Adapting Methods for Continued Sport with Salmon

Since the 4th of August the Bandon river has been dropping steadily, reaching a low summer level once again. However this hasn't deterred runs of fresh salmon into the river and luckily enough I managed consistent sport on a variety of methods. Despite low water and mostly bright conditions, I managed 3 fish in 3 days on 2 seperate occasions fishing for an hour or two in the late afternoon.

Both of the fish above were released.The first salmo salar was a coloured grilse of 3lbs or so which fell to a size 3 black and gold flying c cast upstream and retrieved fast. Retrieving faster than usual after trying the moderate to slow retrieve can sometimes make a salmon take the spinner as it has less time to see it, meaning less time to think. Slow retrieval in coloured water and moderate to fast in clear water has worked best for me this year. Previous to this I had fished the pool down twice with the fly but to no avail, underlining the advantage of having a "Plan B" to hand. 

The next day a sea liced grilse of 5lbs or so couldn't resist my size 13 green butt cascade. Since the water had fallen to a height I deemed too low for the 14 foot double hander I opted for the trout fly rod instead. My set up here is an Airflo Forty Plus Extreme 6/7 weight single handed fly rod matched with a Guideline 4Cast Sink 1 Line. This line consists of a floating running line and a 15' sinking tip Power Taper F/S shooting head. I can't speak highly enough of this line as it is a pure joy to use, whether I need to perform a snake roll, snap t, single spey or simple overhead cast it does it all. Attach a 3-4 foot leader of 8 or 12lb fluorocarbon and a fly you have confidence in, then you have a great set up for medium to low water. 

Over the coming days sport fizzled out on the fly with fish constantly coming up short. From short plucks to long, straight draws where I was full sure I had hooked up, all came to nothing. Spinning in the low water yielded little reaction either, only the odd half hearted follow, so next in line to use was the worm. Using light line, little lead and trotting the worm down the current I managed another 3 fish in 3 days.

The above fish were the 1st and 3rd bars of silver I managed to bank, the top fish weighing 5lbs and bottom 7.5lbs. Both were cock fish and again covered in sea lice. Unfortunately I didn't manage a photo of the 2nd as after another angler helped me land it, it quickly shed the hook and eagerly jumped off the bank and back into the river! It was easily the smallest salmon I've had this year, around 2.5lbs. 

Today the 16th of August we had a quick rise in the river of nearly 6 inches after yesterday evenings heavy downpours. With some more persistent rain leading to higher water levels we could be in for some great sport. Increased water could also mean fly fishing will be more effective, be it on the double or single handed rod. The runs coming up from Kinsale still seem to be mostly made up of grilse but the average weight of these fish is increasing. 

Big Water Equals Big Fish on the Bandon

Last week the River Bandon experienced yo yo water levels as a result of heavy downpours. These rises were very small and short lived but fresh enough to wake up the odd fish from their lethargic moods. I managed one fish at the start of the week when the river was experiencing one of these freshets, a stale grilse of 3 to 4 pounds or so which succumbed to a trotted worm after twice following a flying c without taking it. Quick photo, quick return.

Come Thursday the river rose rapidly and by Friday it had peaked at 0.75m according to the gauge in Bandon. My uncle and I hit the river Friday afternoon as the river was after peaking and just starting to drop. Spinning a size 4 flying c we both missed fresh sea trout, mine shaking the hook at the bank. Half an hour in and Winston hooked a fish on a size 4 red and silver flying c out in the middle of the river. After an initial 10 minute fight and plenty of jumping the fish started tiring, but had another trick up its sleeve and proceeded to leave the pool! Many would not have followed in the torrent of water present that day but experience and knowledge of the river paid off and he managed to follow it downstream for 100 yards, getting absolutely soaked in the process. Another 10 minutes of trying to coax the fish out of the roaring white water saw our first attempt of landing the fish fail miserably as his net had a hole in it! Threading the rod though the hole I ran back up to the pool above to get the other net and eventually the fish was landed. Winston's first fish off the river in a while and what a way to get the ball rolling again! It brought the scales down to a hefty 16.5lbs.

I was away over the weekend but sport seemed to be consistent along the river with a lot of fisherman meeting a fish or 2. A good few grilse were caught along with some more bigger fish up to 13lb weight. Needless to say I couldn't wait to get out again to make the most of the rise after the drought and I was hoping to get a fish on the fly as so far any fish I've hooked on the fly this year have come off. With the morning proving fruitless I met up with a couple of friends and we headed further up river. Thankfully the sun was now partially covered by cloud increasing our chances further as the morning had been very bright. Rob was the first down the pool, with me following on behind and Fergal trying his luck with the worm. Half way down Rob had a pull which didn't stick, but at least we knew they were there even though they refrained from showing. Continuing down he had another draw on the line but this time the fish was on and 5 minutes later a scale perfect 10 pounder was on the bank, his first of the season, ably netted by Fergal.

Now, thinking I may have been fishing a little too deep I switched tips on my fly line from an s3/s4 to a s1/s2 and just as I was approaching the same spot as Rob had his fish my line came to an abrupt stop, I left a loop of line go and I was bent into fish number 2 of the afternoon. After a very strong fight the fish tired and at last I had one on the fly.

After another fruitless run down the pool by the 3 of us we decided on a change of location further up river again. Although we spotted quite a few fish, apart from a grilse being caught and released by Rob's uncle before we arrived, nothing more was to be tempted by our offerings. Flies that did the damage were both tied on size 13 salar hooks, bigger flies proving ineffective. Rob's came to a Ness C salmon fly, which also worked for others over the weekend, and mine to one of my own variations of the green butt cascade which I will put a photo up of in the future. Hopefully now the river will stay at a decent height and more sport can be had by all. With autumn now at our doorstep, a bigger stamp of fish akin to Winston's above will become a much stronger possibility.

Irish Bass Festival 2013

The Irish Bass Festival was set up by the lads at Absolute Fishing, James and Cian, last year. What started as an idea between the 2 of them in the shop snowballed into a roaring success and it was to be the first of its kind. Last year 120 anglers took part with a total of approximately 250 bass caught over the weekend. I was away travelling last year and so missed it but this year I couldn't wait for it and anticipation levels were going through the roof!
I met up with Paddy on Thursday and we spent the day looking around some marks before the festival begun on Friday. We fished 1 mark on the rising tide and although it usually fishes best on the drop we caught a couple of small schoolies which helped us get our bass fishing minds into gear.

Delighted with the results of our efforts we took it easy that evening as we were going to need all of our energy for the weekend ahead. We made a trip to the shop to stock up on some "festival winning" lures, created a plan of attack for Friday and set the alarms so we would be down to the shop and registered by 5 in the morning. 

Done and dusted with registering Paddy, James' friend Kenny and I made for a mark which had been kind to us before. Arriving on the mark conditions were much flatter and calmer than they had been the day previous, which was to be the theme for the weekend. Still we remained confident as the sun was just starting to rise and we knew these first few hours would be the most important of the day. Starting off on hard lures I got the ball rolling with a fish of 52cm's which hit the lure first before doing the decent thing and hooking itself. It's important that if you feel a fish hit the lure don't continue winding, instead stop the lure dead. This makes the prey look injured to the bass. Sure enough after stopping the lure for a moment, one turn of the reel and the fish was on. 

It was a great feeling, and a relief, to have the first fish under the belt. The aim of fishing this festival for us was to just enjoy our fishing and to hopefully get a fish or 2. Having sport so early was a bonus! As you can see above each fish is measured, photographed with your own individual I.D. and returned to the water.

Another 2 hours passed by with no hint of action for the 3 of us. Moving around the rocks trying to locate fish, everything was quite until we noticed disturbance to our right. All of a sudden the water was erupting with bass going crazy and bait fish flying everywhere! What an amazing sight!! I've heard of it seen plenty times by fisherman but I have not been bass fishing for very long and this was a first for me. No hanging about, the 3 of us set off on a sprint! Kenny was there first and on approaching saw 2 bass at his feet. 1st cast bang and Kenny was into his first fish of the weekend. The buzz about the place was now surreal! I was next up with a fish and this was on a surface lure, my first fish on off the top. Twice the fish came for it and as I mentioned above each time I stopped the lure. Luckily third time it engulfed the lure and the fight commenced. This was a good fish, certainly no schoolie and eventually, after a few heart stopping moments, I had my prize on the rocks. This was the biggest bass I had ever caught to date, talk about good timing! She measured 69cm on the ruler and brought Kenny's scales down to 6lb 12oz. 

Ecstatic was an understatement, it was probably the most exciting fish I ever caught, visual wise at least as by using the surface lure you get to see everything unfold in front of you. Paddy was beside me as we watched it take the lure, the air blue as we willed the fish on! Without further a do the fish went back. As soon as it went back Kenny was in again with another fish and then Paddy, after losing 3 fish one after the other, managed to register his 1st of the day. And then that was that! The frenzy switched off as soon as it switched on, the 20 frantic minutes had passed but we were very happy with our results. We fished on for a couple of hours more but at this stage we were hitting low tide and the sun was really beating down on us now. The best thing for us was to head back to the shop, get some rest and head out again for a night session. 

Kenny had to leave that evening and so myself and Paddy hit the rocks with another one of the lads, Ross. This was my first time night fishing for bass and I had been looking forward to it for a long time as I had heard how lethal it can be. Having the experience of sea trout fishing at night time helped me but unfortunately we drew a blank. An empty car park on the way back showed we probably weren't the only ones. Still we did manage to register a beast of a different kind on the way home!! Wave worm, slow retrieve did the trick!! ;)

With a couple of hours sleep myself and Paddy were out on the rocks again before day break, same mark that had been treating us so kindly. Its funny how fortunes change with hooking and losing fish as the pair of us switched roles! Paddy got the ball rolling with a 55cm bass and a while later beached a lunker which he needed help with; another 65cm plus lump of silver. What a fish this was too, coming to a shallow diving lure and a steady retrieve. I went on to lose 2 in quick succession, one which felt really good, and eventually I had one that stuck.

At this stage the sun was up again and it was Paddy's turn to leave, very happy with his results! We now had 3 fish each and were able to enter the best 3 fish section of the competition. I fished on for the remainder of the day with Ross and a couple of more lads at various marks, a few hours either side of high tide, but we didn't see as much as 1 fish. Talking to other lads the fishing was tough going, only results coming at night and first light. 

Evening approaching Kenny made it back and the plan for the final day was to hit the only mark working for us at 3 in the morning. Quick couple of hours kip and out to the rocks for one last throw of the dice. With confidence high we were expecting a nice bit of action, especially since we were fishing in the dark, but we didn't meet a single fish in 8 hours fishing. Everything but the kitchen sink was thrown at them and although plenty of baitfish were in evidence the bass had eluded us for the final day. But sure how bad, we had had great sport the previous 2 days and we felt even luckier to be in the right place at the right time when the frenzy of the first day had occurred. 

A great crowd turned out  for the evening prize giving. In a world of my own (as I was still hanging with the fatigue), I heard my name being called, as I had just picked up 3rd prize for 3rd biggest fish!! I was over the moon and received a great prize including new lures, costa del mar sunglasses, tshirts and a hoody. What a way to finish off an awesome weekend! 

Overall, 117 anglers participated with about 200 fish caught, although I don't know the final figure yet. Below is a photo of the 2 lures that did the damage.

The top lure is the IMA Salt Skimmer in the Bora colour and the bottom one is the IMA Komomo SF-125 in the Sardine Red Belly colour. The SF-125 really was on fire for the weekend and it took most of our fish. It was my first time catching on it as the shallow diving lure which had done most of the damage previously was the Tacklehouse Feedshallow. Here is a link to the Bora colour of the SF-125 that caught me a couple of fish the day before the festival also. 

Bring on the Irish Bass Festival 2014!

Summer Grilse and Bass

Well haven't updated this in ages as moved house recently and we didn't have broadband for a while but all is sorted now. To go with the lack of broadband I did also have a lack of fish which I have now thankfully put right! For the last month and a half I have stuck to the Bandon river and over that time the runs are slowly getting stronger. Low water dominated the end of May and start of June making fishing difficult. I hooked and lost one salmon on the last day of May on the fly that shook the hook after vigorous head shaking  and I lost a belter of a sea trout that came unstuck after 5 or so minutes of electric runs and jumping. Moving on from these 2 fish the river then experienced 3 rises in water in quick succession. During this period the bad luck continued and I lost a further 7 salmon, 4 on fly and 3 spinning. 2 of the fish on the fly I was into for over 10 minutes and they still managed to shake the hook, be it a Salar or Ken Sawada double. One mistake I did make was, after losing a fly, attaching a treble to my conehead that wasn't fit for the high water. These are the Partridge X3BL that I use for my swing tubes and now sea trout fishing. They weren't up to the challenge and the fish I hooked bent 2 out of the 3 hooks. A couple of these hooks have also broken off rocks before so now I am sticking to the Partridge BMD Big Mouth Double hooks for high water fly fishing with tubes which look the job.
Getting over that the last 2 days of the month came good and I landed 2 fresh grilse over a weekend and another one at the start of July. I retained 2 fish and left the other go to continue its journey.

The above fish were 3 and 3.5lbs respectively. As you can see they are well made fish, solid and bulky. No need for the big spinning rod in this water, I had great fun on my bass lure rod, the Graphiteleader Argento RV. Fishing in the middle of the afternoon with the sun beaming down still didn't stop these fish from taking, just stepping down the gear and the size of flying c to a size 2 did the business. One fish I caught on worm was great fun as I could see all the action of the take unfold in front of me. Casting out a bait of 3 worms the grilse kept on coming over and nudging the worms. Once the fish even took it in its mouth and spat it back out! Holding the nerve and not striking when I felt these very short runs, I decided to take the worms off and put on one small worm. 1st cast over the fish and whack the fish took the worm, very exhilarating fishing when you have such clear water and it proves again you don't need to be wasting your worms by putting 3 and 4 on together all the time!

On the bass front, I have only been out once to a west cork mark that has produced in the past. This time it didn't fail to produce either. The 1st hour of the push was tough going with all the suspended weed, 1 in 10 casts coming back with a clean lure. Even the weedless weightless soft plastic were picking it up. But perseverance paid off in the end and I managed to pick up this fish around the 3lb mark.

To end this blog, on the Bandon a couple of weeks ago I witnessed a huge migration of elvers (juvenile eels) heading up river. These haven't been seen in years and it was great to be lucky enough to see it. Looking closely, right at the edge of the bank, you could see them swimming up in their hundreds and a friend of mine, a good few miles up river, was watching them at the same time, which gives a picture of the sheer volume of elvers going up that day.

Next blog I will put up a report from the Irish Bass Festival, a savage weekend all round.