Don’t really know where to start from, the country, the people, the fishing…. Have you ever had that kind of feeling that EVERYTHING has been perfect or nearly so? Well, this is the taste my latest Irish trip had; one week spent filming two fishing documentaries for Sky TV in Italy.
I spent a jolly good afternoon roaming around Dublin waiting form my friends to come, and had the chance to take some photos of this beautiful city. I missed Dublin since mid nineties and I was very happy to be there again. At nigh an enjoyable dinner and some pubbing and clubbing completed the day. Travelling with me Boris Salnikoff, the director of the show, and Vania Corá the cameraman, both great guys to travel with. The plan was to film fishing for Sea Bass and Pollock both on flies and lures, from shore as well as from the boat. The shore fishing was in Kerry again, with John Quinlan, and the bay of Cork was our scenario for the boat fishing, with guide Kevin Murphy.
This is a blog so I won’t make it too long; I think that the photos will speak mostly for themselves. The first two fishing days in Kerry have been a tad slower than usual. We had to work a bit harder to find the fish and due to a severe change of weather happened the week before our arrival; the Sea Bass wouldn’t cooperate too much. I managed to land 5 fish mostly on softies and Boris had none, fighting against the wind and with fish swimming too far for his fly rod. Fishing for Pollock has been another story altogether. We found them good, in a place with not such difficult access and caught a good deal of them. Boris with an ultra fast sinking line had 4 and I hooked the same on soft plastics and landed 3. John, our guide I think had more that any of us, even though he fished for a shorter time. As usual great food and relaxed atmosphere at the Thatch cottage lodge.
(John just dropped me an e-mail 5 minutes ago: Suprise, suprise the bass have turned up in numbers not long after you left. Two of us have had about 40 in the last 3 days up to 7lbs. All were caugh early in the morning on the beaches. Its a pity we did not find them when you were here but I suppose that's fishing)
In Cobh we found a different environment, and a whole new experience was waiting for us. Kevin Murphy had put us on a nice non stop fishing plan, and boy, was it good or what? We arrived at the Bellavista hotel, had a chance for a brief chat and a tea with Kevin and Michael Hennessy, and hopped on the boat for our first afternoon of fishing. For some reason we couldn’t find the Sea Bass willing to snack on our candies but the Pollock were just swarming all over the place. Probably Boris caught 20 plus while I was skimming the surface in search for Bass, and three of those hit my walking the dog without being hooked. Eventually, when the sun went down the Pollock came up and hit the surface lure ravenously, and I had my share of fish too.
Next two days in the Cork Bay have been nothing short of amazing. The Bass showed up, in numbers and in size. Boris lost his virginity on the Irish Labrax and managed to land 5 of them on small gurgles and streamers and I had 9 fish up to 7lb on quite a big walking the dog, (Habano by Alle’s Lures) and on a Molix T-Jerk chartreuse that nailed 3 fish, including the biggest of the week, in less than half an hour fishing downcurrent a large pylons bridge.
Ok, if you like fishing light tackle, if you are a fly fisherman, if you love Sea Bass, enjoy being in a nice place with nicer people, drink good Guinness or Murphy beer and have a jolly good time, go to Ireland and fish with my friends. They will not only put you on fish, in the best spots, at the right time, but also make you laugh and feel at home.
There are few sincere thanks I’d like to put on writing. Fabiana Marraccini and Orla Woods at
Fâilte Ireland, the National Tourism Development Authority, you girls are just great! Lynn & John Quinlan at
Thatch Cottage Ireland in Kerry, Kevin Murphy at
Bass Fishing Ireland and Michael Hennessy of the South Western Fishery Board. Knowing you and being with you has been a true enjoyable experience I’m very much willing to repeat as soon as possible. Thanks for everything!
Galway, a paradise for sea bass, protected by strict laws enforced by the government. Fish that grow for the exclusive pleasure of recreational fisherman, without the use and abuse of the trade. In a country like Ireland where the money is not plentiful and the crisis is hammering hard, this is a real impressive result. The recreational fishermen are only entitled to two pieces per day and no nets, gillnets, trawls and long lines are affecting the stock.
The reports from friends who had been there previously were amazing and it was already time to park the heavy duty tackle for some lighter outfit. Oriol, Thomas and Mario were the lucky ones who shared with me these 4 intense, fruitful and enjoyable days. John was our guide and Lynn, his wife, tireless cook, terribly frightened by the amount of food the Spanish-Italian team could gobble each day.
A quick bite to calm the restless stomachs and after rigging the tackle we could finally go fishing. The first day was a little poor, with a couple of bass and one or two more bites. A good dinner and a deserved rest were needed to prepare the tired bodies for the next day, with a scary wake up call at 04:30 in the morning.
On our first full day of fishing, even arriving at dawn at the spot and despite of the efforts of the guide, the fish were still not participating. However, Oriol managed to land the largest piece of the week, but the team is far from being happy yet.
There were moments of frantic activity followed by sudden stops, all this due to the tides and the food that would concentrate or spread the fish. But we were staring seeing numbers at least. The double digits that my friends anticipated me before my trip were not a lie or a fisherman’s exaggeration, and the Irish Bass proved us that they can be very aggressive and fierce predators. 
Fishing was mainly either on the surface with walking the dogs, or an inch below the water with soft plastics, especially Fin-S and the Super Fluke, basically because they were the only ones we had. I found a dog that worked wonderfully in a foggy morning. Could cast it where others failed and obviously had an action that our finned ladies liked very much. Climbed to the highest step of the podium and every minute his stock value was moving faster that the rate of oil.
Unfortunately the photos I have are so pathetic that I will not dare to show them. Thus I do remember the panic of climbing up and down those high and steep cliffs under which where they live. It was scary. Fearful. Hopefully next time they will not see me wearing long neoprene waders with felt soles, thus I will be scared again, no shame to admit it.
The old series of Lamiglas Travel was quite bad but these have shown great qualities, both in casting and working the lures, exceeding the 8-foot rods that my friends were using. One is spinning, the XTC 704 able to toss lures up to 3/4oz and the other is the casting model XTC7025 with a lure rating up to 1 1/2oz. On the first one I put a reel a tad too big for it, the Certate 3500 Custom and on the second a Team Daiwa Luna 253, bait casting, which is a little gem. Tuf Line 20lb with 20/30lb leaders. Lures of the like of Spit'n Image, GunFish, Sammy, High Roller, and the vinyl discussed above.
During a photo session on the shoreline, three flashes mounted on a Lastolite Tri-Flash and a Manfrotto 001 Stand decided to take a swim and got as fried as the eggs we would eat in the morning. After a couple of hours I slipped on a rock and the Nikon D80 with the Sigma 10-20 drunk a good pint of water and stopped working. Finally, the joke had cost me more than most expensive trip to the tropics and I only managed to keep working thanks to the old D70s and 18-200, a lens that I don’t love too much and no speedlights available to lit up a bit the images.
I made peace with the soft plastics, I returned to see a country I love a lot, and I fished light tackle, which ultimately gives me great satisfaction. To be 100% satisfied I need the camera and lens to survive the dive, I’ll know it in few days. 
