Bass fishing in ireland

Soft and FluffyWhy do bass choose to eat strange things

 ‘Close replication of the colour schemes of naturals is important, if at all, only in the most severe instances of selective feeding, and most likely under conditions of good visibility.’ George V Roberts – Saltwater naturals and their imitations_______________________________________________________________________________________________ __________

 Some of the observed behaviours whilst fishing with • Soft plastics and • Saltwater flies

 Sources of observation • The guiding services – ten years of seasons • Personal fishing opportunities • Close friends’ observations and notes

 Observations from - The guiding service • Decisions made to optimise opportunities in respect to location • Decisions made to ensure correct lure choice and strategy at the location – for the circumstances • Decisions made to ensure the finer detail • Adjustments made in respect of choices

 Observations From - Personal fishing • Very few opportunities during the season • Choices are to try to catch based on previous experiences or • To experiment with the choices available and try something different and maybe learn something • The same for you as it is for me

 Observations From - Personal friends • They may or may not share data depending on how friendly they are! • Fishing in similar circumstances • Fishing in different circumstances • Discovered similar or different opportunities which were then applied

 Personal Influences • Ed Mitchell – saltwater fly – gave me confidence • American saltwater fly fishing techniques – tiers writers and fishers • Nicolas Sauron and Nico Jamin – soft plastic techniques – senko and wave worm – Inside Line G.Yamamoto • Rich Murphy, Ken Abrames, Alan Caolo, Gerge Roberts, Bob Popovics,

 The fish behaviour • Bass behave differently under different circumstances • Those circumstances might be  Weather – the decisions for the angler  Tides – the decisions for the angler  Location timing – the decisions for the angler  More bass in their company  Presence of forage its quantity, type and availability over time  Water conditions  Selectively or Opportunistically feeding fish

 How do bass behave when hunting? • The eyes of predatory fish are more sensitive to motion and contrast rather than specific details – specific details are used as camouflage by prey

 How do bass behave when hunting? • Predatory fish see colour during daylight hours but not at night this enhances prey perception against various backgrounds

 How do bass behave when hunting? • Predatory fish detect prey items using the sensitive lateral line nervous system, smell, sound, sight and touch –  At different times in different combinations

 How do bass behave when hunting? • Predatory fish like bass recognise prey based on a small number of aspects – • shape • size • motion

 How do bass behave when hunting? • These primary triggers may be sufficient to induce a take, under different circumstances fish will follow and refuse or simply refuse

 How do bass behave when hunting? • Hunger and some conditions increases a fishs willingness to attack a lure based on fewer specific aspects

 How do bass behave when hunting? • Large numbers of shoaling fish tend to be less selective when hunting than smaller groups of fish – more competition

 How do bass behave when hunting? • Larger fish are more wary and regularly hunt either singly or in pairs of similarly sized fish

 How do bass behave when hunting? • Bass will congregate in areas associated with supply of food at specific times

o How do bass behave when hunting?  Bass can be selective but when feeding selectively with lots of food abundance a near approximation will catch – at lower densities a closer approximation is necessary

 How do bass behave when hunting? • Large fish are large because they are wise and have spent a long time living – they are more difficult to catch

 How do bass behave when hunting? • Colour is less important than shape size or motion

 What does this mean for us as anglers ?

 How do YOU behave when hunting?

 Tactics and strategies for anglers • Soft Plastics and Flies colour choices  For coloured water use bright, white or black soft plastics and flies  Early morning later evening use white and chartreuse  On bright days with clear water use more ‘life like’ transparent or natural coloured soft lures and translucent flies – smaller and bright  On dark days or at night use dark or black soft lures and flies  In shadowed or medium to early coloured water use hyper pink or green coloured lures and somewhat denser flies  Particles / strands in soft baits and flies reflect UV to attract fish

 Tactics and strategies for anglers • Soft Plastics and Flies size choices  Think BIG, SLOW and HEAVY for bigger fish  Think PREY SHIFT PATTERNS in terms of tide and or conditions and or seasons worm or sandeel or shrimp or fish or crab  Don’t be restricted by size choice over colour choice  Carry more of different sizes than of different colours  Size profile and or shape can very important  Is your soft bait a worm size, a small flounder size or a small fish size?

 Tactics and strategies for anglers • Soft Plastics rigging choices  Match the jig head to the state of tide or distance required  Match the size of the soft bait to the size of the jig head  Different types of jig heads perform differently  Fish as light as possible for as long as possible  Fish weedless whenever possible for a better horizontal swimming action – keep the lure in the zone FALAP  Learn to rig carolina, drop shots, weedless etc

 Tactics and strategies for anglers • Saltwater Flies rigging choices  Consider the line/rod # in respect of the size of fly  Consider the line type in respect of where you want the fly to be – where you suspect the fish are!  Longer leaders on brighter days and UP flies/lines  Shorter leaders on darker days and DOWN flies/lines  Tapered leaders improve turnover and cast to fish time  Big flies DO NOT mean increased difficulties in casting

 Tactics and strategies for anglers • Saltwater Fly presentation choices  UP FLIES – Deceiver, hollow fleye, semper fly.  Floating or intermediate lines or floating lines with inter poly leaders and fluoro tippets  Depth is from one foot to maybe four  Technique is a strip or dead drift

 Tactics and strategies for anglers • Saltwater Fly presentation choices  DOWN FLIES – Flat wings +/-, clousers, crazy charlie.  Faster intermediate or sinking lines with poly leaders on the inters and shorter leaders on the sinkers  Depth is from five feet to twelve  Technique is a strip, swing or dead drift

 Tactics and strategies for anglers • Saltwater Fly presentation choices  LARGE FLIES – Flat wings, hollows, half and halfs  Throughout the tables – but mostly intermediates and sinking lines  Tougher windier conditions and often with current  Dead drift or winter steelhead swing

 Tactics and strategies for anglers • Saltwater fly and lure considerations  There isn’t an exponential increase in return/catch rate based on availability of newer ranges of lures  Older ranges of lures catch as many fish today as they did last year or the year before and will do so next year  Hyper mega super lightning realistic lures DO NOT catch MORE fish  ALWAYS think correct presentation first then – size, shape, motion and colour – think ‘if I was a fish’  Investment in time on the water is worth more than anything

 Tactics and strategies for anglers • Soft Plastics and fly presentation choices  What type of fly/soft bait you fish depends on you  How the soft bait/fly is fishing depends on you  Where the soft bait/fly is fishing depends on you  When the soft bait/fly is fishing depends on you  Always consider the fish in their environment

Questions and AnswersFor more information, Workshops, help and advice visit online @ WWW.PROBASSFISHER.COM Thank You

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Bass fishing in ireland

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