What are Friends for!!

What a brilliant week Carol ,Arron and myself had at our Home in SE Ireland in our house at Shady Nook the weather was simply stunning the only thing was ,we have had loads of work to do on our house DIY got loads of stuff done more than expected,,
 in the mean time my old Buddie and bass convert turned up to see us ,,Carol and I were laid out in the Garden when a old mate of mine turned up Mick Boland we fished Bass Alley many moons ago we talked for ages in the Irish sunshine about all them memories and double figure Bass and of course the ones that got away,the memories were so vivid we had a brilliant time just chatting away and catching up on the lawn at shady nook,,
Mick and i swapped lures and ideas it must have been getting on 4yrs since we fished together since then he has become a rather tasty lure angler,,,,

Mick with a half tidy Bass some of mick marks are off the scale ,,here's another pic to wet your appetite

Superb on the AYU Xslayer on to a articulated head and 2/0 vaviras wide mouth hook

above is the Metsuki Floating 150mm seems to be a cross between a tide minnow and a Daiwa Shoreliner brilliant casting and a strong bib i was very impressed with this lure as it comes in a sinking version too and the best bit is all for around £10 pounds delivered i paid £32 for three ands here's the other one 130mm sinker with Owner Trebles

get them from here
italiafishing
why pay silly prices when these nice lures are around

Off to cornwall over the weekend with Mark and Adrian on the 1st 2nd and 3rd of July to  fish the cornish lure festival cant wait for this one if you fancy having a go get your ticket on line from Ben at the art of fishing LURE FESTIVAL

Heres Joel a Devon Bass Guide and a realy good one at that been speaking to him lately as he has been bagging up down that neck of the woods The Bass above was 9lb 8oz he has had fish to 11lb 8oz this season and its a long one down there,,
,he also knows a thing or two about the Cornwall Coast and thats handy for us in July,,
catch up with Joel at joelsoul68@live.com
you will have some fun with this guy he realy knows his stuff,,,,,,,,

Nearly forgot a flying visit to Ireland at the weekend is on the Cards,,,,,

Ireland going home

Off to Ireland tommorrow evening on the night ferry from Fishguard arriving in Rosslare early saturday morning ,,
Carol and i are going to do some DIY on our Home in Wexford cutting grass gardening if the weather permits ,fixing cookers ,painting,tiling,fixing showers ,Arron has packed his Golf clubs and i have left the fishing gear in England NOT,,well it is the close season for Bass over there,,
I know there are many that have a view but for me i will stick to wrasse and pollock there are loads of them in Ireland and Bass will be just a by catch that will not be targeted but released if caught,,,




Photo Henry Gilbey

One of my favorite pictures my son Arron with Shaun Fenton on the Wrasse  great sport on a light rod shaun was Henrys director of his Wild Fishing series ,But having a wild time in Ireland this night with Arron on the Wrasse great sport ,try here this guy knows about wrasse fishing and much more here Keith white

I will be trying a few Crab next week males are just ending and females are just starting to peel a brilliant bait for Wrasse and Silver Pollock and SE Ireland has the best Crab around,,,i will be meeting up with Cian too ,,cant wait to have a look round his shop at Absolute Fishing Waterford ,,
but i must not get too carried away i have loads of DIY to do,,,,

Cool Turkey! on a Gataride

At 4000m the snow and sub zero Temperatures were blasting the Toros Mountains on west seaboard of Turkey ,a wild country this certainly is with the pine forests and deep blue lagoons truly a gem of our earth and the people are so welcoming and traditional ,,,

Packing my anyfish anywhere 8 ft travel rod and all the usual suspects Carol ,Arron and Myself set off to the shores of this wonderfull enchanting Country Gateway to the East ,, 

The Gataride Edomi Lazer was the lure of the moment on this trip the Gataride just seems to do the buisness anywhere in the world the perfect Lure get them here at topwater lures 

Heres Umut Beckar with a double figure Amberjack nailed on a Megabass Gataride,, My guide on the last part of our trip catch up with him here he will sort you out accomodation and some of the best fishing plugging marks in Europe,,

The Gataride will get them any where heres one of my Jacks pushing double figure These fish are mental and what a srap ,the AFAW Plugger 8ft travel just handled the Fish Brilliant even when the lure slipped into  the Back of the fish the rod handled  Amberjack with relative ease a superb travel rod by Anyfish ,,,
my advice if you do any amount of travel go and get one of these little crackers,,,have a look at Veals

The small Barracuda loved the Gataride too, great sport and verocious preditor

To Sum this trip up all i can say it was Fantastic with some stunning Fish an all round Place for serious Pluggers,,,,,

I Have just touched the surface of this Magical country with some of the best lure fishing in the world no less than 4 hours away and with people like Umut around to show you the way forward and make your trip very special and memorable find him here ,,,,,The Bass are around in the winter months up to 5kg been Common sadly we were a little late but hey,,,
Those Amberjack Realy pull your string!!!!!!!!!!!! ,,,

Bass Pictures and have a great season to all

Heres a few pictures from Henry and Friends thanks to all ,, good times for 2011 its getting close

 Bait fishing can be great in early season

 On a loney strand  the fishing on lures was out of this world

 OOOPS One of Henrys,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, a great fish on the Feed shallow mullet on a back tide,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 My Mate Mike Boland,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Gataride!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Gee,,,,eyelash extentions in green

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,,,