A few weeks ago Joran spent some time in Kerry. There he went bass fishing for four days with local fishing guide John Quinlan and photographer/fishing guide Henry Gilbey. Check out his report of this Ireland road trip.
Traveling to Ireland in mid-October you would expect lots of rain and wind; real Irish autumn weather. Well none of that on this trip: bright blue skies, lots of sunshine, easterly winds and flat calm conditions: Indian summer. The perfect weather to get a bit of a tan, but not really the conditions you would like to see for some serious bass fishing. As a result this was mostly done during the dark morning hours (and late afternoon). We would start the day at 05:00 hours with a cup of tea, head out to a mark nearby and start fishing for bass.
The first morning this immediately paid off. After having fished a reef on the incoming tide, John directed me to the beach. Walking along the shoreline I would cast as far out as I could into the surf, to try and get in the vicinity of the bass that were hunting in the waves. At a certain sector of the beach John told me to be prepared, as this was one of his favourite spots. The first hit didn’t connect properly, but it was ‘fish on’ not much later. Having restored contact after a wave had overtaken my Sasuke 120, the hard lure got nailed by a 5lb+ bass. What a way to start your day!
After a few hours fishing in the early morning, we – John, Henry, Andy, Paul, Nobby (three mighty fine English lads) and yours truly – would head back to the Thatch Cottage for breakfast. There master chef Lynn would welcome us with the brekkie we ordered the evening before. It is a real pleasure to kick off your wading boots and be able to immediately devour a full Irish. When refuelled we got into our waders again and set out for some more fishing based on John’s knowledge of the local marks.
And in this part of Kerry there is quite a lot to know. Almost the entire coastline – beaches, rocks, estuaries, cliffs, reefs – is one big fishing mark. And there are virtually no other anglers about. In four days of hardcore fishing we only saw a small local fishing match taking place on the beach. Apart from that it was just us out there. Coming from a densely populated country like the Netherlands, this was something that really struck me. All this beautiful terrain and it’s only you out there fishing away in a truly stunning scenery.
Due to the bright weather, flat calm conditions, gin clear water and a lack of serious swell, we combined fishing for bass with fishing for pollack. Where the bass fishing would take place in the surf and on reef marks (shallow ground), we would get out and about on the rocks for the pollack. John and Henry guided us to some spectacular marks facing the mighty Atlantic Ocean where the waves crash on the cliffs. Here we fished deeper water with the same (or slightly heavier) gear than you would use for bass fishing.
Now we don’t have a shore based pollack fishery in Holland due to the lack of cliffs and deep water close to the shore, and that’s a real shame. Because these fish really know how to nail a lure! Be it far out on the drop or right in front of you reeling in those last meters of braid, they hammer those soft plastics (and hard lures as well). When into playing a fish, you have to give them the gears right away or else they will snag you up big time. Great fun to catch these hard-scrapping fish from a rock ledge on the Atlantic coast.
Unfortunately the bass fishing was pretty tough. Next to the aforementioned conditions, the bass weren’t properly switched on. John explained this could have been related to the red tide they had a while back. This phenomenon – an algal bloom that is sometimes associated with the production of natural toxins, depletion of dissolved oxygen or other harmful effects – was the cause of a widespread mortality of sandeels especially. Due to the lack of baitfish, John suspected there was less bass around than usual.
Nevertheless him and Henry managed to put us four onto bass practically every day. Mostly fish around the 3-4 lb mark, but catching bass – or seeing someone catch a bass – always lifts the spirits; especially in those tough conditions. Luckily the pollack and wrasse provided plenty of action and fun each day. And on top of that just being out and about in breathtakingly beautiful Kerry is something very special. What a magnificent place to fish – especially if you’re from a raked country like the lowlands.
I want to thank John and Henry for their excellent guidance, the tutorial on the incredibly strong FG knot, crash course in rugby basics and entertainment (they could easily pass for a comedy duo). Also a big thanks to Lynn for all the lovely meals, John and Lynn’s son Steven for making us a lunchtime BBQ, and Andy, Nobby and Paul for their nice company and adding a few new words and phrases to my English vocabulary. It was a pleasure to spend my bass fishing trip in Kerry with you lot!
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