Irish Bass Festival Log

Hi

As you may have read from another thread I and some fellow anglers are gravely worried for bass fishing here in Ireland. The recent bass festival ran by Absolute Fishing, in my eyes, would give a fairly accurate indication for bass fishing within an area.

I want to stress that I am in absolutely no way having a dig/shot at the boys in Absolute Fishing nor the way in which they run the event. I just think that the information gathered may prove useful.

Here's what I would ask you to do. Fill in the below please.
Many thanks.


Total of Anglers in Group:

Fish Caught:

Approx. Hours Spent on Water Fishing:

I asked one of the guys and they said the numbers were similar to last year but the average size was bigger. They reckoned the 2002/03 class were coming of age nicely.

There was four im my group and we caught 13 bass in about 24hrs fishing

Hesitantly I am stepping back into the world of forums due to some comments which have been made on this and other forums which I think need a bit of clarification.

People have been speaking to me while I’ve been home for the festival and I know some concerns have been raised re bass festival / bass stocks etc.........

First off as some of you know I have a fish biology background so I feel I can comment with some level of confidence on the science side of things, and as most of you know I am also a passionate bass angler and work with Cian in Absolute Fishing in Tramore where we run the Irish Bass Festival each year.

On a number of different forums people have drawn my attention to certain threads. I understand that various people would like access to catch statistics for the festival. First of all before I get into catch statistics all fish caught (reported to me in the shop over the weekend) are logged and sent to Willie Roche in IFI. Catch returns are then used by IFI to help understand size distribution of bass caught over the weekend and potentially tease apart strong year classes etc.

@Crevan agree with your comments and your suggestion has been taken on board and I will ask guys to fill in rod hours /catch success next year.

For everyone who’s wondering ....catch/effort has remained similar over the three years with conditions being almost identical each year and similar numbers of fish have been caught.

“It will be interesting to see the catch report versus fishing hours after The Irish Bass Festival.....”

For those of you who think it’s all a conspiracy theory, elevated hype and we are masking some huge decline in catches, I promise you we are not! It’s not in my interest to mask any decline given what I study and this would go against everything I know.
Catch statistics for something like the festival are excellent for investigating size distribution of fish caught over the weekend. However when it comes to teasing apart an increase or decline in catches it becomes a little more difficult. It provides a quick snapshot which can be hugely bias, under reporting (40-50cm fish) mask what is really caught. We have accurate records for all the big fish caught which has stayed remarkably similar for the three years. Again all these figures go to IFI where they are analysed further. I do not like to publicly give these out due to certain people with commercial interest who view this forum/other websites, but feel free to call me if you want to know more. Always more than happy to talk bass!

Given my science background I have ensured to put the fish first when it came to the festival, getting IFI on board seemed the logical thing to do from a conservation viewpoint and it has done a great deal in raising the awareness of bass fishing on the south coast. I don’t want the replies to lead into some sort of IFI bashing because these guys are doing a lot for bass which goes unnoticed. To be fair IFI is on its knees when it comes to man power, sure it would be great to increase protection and undertake huge surveys of our bass along the south coast to try to better understand our population(s) but simply the money aint there (blame the bankers). And for those who say the festival has failed to “raise awareness of Bass, promoted Bass to higher status, in turn promoting responsibility for Bass, in turn promoting protection etc. 3 odd years into the Irish Bass Festival and I see no demonstration of any of the above points.” I urge you to think again, we have helped with the collection of a lot of scales for ageing, reported catches and constantly encourage/lobby for increased protection on the coast. Due to the increased awareness we are slowly but surely seeing developments for example the implementation of the National Bass Program by IFI. Come on guys this was a huge step in the right direction.

I hope this can put to bed some questions you guys have had re the festival.

Now some other stuff I’ve stumbled across.....

“I've noticed the guys in Absolute Fishing coming into East Cork to fish, when they have this 'mecca' on their doorsteps. It's reasonable to assume they are trying to seek out new ground because local fishing has tanked. If I'm wrong, feel free to speak up.”
I’m sorry Colm this is complete BS, I take it when you say guys from Absolute Fishing you mean me and Cian? Well for starters I’ve been in Scotland and when I get home trust me I stick to my local marks that I know on the Copper Coast and Tramore bay. Cian is also the same, we have never gone to east cork to seek out new ground? Id love to know where you have heard / got this from as this is the sort of stuff which made me give up on forums years ago, complete BS!!!

“From a Wexford perspective the Bass fishing has been absolutely terrible. The stark decline of the past few years has culminated into a complete slump in 2014. It annoys me when I hear the bass fishing here in South Ireland described as being incredible.”
@Crevan and other Wexford folk, I do feel for you guys as I used to love sitting down to read Dannys blogs about your sessions. I know Jim H another angler I have a huge amount of respect for has reported catch declines in Wexford also. To be honest I get the feeling you guys think we are hiding huge declines in our catches and I promise you we are not.
I do feel there is something else happening in Wexford which is causing the decline you are currently seeing in your catches. Could it be a possible shift in bait movements (mackerel sand eel), coastal streams, bass shift slightly offshore etc. Some anglers who speak to us in the shop report excellent fishing from Wexford, it seems like sporadic catches which would potentially mean fish are moving inshore only when things are perfect?

One final thing....

Which I think needs to be said.

A guy in Cork who is catching plenty of fish this season is not going to care about reduced catches in Wexford/Dublin. I’m sorry but this is a fact. We need to come together on this with one common voice (anglers from Clare to Wexford) when it comes to bass conservation. One letter from one guy airing his problems or posting on forums is not going to do a whole lot however creating a group similar to UK BASS which has members can create a much stronger lobbying tool.

I’m going to end with this image, taken yesterday. The last two days I have had over 10 bass (well over 30 between 5 anglers) but of course as some would believe this is just hype and lies and the best one “product pushing” (and this is why to a certain extent I stopped posting on forums some time ago).


At the end of the day this is what we are all hoping for, and it bothers me that the politics and BS can get in the way at times.

James

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Great post James and weldone on the fantastic effort running the festival again this year.

I rest my case:

Those who catch fish : quiet
Those who don't : ask questions

The forum becomes more beneficial to newbies. They get help to start with their angling. Those who have experience will find their own marks safely and keep quiet as they successfully do so. Those who are still having difficulty catching, looking for marks, safe place to fish, etc... ask more questions... "Hoping to get answers that they cannot find themselves".

This seemed to be the trend in forums.

Tight Lines and best of luck on our adventures.

Excellent post, James. Was out in kayak on Sunday for the first time this year - caught nothing but got loads of follows and saw loads of fish. Met another chap on the water, who caught three a bit earlier, one which he kept, which was an excellently conditioned fish. After reading all the doom & gloom, I was happy to have been out to see for myself. I feel much more optimistic after my couple of hours on the water.

I rest my case:

Those who catch fish : quiet
Those who don't : ask questions

The forum becomes more beneficial to newbies. They get help to start with their angling. Those who have experience will find their own marks safely and keep quiet as they successfully do so. Those who are still having difficulty catching, looking for marks, safe place to fish, etc... ask more questions... "Hoping to get answers that they cannot find themselves".

This seemed to be the trend in forums.

Tight Lines and best of luck on our adventures.

I think you have missed the point. I dont live or fish in Wexford at all, but I am concerned when someone like Jim H, Crevan etc comes out and says there is a problem there. Ignoring it because your marks are fishing well isnt going to achieve anything. I hardly think either of the two mentioned need to ask questions to improve their fishing.

Agree with a lot of that James but would add that in an ideal world (I know!) all Irish anglers should unite together and not just bass anglers. Than we might finally get the voice we deserve.

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“I've noticed the guys in Absolute Fishing coming into East Cork to fish, when they have this 'mecca' on their doorsteps. It's reasonable to assume they are trying to seek out new ground because local fishing has tanked. If I'm wrong, feel free to speak up.”
I’m sorry Colm this is complete BS, I take it when you say guys from Absolute Fishing you mean me and Cian? Well for starters I’ve been in Scotland and when I get home trust me I stick to my local marks that I know on the Copper Coast and Tramore bay. Cian is also the same, we have never gone to east cork to seek out new ground? Id love to know where you have heard / got this from as this is the sort of stuff which made me give up on forums years ago, complete BS!!!

James

Hi James, Firstly, good to get some feedback. You'll find very few keyboard warriors in this thread, just concerned bass anglers.
The general consensus along the coast is that bass are in decline, first hand evidence. Hence the interest in something like the bass festival which provides a particular snapshot (albeit it a short stretch of coast).
In terms of what IFI are doing, again I suspect most people believe there is some good work going on there but there is also no doubt that there seems to be a lot of silence/inactivity in terms of the seismic fall off in bass numbers in Dublin and Wexford and beyond.
Possibly they are looking hard at it but some outward evidence of this would be a great step forward.

In relation to your BS quote above. I was clear in saying that "I noticed". I witnessed this first hand fishing in youghal. 2 guys turned up on night one (I believe 1 was henry gilbey) and 4/5 guys turned up on night 2 fishing directly either side of me (including Cian and henry gilbey).
My summation may have been wide of the mark, maybe they fancied some new ground but it is an honest one and not BS as you say.

Anyway, back to the more significant point, threads like this are not a battle ground for who is right and wrong, they should be for teasing out what is the reality on the ground and what can be done about it.

My own view is that groups such as the bass policy group need to be more connected to bass anglers ALL AROUND THE COUNTRY to get the fullest picture of what is going on, so that they can react in a more efficient way.

For my part, I'll communicate this to them, maybe they already have these connections, maybe great work is going into the decline of stocks in Dublin and Wexford etc. I'll report back on their reply in due course.

Agree with a lot of that James but would add that in an ideal world (I know!) all Irish anglers should unite together and not just Bass anglers. Than we might finally get the voice we deserve.

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Very true. And I can't help but feel that the increased pressure on bass recreationally and commercially is partly due to the fact that the stocks of other sea fish are in such a dire state. Decent size cod, ray etc from the shore seem to be hard to come by . On the east coast at least.

"In relation to your BS quote above. I was clear in saying that "I noticed". I witnessed this first hand fishing in youghal. 2 guys turned up on night one (I believe 1 was henry gilbey) and 4/5 guys turned up on night 2 fishing directly either side of me (including Cian and henry gilbey).
My summation may have been wide of the mark, maybe they fancied some new ground but it is an honest one and not BS as you say."

Lets just clear the air here. The reason I replied to the East Cork comment was because it is simply not true! And still very much so stand by this! We don't fish in East Cork. The mark you are referring to is in West WATERFORD and yes we do like to move around Waterford. So I'm afraid I stick by my original comment as your statement is false. Simples!


"Anyway, back to the more significant point, threads like this are not a battle ground for who is right and wrong, they should be for teasing out what is the reality on the ground and what can be done about it. My own view is that groups such as the Bass policy group need to be more connected to Bass anglers ALL AROUND THE COUNTRY to get the fullest picture of what is going on, so that they can react in a more efficient way. For my part, I'll communicate this to them, maybe they already have these connections, maybe great work is going into the decline of stocks in Dublin and Wexford etc. I'll report back on their reply in due course."

Wholeheartedly agree with you on above points, and i don't want it to become a battle ground either, but lets try to deal with the facts and leave out unnecessary comments such as east cork etc.

You're dead right re communication between different stakeholders involved and this is something which is badly needed. At the end of the day we are both interested in bass conservation and I believe coming together to air problems as a group is the way forward. Possibly through the development of the Irish Bass Group (just a thought).

I feel we need to get at the guides such as Jim H, Sean Jordan, Cork Harbour guys, John Quinlan etc. together, these are the guys who can show clear patterns (long term) in rod hour versus effort as these are the guys on the water day in day out. I understand Jim is seeing declines, however are the guys in Cork and Kerry seeing similar declines? we need to build a clearer picture of bass stocks along the whole coast.

Look I feel for the guys on the east coast with reduced catches, and I think we have established there is a problem here! But you have to realise this may not be the case the whole way down to Kerry/Clare. Also we are not trying to hide reduced catches etc. which I feel people think we are. Trust me we have the bass' interest at heart more than anyone! But as I said the guys who had 30 bass yesterday in location X don't care about whats happening in Wexford or further up the east coast! We need a common voice to air bass problems.

Will be interesting to see what comes from Bass Policy group and potential suggestions....


J

Hi James and all, just reading back through this useful thread and noticed something I felt I ought to comment on...

"The guys who had 30 Bass yesterday in location X don't care about whats happening in Wexford or further up the east coast!"

Although it wouldn't surprise me, I sincerely hope this is not the case, unlike the last 2 or 3 years I've seen a few Bass around this summer but I'm still very concerned to hear about any area that should be fishing well at this time but seems to have gone off a cliff in terms of fish numbers.

If we as anglers and stakeholders don't at least try to work out what's going on in Wexford (For example) and try to take action we'll only have ourselves to blame if it happens elsewhere, so lets take a wider view than just looking at what's going on in our own backyards and look at the bigger picture.

To put it plainly, someone elses bad fishing this season could be a warning of your bad fishing next season and the season after...

Thanks

Go on James.
If ye wanted facts about bass.
There's your answers plain and clear.

No BS straight talk
From mam who had a degree in marine

Great read

Just to clarify lads, Youghal is NOT in Waterford [SMILING FACE WITH OPEN MOUTH] UP THE REBELS

Just an observation for mackdublin,in relation to searching further afield I see from your avatar that your location is Dublin.Is this a little bit of a contradiction in relation to questioning a few lads coming to youghal for a bit of fishing,one of which is actually originally from cork anyways.

Just to clarify lads, Youghal is NOT in Waterford [SMILING FACE WITH OPEN MOUTH] UP THE REBELS

I know the mark which is referred to in this thread as an East Cork mark, but I can categorically say that the mark is in West Waterford, not that it makes much difference The whole "ownership" of marks is complete BS in my opinion.Correct.. Youghal is in Cork but if fishing this mark you are most definitely fishing in Waterford.

Just to clarify lads, Youghal is NOT in Waterford [SMILING FACE WITH OPEN MOUTH] UP THE REBELS

I know the mark which is referred to in this thread as an East Cork mark, but I can categorically say that the mark is in West Waterford, not that it makes much difference The whole "ownership" of marks is complete BS in my opinion.Correct.. Youghal is in Cork but if fishing this mark you are most definitely fishing in Waterford.

....but as you cast your lure all you can see is Cork