A weekend in The Kingdom....

People:Myself, Pete, Alan

Duration:Fri and Sat at various stages

Tide:various

Weather:Mostly fine and calm, freshening on the Saturday with an odd shower

Bait:Kiltys, Jensen Tobies, Abu Rocket Tobies

Rigs:Spinning set ups or Bubble and lure for Alan on occasion

Results:Bass, Sea Trout, Pollack, Mackerel.

Catch and Release:: 2 fish kept



Report:

Headed down to Kerry to join up with Pete McGroary and his buddy Alan for Petes last hurrah in Munster before his permanent return to Donegal. I wasnt able to leave until after 7 so it was 10 before I met the lads who were just returning from a small boat trip out looking for pollack. With the civilities and first round of insults out of the way, we tackled up and headed to a small beach nearby. Kilty lures and similar were the order of the day and Alan, being the local contact had virtually promised us there would be a chance of a fish or two.

First cast out, about 70 yards with a Kilty was uneventful, 2nd cast it was nailed and after a nice tussle a lovely bar of silver was grounded on the shingle. A nice bass of around 3lbs or so. 2 minutes later, wallop again and this time I had a sea trout of maybe 1.5lbs or so on the beach. I had to wait ten minutes after that for another fish as my 2nd bass of the evening hit the deck. 3 fish in 15 minutes wasn't bad going..... Alan on the other side of the beach using a bubble float set up with a trace of about 5 feet to a small storm sandeel struck next with a nice bass before latching into the fish of the night with a fine fellow around the 6lb mark. I dropped one or two more myself before pulling in a small pollack to round off the evenings fishing, a fine start to the weekend. :D

After wakening around 6.30 and with the mark only 2 minutes away from where we were staying, myself and Pete headed back to the spot before breakfast. First cast out, again with a kilty and it was nailed immediately by a smallish bass. Unreal stuff.... Pete followed that with 2 himself in the space of a few minutes. We had numerous follows with one or two more dropped fish before it was time to head back for brekkie.

Following a mackerel brekkie, we went to visit Dingle aquarium. We had been provided with "The Bass Bus" the previous night and had dropped them up 4 bass which were left in one of the quarantine tanks overnight. The bass bus was fully kitted out with an aerated tank but it was nice to see them swimming around happily that morning, proof indeed that if you look after fish, they will easily survive being caught and released. I have decided to call my two contributions "fred" and "wilma" so if your up that way tell them I said Hi... :D

After a brief trip to stock up on a few lures, we headed off to a different mark which had produced in the past for Pete. No bass were to be seen but frustatingly, garfish were swarming around but steadfastly ignoring all manner of offerings. Not having any bait with us left us short of options and apart from one dropped fish for Alan, that was that. We left there and with all manner of jellies headed to a deep water mark to target some pollack. I lost a good fish on the first cast but it all went deathly quiet after that and with only one pollack of a pound and a half or so to Alan and a few macks to me we headed back to base for dinner.

As we were driving back and with Alan delayed slightly doing the shopping, myself and Pete decided a bass would be nice for the dinner and headed back to the beach mark. Once again, ignorant of tides, time of day or night the bass were there. I had another nice fish and lost 2 more in the space of a half hour. Fantastic stuff, fish to order at this mark.....

Following on a ridiculously large meal of Mackerel and Bass we headed down to the beach again not much after 8. The sea was much choppier now and the grey skies were keeping the light levels down so we tackled up again and hit the sand. What was to follow was nothing short of incredible..... First cast, a lovely sea trout of about 2lbs, second cast a nice bass, 3rd cast another bass.... What a hat trick....!! Whilst I was dealing with my first fish, Pete struck into a sea trout himself on his first cast.... Savage fishing, I have never seen anything like it. :D We rested the mark for an hour or so and fished another nearby for a while. Apart from a dropped sea trout for Alan that was it there so we returned to the old faithful. A half hour here produced another bass for me and a nice 5lber for Pete. It was a lovely way to round off the weekend and with a long early morning drive to Kilrush ahead in the morning we headed for home.

I was heading for Kilrush the following morning for a Tope hunt on the Shannon with BigKev (another story), it would have been rude to slip away at 6am and not have another cast or two before leaving. There were alas to be no first cast heroics this time however and after ten minutes and dropping a reasonable fish I hit the road with fond memories. The 2 lads headed down there again themselves around tennish, Pete had a fine 6lber on his first cast and I think they had another couple after that to finish off what was for me an incredible day or twos fishing. I'd had 7 bass, 2 sea trout and 2 pollack from this mark in a few short sessions. Incredible stuff.

What was the killer on the day were long slim 25g or so toby type lures such as Kilties, jensens etc colour seemed unimportant cast as far as possible and retrieved as fast as you possibly could without skipping the lure over the surface. Tides, time of day etc didnt seem too important however action was definitely more frantic in the last dregs of daylight. I used a 10 foot Daiwa Lure special teamed with a FS loaded with 12lb line.

I cannot divulge the mark lads as Alan was kind enough to take us there on the condition that it was kept quiet. Its a small mark and would, as you can see, easily be exploited. Cracking weekend though, many thanks to Pete for suggesting it and Alan for his hospitality and guiding. I have never seen as many bass, and for every one landed there were numerous follows and takes. Incredible stuff in the Kingdom.... Ill be back...!

proof there is a God!

Thats a cracking session lads well done to ye

Great Report Pete. Fair play to Alan for taking you to such a great place. Sometimes the fishing can be fantastic. It helps ease the pain of the blanks. I'm guessing you were fishing on the Dingle peninsula :?: You get some great fishing there, but I've never had fishing like that myself. One thing for sure I will be trying a very fast retrieve with the Kiltys next time I'm down that neck of the woods. I've never tried bringing them back that quickly before.

Kev

We were absolutely stripping the lures back, keeping the rod end on the water virtually to stop it from skipping over the surface. It gives them a great action and doesnt give the fish too much chance to make its mind up or notice something amiss so possibly triggers takes that way?? One of the best patterns was a silver and purple Jensen Tobie. Long and slim.

The bass I caught last week on a bass buster plug was also caught on a fast retrieve

It was a really enjoyable few days bass fishing. Went out again on Sunday morning when you headed up after the tope Pete and took another close to 6lb and a sea trout of a pound and a half. Alan even had a fish almost ground itself trying to eat the jensen :shock: ! We both had further hook ups and chases but having a 7 hr journey ahead of me I reluctantly called it quits. :cry:

sounded like a cracking weekend lads. some great fishng there, great report petekd

Ya couldnt ask for a better fairwell tothe sunny south!!!!

Please dont make me write the boat report!

Nice one Lads.The bass and sea trout fishing is absolutly superb down here at the moment.Has been since March really.Definitly the best since I started fishing.

Great fishing Pete. Gotta get my ass down there during the next couple of weeks.