Holger and Holger are returning home at the end of an interesting and challenging week. They had successes on both saltwater fly and lure in what remains a very unpredictable bass angling environment. Working extremely hard and never giving up, persisting and patient they got the results they deserved – a bonus for Irish angling tourism after a tough tough season.
As the high pressure extended onwards towards the end of the week and the systems stabilised more and more, the guys got into the pattern of the fishing their chances increased on a day by day basis even as the tides ran down the spring cycle.
At times its the toughest and the greatest job in the world, would I rather do anything else anywhere else?
I suspect we’re not over yet as more HP is on the way, perhaps an Indian summer.
Markus Mueller – IFI – fly casts for bass
Oh, it’s a long, long while from May to December
But the days grow short when you reach September
When the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame
One hasn’t got time for the waiting game.
Source – September Song
Landing Gear
Rods – Guideline LPX 9’-0” #8 , Redington CPX 9’-0” #8
Reels – Danielsson LW 6-9 – Okuma Airframe 7/8
Lines – Guideline Coastal Intermediates
Leader – Airflo 10’-0” saltwater poly leaders – Rio fluoroflex +
Flies – Grey and chartreuse blended hollow fleye
Summer 2012; Cool, wet and dull nearly everywhere.
Mean air temperatures for the season were below average with stations in the South and Southeast reporting the largest differences of up to nearly -1°C. June and July reported below average mean temperatures while August had above average temperatures nearly everywhere. Mean temperatures recorded in most areas during July were at least -1.5°C below their average values with Malin Head reflecting this, recording its lowest July mean temperature
since 1972 (40 years). Mean temperatures for the season ranged from 13.0°C at Knock Airport to 14.9°C at Shannon Airport. Most highest maximum temperatures were recorded during the second week of August with Shannon Airport recording the season’s highest maximum temperature of 26.5°C on the 10th. Almost all lowest minimum temperatures were recorded in mid-June, with the season’s lowest temperature of 2.4°C recorded at Markree on June 10th. The lowest minimum temperature of 4.0°C at Malin Head on June 4th was the lowest minimum at the site since the summer of 1991 (21 years), while in contrast, most remaining stations across the country reported their lowest minimums were the highest recorded in five to 15 years.
Rainfall totals were above average everywhere with the highest summer percentage values measured in the South. Long-term average (LTA) values ranged from 121% at Belmullet to 224% at Fermoy (Moorepark). Mullingar and Cork Airport reported their wettest summers on record since 1944 (68 years) and 1962 (50
years). Claremorris and Knock Airport also reported wet summers, with their highest rainfall since 1985 (27 years) and 1996 (16 years), respectively. Almost all places recorded above average rainfall during the three months of the season with the exception of some areas in the East and along northern and western coasts in
August. The highest rainfall relative to average was recorded in June, where LTAs ranged up to nearly three times above normal in parts of the South and East. Stations recorded their highest daily rainfall mostly during June and in heavy showers during mid-August. The highest daily rainfall of the season was at Malin
Head, where 50.9 mm was recorded on the 22nd June, its highest summer daily fall since 1955 (57 years). There was an above normal number of wetdays (days with 1 mm or more) recorded this summer (between 44 and 65) with the highest amounts recorded in the West and South.Sunshine totals for summer were below average nearly everywhere except in western coastal areas. Overall,
June and July were relatively dull with August also reporting dull conditions in parts of the South, East and
Southwest.
Source Met Eireann
I’m just waiting for Holger, Holger II and Markus to arrive, hopefully in the next few moments – we are working on a small project this week to try and put something together for the publishing house of Rute & Rolle and Fisch & Fliege – bass fishing on the fly in Wexford.
We all know at this stage its going to be very difficult, but working with people like Holger ( both I and II !) and Markus means that whilst I’m cognisant of the ‘pressure’, I know they have the maturity and vast experience to realise what fishing is really about. They are completely aware of the difficult situation regarding bass fishing from the shore at this time in Wexford.
I have been very lucky in choosing the angling journalists and photographers whom I have worked with down through the years. Journalists whom I know have come here, done a great job, written about the fishing, my guiding services and the Wexford environment in a fair and balanced manner and then moved to their next project in another part of the world. There has never been any expectation on their behalf.
Their articles which appear in many different magazines from different countries are referred to again and again by customers – Voyages de Peches, Peches en Mer, Fliegenfischen, De Roofvis, the Irish Times, many others too. Editorial is beyond doubt a customer winning strategy provided the same ‘microscope’ is not pointed by the same person at the same sample again and again.
Lucky? Maybe. But I do know this, the people whom have written about Wexford’s bass fishing through the services of SEAi are genuine people and have solid best sustainable angling, local attractions, services and interests at heart.
I guess that’s a lot of the reason for my choices.
I have included on the bottom left hand panel of the site some informational journal extracts and publications in relation to bass, these are available as downloads. I have more which I will add over time some less technical others more so.
I am not a scientist nor a fisheries biologist so most of the time find the interpretation of the reports to be difficult and a lot of the time beyond me! I do hope that you can have a look at and read some of the more interesting reports / extracts and I also hope that they might help to understand some of the finer points of the fish in Irish and UK waters – areas like maturity, effects of temperature, year classes, influences, growth rates, populations, movements, commercial data, forage and many other determining factors.
I will also be including data that is available from the US striped bass fishery.
If you are aware of any other documents that are currently publicly available and that you might consider helpful and you would like for them to be included in this library collection then please don’t hesitate to contact me at sportfishing@eircom.net
These documents can be downloaded directly from this site on the left hand panel or from Scribd – just click HERE to link to the library.
Jim Hendrick
See these and more on my stand at the Hooked live show February 2013
THIRTYARDS 
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