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I have spent a long time learning how to catch fish, I have also invested time in trying to return them as effectively as possible, at times I know this is not always the case but its a part of the daily process of guiding to try to ensure good fish ‘returns’.
Currently I’m looking even further at how I might improve other aspects and impacts the business may be having in the coastal environment. I am trying to learn how best to minimise these impacts and indeed pass that knowledge on to other anglers who may be interested.
In a world subjected to ever increasing recreational pressure every little bit of work helps. I have always felt that no matter what else may be happening and who may be responsible I believe its important to try to do something better, to be seen to be trying, to have the ability to say this is what I am doing to help things – Visit Leave No Trace Ireland
Tourist anglers may well have have certain preconceived notions and mental images of an angling destination before they ever visit. Expectations are one of the driving forces for the initial desire to visit any particular destination. If customer effort is high and those high expectations are met, high customer satisfaction is likely.
Adversely, an individual with high expectations who receives a low-value experience or an experience that doesn’t meet with his or her self perceived expectations as result of exaggerated media will likely report a low customer satisfaction, regardless of level of customer effort or indeed guide effort.
This high-value expectation, low-value product is known as the dissonance theory (Cardozo, 1965).
To reduce dissonance levels in visiting tourist anglers, it is important as a service provider to offer accurate realistic information to the visiting angling public so as to not create heightened expectations that are not likely to be met. This is often contrary information to that as portrayed by angling media.
‘It is important to remember that quality tourist 
experiences result from businesses that know their product, their customers, and their employees’ (Hayes, 1997). As a bass fishing guide I would also add that it is necessary to include an intimate local and wider knowledge of the coastal environment and the influences of current conditions on the fishing.
An unrealistic expectation in relation to angling returns for a fish as capricious as bass needs to be discussed at length with any potential customer. Yes a good guide may know some honey pots, yes a good guide should recognise a confluence of circumstances that can lead to exceptional fishing or indeed the reverse, and yes a good guide should work hard to push every possible opportunity as it happens.
But in reality a very good guide will also recognise that honey pots need to be managed very very carefully and are often the exception to ‘day to day’ fishing, a customers individual skill can only be matched to specific environments, conditions and a singular limit of physical input. Plus, and contrary to popular belief, Ireland is not localised it has a vast coastline that operates differently at different times and giant bass do not readily surrender and crawl up your line at the mere sight of a soft plastic!
Being realistically aware of the true nature of the fish and the fishing, getting a measured sense of what ‘could happen’ if I try hard and work at it, a ‘I cant do any more’ frame of mind is a good honest approach. Instead of trying to deal with the associated disappointments of unrealistic hyper expectation and so often its associated companions, accelerated unearned learning and supposed ease of accomplishment through the latest complex bass tackle fads and theories, a much simpler and wider approach will lead to a far greater sense of achievement and personal reward.
Besides isn’t there something so much more satisfying about simply being out there, imagining rather than expecting?
Its November already, October seems to have blown by in an early autumnal rush that I missed completely. Cedric from Switzerland was due on one of the tidal weeks but due to the obvious and early indications that it wasn’t going to work because of deteriorating weather we re-scheduled until next year.
In an already difficult fishery I wasn’t about to make things any worse and I know that the strategy that many of my customers and I discuss before booking is the risk of cancellation. With todays easy access to very good and accurate weather information its often very possible to make decisions a considerable number of days in advance. Sometimes these decisions are never very easy however and a lot depends on the customers wishes and circumstances.
Imagine you and your fishing friend (John and Peter) have an annual holiday from work at the same time each year and you have both decided to come to Ireland for a weeks guided bass fishing on one of those weeks. You save hard, update the gear, the waders the boots, the jacket, you make a personal investment of time away from your family perhaps, you book your flights and your time off is planned. Done and dusted – all you have to do now is wait. The anticipation builds and builds, you’re going to Ireland bass fishing with a guide what could go wrong?
Then something like what you see below starts to happen,
you get a phone call from me about seven days before your arrival, even more if I can see it coming, and I try to manage your situation and the consequences as a result of a very poor weather forecast. Based on years of experiences there are any number of possible solutions and LOTS to talk about. But sometimes just sometimes you just know its not going to work, there’s no avoiding it and its obvious.
Which is better to do? Abandon the holiday on my advice, absorb the cost of the flights, take the few days of notice to make an alternative and spend the week at home somewhat disappointed OR come anyway into a world of pain, brown water, weed rain wind and no fish whilst wondering if this guided bass thing was really worth all that investment?
As an experienced fishing guide I have no hesitation and will tell you as straight as I possibly can, I will absorb the cost of not having you here in preference to the drudgery you will experience in these conditions. Even opportunities to learn become very very difficult under such circumstances. its difficult to concentrate, your heart is often elsewhere and you feel disappointed.
My hope is that such a decision will benefit both of us in the future. The impact of this bad news is different for different people. Cedric from above is self employed, single, and travels frequently. He was disappointed yes but also trusted me completely and is ready for July of 2014. He plans to use the money he saved to invest in a new fly rod and some casting lessons over the winter.
I have learned to take this type of hit at least once in any season and it often gives me time to re-align and get some personal catching up completed.
Its very seldom that I do not see the original client back again the following year or at a different time. Sometimes we can win together, sometimes we can learn, but seldom will either of us lose
A little bit of fishing in your day – Jim
If the pressure is low off Iceland, the north wall of the stream drifts away from the equator and allows warm air masses to move north from the tropics while keeping cold water from flowing down the continental shelf off the Atlantic coast. In this case, if there has been a lot of summertime heat off the coast of Africa you may reasonably count on tropical storms to bear down on New England. If, on the other hand, the gulf stream has moved south and the tropics are calm, the door will be open for northeasters and northwesters to bring unrelieved cold winds and currents that will drive the bait offshore. Where the bait goes, the gamefish will follow. Which of these factors start the cascade of events that leads to the fishing conditions outside my door on Gardiners Bay is something science has yet to determine.
The fact remains, though, that this metaphorical orchestra has a lot of instruments that need to be in tune for me to have happy angling.
The Moon pulled up an acre of Bass – Peter Kaminsky
COASTAL DESTINATIONS
Coastal destinations is the new bespoke adventure and saltwater guiding services available from Jim Hendrick during Spring 2014. After ten years of guiding on the southern coasts of Ireland I have changed the services to include a wider range of options and have made a few small changes too.
This alternative was necessary due to a changing fishery, it has taken a long time to learn and the planning and preparation involved is and remains considerable, a hidden part of the job I guess.
Interest in coastal bass fishing continues and already bookings for 2014 are arriving weekly. Season planner will be up shortly for 2014.
Guided groups will be limited to two people and the minimum guided period is for three days only. Guiding for both fly and lure angling is provided with options to trek and fish and spend some time under the stars also available – all high quality equipment fishing and camping from Patagonia, Lightwave, Echo, and many proven others will also be provided as needed. All transport arrangements are included.
Any person interested in reducing their recreational angling impact on the environment will be interested to hear I will be incorporating a Leave No Trace ethos into our fishing and references to the principles will be a part of our guided fishing day spent together.
As I get time to layout the details more information will become available on www.jimhendrick.com over the next few weeks.
Jim Hendrick A little bit of fishing in your day – Jim
Is knowing where but also when
THIRTYARDS 
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