Our first group of four anglers are leaving today and then our second lot arrive, ready to start again early tomorrow morning - maybe John and I are lucky with this co-guiding thing we do, but the four we have just had have been fantastic, and the four arriving are sound as a pound as well. OK, with one exception perhaps - check here! Nope, I stand by my belief that for the most part, anglers are just pretty cool people, and when you get them out here in such a special place and they catch a few fish, well I don’t really see how life can get much better…………
Now of course John knows these waters very well and he is making the calls on where to take the lads fishing. I’ll chip in with a few thoughts when I can, but the guy knows his stuff backwards and holy cow does he have a lot of coastline around here! What really does it for me is seeing people catch fish, watching them smile and laugh, and also helping where I can with lure choices, techniques, ideas etc. People often ask me if it bothers me at all not actually fishing myself, but I am perfectly used to not fishing and seeing people catch fish via the bulk of my fishing related photo jobs anyway - but getting involved with actually helping our clients catch a few fish just gets more and more satisfying. I just love it. I am taking photos and shooting a bit of video to give to the guys as a memento of their trips, but to be able to help in some small way with the actual fishing? As I said in the title of this post, it’s a profound buzz.
October in Kerry!
You might struggle to believe that it’s October in Kerry with a couple of these photos here, but that 6lb+ bass that Joe had in such bright, calm conditions will live with me forever. Drifting and twitching a (frigging lethal) 6’’ sandeel colour OSP DoLive Stick in a bit of current with water as clear as you could ever hope to see, and then a prime condition bass like that comes along and inhales the soft plastic - wow! If watching that sort of stuff doesn’t buzz one up then I’d be very worried indeed. Good fishing, the perfect call on John’s behalf, and an October day that I am sure will live long in the guys’ memories. One day you’re trying to cover up from the autumn sun, and the next day you’re getting properly rained on! You get it all here in Kerry and I fall in love with the place the more time I am lucky enough to spend here.
Another thing about not actually fishing is that you do get to see a number of different lures working - and sometimes not working of course. One lure I do often turn to when working with clients is the IMA Komomo II - when conditions are just a bit too challenging for fishing soft plastics rigged weedless/weightless and something like my beloved Komomo SF-125 swims that tiny bit too deep for where we are fishing, I’ll often suggest turning to the even shallower swimming Komomo II and winding it nice and slowly. It fascinates me how often the lure then produces bass, as per yesterday morning in fact. That flashing plate colour Komomo II seems to work in all kinds of water and light conditions, but especially in bright sunshine. One of the lads has been catching consistently on that mullet coloured Feed Shallow, but in some coloured water yesterday I suggested he clip on a brighter coloured Feed Shallow copy that he had in his box - and he went and caught. I can’t pretend that I like the idea of ripoff lures, but the thing worked. It was great to see one of the lads whack out the legendary but discontinued Maria Chase BW in that holo silvery colour and catch a bass. All we need now is some proper autumn swells to get the guys out in the surf………….
