A quick update.....

I've not been out a whole lot lately with work unfortunately taking priority
over fishing.

I did get out for a quick cast the other day which resulted in a nice little scorpion

I also had a plan for some wrasse today. I spent 5hrs searching every gully , nook and
hole I could think of along the coastline, I've come to the conclusion that its just that little
bit too early in the year for them yet as I never even got so much as a touch from a wrasse all
day. I did however pick up one very colourful scorpion fish

This must be one of the most colourful Long Spined Sea Scorpion I have ever caught. As you can see from
the photos it has lovely pinkish red markings on its fins along with a bright yellow underside with vivid white markings.
The markings got me thinking do these fish brighten up their colouration for breeding , if so is this a male
fish trying to impress a female?? In the same way some male birds grow lavish plumes during the breeding season.

That was it for the daytime fish a very poor day but I still enjoyed being out none the less.

I moved on in the evening to a local pier and began to fish a dropshot rig and was instantly rewarded
with a nice little rock goby

A few casts later resulted in another

I continued fishing and moving along the pier and noticed a large shoal of small fish
patrolling the shadow line on the water so I rigged up a size12,  1g jighead  and small piece
of gulp rag in white and cast in front of the shoal which resulted in a mini herring

Must have had another 15 or 20 of these little fish in the space of 45mins or so. I kept moving to see
if I could pick up any other species but apart from a couple of small coalies that was it for the evening.

I hope to get updating a bit more than of late now that the weather is picking up slightly and becoming
a little more settled.

I hope you enjoyed the read

Tight lines,

Jay.

Irish Bass Festival 2013

Just a quick post to let everyone know that entries are now being taken
for the 2nd Irish Bass Festival ran by the guys at  Absolute Fishing .

The festival itself will run the 5th , 6th and 7th of July.

Full information can be found on the website:

http://www.irishbassfestival.com/

details of last years festival can be found here

Irish Bass Festival 2012

Last years winning fish was a cracking 80cm

and remember the entire Irish Bass Festival is ran with a catch and release ethos
and all fish entered must returned unharmed

That all for now guys,

Tight Lines,

Jay

A blustery day in January......

With what seems like an unending barrage of terrible weather
battering the whole country, turning the sea to what can only be
described as 'coffee soup' and every river around in full flood.

My mate Phil suggested that we could try the canals for Perch and maybe the odd
rogue Pike.

So we made a plan to hit the canals today which meant an early start and a two hour drive
I met up with Phil this morning and we hit the water , He fished a dropshot rig and I was fishing
a jig head we moved up and down the canal fishing all around the various boats and other bits of
structure but no Perch so we moved on to another mark.

We arrived at the mark and split up with me fishing one side and Phil fishing the other side of
the canal. I saw that he had a nice little perch and another so I decided to move over and swop
from jighead to dropshot rig with a HTO mini stick in pearl blue and second cast I was also into a little perch

This particular lure seemed to work really well with another few perch falling to it

Philip was also catching fish but he no sooner had the fish in and it was back in the water so no time for
photos.

I then got hit by a better fish ....

a new PB of about 1lb not big but I was very happy. After that the fish soon went off the feed and we
decided to move again

With us both sticking to dropshot and Phil still remaining camera shy we continued to get fish

It continued like this with the fish coming on and off the feed until I got hit by a real train of a fish
which stripped line and really put up a great scrap

A new PB fish of over 1.5lb ....with which I was thrilled

A super days fishing one which I thouroughly enjoyed especially considering the conditons
which were at times almost gale force winds with a good mix of hail , showers and thunder all thrown in for
good measure

I have to also say a big thank you to Philip Fox who invited me up and very kindly showed me around his various perch marks.

Philip looking extremely pleased with his new enormous PB pike in the only photo I got
of him for the day........


Anyway I hope you enjoyed the read as much as I enjoyed my day

Tight lines

Jay