Can it really be called work when it’s such fun out here in Kerry? (and I’ve nailed a fishing photo that I am seriously pleased with)
It’s the last day today with our first group of lads, and whilst the actual bass fishing conditions over here have been on the tough side - bright, calm, no swell - we have been having such fun finding a few fish and getting to spend time in such a ridiculously special part of the world. We were out in the middle of the bay yesterday with a bunch of pollack on the feed and I took a bit of time to really look around at the sheer majesty of the surroundings and take it all in. Sometimes it’s too easy to fish/guide until you drop and kinda forget that such a large part of it all is the places we get to do it in…………….
We had the lads out nice and early this morning and they had a few bass, plus we’ve done some night fishing and found some fish. We were on the beach the other night at about 2am and it was so calm Tom reckoned that him standing there was spooking bass which were coming at his lure. It felt more like standing on the side of a big lake rather than on a beach on the west coast of Ireland!
Jut occasionally every single thing comes together for a brief moment……………..
On the first evening we fished on into dark and Tom hooked a nice fish on a Skimmer at range at last light. I was there with my camera and I managed to shoot a bunch of photos of him fighting the bass, with the photo above being the standout for me. It’s very rare that every single thing comes together to be able to shoot a photo like this, but just occasionally it happens. I guess the trick to photographing fishing is recognising when “it” goes and starts happening, and being competent enough to nail it without impacting on the angler. I won’t bore you with the technical details of camera settings and what I am almost doing naturally without thinking as I frame up and rattle off a few frames, for sure I had my eye on the actual composition AND the waves which were rolling in so I could try and get Tom bent into the fish as a wave rolled across him in that exact sort of position. It also helped that Kerry was rather showing off that first night with the late evening light, indeed I don’t reckon it was properly dark until about midnight. I had best get back to the lads as we are heading out again. It’s so much fun to do this co-guiding “work” that I am not even sure I can continue to call it work………….
Due to covid related reasons we have got a couple of slots in October for these co-guided Ireland lure fishing trips we run. If you want to come and do stuff like this in a truly awesome part of the world, please get hold of me here.
