Monday, February 28, 2011
THE BEST TIME TO CATCH BIG SEA BASS
Amazingly most of my big bass were caught in the November / December time when you can only ever fish one tide with the lack of daylight hours. The bass were much chunkier and well fed up compared to those in summer especially after spawning in May / June. The bass in the sea bass scenery video was caught in the end of November on a spoon bait close in ( less than ten yards out ) as i saw her first and then cast to her she took the spoon on the drop just before i could spin it. The bass took off at high speed and straight into the kelp but being used to this i always use 20lbs heavy guage mono shock leader especially for its abrasion qualities and pulled the bass out easily.Fishing with braid you can feel every move and turn of the fish as it doesn't stretch like mono and i played out the fish fast as not to tire it out too much because the big fish take longer to recover after a fight. The bass weighed over 14lbs and was rested for ten minutes before releasing it. You can hold a bass easily in water with a boga grip until it recovers without harming either you or the fish, that's why i love using the boga because you don't even have to touch the fish just a flick with the disgorger and your fish is released unharmed.
1. Early morning tide just as dawn breaks, low light conditions.
2. Fish close in and keep an eye on the water around you for moving fish.
3.Spoon baits, they always work.
4.Cover a 180 degree arc, starting from your left shoulder right around to your right shoulder.
5.You may only get one take make it count.
6. Heavy clear 20lb mono tippet.
7. Sharpen your hooks after every session as they become blunt after hitting rocks etc.
8. I cover my spoon baits with yacht varnish it stops the colour fading / chipping.
1. Early morning tide just as dawn breaks, low light conditions.
2. Fish close in and keep an eye on the water around you for moving fish.
3.Spoon baits, they always work.
4.Cover a 180 degree arc, starting from your left shoulder right around to your right shoulder.
5.You may only get one take make it count.
6. Heavy clear 20lb mono tippet.
7. Sharpen your hooks after every session as they become blunt after hitting rocks etc.
8. I cover my spoon baits with yacht varnish it stops the colour fading / chipping.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Big Bass on Lures
This is the size of bass that i like to catch, they are a stocky powerful fish and can be caught around Cork harbour. The best time to catch fish of this size is when the herring are in, normally around November, December. My best days fishing for quantity and quality were both in December, one just inside Cork harbour and the other in Garretstown. The big bass was caught on the fly on the 9th of December on a dirty wet morning and there were loads of mullet being pushed up into the shallows.I used a mullet pattern surf candy fly which has an epoxy head on it and i find them easier to cast in bad weather because they rarely wrap-up when fishing. The bass took the fly and about eighty yards of backing on the first run, i thought i had hooked the bass by the tail because i couldn't stop it.The next few runs took more line and i must have had about 150yds of line out so i walked along the shoreline to retrieve as much backing as i could and to get a different angle on the fish. Eventually i got the bass in and put the boga grip on her mouth but i couldn't lift her because the boga grip started to tear the fishes mouth. I had to lift the fish by the tail and the boga just to get it out of the water, i weighed the fish and it surpassed my scales of 20lbs easily so i don't have an exact weight but it was well into early twenties. I took over ten minutes sitting with the fish before she was able to swim away strongly on her own and i thought to myself that she must have been over thirty years old, that is the biggest bass that i will ever catch in my lifetime. If i had killed the fish it would have been the biggest bass ever caught on fly but i'm into catch and release and get more enjoyment on seeing fish swim away to fight another day.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Bass on the Fly
While out fly fishing for bass some time ago i met a guy who asked me a few questions on how to learn to salt water fly fish. He had bought a magazine and the bass fishing expert said that you should practise casting into a gale force wind to improve your casting and your chances of catching bass. With this information he duly didn't even attempt to try bass fly fishing as he thought it was too difficult. Firstly i have been salt water fishing for a long time and you will never find me out in a gale force wind fishing or practising because its too damn dangerious and anyone who calls himself an expert should know better. Salt water fly fishing is the same as any other fly fishing except the flies are bigger and heavier and demand a lot more respect that is why we have stronger rods and lines to cope with them. The lines are the same, you have floating, intermediate and sinking lines which go from eight weight ( bass, mullet, pollack ) upto sixteen weight and above for marlin, tuna, etc., the only thing you have to worry about is making sure you buy cold water lines and not tropical lines. The tropical lines ball up like wire in cold weather and you will find them hard to cast with, i know because i bought them as salt water lines and had to get them from abroad years ago because the fresh water lines weren't up to rocks and salt water. The new salt water lines are great they have a heavy front section of about thirty feet and then they taper down to a running line which makes it easier to cast big flies and punch into winds but not gale force winds. I use the Rio outbound (cold ) salt water fly lines and find them perfect for the job, they can easily lift big flies and cast them a long way.
Thats the lines out of the way, next is the rod it has to be nine feet in lenght and rated 8/9 or 9/10 for bass fishing, i use a 9/10 weight because of the strenght to throw long lines and to bully bass in close around rocks etc.. It has to be saltwater proof but you still need to clean them after fishing they last longer with a bit of tlc. The line rating must match the rod so a 9/10 weight rod will take the same 9/10 line, i have floating, intermediate and sinking lines which i use to cover the various depths while bass fishing. The reel must be salt water proof as well and watch out for salt water resistant its not the same they rust after awhile, so stick with salt water proof and you still need to clean them after use but they will last longer and give trouble free fishing. The reel needs to take the fly line and a minimum of 200m of 30lbs breaking strain backing line, get a red or white backing line its easier to see when playing a big fish especially in low light conditions.Now that you have the rod, line and reel sorted out its time for the leaders and flies etc..
Thats the lines out of the way, next is the rod it has to be nine feet in lenght and rated 8/9 or 9/10 for bass fishing, i use a 9/10 weight because of the strenght to throw long lines and to bully bass in close around rocks etc.. It has to be saltwater proof but you still need to clean them after fishing they last longer with a bit of tlc. The line rating must match the rod so a 9/10 weight rod will take the same 9/10 line, i have floating, intermediate and sinking lines which i use to cover the various depths while bass fishing. The reel must be salt water proof as well and watch out for salt water resistant its not the same they rust after awhile, so stick with salt water proof and you still need to clean them after use but they will last longer and give trouble free fishing. The reel needs to take the fly line and a minimum of 200m of 30lbs breaking strain backing line, get a red or white backing line its easier to see when playing a big fish especially in low light conditions.Now that you have the rod, line and reel sorted out its time for the leaders and flies etc..
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)