I still reckon this is the best “why is bass fishing so awesome?” photograph I have shot

The photography of fishing floats my boat in a way that most of you here will most likely not understand because you are quite rightly dialled into trying to catch fish when you go fishing. I am as well I might add, but I am also always looking around at what’s going on with the light and conditions and where the angler or anglers I might be fishing with are actually fishing and so on. I shoot way more photos of bass fishing than I will ever need from a work point of view, but it’s always been about the fact that I can’t not shoot good looking fishing when I see it because it’s the way I am……………….

You know how I love all the different ways we can target these fine fish, but from a fishing and a photography point of view my heart still beats the fastest when the sea is angry and fizzing and green and alive. The biggest bass I have been lucky enough to catch might well have come from an estuary, but because fishing to me is such a visual thing I simply can’t obsess about so called “big fish” and little else. From an excitement angle I do love it out on the open coast when things start to get bouncy. I love it even more when an angler is fishing away and unknowingly moves into THE perfect position for me and my camera gear. I have blogged about the photo above before but in my mind I keep coming back to it because I can’t help but think about how many things had to come right for me to be able to capture Jody here on the north coast of Cornwall hooked into a bass and (unknowingly) standing in exactly the right place with the right light and crashing waves and so on. This one photo is just that at the end of the day - a simple photo - but to me the photographer it’s how I’d like to reply to somebody when they say “so why are you so obsessed with going lure fishing for bass?”

And a huge well done to Ireland for dismantling the All Blacks at the weekend. Bloody hell that was some game of rugby! There was enough good stuff from England beating Australia at a packed Twickenham - yippee! - but Ireland v New Zealand was a truly epic game. Roll on next weekend and then of course the Six Nations.