West Waterford 23rd Nov

[Pat]

Headed up to Waterford this afternoon and had a cracking session. 17 bass over a 2.5 hour period upto darkness. 3 on a surface lure. This is a first for me as I've never had them this late off the top !!! The rest were on sub-surface lures. I did try plastics. These were being bumped by the fish but were not taken. Here are two pics below. The first, a surface lure caught fish and the second, the best fish of the session at 60cm. On the BASS tape this measures as a 5lb fish, but I reckon it was around 6-7lbs as it was hefty and as fat as hell. It certainly gave me one of the best fights I got from any lure caught fish this year. When I first got a glimpse of fish I was surprised it fought so well as upto then I thought I was into a double figure fish. I then reckoned the lure must have been caught on the side of the fish's head, but no, it was caught fair and square in the mouth.....just was full of energy I suppose from gorging over the Autumn .

[mitch]

thats fantastic fishing well done

[liamemac]

17 bass in two and a half hours, thats unbelievable! well done!

[seanie35]

great fishing pat

[daminim]

Fair play to you Pat. Great to hear good scraps from bass can be gotten if you know where to go. Would love to get down to Waterford for a lure session before Christmas - unlikely though. Well done again,

Conor

[patk]

Wow incredible going to have to get out and try!

[corbyeire]

excellent stuff!

[declan65]

Great fishing Pat , yourself and Seanie are eeking them out, 17 in a session is great for the time of year.

[corbyeire]

17 in a session any time of the year! - wait a minute, 17 on lures in a season would be a result up here in Galway!!!

[KERRY1]

Excellent fishing Pat! 17 bass caught on the lures at this time of year over that timescale is very impressive, well done

[Pat]

Yep, it was a cracking session alright! Don't often get them. Mind you myself and Marlinman had something a bit similar last Winter, have a look here:

http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/bull ... 28&t=25071

[Divisadero]

Fantastic fishing Pat, to say the least...

What is the view/experience of people regarding winter lure fishing (for bass)? I realise that it is possible to catch all year round but when does it generally become a pastime for the diehard's only! To be more specific is it likely that the arctic conditions that are forecast for the next couple of weeks will 'kill' the fishing for the rest of the winter, or could the fishing rebound if the weather improves a little following the cold snap?

[Pat]

At this time of year you can have these kind of sessions both lure fishing and bait fishing. Very often they coincide with the onset of a cold snap. It seems as if the fish are on a final feeding frenzy before moving off. If the cold snap isn't too prolonged you will still pick up fish after, but not in such numbers. In normal winters we'll pick up schoolies off the beaches. However, this wasn't the case over the last two winters with the severe weather.

[taz]

cracking session

[Divisadero]

Thanks Pat for the detailed info. I may stick to my original plan and target Pike for now. Just wish I had concentrated more intently on the bass over the last couple of weeks!

[luanaigh]

wow....i knew they are still around...excellent fishing...been blanking myself lately...going mad..and your catch report doesn't help

[lasercat]

Wow, I would be happy with 2.5 bass in 17 hours!