Kerry/Dingle Bass weekend

Had my very own “Spot the bass” competition over the long weekend.
Fished 3 times a day for 4 days solid. Up at 6am every morning til around 10, fished the afternoon low tide then back out
At 6 til 10 or so for the evening high tide.

Used every lure you can think of. Surface, sub surface, deep diving.
Kilty lures, German sprats, Yozuri crystal minnows, mag poppers, bass bullets…the list is endless.
Every colour you can think of too.
Fished every mark up my sleeve, every gully, river mouth, sand bank etc you get the picture.

No bass, no fish full stop. Nothing.
Closest I came was a sea trout that I had hooked for about 5 seconds before it jumped an threw the lure.
On the last night out of desperation I had peeler crab and sand-eel and fished two rods. Not a tap.

Really weird. The tides were massive and swell was huge so in some places I was fishing about 5 ft back from
my usual spots but even still this is a weird one. It was calmer on Sunday/Monday.
I checked out previous years catch results (I have every bass I have ever caught documented, time, tide, lure, conditions etc)
and we have done ok this time of year. I would have expected at least 6 bass over the weekend minimum.
Water was clear and not too cold either.
True it’s a bit early but there are bass being caught all over the south coast and well up to Dublin.

The highlight of the weekend was the Guinness and getting video footage of a sea otter.

Hard luck Eoghan, sorry to hear you blanked, you deserved a few fish after all the effort you put in.
You should have had your Easter fishing break on the South Coast

thats some effort - unlucky - sometimes you wonder about this game - but then you remember the big ones again - tight lines

Were ya using hooks.....

Thats a pity man some effort ya put in i'm sure you'll be rewarded in the future for it.

Cheers lads. Was a strange one alright. Should have headed for somewhere like Tinaberna or similar in Wexford or Waterford.

Its always tough to post a blank but I would rather give an accurate picture of how it fished.

Have been fishing the same 3 marks in Kerry for 10 years plus and this is a first.

Am back down there again in 4 weeks time and will see if it has picked up.

Hard luck Eoghan, hope you have better results next time.

Hard luck Eoghan, Thanks for letting us know how you got on though. The Guinness is always the highlight of the trip, but that might just be me

Better luck next time.

Kev

Many Guinness died to bring us this report......

Nothing like a Guinness in Kerry, outside a pub watching the afternoon sun beat down on a rolling surf........bliss.........

Fish schmish....!

Hard luck Eoghan. Certainly not from the lack of trying!

hard luck you deserved something after all that time and patience. Hard luck again mate.

Hard luck Eoghan.

I was down Dingle way for the weekend too - Wednesday 'til Sunday. Tough going to say the least! Like you I couldn't fool a single bass on the lures, although one of the lads had a couple of small fish on a plug on Friday afternoon.

I eventually managed a reasonable session on Saturday evening in the surf (on bait) - 5 fish between 2 of us. All smallish fish, best was 3.25lb (according to the B.A.S.S. measuring tape). Then the wind went south-easterly and they went off again! One of our best plugging marks, which is usually a certainty for a couple of fish, completely failed us on Sunday afternoon.

But I guess that's fishing, especially bass fishing. And there's no finer way to waste your time than bass fishing in Kerry!

Its a strange old game !
I fished Dingle the week before and had 4 bass up to 6lb, smallest 2.5lb in 3 sessions on surface lures and saw plenty although not to obliging, lots of follows and swirls. The wind changed to a southerly and the water became a bit more cloudy
although pretty good vis. may be a bit more weed ,but then I blanked for 2 sessions without even seeing a fish.
Fished the same week last year and it was the best I've had even catching several on a
fly so nothing wrong with late March early April.
Hopefully going back for a week in the first half of next month

To be honest after about two days of blanking on the lures I should have moved to bait and hit either Brandon or Inch.
I usually avoid these marks in favour for smaller more reliable marks but from what I heard these beaches were doing alright at the weekend.

Nothing wrong with 5 fish between 2 of yiz. I would have paid "top dolla" for some of that action at the weekend...!

Pity about the poor fishing Eoghan, better luck in a couple of weeks. I heard the same thing about Inch/Brandon. Local tackle dealer from up here was down and had bass of both in the last couple of weeks.

To be honest Francis, there were little or no sand eels around. The water was clear and usually I would see tons of em.
You know the marks well so you know what I mean.

The bass were clearly not in the hunt for sand eels etc or similar and obviously not in the usual spots I would expect to find them.

I do believe Bass become fixated on certain food types. I was once fishing in the same place a few years back with bunched lug
and catching nothing. An English angler was catching Bass every other cast and very kindly gave me some sandeels.
I had bass within a cast and several after.
I found it hard to believe that they would ignore the 3 or 4 bunched lug I was putting in front of them.
Up until then I believed they would take most baits put to them.

In conclusion it was probably too early for plugging in general. I should have switched and moved sooner.
Lesson learned.

I had the other half with me too so I didn’t want to take the p**s too much and be gone for half the day at a time.
Where I was fishing as you know is a mere walk from our accommodation and not a bit of a drive to Brandon or Inch.
She is very easy going but I didn’t want to push it.

Many Guinness died to bring us this report......

Nothing like a Guinness in Kerry, outside a pub watching the afternoon sun beat down on a rolling surf........bliss.........

Fish schmish....!

Now there's a good Thread......... Which Kerry Pub

Nothing like a Guinness in Kerry, outside a pub watching the afternoon sun beat down on a rolling surf........bliss.........
and i thought you took your fishing seriously ,you should have gone to wicklow wex or watfd
the beers shxte but at least theirs bass myself and debrock had a good session on mon night (all on lug or rag )surf was mighty, funny razor wasnt getting a touch fish
I think your gonna have to go down and see uncle art

Understandable Eoghan. Always good to keep the other half happy. I'm not even getting out at the minute as mine is overdue with number 3.

Nothing like a Guinness in Kerry, outside a pub watching the afternoon sun beat down on a rolling surf........bliss.........
and i thought you took your fishing seriously ,you should have gone to wicklow wex or watfd
the beers shxte but at least theirs Bass myself and debrock had a good session on mon night (all on lug or rag )surf was mighty, funny razor wasnt getting a touch fish
I think your gonna have to go down and see uncle art

I do Rodge and have had many a dream session down there, but after walking for a few miles over rocks, etc etc and catching nothing I think I deserved to put the feet up and enjoy a few pints of the good stuff.

Well Eoghan, roll on May . Least we can bash macks if nothing else shows.

Stevo