I smelt the smoke from a chimney for the first time in ages this evening, it got me thinking.
If you had been bass lure fishing from the shore on a regular basis between the years 2000 and 2006 you will have had the experiences to measure and compare those years to the period say between 2007 and 2013 inc.
When David Byrne from IFI first fished with me one morning very early in the millennium I cast an ABU krill three times on 15lb test mono and on the fourth cast I landed a six pound bass, this was not exceptional the fish were simply there – in all of the systems most of the time, right up to the middle of 2007! If you hadn’t fished that early period and lets say you started bass fishing in 2007/2008 you still had a wonderful time over the next few years, the fact is its a remarkable comparison to the previous seven years for anybody who can make it.
I’ve have always held the belief and have had the on ‘the ground experience’, to a large extent, that the weather impact since 2007 including two remarkable winters have had a cumulative impact on the bass fishery. The same point of where we are today is shared on many aspects of the coast by many people, hidden routines and patterns are not obvious to us.
Its not about night time fishing – always expect to catch more bass at night, or slack tide fishing – sometimes fish behave differently and we attribute this to a further cracking of code in the excitement of discovery, or fishing in tight channels when the tide is out, or boat fishing or fishing with soft plastics – these things are always more productive – the fish are not onshore as a general protected population should be, its simple really!
I’m sharing similar experiences with many anglers who fish on the same coast as I do. But speaking to a colleague today who has told me that he has witnessed vast shoals of bass feeding on fry ‘offshore’ all summer fills me with a high degree of hope.
We have a remarkable fish that we don’t fully understand’, one that I feel can adjust to patterns in ways we aren’t even aware of. I think they can ‘shut down’ for extended periods and simply wait and whilst the opportunity presents itself they feed, sleep and have sex! Perhaps this remarkable summer has given them an opportunity to ‘bulk’ up on fatty rich food an opportunity that perhaps hasn’t existed for them for quite a while, maybe as much as four or five seasons, why would you run inshore if there was easy pickings offshore and you felt hungry, had done for a while? – I’d like to see a scale sample from a series of fish from next year and look to see the growth patterns!
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From Met Eireann – The summer of 2013 and (7’s)
Mean air temperatures were above average everywhere ranging from 14.4°C at Malin Head to 16.3°C at Shannon Airport. Carlow (Oak Park) had the warmest summer conditions (compared to normal) with a mean temperature of 16.1°C, +1.2°C above its average and its warmest since 2007 (6 years). A small number of stations in the West Southwest and Midlands reported their warmest summer in 10 to 18 years, while most remaining stations had their warmest since 2006/2007. Overall, all three months predominantly were above average except for some parts of the Northwest and West which had below average temperatures in June and August. July had the warmest conditions (compared to average), with differences of +2.5°C or more in parts and with nine stations reporting heat wave (5 consecutive days with maximum temperature over 25°C degrees) conditions from the 7th to the 13th. Many stations reported it as their warmest July on record. All available seasonal highest maximum temperatures were recorded in July with the season’s highest maximum (available so far) was 31.0°C recorded at Dooks, Co. Kerry (climate station) on the 19th, its highest July and summer maximum since 2006 (7 years). Fermoy (Moore Park) recorded a highest maximum of 28.9°C on July 10th, its highest for summer since 1989 (24 years). Most other stations across the country reported their summer maxima as their highest in seven to 18 years. Summer lowest minimum temperatures were all recorded in June, with Mountdillon reporting lowest temperature of 2.8°C on June 5th.
Rainfall was below average at all stations except for a few isolated stations in the South and Southwest. The lowest rainfall total and percentage of Long-Term Average (LTA) was at Johnstown Castle, with 130.5 mm and 57%?of its LTA, its driest summer since 2000 (13 years).The low summer values at the site were partially attributed to drought conditions (15 consecutive days or more with 0.2 mm rainfall or less) experienced at the station between the 4th and 20th of July. The highest summer rainfall total was at Valentia Observatory with 317.2 mm and 103% of its LTA, reporting nearly 50% more than its average in June and its wettest June since 2007 (6 years). The majority of stations had their driest summer in seven years. The highest daily fall of summer (wettest day) from data available so far was 62.5 mm at Ballincurrig (Peafield), Co. Cork on July 24th/25th, its highest summer rainfall since 2005 (8 years).
Sunshine totals were all above average everywhere, with percentage of LTA values ranging from 101% at Valentia Observatory to 120% at Cork Airport. June and July reported sunny conditions everywhere with dull conditions dominating in August. Cork Airport reported the highest summer sunshine hours with 603.1 hours, 265 hours recorded in July, the highest amount of sunshine ever recorded for any given month since the station opened in 1962 (51 years). Knock Airport reported 475.2 hours of sunshine, its sunniest summer in 16 years. The sunniest days this summer were mostly recorded at the beginning of June with Cork Airport measuring the sunniest day (from available data) on June 4th and 7th with 15.8 hours. Belmullet shared the second highest summer daily sunshine amount with Knock Airport with 15.7 hours, Belmullet’s highest since the summer of 1995 (18 years).
The maximum sea surface temperature of 20.0°C recorded at the M4 and M5 on July 17th and 26th, respectively, were the highest ever recorded in Irish waters.
The Poulter Index is a method of rating the summer weather (June to August), using a formula based on mean temperature, rainfall and sunshine for selected stations, i.e. the higher the index, the ‘better’ the summer weather.
This year the index was above average and it is considered to be the best summer since 2006 (7 years).
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The fish will be back in late September / October to some extent in greater numbers than they have been (not difficult) (1 > 0) and all will be forgotten by November – until 2014!
So a new similitude is given us
And we say: The soul may be compared
Unto a spoonbait that a child discovers
Beneath the sliding lid of a pencil case,
Glimpsed once and imagined for a lifetime
Risen and free and spooling out of nowhere –
A shooting star going back up the darkness.
It flees him and it burns him all at once
Like the single drop that Dives implored
Falling and falling into a great gulf.
The exit, the polished helmet of a hero
Laid out amidships above scudding water.
Exit, alternatively, a toy of light
Reeled through him upstream, snagging on nothing.
The Spoonbait – Seamus Heaney
“Using traditional presentation techniques to catch fish that are holding in current to feed adds so much to saltwater fly fishing that it should be explored for the pure joy of discovery. Engaging the difficulties of proper presentation is perhaps the most wonderful part of fishing with a fly rod.
The simplicity of casting a long line and stripping back a fly is a way of fishing with the fly rod but it bypasses the full scope that understanding and using traditional presentation techniques encompasses.
A true “new and exciting frontier” for saltwater fly fishing would be to embrace and explore the central and fundamental role that reading current understanding drag and skilful presentation have always played in fly fishing. To understand these energies and use them artfully is the essential core of what it has always meant to be a knowledgeable and gifted fly fisherman”
Ken Abrames –
Lovers on Aran
The timeless waves, bright, sifting, broken glass,
Came dazzling around, into the rocks,
Came glinting, sifting from the Americas
To possess Aran. Or did Aran rush
to throw wide arms of rock around a tide
That yielded with an ebb, with a soft crash?
Did sea define the land or land the sea?
Each drew new meaning from the waves’ collision.
Sea broke on land to full identity.
Seamus Heaney
National Bass Programme
IFI has established a National Bass Programme to collect data on bass in order to provide scientific advice to support management and conservation of Ireland’s bass resource. Bass is Ireland’s only marine fish species which is managed for angling. The programme is being developed to determine the status of bass stocks and also to improve understanding of their ecology and biology in Ireland for the long-term sustainability of the species.
Contributing to the National Bass Programme
All assistance with the National Bass Programme would be greatly appreciated. If you would be interested in sending IFI bass scale samples, we can provide you with a scale envelope pack.
For further details please email bass@fisheriesireland.ie or call 01-8842600.
All information will be kept strictly confidential.
How to take scale samples for the project
- Please collect scale samples from bass you catch. Scales from all sizes of bass are required.
- Wet hands and equipment when sampling live fish. Place a wet hand or damp cloth over the head of the fish to calm it.
- Scales should be sampled from under the pectoral fin (see diagram).
- Scale sample site see right
- Please use a plastic knife or similar to take up to 5 scales and store scales in envelope provided.
- Measure total length of fish using measuring tape (indicated on diagram).
- LENGTH INFORMATION IS ESSENTIAL – state if centimetres or inches.
- Fill in the date of capture and the location (county and nearest town).
- Fill in weight if possible – state if kilograms or pounds
- Fill in your name and contact number on the back of each envelope.
Please return envelopes to
National Bass Programme,
Inland Fisheries Ireland,
Swords Business Campus,
Balheary Road, Swords,
Co. Dublin.
E-mail: bass@fisheriesireland.ie
Ph: 01-8842600
What to do if you come across a tagged bass?
If you catch a bass with a yellow tag, please don’t remove the tag. Note the code on the tag (e.g. B-00001). If possible take a length and weight of the fish, and five scales from behind the pectoral fin (see link below for more details). Please then release the fish alive! Send us the details, along with the date and location and your name and phone number to bass@fisheriesireland.ie. All information will be strictly confidential.
This information will feed into a national database on bass distribution and growth rates. Your co-operation is greatly appreciated and integral to the project.
Bass and Bass fishing in Ireland
Bass are a southern European species and Ireland lies near the northern limit of its range. They are plentiful along the southern coast of Ireland particularly at Splaugh Rock near Rosslare, Co. Wexford, Dungarvan Bay, Co. Waterford and Youghal Bay, Co. Cork.
Young bass live in estuaries, shallow creeks and pills until they are roughly four years old. As they grow bigger, they move into deeper waters. In summer adult bass favour locations that provide good feeding opportunities, in particular surf beaches and offshore sand banks, rocky outcrops and reefs with turbulent water. Along Ireland’s east and south-east coast adult bass migrate off-shore in winter when inshore sea surface temperatures can drop to 8-10°C. Around Ireland’s south-west coast there can be good bass surf fishing throughout the winter whenever conditions are favourable.
Though bass can travel good distances in and out of estuaries, populations appear to be relatively localised. The majority of bass tagged along the Irish coast in the past had not travelled further than 16km from their original spot after as much as year. These localised populations are sensitive to overfishing, so good management of this fantastic fish is vital.
There is no commercial fishing of bass in Irish waters. Anglers are now allowed to fish with a bag limit of two fish per day and fish less than 40cm must be released.
Bass are relatively slow growing fish. A 40cm wild bass may be between 6 and 10 years old. Detailed ageing data was collected for bass during 1978 and the IFI’s National Bass Programme aims to re-energise bass research and update these data sets to better manage bass in Irish waters.
I’ve run out of litmus paper at this stage and I guess I have performed enough acid tests! From a shore based perspective, and I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you this, bass fishing remains difficult and extremely challenging. This presents a number of interesting perspectives from which we could all take something positive however!
Fish are not running the shores as yet in large numbers but there are some fish out there. Conditions are ideal a lot of the time and even at times perhaps ‘too’ perfect, crystal clear water, bright sunshine, gentle and soft breezes most days. The fact of the matter is it remains extremely challenging and you can take that or leave it of course.
Taking it, accepting it, and still trying to succeed could and probably will make you a better angler; you simply have to be a little better a bit more patient, a bit more careful and tactical to catch fish at this time! A result on a day at the moment is something to be very happy with, something you will earn mind, but especially if like most of us you have only a limited opportunity to fish and the decisions are your own then its a big deal. So numbers might not be great, but there are quality fish in the systems that you can find and catch IF you are prepared to work at it and to fish more effectively with a more focused effort and skill.
Debate as to where the fish are will continue and theories will break on the shore and disperse like the current glut of baitfish but to be honest I’m not aware of any bass that’s prepared to share ‘this is where we are’ information, bass don’t do social media and they’re probably better off too, far safer in fact!
A recent loyal and capable French customer remarked to me in a kind way, “Jim I come to Wexford to fish with you and to catch bass and adventure from the shore, this I cannot do so well in France. If I wanted to catch bass from a boat I hire a French guide to take me, it’s easy to catch bass from a boat”.
There’s a lot going on in that sentence, I realise this and there’s many ways we could interpret it, yes the 
common denominator seems to be at the moment that bass fishing on offshore reefs is producing fish, but don’t take this as a reflection of anything other than bass have always lived on offshore reefs and dropping plastic on their noses to catch them is a relatively easy task!
Boat fishing is not reflective of the fisheries performance as a whole; it just means there are more fish out of range from the shore angler, which is normal! However what is different is the lower numbers of fish on our shores, and indeed this may not necessarily mean the fish have gone but that they are simply responding to different circumstances – as shore anglers we need to adjust to these circumstance and at the same time feel free to express our concerns, these concerns should be acknowledged and met with considered and rational debate. Its perfectly normal to be concerned it doesn’t however mean you are a prophet of doom, this is especially true when confronted with the face of gross exaggeration and disingenuous marketing.
Autumn is on the way and perhaps those offshore fish will run inshore, who knows, and now that we are hardened and better anglers after a long tough season spent honing our skills we can appreciate that hope and anticipate the possibilities, the spirit of the fish even more.
THIRTYARDS 
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