Bass Fishing Reality

I think you'll find if you knew me you would know I have a healthy disrespect for any 'lure fishing hype' narrative and bullshit, I tend to leave that to other people, - this is reflected regularly and often on my websites.

http://www.probassfisher.ie/2010/06/nev ... cover.html
http://jimhendrick.com/2013/03/14/success/

Thanks for your valuable contribution regarding bait fishing though!

It does seem to be sporadic. Some marks fishing great and in fact better than ever while some seem devoid of life. Wexford seems to be indecline from what I have heard over the past few years, for whatever reason. I wonder are Bass moving further North..? The catches of Bass and good Bass from county Down upwards and Scotland etc are on the increase. I know Bass have been here for years and are now available to Norwegian anglers, but I am seeing more and more bigger Bass showing up in these reports. Maybe it because people are now putting in the hours on these marks, who knows. Our revent trips to Kerry have been a good example too, only a few Bass for many hours and pups at that. I know another very good angler who lives down there and has said the fishing is terrible, no sandeels etc either. Perhaps the Bass are folloing the sandeels but with 80% or more of their diet being crab im not convinced.

I can honestly say that the bass are not moving north lol, it's never really been a bass Mecca up here but you can from time to time get the odd few around the Antrim and Derry Coast. I have been out a few times with bait and lures and I've been getting plenty of pollock and codling nothing of any great size. As for baitfish like sandeel,launce or even fry I haven't spotted a single one so far, the macks are very thin to put it lightly but this being said I was out about a week ago at a mark on the Antrim Coast and saw a pod of around 10-20 porpoises coralling what I assume to either have been mack or launce. I hope it picks up for you but if your bass fishing ends up like ours then god help you and if the bass have decided to take up residence up here in numbers I will let you know tight lines all

Hi Crevan.

Thanks for your honest and quite refreshing e-mail.

I know from past reading that you and your group are good accomplished bass anglers.

That's why I think your post here is very important. It is an excellent comparison and barometer of how the bass returns have dramatically declined.

Honest reflection and acceptance instead of dishonesty and denial are the only way we as a group are going to stand a chance of doing something positive and constructive about this most depressing of circumstances.

Therefore I urge others to do the same. At least then we can realise exactly where we sit and make a stand!

Yours hopefully,
John D.

Its difficult at times, and I find myself forgetting, but its the bravery, clarity and strength of words that Crevan has felt necessary to express that has started this topic and brought it to the fore. There has been much support by other people through their contributions in relation to calling it as it is - this is the best part of some of these posts - the truth and clarity of words.

I'm reminded once again, as I read on another blog, of the disingenuous vague and manipulative way that somehow this bass fishing difficulty can be interpreted as something new - this is simply NOT a new phenomenon.

I'll sound like a broken record but genuine concerned anglers have recognised this very early and have expressed those concerns, waved flags, rattled sabres even!
Who listened then?


Watch the next phase develop!

The worrying thing is that it doesnt seem to be just Ireland. The UK, Jersey etc all saying the same thing. The numbers are vastly down with this year looking like the worst yet. It will be interesting to see how the competition in Waterford pans out. Im not talking about how many big fish are caught, (That many anglers fishing spread out on a number of marks will always throw up a few big girls and everyone will think everything is great) but on how many anglers with the number of hours spent on the water and the number of fish taken compared to previous years. I know this is only a snapshot of a weekend but if we compare against previous years I have no doubt the fish per hour ratio will be right down.
My main concern is that the UK and Jersey etc have always had commercial fishing, so the pressure has always been there on their stocks. Even with this they are reporting a decline along with ourselves. Now I am sure localised netting is taking a toll but havent we always had that to some level or another..? I really think there is more going on here than just pressure. Dont get me wrong its not helping, but for all of these areas reporting the worst year ever can it all be down to netting/trawlers and the like..?

Where are the vast shoals of baitfish..?
Where are the mackerel..??? (I think we all have a good idea on this one)

Have the baitfish moved offshore with little or no pressure from depleted mackerel numbers and the bass followed..?
Or have the bass completely tuned into crab with the lack of baitfish...?

I once fished a mark before years ago swarmed with bass. I was using bunched lug. They didnt give a dam about it. Not until another angler came along and gave me a sandeel did I start hammering them. So we all know bass can get completely fixed on a bait source.

Who knows, im really clutching at straws here..

I have seen a decent shoal of sandeel being corralled close to home. There were a good few fish marauding at the margins. Most of them were mullet, not all.

[Divisadero]

Well like MackDublin Crevan I might as well add my reply from the other forum too. By the way Eoghan I don't agree that this is also a UK problem to be honest. There may be problems on the Channel Islands but most anglers seem to be doing pretty well in the UK and some very well. Even judging by the posts on that UK forum we are both on. Certainly nothing like what seems to be happening in Ireland. Even in nearby Wales some anglers are having their best season in years.

Re tourism it is sad but people will eventually stop coming even though the tourist industry and their official (and unofficial spokespeople!) will continue with the hype. Some will say that is their job! But eventually people will see through the bs and that the 'product' is no longer worth the expense. This is very similar to what happened to the Irish coarse angling tourist trade. The fishing became a shadow of its former self yet the tourist sector continued to write about the fishing like it had been decades previously. Eventually most of the English coarse anglers stopped coming. Only the die hards who came for the craic and the festivals continued to come. Due to different factors I mainly freshwater fish at the moment but the tough Dublin bass scene hasn't really been tempting me recently either.

But the big unanswered question is where have the bass gone especially noticeable (at least by me and quite a few others) over the last three seasons? It could be due to natural, man made factors or a combination of both. I don't know about the moving north theory. It's possible and the British fish seem to be increasing their range northwards but they are still remaining in the warmer southern waters too. Not disappearing like over here. The lack of mackerel (Icelandic commercial over fishing?) is a real worry but again the UK are dealing with this too. The anomaly this season (at least so far) is that the fishing in my old favourite Cork seems to have picked up a little compared to the last two years. Overall though I've started to wonder if it is time to utter those dreaded words population crash.

Last edited by Divisadero on Mon Jul 28, 2014 7:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

There is no mistaking that things are changing. Waters and weather is warmer in the summer and worse in the winter.

Dublin and Wicklow this year has been great fishing for us, and there is fish in marks where there hasn't been for years.. I remember going to a mark off the Dublin coast with me Da about 20 years ago and watched it being raped of fish, Its been crap for about 10 years but now I'm hearing that there's good fish in it again.. Is it because no one has really fished it for a while of have the fish just relocated there?? Who knows.

Ray, there is ray in Dublin again, OK their hasn't been many caught, I heard of 7 this year biggest being about 12lbs, but there hasn't been ray in this mark for a long long time.....

Flounder, I haven't seen flounder this big in about 20 years..

Bass are there, not in great numbers but there is bigger numbers than last year. And I am hoping the mark will produce more and bigger once the bait fish show up.... But what I am hear ( word of mouth ) from parts of wexford and the UK, is that they are getting more bass than ever and it does not even matter what tide, weather or time is... They are getting bass every trip (bait fishing).

Where I have seen a decline, Pollock and coalies. Last year I was getting them in wicklow every trip... Now we are getting none.
Mackerel as we all know are just not there.... 6 hours jigging feathers off bray and greystone gave us 8 mac.....

Fishing can NEVER be statistically correct. Its impossible to for anyone to say whats happening, maybe its poaching? maybe its trawlers? maybe its nature changing along with everything. All we can do is what we can, report what you see and respect the fish, no more no less.

I agree with Crevan's original post.

As they say actions speak louder than words, I can count on one hand how many times I have been out fishing this year. Before I got browned off I could accumulate up to 40 hrs on the water a week fishing. That was after I put in my 39 hour a week work commitment plus my Family commitments with two young children. ( I dont need much sleep )


JimH, your post made for depressing reading, particularly the last sentence, I am truly sorry to hear that.

I put up a similar post to this last year on another forum, I had to vent a bit of frustration (like this year) I too had been talking to people who were having their best season ever. When I eventually did enquire (I normally wont ask about quantity or size when it comes to peoples fishing) I would hear "Yeah its great I got 4 Bass in the last month!!" or "we got 3 Bass in one session, the place is full of them..." I am sorry but peoples expectations are vastly different based on their fishing activity or experience in my opinion. I am not saying that is not good fishing but if you read the post I am going to copy below, you will get where I am coming from:

Thread Title:
Fill Your Boots Lads !! Bass every where !!!

Date:
21 September 2013

Post Content:

Default Fill Your Boots Lads !! Bass every where !!!
How are the men eh ?

Right I am going to do some thing that I have not done since I stopped updating my blog, and that is a fishing report! ....... I can already hear sighs and fcuk sakes all round ,,, but I will proceed anyway.


Welcome to Ireland the Mecca of Bass Fishing....

Well obviously Wexford was excluded from the 2009-2013 Bass Mecca agenda by the looks of things!

(P.S. for any of you who clicked on here to see some pictures,,,,,,, there aint any sorry! you can go and click on the new posts button again/ I know I would !!! )

I will give you a brief summary of the past week which I am sure my fellow Wexford anglers would agree, will sum up the real fishing here on the Wexford coast this season and for the past few.

Saturday 14th of September. Base location Kilmore, Fishing method via boat. Start time 05:00am Finish Time 16:30pm.

Up nice and early, it was to be just 2 anglers on this fine morning, Pat and myself, unusually small crew but it was September and the schools were back...


We had agreed that Bass was the target for the day over a neap tide (before any one tries to give a small tide as an excuse I am not buying it as Pat later discovered when he mentioned it!!!! )


We had picked out 3 specific areas that we had got Bass on on previous years same time, same tide....( Please note that when we go out on the boat, we go out for the craic and fish light for Pollock and Wrasse on the reefs...and not Bass) The reason we were doing this was because the Bass fishing from the shore was non existent!

Anyway we fished the various marks over the day and we landed one special Bass, why was it special? I am not being funny here, but if you don't read all the hype, and are actually out fishing unaided you will understand... that any Bass landed from the shore in Wexford is indeed special.

When that fish took the lure early am on a mark on the first cast, we knew that this mark does not receive much angling attention, and we thought we were in for a bumper session!

I will spare the dramatics. we fished 8 previous known Bass marks (WHERE WE CAUGHT/NOT OTHER PEOPLE) and drew a blank, if it was not for the blessed Pollock ( I regard the Pollock higher than the Bass from a an angling perspective for what its worth)

Fast forward 1 week, the tides are big, a great S/W wind is blowing, clarity is fantastic, lures are in the water under the cover of darkness and fished through for the next 7 hours. REALITY BITES...excuse the pun, not one hit/touch/knock... etc between us for 7 hours.... BOLLOX... IMO...


Take the year bracket of 2008/2009 on the same mark with lures we recorded 'up to 70 Bass between us ( the same 3 competent anglers) in 2 Sessions! MAXIMUM/IMPORTANT FACT !!' no lies or bull s***.... on that mark at a similar time. Plus around that time we had good fishing maybe 5 or 6 fish leading up to that bench mark each, with plenty of lost/knocks to keep us interested....

Winds, Cold, Rain, Nets, Trawlers, .. etc....

Well for me anyway the excuses are starting to ware thin, and I am seriously considering another pass time to invest MY TIME & MONEY in, lets face it we are not getting any younger, and the netters are laughing at us spending stupid amounts on tackle, here in Wexford anyway, as I have heard first hand....

Just to add insult to injury, I agreed to fish 2 shore marks I had marked off my fishing list, in the last 3 weeks. Previously, these were great Bass Marks, even when Bass were not there, Wrasse & Pollock would show, but I had experienced bad fishing on these marks and vowed never to go there again!... Ha, any way I Went again and fished the proverbial sh1t out of it with my good oul mate Barry.
We fished from extreme left to extreme right ( I dont know why I am protecting the marks name ,,,,, any way ...its been Barron for the last 3 years!)

Well guess what we caught no Bass, was I surprised .... no not in the slightest!.... point proven yet again...!

This trend has been played out on a lot of marks for us this year, th

So what is my conclusion from that brief output of emotion,,,,,the fishing is fcuked in Wexford IMO........ but others will have you questioning is it?... .. as I say there is always a question when money is involved$$$$???


Imagination is your only limitation ... much like the Bass fishing here in Wexford right?? ... Thats why I bought a computer game this week instead of a lure...... its simple lads.... getting fish? .. but lures.... no fish there.. what's the point??


Shortly after I posted this I admitted defeat and stayed off the fishing forums and cut down my hours fishing by about 90%, and put my time in other things.



The sad part is I geared up my eldest son (8) last year to try get him into the past time, I was hoping the concentration required for lure fishing would help with his ADHD over time.. unfortunately his attention is not going to stay focused if even I cant locate a fish!



Maybe I am expecting too much, everyone else is catching right?

From the US,last year - http://jimhendrick.com/2013/06/30/the-p ... -too-late/

Lou Tabory is probably one the east coasts most capable striped bass fisherman.

Irrespective of the cause, we can only speculate as to why, we need to be definite and true in our personal experiences.

Great post DM

Great post Danny.

I'm just in from fishing....or should I say blanking. Myself Pat and a French angler fished a mark where we would have expected fish...a fish. Nothing. Not a splash, swirl, follow nor hit. It was unreal. 4 hours fishing times 3 is 12 collective hours. Collective nonsense. None of us had the heart to continue fishing.

I'm out again in the morning to try a different location. I'm on a record series of blanks at this stage. A wise fisherman once told me to learn from blanks. I'm learning alright. I'm learning that the bass fishing has gone catastrophically bad. I'm learning that there simply isn't fish there to be caught. I'm learning that the love I have for my lure fishing is getting repeatedly kicked in the face.

We will see what tomorrow brings....

Great post Danny. I have a son who is not even 2 yet and like you I am very sad and despondent when I sit back and think of all the times I dreamt of handing him down the knowledge I have built up over the years regarding bass angling. What could be a more unique, peaceful and special environment a father could spend time with his son in than that of the bass angling environment?

I would give an eight of my wages a month (I honestly can't afford any more!) if it meant a healthy Irish bass stock.

I am genuinely very sad. Apart from offering a healthy coastal economic solution (bass angling tourism) I know that bass angling is truly a very special past time that greatly benefits the well being of its participants and hence society as a whole.

John D.

And after everyone voicing their opinion, whats the solution?

Everyone is talking about how bad it is, why not come together and make the people responsible for looking after this area of angling do their job and look after it...

Is there any IFI officers here that want to contribute an opinion?

In my opinion the recent decline of bass is strongly linked to the sharp increase in popularity of bass on menus. Every magazine you open, every T.V. cookery program you watch, every celebrity chef you listen to - what are they all giving recipes for? They're giving recipes for bass!

I believe if we start a campaign to de-popularise bass as an item on a menu in the interest of a crashed bass stock we can reduce the demand for bass.

I've already sent multiple e-mails to different individuals and organisations that are involved with the production, selling or consumption of food pleading with them to consider removing bass from menus and stopping the promotion of bass as an ingredient. I've told them my request is in the interest of trying to protect a greatly diminished European bass stock.

I am actually begging other people on this site to please do the same. Even if you only e-mail one organisation/individual - it all helps. I know there are farmed bass on the market that when procured and consumed don't necessarily have a direct impact on the wild bass stock, but let's not try split the atom on this one.

Simply putting a basic tweet or a status update on your Facebook page educating your contacts on the issue of a crashed bass stock can help.

Yours sincerely and even more hopefully,
John D.

And after everyone voicing their opinion, whats the solution?

Everyone is talking about how bad it is, why not come together and make the people responsible for looking after this area of angling do their job and look after it...

Is there any IFI officers here that want to contribute an opinion?

MWF, there are already various groups in place. Irish Bass http://www.irishbass.org/ , The Bass Policy Group, IFI.
In the UK they have BASS (Bass Anglers Sportfishing Society) which is a member based organisation. I think our nearest equivalent is Irish Bass although I think the main difference is that you can't become a member of Irish Bass. I could be wrong and some clarification would be good. Maybe there is a solution to your answer in that somewhere. If Irish Bass was a membership based organisation run along the lines of BASS. I appreciate this is a simple thing to say and the doing of it is a different story in terms of getting peoples commitment.

I have copied in an extract from the Irish Bass website below. I know John Quinlan is involved with this group but don't know any of the other contributers. I'm not sure if John is on here to elaborate on what I've said or touch on the idea of this being a member based organisation to promote conservation and the protection of bass.


This is taken from the Irish Bass website.
ABOUT IRISH BASS
« back
Irish Bass was originally formed in January 2007 by a group of bass anglers and people involved in bass angling businesses as the "Irish Bass Protection and Awareness Group" in response to what we perceived as a decline of bass stocks in Irish coastal waters caused, in our opinion, by significant illegal commercial fishing.

The Irish Bass website was launched in October 2008 with the aim of becoming the focal point for Bass fishing in Ireland, for both Irish and visiting international anglers. Our contributers include anglers and professional angling guides, all of whom have one thing in common, they are passionate about Bass and Bass Fishing.

Illegal commercial fishing still poses a significant threat to our remaining Bass stocks and addressing this threat remains one of the core aims of Irish Bass.

However, although illegal commercial fishing remains a threat, we believe that Ireland still offers some of the best bass sport fishing available in Europe. We hope that the new Irish Bass website will allow anglers to share their Bass fishing experiences with others, as well as providing information enabling other to enjoy similar experiences.

If you share our passion for Bass and Bass Fishing and would like to contribute to the website then get in touch now!

And after everyone voicing their opinion, whats the solution?

Everyone is talking about how bad it is, why not come together and make the people responsible for looking after this area of angling do their job and look after it...

Is there any IFI officers here that want to contribute an opinion?

MWF, there are already various groups in place. Irish Bass http://www.irishbass.org/ , The Bass Policy Group, IFI.
In the UK they have Bass (Bass Anglers Sportfishing Society) which is a member based organisation. I think our nearest equivalent is Irish Bass although I think the main difference is that you can't become a member of Irish Bass. I could be wrong and some clarification would be good. Maybe there is a solution to your answer in that somewhere. If Irish Bass was a membership based organisation run along the lines of Bass. I appreciate this is a simple thing to say and the doing of it is a different story in terms of getting peoples commitment.

[/b]

I do understand that there is allot of groups or business out there with the concern of the over fishing of bass and the depletion of the stocks, But which of them is actually doing anything.

Someone could make a list of all orgs involved (or claim to be involved ) in the improvement of bass stock's and maybe contact them to see who is doing what....

I will stke a weeks wages on it that NONE of them are actively patrolling or stopping these trawlers to inspect their catch. Its half a dozen of one and 6 of the other. They all have sites for people to go and talk about the way things are... Every single year this conversation happens and every single year nothing happens.... NOTHING!

Now and again they will catch a guy with a small boat and a net, but who is looking at the bigger boys with the bigger boats?

Who enforces the rules and keeps an eye on the angler on the beach?



Im not a bass angler, I will target them if they are in the area but will not go out of my way for them, I am an angler that is passionate about all types of fishing...

Great Bass fishing yesterday, hopefully more to come! Lucky for some

What part of the country, just the county not looking for anything else, because its dire here in Dublin at the moment.

Mozza - Look at the number of posts and the date they joined. Just a wind up merchant.....