Heaven or Kerry as its sometimes called...

[Eoghan]

26 Bass, 3 Sea Trout, 10 mackerel.
All returned bar one bass which had taken a hook down into its stomach
Figured it was the kindest thing to do.

Just back after our usual April trip down to Dingle in Kerry. What can I say, one of the best yet.

Friday Morning :
Went to spot A and and spun with a kilty lure, no takes so moved to spot B and tried plugging. Spot B is over rough ground with plenty of gullies so I used shallow diving lures in particular the Yozuri Crystal Minnow. Had 7 bass from 6.30 to 7.15 am, best approx 4Ib. Couldnt believe it, had one after 3 casts. What a way to start the weekend and then aporx every few minutes I had a take or a missed fish. Stopped abruptly and had no other bass. Fished until 10am.

Friday Evening :
Straight to spot B for evening tide but blanked. Had turned a bit cold so not sure if this affected the fishing.

Saturday Morning:
Spot A - tried for 10 mins and had two mackerel. Couldnt believe it. Moved to spot B again but no bass this time. Did land two sea trout on kilty lures. One 4Ib and one approx 1Ib. Both returned safely.

Saturday Evening :
Spot C - Tackle graveyard. Arrived at low water to suss out where to cast once the water rose. We chose a sand bar and used lug worm. Had two tiny bass at 4.30 in the afternoon as the tide rose. Both took a 6/0 hook with ease. No bigger than your average whiting. My mate Steve had 3. Fished until 2 hours before high water then moved back to spot B and had mackerel and another sea trout but the Bass were not at this mark again.

Sunday Morning :
Again went straight to spot B to see if the bass would show but again no Bass. One More small sea trout and 4 mackerel. Better than a kick in the ass..!

Sunday evening :
Back to spot C. Later tide and we have fished this venue for years and done well but we were in for a treat. Arrived later and with limited bait made our way over to the sand Bar. Tide had already covered it so we fished from the shore and close to the start of the bar. I had a small schoolie almost immediately followed by another slightly bigger. Then all hell broke loose. We started getting good bites every cast and the bass started to get bigger. As it got dark more and more bass seemed to be on the feed. We were taking bass or missing a fish on every cast. Ended up with 14 bass between the two of us, 7 each (again) and was one hell of a competition..! What a way to end the weekend.

My total for weekend :
16 Bass out of 26 caught. 3 sea trout and approx 10 mackerel
Will post pics soon. Need to resize first.

Just shows you all the hype lately about the moon phase and sun phase etc should be taken with a pinch of salt as this weekend was crap for both. Get out there and try it. Fish cant read books or charts..!

[pete]

Top fishing Eoghan. The Dingle Penninsula really is fishing well at the moment.

[Eoghan]

Some of the pics from the trip....

[col]

Great fishing and report Eoghan, well done. Nice pics too

[boycie89]

top class fishing mate !! dont supose you would like to share spot C via PM would you ???????

[Al]

Very nice fishing! I can only dream

[g.wyse]

Great report Eoghan,great pics.
Roll on the summer can't wait to hit the beaches of the Dingle area.

[Eoghan]

This is a pic of the gully at spot B. Its completely submerged at high water and its easy to see why it holds bass. Pays to take a trip to a mark at low tide first. I dont fish any other area in spot B but this one. An angler 15 feet from me had no bass at all. Small margin for success

[inigo]

Eoghan, excellent fishing and well done on returning them to where they came from!! Appart from that Yo-Zuri crystal minnow (is it not the one on the first bass pic?) did the bass fall to other plugs? Any particular colours? Cheers.

[Pat]

Great fishing Eoghan! What size was the best bass of the weekend? (By the way Moon Rise on Friday morning was 7:30am).

[fishinmidget]

well done....looks like one hell of a session.

[MC]

well done mate gald you enjoyed your holiday, heading that way in july , hope i am that lucky

[roger de dodger]

well done boys good result great to see someone else can catch a few bass outside of waterford now yea have the practice u can go for a few in dublin now had the hangover from hell yesterday kerry is defo a better option

[roger de dodger]

ups

[Adam S]

good stuff eoghan

did you get to fish the mark i told you about? proably a bit far away from you

nice fishing, even if they were only bass , only joking mate, great report

[SeanP]

Cracking weekend there Eoghan, glad you put the moon phase mularky out the window
Sean,

[Bass Fisher]

A great success. great to see lots of little Bass. Augers well for the future if they get peace.Keep your little piece of heaven close to your chest.

[Eoghan]

To answer a few questions above :

I used the crystal minnow which is the one pictured, cracking little lure and produces when other lures dont. I actually lost it and went back at low tide and got it back.
I did have a hit on a popper but I got a good luck at the fish and think it was a sea trout..! They were feeding on sandeels at the surface at the time. I also used the Green kilty lure, Rapala J13 etc but the crystal minnow was a killer.

Best Bass of the weekend was an estimated 5Ib fish taken on Sunday night. They were lean this time of year but in about 3 hours we either had a bite or bass every cast.

As for keeping the venue quiet I always do except to a few good bass men I know on this site. Location C is rife with small bass and looks like there is a great year class out there about 6 inches in length. Lets keep it that way. They moved off as it got dark and then some serious fish moved in. Some of the bites were literally pulling the rod from your arms.

As for moon phase I think there is some truth in it but we were supposed to have a crap weeknds fishing by all accounts. As you can see it was far from it. Like I said in my post take a look at tide, conditions and venue and go for it, nothing to loose. If ye went by moon phase you might fish once or twice a month...!

[MAC]

Well done Eoghan...... Great fishing.

From my experience Dingle has fished fairly poorly for Bass over the past couple of years. It's great to see the small fish about, bodes well for the future (I hope ) Hopefully it will continue to fish well and I'll get a crack at them later in the summer.

Kev

[Eoghan]

Well done Eoghan...... Great fishing.

From my experience Dingle has fished fairly poorly for Bass over the past couple of years. It's great to see the small fish about, bodes well for the future (I hope ) Hopefully it will continue to fish well and I'll get a crack at them later in the summer.

Kev

Yeah was great MAC, hadnt seen Bass that small in ages. We were about to move and leave them be but they moved off as the bigger fish came on the feed. They seemed to be feeding during daylight hours over the roacks and gullies as the tide flooded. As it got darker the more shy bigger bass moved in. Not sure how old a 6" bass is but plenty of the little bait robbin gits about..!
Clearly a nursery area and I wont be giving the venue out but hopefully looks good for the future. We just need to make sure the ban isnt lifted to keep the salmon fishermen happy.