bright Sunday morning.

I met Sean at lunchtime today and we finished the workshop with a practical ‘on the water’ session.

Carrying the theory to the field we both did a little work on both surface and soft lure fishing techniques, reading the water, and location development. Sean was then set free and combined it all expertly when he managed this wonderful fish on a Megabass Hazdong Magnum.

Rod: Illex S210M

Reel: Shimano Rarenium 2500

Line: Famell 6kgs by Yamamoto

The fish was taken in less than a foot of water, confirming once again that bass will feed close to shore in locations that still surprise many people.

As a result Sean's confidence is now high, he has a natural instinct and understanding of the fish and he has the skills that he can open out and develop into his own fishing over the next few autumn months.

Often the best time for bass fishing.

Although the business may be temporarily closed for guiding services, fly and lure fishing workshops are available on request from time to time – and who knows with temperatures falling more fish might be tempted closer to our shores over the next few weeks!

The beginning AND the end…

Forwarded to - The Irish Bass Policy Group (David McInerny, John Quinlan, Shane O Reilly, Mike Hennessy, Dr William Roche, Dr Nial O'Maoileidigh,) Malcom Gilbert, several members of the IFI and other home based bass fishing customers.
_______________________________________________________________________
I am writing this letter to call to your attention the serious concerns I have for the continued deterioration of the bass population as I have experienced it on the south and eastern coasts of Ireland. As you may know I have fished these coasts on a recreational basis since 1975, I am a bass fishing guide working and developing bass fishing on these coasts on a professional basis since 2002/03. My business South East Angling Ireland was established to provide both guided bass fishing services (fly and lure) and approved accommodation with a view to a holistic approach to the fishing, including airport transfers, provision of modern tackle and singularly strategic bass fishing solutions.

The profile of the traveling, affluent, adventurous and experienced European sportfishing angler was where my target customers lay and whilst historically Wexford may have had a small heritage in relation to bass angling the challenge for me lay in both attracting the correct customer whilst simultaneously demonstrating responsibly the remarkable accessible ‘new’ bass angling environment available in Wexford through my services.

This was a considerable business challenge as Iconic locations like the Kerry coast, the Dingle peninsula, still attracted by default traditional bass angling interests. Added to that challenge the profile of my customer needed to be correct in order to maintain a high level of ‘impact distance’. This meant that customers came to Wexford, fished for a week and left, simple. The likelihood of ‘local interest growth rate/impact’ was minimised.

Inclusive of the years 2003 – 2007 this was largely achieved through keeping a tight lid on advertising of services which was directed entirely at a European and US target audience through various magazine editorials. These were wide ranging and spread with the help of IFI and Failte Ireland between France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Belgium, the US and Denmark. Up to this time, end of 2007, both the Irish and UK markets were not where I felt large number of ‘profiled’ customers lay, the market didn’t exist in the UK at this time as ‘modern’ bass lure fishing techniques only began to develop there from late 2007 / 08 in both the UK and Ireland.

I made a considered business decision that any associated ‘local’ advertising would have had a negative impact on my business through creating access to awareness and hence increasing ‘local recreational angling’ impact. Wexford is easily accessible.
However I did feel it necessary at the end of 2007 (for many reasons) to begin to increase the public awareness of the actual existence of an approved bass fishing guiding service and expertise that was available in Ireland at this time. I did this through Irish Angler Magazine, 2007-20011 inclusive. This was also achieved through the active development of my website www.probassfisher.ie from the beginning of 2008.

The core strength of the business lay in the availability of the fish along the SE coast in a multitude of exciting and different locations. Coupled to that was the strategic angling solutions I provided in order to catch the fish effectively (based on thirty years of local experience), the quality accommodation I provided in Wexford town and the accessibility to local support services.

Pre business establishment ‘test cases’ were run to establish the validity of the availability of the fish across the multitude of locations along the Wexford coast - estuaries, current, rocky shore, deep water, sand bars, etc.

The rate of return was calculated very simply as I spent more and more days fishing with customers the key catch base was running at an average of fish per hour per customer. In some locations this could be as high as 8 in others as low as .5 – this depended on the type of location, timing and also the size of fish anticipated or targeted. This was communicated to the customer in relation to their expectations on a day by day basis, but always ‘under estimated’.

It is also important to note that years prior to opening the business this base was strongly in evidence.
The factor that most changed these numbers in relation to catch return at any time was weather of course but this was always a minimal impact on a general day by day basis with the odd exceptional week of complete wipe out.

Location footprint and location frequency was kept to a minimum as I fished across an empty coastline for five years.
The base calculated from 2002 (intro only), into 2003 (beginning), and through the following years 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 remained within 15% +/-25% of my expectations for customer returns. When it didn’t it was always attributable to other external factors.

The operational constraints of the fishery were recognised and established from year one of the business. Growth was restricted by the tidal environment but customer yield was kept high to maintain validity of financial return. There was always the option of an offshore boat to realise the potential of neap tides but this venture has not been pursued as yet. This would effectively increase the business by 50 %.
It is important to know at this stage the weekly guiding service only ran on optimum tidal times (alternate weeks) – approximately 70 days. This was extended at times to over 100 days when conditions were better earlier and later or combined with workshops. This is probably the fullest valid guiding window of opportunity for the south east.
One week June
Two weeks July
Two weeks August
Three weeks September
Two weeks October

On average a visiting group consisted of two people and the majority, 95%, up to this time (2007) were very experienced lure fishermen.

Fishing six days a week for two people at a base of 1.4 fish per hour averaged a seasonal return for 1200 fish. (+/- 200). Many of these fish occupied a similar size bracket. Taking into account the many variables some weeks consisted of only one angler some weeks consisted of three anglers and some weeks were more difficult than others from a perspective of weather, this high return rate NEVER deteriorated below a valid key catch base of average 1.0 per hour for nearly five years.
During 2007 the return rate for the second half of the season deteriorated suddenly by 50% and more (this was under normal expected angling conditions and customer profile) It was also the first of a sequence of very wet summers.

Based on catch returns during the years from 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 and including 2014 to date the catch rate has declined and has continued to decline on a yearly basis to the extent that the recreational bass fishery along much of the south eastern coastline has in my own experience suffered a complete ‘collapse’.
*During 2011 there was an indication of some improvement, however 2012 proved worse than 2010.
For a typical example of this, as it has continued from as early as last week, - Two UK anglers from Wiltshire – lure fishing for six days guided by myself under the best times locations and conditions in Wexford, Waterford, and Cork investing a combined 120 hours of fishing effort for one fish caught – TOTAL. This is now not unusual.
Prior to and including 2007 for the same investment of 120 hours somewhere in the region of 120 fish could easily be expected as a return.

The above scenario is repeated time and time again and the expected return rate has gone from
1.3 fish for one hour investment
TO
1.0 fish for thirty hours of investment – this varies but never significantly increases and hasn’t done so for more than seven years. The fishery has continued to decline very quickly.

Notes - Anglers
• Fish can be caught at times in much localised areas (for instance Splaugh rock) – reefs, current and structure at very specific times. This is not testament to the fishery as a whole. In other words vast areas of coastline hold no fish where previously there was a healthy population
• Local ‘expert’ anglers can have access to these fish but this should not be confused with the ‘general’ bass angler who should at least be enjoying a modicum of success
• Similarly boat angling over offshore reefs or at the mouth of estuaries with soft plastic techniques is not representative of the fishery as a whole
• Depending on the year of beginning to bass fish (the new generation of anglers) the entry was made on a sliding scale if made post 2007. In other words I encountered very few if any bass anglers on the Wexford coast prior to 2007 whilst post 2007 this number increased locally year on year – valid comparisons regarding the fshery need to be made over valid time frames.
• It’s possible for an angler to express ‘good bass angling experiences’ say in 2012 if he started in 2010 – this is not a valid comparison

Notes – Locations / habitat
• There are two extremely special locations on the Wexford cost that still have a population/ number of very big fish – these are very small and difficult to determine locations which may in time help preserve them from rampant local recreational pressure.
• I have guided on these locations once a month for two hours on previous years but will no longer continue to do so
• Modern lure fishing techniques create easy access to larger mature breeding fish of which there is a high angling impact
• All possible high yield locations on the south eastern coasts are now common place knowledge
• Social media quickly highlights any availability of fish on any location

Notes- Illegal fishing and retention
• Whilst there is a lot of catch retention I do not believe it is responsible for the decrease in numbers (there is a high recreational impact however both from poor C+R and retained fish)
• Whilst there is a lot of continued localised illegal netting this has been in existence for many many years, it does have an impact but I don’t believe this has increased by any significant level to cause such a decline in the Wexford region.
• There is evidence of increased and continued illegal netting on the East Cork coast
• Spearfishing is also increasing in popularity
• There remains the extended periods of bad summers 2007 2008 2009 and 2010 combined with two significantly extreme winters which amounted to an extended period of five years ‘poor’ conditions. Whilst I have no scientific evidence of the possible impact on the dynamics of the fish my instinct is that the SE bass population may have moved as a result and to where it was subsequently impacted upon commercially.
• Certain sections of the angling media will portray the quality of the bass fishing as being extremely good whilst neglecting the valid unit of effort (often extraordinary)required to produce any fish. There is often no management in respect of these special locations where large fish reside and a tendency to ‘forget’ the lack of fish on the wider coast.
• Genuine anglers on the ground with good and valid experiences are recognising similar instances.

Conclusions
Since 2003 over three hundred tourist anglers from Europe and the US have used the services of SEAi for guided bass fishing in Wexford. Easily twenty different publications have published positive editorial of their experiences distributed throughout many countries. Video footage has been made and distributed. Many Irish and UK people have attended intro Bass fishing workshops and perhaps as many as half again have partaken in bass fly fishing workshops. Numbers of guided Irish and UK customers remain small with less than ten active people.

Recent 3- day workshops include partnering with Irish fly casting and fly tying experts providing a total saltwater fly fishing solution.

The current situation is certainly a very difficult challenge for me and my business due to the decreasing numbers of fish. And to be honest here there’s no avoiding it, bass are largely absent from our coasts at this time. Talking about it openly has its risks and of course its own complications regarding the possible reasons any or all of which could be a cause for their absence.

Whether it be a natural phenomenon, a change in behaviour or something more serious it’s largely extant around the normal prolific ‘bass coasts’ at this time. For me I need to strike the balance between fairness and expectation with customers currently arriving at my door.

Again yes there are fish to be caught but the unit of effort is enormous, has been for weeks and weeks, in fact years, seasons. I have been personally motivated over the last twenty day run by the positive attitude of my customers, their eagerness to learn new techniques, presentations, casting, and even new locations. As a bass fishing guide I have had to push all my timings, options, variations in equipment and solutions, techniques and experience to be at its very best.
But two anglers for 120 hours of effort for one fish doesn’t make any sense from an angling business perspective. And this is not a singular story but commonplace at this stage.

As a person who largely makes his living from Guided Bass Angling well I guess it’s a very different and worrying perspective than that of a recreational angler. In an unregulated environment mercenary guides from both Ireland and the UK appear and disappear often offering various business models founded on reduced rates or a no catch no fee basis – this does nothing for the guiding occupation as a whole and in fact has a further negative impact on the environment and the fishing.

Having invested heavily in personal development and in the business (just completed a four year BSc degree – Tourism enterprise management at WIT) As a way of trying to ‘manage’ the decline I have reduced guiding days over the past few years, but now I am faced with little or no option at this time but to consider closing the business permanently at the end of this season.

Jim Hendrick

A day in the sun with Fabian and Berit

Funday sunny south east VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

A trout and bass note from Denmark

Hi Jim

Haven't heard more from Alan so I hope he's got everything sorted out. The Danish coast is on fire at the moment with nice fish being caught all over the country. Some of the bigger ones have reached the 8 kg mark. Got my biggest of the year this weekend. 57 cm and 1,8 kg. 

I have been looking at the bass locations that I fish in the summer and one of the spots look like it's going to be a hotspot this year if the bars of silver show up. Some sand bars have formed during the winther storms creating rips. Same conditions we had a few years ago when we had a good bass year. The troughs on the inside of the bars tend to hold a lot of bait which gets flushed through the rips on the falling tide. I think/hope  it's going to be a good bass year here. Has your season begun? Really looking forward to working with you on the film project

Caspar saltwater fly fished for bass in Wexford some while back HERE and HERE

Just to be out there–a plan that kinda came together!

I felt it was going to happen way back around the 18th November and to a large extent it did and is still. Its still out there. I had planned to work out an article yesterday and today for Fly Fishing & Fly Tying with David. Unfortunately the real world is getting in the way a lot at the moment and the wolves have to be kept from the door so today was a no and we didn’t complete the article.

Speaking of doors the fly I am fishing with at the moment is, I feel, about to open one door another bit, don’t get me wrong there’s nothing revolutionary about it and after all there is nothing new in fly fishing, but what I could do with it yesterday just enhanced another aspect of bass on the fly VERY successfully. More of this later.

Thanks to David for the support, craic, and general good time! We saw fish hunt, we saw fish follow, we had hits and we had misses and we had long periods of inactivity. We didn’t have any big fish – but would I rather be anywhere else than where I was yesterday morning and afternoon – No I don’t think so.

Its not too often you can get these conditions running into early December on the Wexford coast

AND There’s another chance this week yet and under the current timings I think I'm going to have to try and take it. More juggling and out come the bigger flies, shorter leaders and the #9 lines.

I think I’ll stay on home ground though and fingers crossed – but its going to be exciting and I cant wait.

Its the start of a new promise – more fly fishing and time for Jim Hendrick for a while.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn

Its November already, October seems to have blown by in an early autumnal rush that I missed completely. Cedric from Switzerland was due on one of the tidal weeks but due to the obvious and early indications that it wasn’t going to work because of deteriorating weather we re-scheduled until next year.

In an already difficult fishery I wasn’t about to make things any worse and I know that the strategy that many of my customers and I discuss before booking is the risk of cancellation. With todays easy access to very good and accurate weather information its often very possible to make decisions a considerable number of days in advance.  Sometimes these decisions are never very easy however and a lot depends on the customers wishes and circumstances.

Imagine you and your fishing friend (John and Peter) have an annual holiday from work at the same time each year and you have both decided to come to Ireland for a weeks guided bass fishing on one of those weeks. You save hard, update the gear, the waders the boots, the jacket, you make a personal investment of time away from your family perhaps, you book your flights and your time off is planned. Done and dusted – all you have to do now is wait. The anticipation builds and builds, you’re going to Ireland bass fishing with a guide what could go wrong?

Then something like what you see below starts to happen, you get a phone call from me about seven days before your arrival, even more if I can see it coming, and I try to manage your situation and the consequences as a result of a very poor weather forecast. Based on years of experiences there are any number of possible solutions and LOTS to talk about. But sometimes just sometimes you just know its not going to work, there’s no avoiding it and its obvious.

Which is better to do? Abandon the holiday on my advice, absorb the cost of the flights, take the few days of notice to make an alternative and spend the week at home somewhat disappointed OR come anyway into a world of pain, brown water, weed rain wind and no fish whilst wondering if this guided bass thing was really worth all that investment?

As an experienced fishing guide I have no hesitation and will tell you as straight as I possibly can, I will absorb the cost of not having you here in preference to the drudgery you will experience in these conditions. Even opportunities to learn become very very difficult under such circumstances. its difficult to concentrate, your heart is often elsewhere and you feel disappointed.

My hope is that such a decision will benefit both of us in the future. The impact of this bad news is different for different people. Cedric from above is self employed, single, and travels frequently. He was disappointed yes but also trusted me completely and is ready for July of 2014.  He plans to use the money he saved to invest in a new fly rod and some casting lessons over the winter.

I have learned to take this type of hit at least once in any season and it often gives me time to re-align and get some personal catching up completed.

Its very seldom that I do not see the original client back again the following year or at a different time. Sometimes we can win together, sometimes we can learn, but seldom will either of us lose.

Jim hendrick

A little bit of fishing in your day - Jim

Thanks a million Julien

Page 66-74 on the link below

Nine pages of editorial in any magazine is beyond compare. In a magazine of the status held by Voyages de Peches its a major coup for Irish angling.

Julien La Journade a longtime champion of Irish fishing, accompanied by fly and lure fishermen Bob Hurley and Ronan Collins, made a fantastic week of fishing and memories on the southern coasts of Ireland during August.

This is the realistic report of those few days, the fun, the chat, the environment and the fishing challenges. Safari style fishing is my preferred option finding us fishing and staying in three or four counties during seven guided fishing days and nights.

Many thanks Julien and well done Ireland!

September fly's by

Guiding–Days of living VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

South East September–saltwater fly fishing Ireland

Salt water Fly & Lure Bass Fishing VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Play misty for me

Coastal bass on the fly VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Some nice fish taken yesterday evening on the Cork coast on the fly in very ‘bassy’ conditions. Again thanks to Alan for the quick photos.

My usual and well established colour blend of lavender and grey with a hint of chartreuse is working very well at the moment. Last evenings fly was a slight variation on this as we have added Marabou to the mix – I can almost fish the fly stationery at times and still expect takes.

Landing Gear

Rod – Lefty Kreh Ticrx #7

Reel – Vision Nite

Line – Rio Outbound short # 6

Leader – Five foot poly and Rio fluoroflex plus 4.5kgs

Fly – Deceiver / Semper blend

Autumn dreams begin

 

An early morning start today to catch the change of light, resulted in this nice fish on the fly.

Drifting the fly through the current onto a known lie resulted in a gentle yet powerful take that left me in no doubt I was into something special.

I fished the mini chartreuse and white flatwing on  Rio Outbound short F/I with a five foot poly leader and 10 inches of Rio Flouroflex plus carbon.

Casting ‘upstream’ and mending when possible it was the first time I had fished for some time due to a lot of guiding days – thanks Alan for the opportunity and the rare photos too.

The fish measured 72 cms.

 

Landing Gear

Rod – Lefty Kreh Ticrx #8

Reel – Vision Nite

Line – Rio Outbound short # 7

Leader – Five foot poly and Rio fluoroflex plus

Fly – Mini flatwing

Full moon fever

Sunny start for Yvo

Yvo takes a nice fish today VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

MORRF

 

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Middle Of the Road Rock Fishing

Bass fishing Ireland the mystery, the challenge

Julien Lajournade is the editor-in-chief of the SPLENDID French fishing-travel magazine, we have worked together before here Voyages de Pêche. He was instrumental in helping me start my guiding bass business. As an angler who lives to fish for new species in countries to which he’s never been, he’s in the right job. Julien has always been realistic in his portrayal of the Irish bass fishery and remains a constant supporter of all aspects of fishing in Ireland.

Website: http://www.voyagesdepeche.com/

Bob and Ronan are regular customers who enjoy the fishing time spent on the coast and the experiences of bass fishing around Ireland. Their company is what makes the job very easy at times!

Surface bass mission evening success

A flying visit from David VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

David from IFI dropped in late this afternoon, I had finished early from the office and we chatted about many things concerning bass fishing. We have some film and European editorial lined up for September and October and we needed to finalise the plans.

Then we went fishing for two hours taking some fish on our favourite method. David has always played an active role in my bass fishing and I’m glad to say continues to do so, especially in these very difficult fishing times.