I generally don’t do any bass guiding outside of Waterford, preferring to leave it to the local guides in an area.  However, I do like to make the occasional visit to Cork every now and then.  There are great quality bass there too.  The forecast wasn’t too bad so Mike and I set off for Cork, boat in tow.  We launched and headed to a likely looking spot, where we were greeted by two IFI Fisheries officers traveling on Jet Ski’s.  I have to say this was a first for us.  We chatted for a few moments and then the guys left us to our fishing.  We made a good start with a nice bass of over 50cm on a plug.

This was followed by a very nice fish of 72cm also on plug.

Normally, when you get a large fish like this you don’t get another but Cork can be a special place for bass fishing.  I switched to a soft plastic and several casts later as we drifted along I felt a soft bump, bump, bump.  Everything went solid and I lifted into the considerable weight of a very good fish.  It put up a mighty scrap on my Teklon Concept Spin.  Finally the battle was over and the fish was aboard.  I took some scale samples and measured it at 75cm.  It was in superb condition too.

The tide was going out and we tried a few more spots.  2 more hits on plugs and then a nice little 44cm fish on the plastics again.  It was well worth getting up early to make the coming tide and considering we only fished for a few hours it was pretty awesome.  Can’t wait to get back there soon for another visit.