I’ll preface this blog post by saying that it revolves around two very good anglers, with one of them in particular having extensive knowledge of the Copper Coast area on the south coast of Ireland. I know Steve well, indeed we have fished together over in Ireland a lot over the last few years - he’s been going to Ireland for many years now, but I think it’s fair to say that both Steve and Carl are in a bit of a state of shock at just how good their very recent seven day bass lure fishing trip was………..
When tides and conditions come together at what is potentially a very good time of year, you know you’re in with a shout at some good bass fishing, but then I have been over there in October before with some ideal conditions and we bled for whatever reasons (bad angling?!). Steve and I fished together in May along that south coast of Ireland stretch in what we reckoned were some seriously naff conditions, yet we smashed them. Fishing eh? Isn’t it amazing how none of us will ever come close to knowing it all, but just sometimes it seems as if there is indeed a fishing god looking down upon us, and this particular Carlsberg bass fishing trip was some serious stuff.
Carl with his 10lb 14oz bass
Two anglers fishing for seven days. As I said, they know their stuff, I know how hard they fish, and they put a lot of miles of driving and walking in. These trips away are a blast, but most of the time you get home and need a few days to recover from lack of sleep etc. Anyway, Steve and Carl landed a total of 114 bass between them, and Steve reckons the average size was nudging 6lbs. I am sure it’s possible to catch many more small bass than that if you fished certain areas, but that number of fish at that average size? Crumbs. I crossed over with the lads last Sunday when I flew back from Lanzarote to Cork to pick up my car - the fish I landed that day are not included in their figures, but I managed to nail one around the 8lb+ mark, plus a few others, and all the bass were in fantastic condition. Anyway, here are the stats courtesy of Steve, as indeed are the photos here:
Wednesday: fish 19, wind SW Light
Thursday: fish 23, wind SW Strong
Friday: fish 11, wind SW/W Moderate
Saturday: fish 14, wind SW Light
Sunday: fish 11, wind SE Light/Moderate
Monday: fish 17, wind E Fresh
Tuesday: fish 19, wind NE Strong
Average size 6lb
Very few less than 5lb
X12 @ 7lb
X3 @ 8lb (Duel Hardcore 130F, senko)
X1 @ 9lb (Frosty)
X1 @ 10lb 14oz (senko)
Steve with an 8lb 6oz bass
There’s a reason that so many of us love going over to fish in Ireland. I love living here in SE Cornwall and I love my fishing around here, but realistically I know that I’ll never see that sort of bass fishing in my local waters. I might never see bass fishing like that over in Ireland either, but that’s just it - there’s always a chance that every single thing comes together for a few days and you absolutely smash them. I’ve been part of some incredible bass fishing sessions over there before, and I hope to be part of many more in the future, but to consistently catch big bass over so many days like Steve and Carl did? Some mighty fine fishing if you ask me, and I take my hat off to them. I would also like to offer a massive well done to Carl for landing that 10lb 14oz cracker on a white senko at night, and on their last night I believe. If you have experienced bass fishing like this before then I take my hat off to you as well, but for the rest of us we can continue to do what we do as anglers - hope and dream that someday that fishing god is going to smile at us and shower us with big fish until our heads are well and truly wrecked! Outstanding……..