Countdown to Ireland Trip

September 27th, 2013| No Comments

Countdown to Ireland Trip

In a little over a week, I’ll be heading to the airport, boarding a flight for Cork, and heading to the southwest tip of Ireland in search of some big autumn bass. If you know anything about bass fishing and/or Ireland, you won’t need me to quantify the excitement.

One of the best bits is I’m taking a friend of mine along who has never caught a bass (or many other fish for that matter), so I’m looking forward to inducting him into the ways of rock-hopping in search of this wild predator.

Our destination is the Thatch Cottage in Cahersiveen, County Kerry, run by renowned and respected local guide John Quinlan. The man’s something of a legend in Irish bass fishing circles, so the chance to fish with him will be a privilege.

Of course, it’s a bit early to know what the weather will throw at us, but the tides look pretty decent and now it’s just a matter of waiting out the last few days and making sure everything is packed and ready to go.

As ever with trips involving a flight, one has to try not to take tooooo much stuff. This, I have to say is proving pretty tricky. The fly-fishing gear is a little more straightforward, but the lure-fishing aspect is another story. Just when you think you’ve got everything you need, you’ll read something about a pattern that’s been doing the business of late, and you start convincing yourself you have to have it.

Of course, you probably don’t, but it’s the old problem – you’ve been looking forward to a trip for so long, you don’t want to leave anything to chance.

Anyway, in the lure box is a mixture of soft plastics (Wave Worms, Xlayers, shads in various sizes and those Sebile soft baits I can’t get enough of). On the hard lure front, I’ve got Patchinkos (the best of the bunch on my last Ireland trip), some Savage Gear Panic Prey (because Patchinkos really are quite expensive), Crystal Minnows, Rapala MaxRaps and a few others. Hopefully this will be sufficient. If that lot doesn’t do the business, it’ll be down to angler error rather what’s on the end of my line. We shall see.

Anyway, the clock’s ticking. Somewhere out there in the Atlantic depths is a big old bass who just can’t wait to meet me. Or so I hope.

Will keep you updated with pics and posts throughout the trip!

 

Share this

No Responses to “Countdown to Ireland Trip”

Leave a Reply