An absolute blast of a first day with our second group out here in Kerry

We gave our second group of lads a bit of a lie in on their first morning with us and got them up for 4.15am, but as is bloody typical we didn’t end up bothering any bass before breakfast! The light seriously went off and the actual fishing conditions at first light were pretty good, but sod’s law and all that. Later on in the day though and they all caught a heap of fish in some warm, shallow water. The bass weren’t monsters but damn it’s such fun when they seriously come on the feed and there are rods bending all over the place and everybody is smiling and giggling. Supper tastes so good after a session like that, and it also helps that John’s wife Lynn is an amazing cook and everybody at Thatch Cottage eats some seriously fantastic food at the end of a long fishing day…………

The new smaller size Gravity Stick soft plastics took a fair few fish, but the most successful lure was the smallest Sandeel Pencil 90, a lure which I obsess about but I do often wonder whether some anglers are put off by the fact their action is so subtle. Entirely intentional I might add - less is more means more and more to me the more I fish for bass - but it was interesting to watch one of the lads hook and land five bass in a row by whacking the Sandeel Pencil 90 out and almost work it like a WTD surface lure. It’s actually fishing away just under the surface like this, but I guess the little rattle in the lure really got the bass going when he fished with a high rod and twitched it back towards him. Such fun to be around.

When you have four lads fishing and the fish are on, there is always something extra interesting which comes out of a session like that - and you know how much I look and take notice of stuff like this. I will blog about it in due course when I have more time to spare, but wow did it get me thinking about how bass can sometimes seem to be so dialled into a specific size of bait or lure. You all have a good weekend and I will catch up next week when I am back home. Can we beat Australia in the rugby tomorrow morning and ignite the fires of hope once more as we move towards the World Cup next year, or am I continuing to dream because that is what we do?

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