Bass Still Chasing!!

It's late November and one notices a sharp transition into winter, with frost in evidence most nights. In contrast, sea temperatures have held up well and bass are still being caught on lures along our coast line. To be honest, I thought my last cast for a bass this year was back in October. However, a weekend of sport a buddy enjoyed up on the Copper Coast in Waterford recently spurred me on to give it another shot on one of my favourite marks in West Cork.

While bass hug the shore all year long, numbers are lower in the winter months and they are much less willing to give chase to a lure. This is mostly down to water temperature, with the magic measurement for lure anglers thought to be 10 degrees Celsius. At present, the temperature is between 11.5 and 12 meaning there is still time for a chuck and chance! The forecast for this week is for cloudy skies and less frost which will hopefully prolong the window of opportunity.

Not wasting any time, I decided to give last Monday evening a go as high tide was just approaching twilight. I spent a long time walking the rocks looking for some action in the water as there was very little swell. Luckily though, the swell was stronger the day before and the water was well fizzed up. With high tide nearing, water was beginning to rush in around some rocks at a distance and was now covering gullies which were high and dry earlier on. It was now or never, so on went my favourite shallow diving lure, the IMA Komomo SF-125. Within a few casts a fish hurtled towards it, revealing its presence by slashing the top of the water. 'Here we go', I hoped and 5 minutes later I struck silver! This lure is just the bomb... the lure doesn't find the bass, the bass find the lure!!

Rather than putting up a photo, I decided to upload a short video that I took of the release.

While on the topic of releasing bass, I recently received scale sample results from the IFI National Bass Programme. A scale sample was sent from a 69cm bass I caught during the Irish Bass Festival and it turns out the fish was 13 years old and was a fast grower. This underlines the fact that bass are extremely slow growers and the utmost of respect should be shown to these magnificent fish.

On the river front, spawning has now commenced on the Bandon. For the last couple of weeks trout have been busy on the redds in some of the tributaries. Due to the trout being mostly small down here, redds have proved hard to spot but here are a couple. When trying to find them the best areas to look are the edges and tails of pools. A patch of gravel lighter in colour should be evident, with a depression in the middle and a mound of stones at the tail of the redd.

Last Friday I spotted the first 2 salmon redds on the main river, no doubt spurred on by the frosty conditions. Thankfully these are a little easier to spot!

I also managed to capture a couple more snaps of wildlife on the river. The first couple are of an otter that was really gorging itself on small trout, taking no less than 6 in half an hour! Finally, the little egret, whose numbers have exploded in recent years along our rivers and coast lines.

As a parting note, we have had some great news on the salmon farming front in Ireland. The European Commission is to re-open its investigation into the negative effects of salmon farming on wild salmon. To read more on the issue, click here. News on this subject had been scarce for a while, so this is a very welcome advancement in the right direction.

Nature Through a Lens

So fishing on the river is finished again until next year , but its always good to keep an eye on how its ticking over through the autumn and winter months. I rarely go down to the river these days without my camera and with all the wild life around its great to get a few snaps.

At the start of the month we witnessed a good rise in water levels which was enough to encourage good runs of fish upriver. The first day saw the river extremely dirty, as was expected after such a long dry spell, but from then on salmon and trout migrated in numbers.

Throughout the spring and summer a dearth of sea trout was evident. Towards the end of the season runs were gradually building and last week I witnessed the best shoal all season, with at least 50 plus fresh run sea trout taking a brief rest in a pool. These silver tourists ranged in size from a quarter of a pound up to two pounds.

Before colder temperatures eventually grasp the country by the scruff of the neck I hope to get out and do some more bass fishing. 2 weeks into October and I thought I would have been out by now but I've just been too busy. One visit to the sea shore in September at an estuary mark resulted in no success on the bass front but I did manage a fiercely hard fighting 4lb pollack and a surprise turbot which just couldn't resist my Fiiish Black Minnow!

Like a Red Rag to a Salmon

What a dry end to the salmon fishing season that was! September departed the same way it arrived, with low water and not a single fresh drop. As the month progressed fishing became very tough on the Bandon. As well as the low water there was a profuse growth of algae to contend with. With these various elements combined, fly fishing was made extremely difficult in quite a few stretches, as there is only so much time you can spend taking the weed off of your fly!! However, approaching the end of the 1st week of September the river experienced a reduction in water temperature. This, mixed with the time of year, made resident salmon much more aggressive and willing to take.

Using my light spinning outfit I had great sport up until the final whistle. Try as I might with the fly, from size 15 shrimp flies to 3 inch sunray shadows, efforts proved fruitless. The only spinner that worked for me was a red and silver flying c, preferably in size 2 and 3. Red is a great late season colour, as can be seen from the flies we use; green/yellow dominates spring flies, yellow/orange for summer flies and orange/red/claret for autumn. Fish coming only to the red and silver combination underlines the importance of choosing the correct colour combination when spinning, rather than being content with just any colour.

Most days out saw salmon chasing the lure, nipping the end of it or boiling at the surface and completely missing it. Of course fish were lost also, one being around the 11 or 12lb mark which came off when she was half ways in the net only for the other 2 hooks to impale the mesh! No worries, as the fish would have been returned anyway! Up until the last day of the season I could see her in the same lie that she had been occupying for the last month.

  

Fresh salmon continued to run the river throughout the month but numbers were very low due to the low water. Unfortunately I only made contact with 2 of these, both grilse and they both shook the hook. However, fresh sea trout did make more of an appearance and although they weren't present in numbers there was enough to make night time fishing for them worthwhile when conditions suited.

At least these spirited little fighters gave some sport on the fly rod! As is usual for this time of year, most sea trout were small with only the odd larger specimen present. I used a floating line the whole time as the sink tip kept snagging the bottom and even a small aluminium tube fished off a full floater resulted in jagging the stones so small flies were the order of the night. The usual patterns worked, but the Bibio and Alexandra JC were the most successful patterns. 

At the time of typing this, October 1st, the season is now closed and we have had the first appreciable rise since the second week of August... typical! The river gauge yesterday read -0.21m and is now +0.62m and rising. This rise is a relief to the river and will now let the salmon loose from their shackles; free to swim closer to the spawning grounds.

Small Flies for Tough Conditions

The tough conditions which have persisted throughout this summer are still with us and there is no sign of a let up in sight. The Bandon river is now down to its bones again, practically as low as it was in late July/ early August making fishing difficult to say the least. During the past week I concentrated my efforts using the worm, as the worm is not allowed on Bandon Angling Association waters for the month of September. Takes were few and far between and I hooked just one fish on Saturday which unfortunately broke the line by wrapping it around a branch.
Sunday September 1st was very bright and hot, with temperatures in the low 20's, not exactly the best conditions for salmon fishing with the fly but you make do with the cards you are dealt. I set the trout fly rod up with a full floating line; the first time I have done so this year. To this I attached a tapered fluorocarbon leader 12 foot long and a size 15 Allys Shrimp.

With the bright conditions I wanted to fish fine and far off, maximising the distance between myself and the fish so I wouldn't spook them. Making my way down the pool I had two pulls which came to nothing. When approaching the tail, a fish jumped and rather than wading further down I lengthened my cast in order to cover it. A few casts later and the fish hammered the fly! A great fight ensued and 10 minutes later I had my prize in the net, a fish tipping the scales at 7lbs. 

The fish was fairly fresh, perhaps a week in the river and it was a very good test for my set up, making tearing runs up and down the pool. Fresh grilse are still entering the river at present. Hopefully these will provide more sport on the same set up until or if a flood comes before the seasons end.