Bass in Donegal?

Can anyone tell me if the bass are all round our shores?
I'm mostly talking about west Donegal.

I arrived on a mark one day to see a large fish swimming away. This fish must have been in the 12lb region, but i'm not sure if this was a Mullet or not. Some boaters in the area had been reporting that a salmon has been coming in close to the area in recent times. What I saw was the same thing they claim to be a salmon, but it definitely wasn't a salmon.

A friend was doing some diving in the same area and he claimed to see some fish, which he claimed we're bass. He said they we're silver and seemed to be taking turns at swimming up to the surface and going back down to bottom. This behaviour sounds alot like Mullet to me, but again I could be wrong.

I have never heard of a bass being caught in the area, so I don't have a clue.

I have a Rapala J13 and a magnet popper, which I will be trolling behind the kayak at a later date in order to see if there are any bass in the area. I have never caught one before so I need information on how best to approach this.

Should I troll resonably fast or very slow?
Should I concentrate more on shallow water or deep water over sand?
Should I fish close to rocks or wide open waters?
Should I concentrate on fishing parallel to beach?
Can anyone suggest an easier approach to discovering if there are bass in the area?

with out a doubt there are bass in donegal i know for a fact they have been caught from different beaches in donegal up to 5/6 lbs.and in numbers at times depending on tide and the particular beach.so my advice is get out and try for yourself then you will know for definate.

There are definitely bass in Donegal, From Memory I think you are based in the glenties and fish portnoo regulary. There is a few beaches around that area that I have caught two bass off. They werent big though. The first was caught purley messing about at the rocks and finding that there were thousand of shrimp about with nearly three coming each time on the lure's hook. I rigged up the shrimp and let them bounce about in the surf on the beach and within about 5 mins I had a cheeky bass.
Good luck
Stevie

Cool.

Hopefully I will get my first bass this year.

There's Bass in North Donegal. Don't know about down round your way, though.

You seem to be thinking all the right questions, only thing to do is go out there and experiment - not forgetting different states of the tides.

It could be a very big sea trout

heard of some around rossnawla strand, there may be some around the mouth of the erne, know there are sea trout but has to be worth a try.

best way of finding information about finding where the fish are is talk to some of the old men in the area,i found some great spots this way

all the factors are there so there should be no reason why there are no bass around.....very few cathes occur because of the numbers of people that fish the area..

best way of finding information about finding where the fish are is talk to some of the old men in the area,i found some great spots this way

or u could try a couple of beech marks. definitely i would try the mouth of the erne or rossnawla strand.

If you are lure fishing , look for very rocky weedy mixed ground, with some white water if possible, use shallow diving lures (plugs) and move about.
Try different spots, and be prepared to loose a few lures.
Cast in 180deg. arks to try to find the fish.
If the mack come in in summer , fish in to the breaks of fish with a 15cm lure, it keeps the mack off, but they will follow it and this can produce a take from a bass, i find marks that are uncovered at low tide fish very well at full, but not always.Try try try.
Also try to keep your profile as low as possible, sometimes the fish will come right in under your rod tip.
See the post on 50quid for lures and there are lots of great suggestions
best of luck.

i am going to be doing the same around north down- trying flies, lures and bait here there and everywhere.

heard from some one of a spot in bunbeg where you can get bass pm if you would like to know where

The Gweebarra estuary is down near you, isn't it? I remember being told by someone (you'd know him if I said who) who was told by guys poaching the estuary for salmon/sea trout with nets that they were getting "spikey mullet"......

All some time ago now mind you.

spikey mullet new species for irish waters

how much fresh water will bass lie in??

ie. would they be fouund higher up in the reaches of the estuary?? i have seen guys fishing under gweebarra bridge never ventured to see what kind of success they were having.....

Doubt if they'd go up into the fresh. These guys were at it at night, in the dark without lights with nets. Spikey mullet indeed!

was reading in a coarse fishing magazine about a fella in england fishing some river, he was getting bass in the same area as roach, trout and chub. this was near to the mouth no reason they shouldnt in ireland.

Hi Anthony i can tell you for certain that they ARE there i have the t-shirt

You do indeed danny, only problem with your teeshirt is its red and white with o2 on the front and was given to you by someone else

ya my father is from the area and i was asking him about it....he said they probably did get them allright but didn't know what they were.....