The Bridlington Open with AFAW

We are travelling up to Bridlington on Friday morning to meet up with the Julian shambrooke of Any Fish Anywhere Fishing Tackle distributors joining him and a few others on his stall at Makis HQ for the Bridlington Open hopefully to have a chat to anglers about our growing sport of Bass Lure Fishing and showing the shore matchmen a few lure rods over the  long weekend and giving them an heads up, AFAW have a fantastic selection of lure Rods at a reasonable prices there are 7,8,9 and 10ft 2 piece pluggers and 8 ft and 9 ft 4 piece travel rods these i took on a recent trip to Spain and were excellent my opinion the best Modern Plugging Bass Travel Rod available today on the market ,as a shore matchman myself this could be some interaction with the Lads in Yorkshire

The European Open Beach Championship is now established as the biggest three-day fishing festival in Europe, attracting stars of shore angling from all over the UK and Europe.

Now in it’s 18th year, the Bridlington based bash has long been number one with the British sea anglers, with the 2011 event having an even more exciting flavour due to the overseas contingency which is far greater than ever before!
Besides rubbing shoulders with anglers from Ireland, Belgium, Greece, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Spain, Portugal, France and Germany, each angler will be able to pick up valuable information, tactics, skills and new techniques.
The 2011 event will also include the extremely popular Bridlington Flattie Bash, a measure and return event that will be held on Friday 25th February. This will be a chance for anglers to get together before the main event at the weekend for a fun and enjoyable competition. The Bridlington Flattie Bash will be held on Wilsthorpe beach from the new boat compound and will be a great opportunity to win fantastic cash and tackle prizes.
The whole three day event is a superb way of networking with sea angling friends and is an opportunity simply not to be missed!




Hope to see you there,,,,,,,,

Masters of the surf

Adrian Rodgers is about to get wiped out things look pretty bad!!!!,well not that bad Adrian did make it back from our recent trip to Asturias in Spain with a 6lb plus fish under his belt ,not bad for mid February on a lure a fantastic achievement in anybodies book check out his Fantastic Blog here Adrian he has some great pictures of our trip too,,you will notice on the picture below that the wave in the distance around 120 yds out breaking on the reef is way beyond the casting distance of our lure rods and gear we took to Spain with us The Bass are in that zone how the hell do you get out there ?? Manel and Dario our Spanish Lubena Anglers showed us just how with their 12 /16ft spinning rods 5000 size reels and 2oz lures this was poetry in motion we all just  sat, watched and learned how these Spanish Masters of the Surf ply their trade,,we are all stuffed in the UK with Finesse this 7ft that 8ft is the ideal length of a plugging rod i don't want to get into this much contested debate but one thing i do know i saw guys using these longer rods very very effectively in adverse conditions and now i am totally convinced after all the debate that the long plugging rod has a place in our sport,

 

 The Ground in Asturias and the North Coast of Spain is so rugged,,,not only heavier rods reels are required a level of physical fitness and awareness of your enviroment are very important Manel and Dario are fit and slick and do you have to be on these areas of coast line the seas are that big that the whole coast is Rock Based very little sand and the secluded bays are all pebbles,this adds up to clear water in rough conditions and the Bass are there in it,,,

Manel Below sporting his 12 ft Plugger,the target zone in the picture below is just to the right hand side of the big rock pinnacle about 100yds he hit the target every cast and he is stood up at high level out of the unpredictable swell ,,to us short rodders in this picture it looks great, but a 15 foot roller could hit you out of the blue at any time,

This picture seems to just show the scale of things out there in spain the two anglers below the cliffs are dots

I For one will be back in Spain it touched a part of me and i would recomend it to anyone but touch base with Manel first he will help to put you on to some stunning marks,, the locals are so helpfull in these trying times its great to know that our sport is alive and well off of distant shores been practiced by Manel and co thanks for your company and  thanks to Adrain ,Tom , Stu and the other Bloke,,for a fantastic time on the Northern Shore of Asturias

The Forlorn Hope

Funny How things work out ,,Below is a truly fantastic picture taken in Ireland a couple of years ago  messing about but it looks so professional  just waiting ,nerves on the edge , a Bass in Pursuit about to strike!!!
Not Really its just me messing about playing to the camera but could be misinterpreted as a Great Bass Picture with the anticipation of action ,,
having said all that a bass picture extraordinaire and i like it,,,
  

Photo courtesy of Henry Gilbey

      Heres another Picture a Total action shot where i was far from posing for the camera a recent trip again to Ireland in October Last found me fingers and thumbs with a Bass From the Back Stand again a great Bass picture  totally opposite to the one above but again i like it,,                                    



Photo courtesy of Adrian Rodgers

Hopefully we will get some shots in Spain like these from this weeks trip and i am really looking forward to it ,we have made some connections over there and our licences are in order flights booked,car hire and accomodation ,,on the sea front all for less than £350 a great deal and well worked out by all,,anyone who has travelled for fishing will know it is not easy and takes some organising so well done to all concerned that are going on our trip,,
the weather is not good to start with and have a look here  wind guru great for your own forcasts as well but is easing towards the weekend(hopefully) we have worked out back up plans as well so here goes,,
into the breach you forlorn hope,,,
i will keep an update going if i can and remember we need only one,,,