Let the Good Times Roll

What can you say, the River Bandon really is on song at the moment! After banking my first springer on May 7th I went on to seduce 2 more fish in less than a week. Beautiful river conditions continued and fish were met on a daily basis by fishermen along the river. The biggest I heard of being caught, and released, was estimated to weigh 16lbs.

A few months ago I acquired a switch rod which I believed would be extremely well suited to fishing the Bandon. For early season and high water work, a 13 foot rod is advantageous when fast sinking lines are employed to dredge the river bed with heavy tubes. As the water warms and settles after the early season floods, a more subtle approach can come into play... cue the switch rod. I opted for an Airflo Airtec which is 11 foot 3 inches in length and very useful along the tree lined banks where space is limited. Teamed up with a RIO Scandi Short Versitip fly line and you have one amazing setup. Choosing the clear intermediate tip, a short 3 to 4 foot leader and a gold bodied Willie Gunn tied on a 1/2 inch copper tube, this fish was charmed into submission.

After unhooking the hen fish she was returned to the shallows to recuperate and continue her upstream migration. The lighter rod held its own quite comfortably even against this sea liced springer in relatively high water and I don't think I'll need to use the 13 footer on the local again this season!

To complete the hat trick another silver torpedo surrendered to a black and copper size 4 Flying C a few days later. Starting at the head of the chosen pool, a few casts over a lie achieved nothing but the first cast over the next lie down had the rod buckling over!

The quality of the fish this year is second to none and they obviously found good feeding during their time at sea. With the weather forecast relatively unsettled for the second half of this week hopefully we will get a top up of water to help prolong the excellent sport we are enjoying this month.

Lastly, for bass fishing enthusiasts, this years Irish Bass Festival will take place from July 25th to 27th. Closing date for registration is Saturday June 7th which is only 3 weeks away now. To enter look up the Irish Bass Festival website. For reports on last years festival, click here and here.