These workshops draw directly on twelve years spent guiding for bass on the Wexford coast — the same fieldwork behind Thirtyards and the book it’s building toward. This is where that experience gets taught, not just written about.

Workshops ran on this coast every year up to 2024, then rested for a while. They restart in September 2026.

Dates are set by the tide rather than the calendar, so the running days shift week to week. Get in touch and I’ll tell you which days are worth taking in the weeks ahead.

What it asks of you. Wading on soft ground, rock and shingle, and up to three hours standing in moving water. No casting standard is required — beginners are welcome, and are often the reason the day works. Bring your own gear if you have it; tell me if you haven’t and we’ll sort it.

What the day covers

Roughly three hours working through the background, then three hours on the coast putting it to use. The balance shifts with the weather and the tide.

Bass — a species overview

• Legislation, conservation and continued protection of the species
• Season, growth, breeding and behaviour
• Feeding patterns and timings
• Behaviour in estuaries, rocky shores and open surf beaches
• Reading tides properly, and what they do to the fishing
• Weather influence on the Wexford coast and further afield — wind, rain, air and water temperature
• Location development and how bass behaviour patterns build over time and tide
• Fly fishing at night — safety, tactics, timings, fly and line choice (on request)

Gear and rigging

• Rod types and their application; suitable reels
• Line types and profiles for different saltwater approaches
• Fluorocarbon, polyleaders, mono and leader construction
• Knots specific to saltwater fly fishing
• Rod, reel and line care in saltwater
• Fly choice and type — surface and sub-surface, poppers, gurglers and walkers
• Using a basket effectively
• Casting safely in wind

On the coast

• Safety and a location audit — staying safe while landing and handling fish
• Staying comfortable and fishing effectively
• Watercraft, and running down the fish
• Casting at the coast, including with big flies
• Presentation over different locations, over tidal current and wave
• Fly selection for a given time, tide and location type
• Catch and return — more than just putting fish back
• Fish handling: leaving fish in the water, playing and landing without stress, unhooking, recovery, and photographing well

On presentation

Ken Abrames argued that reading current, understanding drag and presenting skilfully are not a new frontier in saltwater fly fishing but its oldest core — that engaging the difficulty of proper presentation is “the most wonderful part of fishing with a fly rod”. Casting a long line and stripping it back is one way to fish. It is not the whole of it. That distinction is most of what this day is about.

after Ken Abrames

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Participation statement

Jim Hendrick recognises that coastal saltwater fly fishing is an activity with a danger of personal injury or death. Participants should be aware of and accept these risks and be responsible for their own involvement. By booking a workshop, or while fishing with Jim, you are aware of and accept these risks and will be responsible for your own actions and involvement. Jim Hendrick will help you to manage them, but can never completely remove them.

Conditions of booking

These conditions apply to each individual, including when booking as a group. You are advised to take out your own personal accident and cancellation insurance. Workshops do not include personal accident, cancellation, third-party liability or personal insurance, and Jim Hendrick accepts no responsibility in respect of loss or damage to personal property.

Jim Hendrick