A sense of difference

The key to any successful and sustainable tourism initiative is a clear sense of difference from other competing destinations or services. For me as a bass fishing guide, that came from basing every development and marketing decision on the local attributes and strengths of Wexford as a bass angling destination — combined with the unique, varied and challenging coastal environments, the heritage sites, the abundant local flora and fauna, and of course the fish. It was within that world that I chose to guide for bass full time.

Working on articles for angling publications or for my own site, I tried to portray both Ireland and Wexford in a genuinely positive light. Delivering workshops or guiding, I did it in a way that emphasised the importance of where we were going. I tried to achieve that by making the most interesting photographs and words I could — not only of the fish, but of the people fishing with me, capturing the environment and the moment they found themselves in.

There are many things other than fishing that make a trip to Ireland worthwhile, and it was important to remember that while working as a guide. I wasn’t only looking to capture the trophy moment; I was hoping to record the influences shaping people’s experience of the country they were investing so much personal time in. The culture, the lifestyle, the history of Wexford all played a part in shaping a sense of authentic service.

Spending time across many different fishing environments and places of local heritage let people understand the interdependence one environment has upon another. It was only through that understanding, and that wider sense of enjoyment, that a real appreciation, advocacy and empathy for the protection of the coastal resource developed in people’s minds.

The richer the experience offered to the angler, the greater the chance of diversification into the local community and support of ancillary services — good food, good music, immersion in modern Irish life, quality Irish-made product. Visiting anglers couldn’t find that uniqueness at home. It created a particular trust between guide and angler: the foundation of any guiding service.

Against over-selling

I was always conscious that over-selling a product could damage any business, and especially a fishing guiding service. Guided angling services shouldn’t be developed for their singular sense of self-promotion — look at me, I’m a guide. To be successful as a guide is to be many things, but bass guiding in Wexford was mainly about not standing in isolation: about building a small, community-based economic and local development tool, aligned to creating a total local experience.

In reducing the craven urgency so frequently expressed in the over-use of angling media as a means of securing customers, you also reduce the obsessive culture of self-with-fish portraits and the manipulated social media reportage that serves no real end in achieving competence. There’s a fine line between selling the fishing and managing your clients’ realistic expectations. A good guide will always try to strike that balance.

Careful management of the service into other local tourism networks — taking sensible opportunities to work with and demonstrate allegiance to related local businesses, fly tyers, fly casters, other guides, accommodation providers — was a large part of business development. That strategy still projects confidence, enhances profile and builds professional credibility. It also strengthens partnerships that can foster and extend networked relationships across coastal communities, conservation groups and activity providers.

What Wexford actually has

The Wexford environment doesn’t possess dramatic, jaw-dropping scenery. It doesn’t have the ruggedness or sense of wilderness you get on the west coast. It doesn’t have outstanding architecture. What Wexford does have is a multiplicity of smaller environments and opportunities that are far more complex, and which interact so subtly they can almost be overlooked. You must look closely — almost discover each one, be it cultural, natural or historical — to experience the fullest depth of detail. To be transformed by the time invested.

Ultimately an experience — a transformation — is what I tried to create for my angling customers, and for the readers and visitors to my blog. By bringing people into a multiplicity of venues, the sanctuary of estuaries, the excitement of rocky shores, the thrill of fast-moving powerful currents, the more likely they were to see and feel the Wexford bass angling experience I was trying to build.

Even after spending a lifetime fishing for bass in these venues, I realised eventually that we were simply scratching the surface of possibility. It was boundless in terms of techniques, methods, presentations.

The paradox

Most seasoned travellers know that to expect too much is to invite disappointment. There are not as many fish as I expected. The fish are smaller than I expected. The weather is different than in my own country. The weather is the major stage on which all the other elements perform, and in Ireland that factor alone is enough to strike fear into any guide. At times it simply isn’t possible to plan. The seasons of 2007, 2008 and 2009 were extremely difficult for bass fishing.

And this is where the paradox lies. Wexford has its unique environments, its own sense of itself, and a superb saltwater sporting fish that performs admirably on fly or lure. But it performs only on the basis of two key elements — one predictable (the moon), the other far less so (the weather).

The portrayal of the fishing and the fishing environment must reflect a performance risk accurately and fairly to visiting anglers.

Bass can be caught by many different methods at different times. All anglers have their preferences, and the more sporting the method, the more the weather will work against it. It forces you into circumstances where you need to angle far more creatively and efficiently. Combining the environmental impact with the challenges weather creates for lure and especially fly fishing, that fusion has to somehow enhance the experience by carrying the customer beyond the angling difficulty. What is achieved easily in bass fishing is often forgotten quickly, with little understanding of its significance — and that is true of technique, of local information, and of presentation. There is always much more that needs to be felt.

In other words: it was not always easy to come to Wexford and catch bass at the drop of a hat. It could take time and effort and patience, and depending on circumstances that could mean days, weeks, or even years.

Wexford was, and remains, challenging. But it has many different rewards, and many of them are hidden. If you like to discover what’s local and unique — what will ultimately transcend the less important things — then remember what can truly transform you.

At times the sun does shine and every fish is big and silver and each cast produces a miracle, or nearly, and memories are forged in good company and surroundings. Is it how you got there? Or is it always the fish?