Peeler Crab

I forgot to mention lads from next week I will have the biggest juiciest peelers you have ever seen, sponge Bob would loose his spongy mind for one of these crabby patties. No order too big or too small so give me a shout.

Long Range

If you are one of the people who is waiting to get out fishing with me then things at last are looking up a small bit. Not perfect but improving and with the way the weather has been then that will do me.

There is no doubt that the fish are there and in numbers it is just a case of getting some degree of water clarity in order to present a bait to them. A plan to do a bit of live baiting has been hatched and will be carried out on Saturday. Now live baiting is not my favorite type of fishing but when you are beat you are beat, you either accept it or plug on aimlessly.However if you accept it you can diversify and hopefully hook a monster. It is hard when you know that numbers of double figure Bass are about and you are not even fishing for them, you just have to have a go at them no matter what the method. No offence intended to avid live bait fishermen, I am just a lure man at heart but when the stakes are this high the time for stubbornness is long gone. Anyway I fully intend fishing a pouting under a pike float on the bar 270 and maybe a Pollock on the super-mix, light tackle fishing at least.

Have a look at the little buck tail above, I would nearly eat that myself it looks so good, the plastic is a 4" haxedong in aruuro shad to which I have added a glass rattle. If you are interested I am doing variety packs in the buck tails, with different heads and plastics. I will post a list and some pictures of the available buck tails, the colors and the the different jig heads on which they are tied. Please god let this bit of weather hold cause I know I am not the only one going slowly nuts!

Plastics

I have just received one injection, well two actually but I have to keep one for the guiding business! It's a tough job but someones got to do it! Which means I have one for sale so if you have been trying to get your hands on one of these little beauty's then give me a shout and ill sort you out!

Pictured is the Chart glow core spindle worm from Megabass, these are just absolutely stunning soft plastic baits. They are almost like a mix of a worm and shad bait, long body with that rigged tail section and then a shad style tail. The action of these baits in the water has to be seen to be believed and if this weather ever clear I know this lure is going to account for some fine Bass over the winter. I only have it in two colors at the moment which is the one pictured and also in glow shirasu which is a speckled silver color. These can fished on a variety of heads, in a variety of weights, anything from 12g to 30g. They are basically a cast and retrieve type of bait with most of the action built into the lure itself. Be warned though these are vios plastic so be sure to store them seperatly or you will have spindle lumps.

I also just got a Bar 270 into to stock, this is where I started with the Red Rods and there will always be something special about this rod for me, when it comes to fishing from the rocks, or cast 30g jigs across the mouth of an estuary for me you just wont beat this rod. Light weight and yet incredibly powerful, summer pollock fishing was where this rod really showed what it had got, I must ask Mick (MRfish) for the video clip of it stuck into a 9lb pollock. The rod was literally bent from tip to but and stopped the fish in its tracks. I have done everything with this rod top water, jerk bait, soft palstics and even a bit of live baiting it's just a cracker of a pole.

Clips

They seem like such insignificant annoying little buggers, like who cares about clips, surely any old clip will do? Well I have to say it was Doug aka (fester) from Mrfish in Jersey who put it nicely for me when he said, "guys spend 400 on a rod, 300 on a reel, 25 on a lure then go use some rubbish cheap clip from china and loose the fish of a life time I just don't get it?" (Cheers Doug) He is dead right I don't get it either.

I learned this one the hard way too I lost an absolute cracker about 2 yrs ago on rubbish clip it just straightened and that was that, but worse than loosing the fish and I truly mean this, is I left lure in bass which really bothers me, to the point of loosing sleep bothers me.

So if you are going to spend decent money on good kit then do the wise thing and buy some good strong reliable clips to go with em! The best I have found so far are the JB's pictured above. I have literally straighted a led head in a snag and the clip did not give, now that impressed me. Granted they have their down side they can be awkward to get a led head on first time but once you get it on once it goes on handy from then on.

In fact if I'm being completely honest when I first got them off mick i thought "ye mad jersey Lula what am I meant to do with this yoke with a swivel on it and all." But as time has gone by i wont use anything else to me they are the best, the strongest, most reliable clip on the market. Like the ad says "often copied never equaled." Carlsberg don't do clips but if they did they would probably get ye pisse* and be no good for fishing at all.

Megabass Zonk Gateride

If you pined me to a corner a gun point and asked me to pick a lure, just one lure that I thought I could not live without then this is it. ITO get very little wrong wit his design but when he put this together he must have been having a particularly good day.

Granted the new lip is fragile and prone to breaking, but what price will you pay for the best and in my humble opinion these are the best. I know a small amount about lure technology and what I think he has captured is the action of a deep diving lure in a reasonably shallow running lure, no mean feet. The action of any lure is supplied by the bid which is the plastic bit at the front, the innovation of this new type of bib has been proving irresistible to Irish bass all year long.

I have had more fish take this at my feet than anywhere else, so imagine how many times have you watched bass follow your lure to your feet just turn away at the last second. Well with the Gateride things seem to happen a little differently, I always stop the lure about 5 ft out from the rock and this is where most of the good bass and Pollock for that matter, that I have caught on it tend to grab it. This lure when stooped sinks back wards in a fluttering motion of a dying fish which I think the bass find irresistible. It is definitely my number one hard lure for this year top of pops without a doubt.

Once again Megabass seem to be a step ahead of all the other lure companies out there, weather it is soft plastic or hard lure technology they are just a cut above the rest, I guess that this what makes them the number one lure company in Japan. Interestingly I recently discovered that everything Megabass make is made and assembled in Japan, unlike some of their rivals who have the parts made in china then assembled in Japan, then go to sell these as made in Japan (not strictly true), bit like "French" oyster's from Dungarvan bay but that's a funny story for another day. I can tell you this that I was a big fan of a lure that was made in Japan, I bought one about 9 month's ago and it was rubbish, I later discovered they had moved their operation to China, I'm no expert but I can tell you that the lure I bough had no resemblance to the lure I previous owned, I used it once and it sits now in the box where all good lures go to die. So bargain is not always a bargain and maybe the old adage you get what you pay for is true after all.

Boga Grips

I know there where a few people waiting on the next delivery of Boga, well they have literally just come through the door. Boga are without doubt the finest fish grip in the world ensuring both the safety of the angler and the fish. Anyone who has buried a a treble hook into their hand whilst un hooking a bass will tell you just how useful a tool these little beauties are.

New Lures and Plastics

I have just received a whole new shipment of lures and plastics from ultimate fishing so anyone interested in effective winter lures should drop me a line. I also got a whole new range of heads in on the advice of the French lads when they where over so give me a shout and ill fill you in.

I just want to make a brief comment about inter net nastiness, I have noticed it creeping into forums etc and I have to say I just don't get it. Why do people feel the need to slag people off or wind them up, it's just cowardly and childish, it really goes against the spirit of fishing. Yes I use this blog to further my business and why shouldn't I, I am completely up front about it. But I also go out of my way to help people out as best I can, I don't claim to be some bass guru, I am just a guide and a tackle dealer end of! So if you feel the need to have a pop at me at least have the courage to say who you are! But that is always the way with bully's and begrudgers they hide out, they just hate to see people make a go of anything probably because they are too scared to try. Just thought I would get that off my chest cause i want no part in slagging people off or winding them up its pathetic.

The Weather Gods

This has to be the toughest year I remember for lure fishing, conditions in waterford have just been really poor from after the ban right through. Before the ban we had some great lure fishing n the spring with some nice bass being caught I think there where three doubles caught between us in March/April. May/June where ridiculously hard months up this way with very few fish putting in a show. July/august where pretty much your average summer fishing with some exceptional days and some really hard days, September and early October fished it's socks off for me and since then it has just been down hill again. By this time you would normally have very settled, very cold weather, with light winds and plenty of frost but this year that weather refuses to show up and so we have these strong NW winds that play havoc with my winter marks dirtying the water and blowing straight at you whilst you fish. Let me tell you an hour or two of that and you are ready for home.

But just to prove that there are still some really fine big healthy here is one of a friend of mine Pat with a lovely bass taken on bait on the wexford coast, if I know Pat there was a fair bit of shouting done when this fish hit the shore something like "Jaysus will look at size a that one lads, ah lads she's beauty!" Pat is an absolute diamond of a character as are the rest of the Wexford Bass mafia Barry and d
Danny, who i would also like to take the time to thank as they have supported my business from the very start so fair play lads and tight lines.

New Order

I have a new order of winter baits on the way from ultimate fishing, mostly plastic baits with the odd hard bait thrown in for good measure. Give us a shout early next week if you are looking for something to get you through the cold dark months of November and December, when the bass are deep and slow moving. I won't say too much just that i have stuff coming that will tempt those big females that have come in shore for the crab moult.

The bass pictured was taken in April. The little guy above the fish is my Nephew Jack (4 bass) Spain, on his proper bass trip with his uncle and his fishing buddies, Cian and Graham, Jack naled four bass and droped one really decent fish. The kid is a natural, after being shown once how to strike the fish he did the rest himself and his best fish of the day was close to 5lb, not too bad a for a 9yr old little guy. So I think this christmas we will have to sort jack out with his first proper bass fishing out fit (boys would I have loved an uncle who was a tackle dealer) . The 10ft Bass rod from Greys is a lovely pole matched with a 5000 size shimano fixed spool and his own little tripod, once he lauhches a lump of fresh crab out there those bass don't stand a chance and he surely can lauch it this little guy has qute a cast on him proving that it is about skill not brute force. I think he might have a birthday coming up prerry soon too so he should be well togged out for the winter fishing.

If you haven't got into plastic fishing yet then get your finger out and try some thing new. A lot of guys who contact me say they haven't tried plastic fishing because they don't reckon they are good enough lure anglers yet. Rubbish, soft bait fishing can be simple, especially this time of year when the weed has died off. It is without a shadow of a doubt the most productive form of lure fishing world wide, there is an absolute explosion in the number and types of baits available and an equal amount of ways to fish them. Probably the best place to start is with the xlayer, giant xlayer and some type of shad. Like any type of lure fishing once you catch you won't look back. Speaking of catching I really hope to get out tomorow if the weather will just be a small bit kinder

Find Of The Week

Ok so I'm in Woodies the other day picking up bits and Bob's to try and sort the house out a wee bit. ME and my Dad live in a 200yr old farm house that is beautifully situated right on a beach at the mouth of the estuary to the three sisters (The Barrow, The Nore and The Suir.) The house itself is called weir house after the salmon weir which traditionally belonged to the owners of the house. For those of you you who do not know what a salmon weir is it was a means by which to trap salmon as they made their way up stream to spawn. It consisted of a series of poles that ran out along the beach for about a quarter of a mile, attached to this then was a a very heavy gauge net that fish could not become entangled in, instead they would swim along the net looking for a way past. At the end of the net was a large cage that once the salmon swam in they could not get out again, it was really avery Eco friendly ay of fishing as any by catch such as bass, flounder, crab etc could just be released back into the tide. But I digress from the matter at hand.

Whilst in Woodies I came across the product pictured which is a glue for soft plastics, as a tackle dealer i am probably the last person in the world who should be telling you of ways to repair your plastic baits (instead of buying new ones) but there ye go sometimes I'm too honest for my own good. I have tried it out on a couple of mother worms that where in pretty poor shape and whilst I don't think it is a miracle fix all, it will certainly enable me to take another couple of fish on two baits that where otherwise for the bin. So keep an eye out for it, I reckon it is worth having for any angler who is serious about his plastic fishing.

Unfortunately some of the most effective plastics are also the most fragile ones, this stuff should tip the scales back in your favour a small bit. It will by no means solve the problem but it will help you get longer and therefore more value out of your soft plastics.

Fsihing and a bit of History

I fish a certain mark in south wexford on the hook peninsula where there are some very unusual rock pools, these have always seemed far to symmetrical and smooth to be the work of nature and it was just the other day that I got to the bottom of this mystery whilst out for a ramble with Dave from Kerry. You see pictured one off the perfectly circular pools which I am talking about and the picture below is off the structute before it was hand cut to leave the crater. They are in fact created by the cutting of mill stones from the rock, so the bottom picture is obviously of a stone which had a fault and was there fore left behind and not finished. The effect is breath taking it creates an almost lunar landscape on the rock.

The stone is red sand stone and was perfect for millstones use due to its course make up of pebble which ground down the corn. The stones where cut and then at low tide lashed to the bottom of a small boat and transported to the bannow, examples of this work can be found through out south Wexford, I have to say whatever about cutting the stone I would not fancy being the pilot of the small boat with the stone lashed to the bottom of it. Fair play to Dave for his insight into this intriguing subject a real glimpse at the past.

Can you imagine the stamp of sea bass that where available at this time the mind boggles. A time machine a box of tide minnows and a supermix 210, am i asking for too much? A day would do me, with a nice moderates southely and a few plastics amd tide minnows! Speaking of plastics, keep your eyes peeled as the lure store is about to develop what I feel will be a deadly combination of buck tail jig! Perecft for those deep slow colder water winter fish combined with a top secret soft platic bait, I know these have been proving deadly for keith in Jersey so I am lawys open to trying new things.