Bass Ranges and Connemara

Hello everyone. This is mt first post on the site and all power to Kieran.
I have a question about Bass ranges and specifically Connemara. For the record I am a flyfisher and have been exclusively a Saltwater FFer for the past 5 years.

Every year we go on a family holiday to Roundstone and consequently I am very familiar with Connemara from a Sea trout and Brownie perspective having fished there for the past 12 years. I have also caught a number of good Pollock there as well (all on fly), but never any Bass. To be honest I haven't actually ever set out to target them.

Do Connemara Bass actually exist? I have been told that they have all been fished out and/or that environmentally its not suited to them and that it is at the limit of their range - can anyone actually add to or confirm this? I would like to try and catch one if for no other reason that to send a scale to the Marine institute in Dublin. Incidentally I practice C&R with all Bass

No specifics needed or expected, but theories and or experiences most welcome. If anyone can even say "seek and ye shall find" it will give me hope.

I will of course post my findings on return from Roundstone

I would also value the forum's opinion on the fishability of the marks in and around Clifden as fly venues.

Thanks in advance for any help that you are able to give. Incidentally if any of you are looking to get into SWFF there is a very good site http://www.ukswff.com or please feel free to PM me and I will help where I can.

Thanks

Giles

Gilo,

The little I do know is that Bass range at least as far as Donegal bay, but apparently they get scarcer as you go north along the west cost) :( but they also tend to be bigger :D

I believe that in next months Irish angler there is an article on Bass fishing in Northern Ireland, so connemara is well within there range. I have caught Bass in Sligo and know off Bass caught in Mayoand Donegal as well. They used to be common enough up to the early 70s in the northwest but mainly came up from there overwintering grounds in the south or from the bay of biscay. Commercial fishing has hammered stocks but if you have the patience you should be able to get one. First thing is to find a mark they frequent and I suggest you try a rocky shore line which has plenty of peelers. The hardest thing is finding that mark, so I would advise checking the shore line a potential spots at low tide. Good luck.

Thanks for the advice lads - I pretty sure they are there but as you say finding them could prove difficult. I have number of marks in mind - rips etc and I will post back. I suspect my adherence to fly fishing will also handicap me but there you go.

Cheers

Giles

I believe Rossnowlagh has some sort of track record for bass, also Magilligan strand in Co Derry, so it would be reasonable to expect that all the superb Donegal beaches between those two points must hold the odd bass. Bass are regularly taken from the Caithness beaches in the extreme north of Scotland, even in winter, which is hundreds of miles outside their accepted range. I guess there's a lot we still don't know about bass.

You would think so, bigden, but I've never seen or heard of a Bass showing anywhere from Bloody Foreland to Fanad Head. Either by angling or as a by-catch of the Salmon Netters.


I'd love to think they were quietly lurking about in the surf there, but I'd be surprised.

TRand BD - as you say there are a lot of things about Mr Bass that we don't know. I find it really dificult to accept that some of the western beaches don't have bass on them. It effectively means that apart from bottom dwellers the surf zone is effectively barren, also the estuaries and other "zones". That doesn't add up for me - if there is food there a predator moves in to exploit the source. Maybe this is the optomist in me trying to justify hours of fruitless fishing?

Giles

Tanglerat - I'm in Donegal next week and I'd love to prove you wrong, but I'm sure that half a million LSDs down the line I'll have to concede the point!

Gilo - keep the faith! This time last year I spent a week in Connemara (Carna), and boy does it look bassy - all that warm shallow water and weedy boulders.....but no bass, alas.

Bd - I know Carna quite well - did you give it the full monty or were you restricted by family etc? If you were able to describe your experience - negative or otherwise that would be great.

Giles

I fish N. Clare sandy beaches which are approx. 20 n.miles south of Carna. We catch bass here in the autumn / winter period. Both by bottom fishing lug in the surf and by using lures in slacker water. Best results when high tide coincides with nightfall and especially after storms.
Have caught odd bass in summer in this area from the strands but never from boat. There again I only fish, from boat, in deeper water. Perhaps I should try shallower water on the reefs.
Would think it worthwhile bottom fishing some of those Connemara beaches during summer evenings. If bass are here they are sure to be that comparatively short distance away.


Peter

Gilo I was indeed restricted by others' interests, but I managed a few short plugging/spinning sessions, mostly around Mweenish Island and the coast for a few miles west - nothing but the odd small coalfish. I did have some thornbacks off the beach near the south-east point of Mweenish, which I reported elsewhwere on this forum a while back. I do think the potential of this area is fantastic though. Good luck!

Gilo, don't forget Sea Trout and Mullet............... 8)

Thanks for this BD,TR and Peter - all most encouraging and I will now go forth armed witht the shield of optimism and the sword of exploration grasped firmly in my hand - it all sounds a bit pervy really!

I will let you know how I get on. If anyone else has any thouhgts I'd be glad of your input.

Giles

bigden,

How long will you be in Donegal for? I get over there on 24th July. Could point you in the direction of a mark or two............ 8)

Tanglerat Ah, the pity of it - I'm leaving Donegal the day you arrive, but if you've any suggestions I'd be grateful. I'm staying near Killybegs, and the other half is with me, so my range might be a bit limited. One day I'll come to Ireland just to fish and fish and fish....

South Donegal.........shame, I'm from the North of the County so I don't have any advice for you.

Never mind, there's a couple of more chaps on here who seem to know a thing or two about marks down around Killybegs/St John's Point way. Maybe if you started another thread on here they might pick up on it.

Tanglerat & Big Den,
I'd buy the beers if you could catch a bass in south or west Donegal! Rossnowlagh throws up an occassional specimen but when I mean occassional I mean like every 6 years! The last I heard off was around five years ago and weighed almost 9 pounds. I'm fishing it fairly steady and haven't got a sniff of one, as for southwest & west Donegal i'm fishing at least twice a week and they just aren't there.

There are a smattering of fish on the Malin penninsula and further east along the northern irish coast. I've taken fish from Kinnegoe and have seen fish landed at Culdaff. Now I'm sticking my head out here but it seems their distribution in Donegal is confined mainly to the northeastern corner of the county.

Which is a bit of a head-scratcher, really.

They're on the West coast, South-West coast, South, South East, East, North-East (or are they? Anyone?) and North coast. In fact, apparently all compass points around Ireland, except Donegal! What's that all about, then?

Roll on some more global warming, that might bring them up our way. Along with Black Beam too. How cool would that be?

Speaking of Culdaff/Malin, Ive heard a whisper of a rumour that a well-known name in angling circles in the UK might be going over that way at the invite of the Fisheries/Tourism Boards to see if they can find any of those elusive Bass.

Heard it from a friend of a friend, no names, no pack drill, all hush-hush, say no more.

Of course it could all be cobblers............. :P

Come to think of it pete, and I only ask this cos I don't know you or how you fish or how good you are ( :D ) but might the Bass actually be there and you're just not doing the right thing to catch them?

No offence like, those pesky fiskies can be sneaky little sods sometimes, you have to be switched onto them! :P