Saltwater Fly Fishing

Posted on June 6, 2022 by gamefishingireland

One of the most common queries I get is around my approach to saltwater fly fishing. So here is a quick introduction.

I use 2 set-ups for most of my saltwater fly fishing. A 9ft 5wt with full floating line. This is my go-to kit when fishing over very shallow clean ground in clear water. One reason for this is the lighter outfit is less likely to spook fish. Another is that the flies I typically use here are small, similar to the size of most trout flies. Another plus is that this outfit doubles up as a mullet rod so I can target both species at the same time.

A nice 62cm fish taken over clean ground on a shrimp pattern.

The other outfit I use is a 9ft 9wt. My personal favourite is the Mackenzie FX1 Salt rod. I have a few different lines that I use on this rod. Mostly I use a Rio Outbound Short coldwater line in intermediate and I also carry the full float in the same line (for surface flies). Another line I use is an OPST shooting head with various density tips. I find this line great for really big flies.

A fine bass taken on a baitfish pattern using the 9wt over rough ground.

The majority of the time I am using the 9wt is for casting larger flies and or fishing over rougher ground. I also use it in estuaries in channels with a strong current.

October Bass

Posted on October 16, 2017 by gamefishingireland

There has been some fantastic bass fishing along the copper coast this September and October. Good numbers of fish have been caught and the average size has been great with quite a number of fish over 70cm reported. All methods have worked but I have concentrated on fly and lure fishing with my clients. Our best fish came on fly at night. Unfortunately we were unable to get a good quality picture of the beast but even so the photo we did get shows the with of the fish before we swiftly released it back into the sea.

Successful flies included wake flies, sandeel imitations and the ever reliable Dahlberg Diver.

The usual lures produced the goods with Black Minnows being very successful especially at low tide in the deeper channels.

Over shallower rough ground Komomos and soft plastic worms fished well as always. It never ceases to amaze me how bass absolutely love these things.

Another lure that has been working well is the hard needlefish type lures. Bass Bullets, Line-thru lures and Westin Kongetobis all performed well at long range. My new “favourite” are some custom made lures I ordered from the UK. They fly out like bullets and the bass just hammered them.

If the water temperatures stay high then fishing may continue well into November. What effects ex-hurricane Ophelia will have on the fishing I cannot say but a lot of coastal areas in the south east have taken a real bashing. Tight lines!

The Year Ahead – Cautious Optimism!

Posted on March 1, 2017 by gamefishingireland

First off, it’s been a while since I have had blogged about anything fishy but I decided to take a little break after a fairly hectic end to the 2016 season. I didn’t do a whole lot over the closed season except tie a few flies including some intruder style flies for my pal Ned for his trips to Canada. One of these years I will join up with them as the whole experience seems mega.

September 2016 was a bit of a scramble with the river trout and salmon seasons coming to an end combined with some fantastic bass fishing tides! The weather was good and the bass fishing continued to provide decent sport right through November.

I didn’t do anything like as much winter reservoir fishing as I have done in previous seasons and 2017 kind of crept up on me and before I knew it I was off to Dublin for the Ireland Angling Expo in February. This is always a great event and this year was no exception although if anything there was more for the predator (bass/pike) angler to see than some previous years. There was still a lot there for the trout and salmon angler too with top brands like Simms, Redington, Mackenzie, Airflo, Nautilus, Hardy/Greys etc etc all on display. The attendance at my talks each day was brilliant and as always it was epic to meet up with the Mackenzie Pros and all of the various people who make the show tick in one way or another. I always say this show is much much more than just tackle sales.

March is now upon us and things are already starting to get busy. I have been out giving tuition and guiding and later this month I have two stillwater courses running, a Match the Hatch course in Wicklow with Ken Whelan and a Stillwater Tactics course at Ardaire Springs in Mooncoin. In the meantime I am putting a lot of effort into testing the absolutely awesome prototype for the new 10ft 6wt Mackenzie FX1 Graphene single handed rod. So far the results have been superb. It casts really well and everyone who tried it at the show in Dublin gave great feedback. Trials have indicated that this will be a great buzzer/nymph rod that can also be used for some dry fly and small lure fishing if needs be. I am enjoying the testing so much with this weapon that it will take another while before Scott will be getting it back!!!!

So everything is looking great so far for 2017. While some salmon rivers in Ireland had a disastrous start the Munster Blackwater seems to be performing quite well. The quality of trout in Ardaire and the Waterford Reservoirs is excellent. Initial reports on the river trout fishing in the Blackwater and surrounding rivers that are already open suggest that fish are in excellent condition. With lots more courses running during the year including our new Saltwater Fishing Course in June and the North West Angling Fair in Strabane in April not too far away it is difficult not to be positive.

However, in spite of this optimism it is still early in the year to get carried away as to what the salmon season here will produce. The same can be said as regards sea bass. It will be interesting to see the effect of current conservation measures over a long period of time. Many rivers in Ireland are now classed as ‘closed’. This seems to be causing great confusion as to whether an angler can still fish them for brown trout and indeed sea trout under 40cm. Factor in the complete confusion as to what the rules are about fishing for sea trout in saltwater and you have something of a Gordian Knot. More on this to follow in my next blog (not to be missed)!!!!

October Bass on Lure and Fly

Posted on October 8, 2016 by gamefishingireland

I recently spent a few days guiding Ken, Brendan and Lee for sea bass along the Copper Coast and around Dungarvan. We had some of the best bass fishing in a long time. It wasn’t just about the numbers of fish but the average size too. We had some seriously well conditioned bass.

One of our best hard lures was the ever reliable IMA Komomo (sf125, slim 130 and Komomo II). It really does do the business over shallow rough ground. It casts well and works great on a slow retrieve. The IMA Sasuke 120 is another similar and reliable lure.

I can’t explain the delight when Brendan caught his first bass in over 40 years!! He seems to be a natural when fishing weighted soft plastics like the Fiiish Black Minnow and HTO Artic Eel.

Ken was keeping up with brother and nailed some really good fish.

When everyone had caught the boys were very generous and said I could fly fish for a while. I didn’t need to be asked twice because normally I never get to have a cast when guiding and if there’s one thing I love to do it’s catching bass on fly. I tie my own bass flies but also use some tied by friends of mine who are commercial tyers of predator flies. Andy and Paula of Chasing Silver Flies tie some awesome proven bass patterns. My pal Dougie from Scotland also ties stunning predator flies.

We caught bass just about everywhere we fished, shallow rough ground – deep channels – clean sand bars and beaches. Tactics were altered to suit the conditions – jigging soft plastics, weightless/weedless stick worms, shallow diving and surface lures. Changing colours for different light conditions. There is a lot to learn but what a way to do it!

The Copper Coast was just on fire and it one of the nicest places to pursue this hard fighting wild fish.

Of course when you are catching good numbers large fish it is important to practice catch and release. Bass are a very slow growing species.

There are still good opportunities to fish for bass right through October and into November. I’m looking forward to some more good sessions and I know the boys are itching to get back out there.

Autumn Gold (and Silver!)

Posted on October 1, 2016 by gamefishingireland

Guiding was really busy all summer and of course family time is very important too, especially when you have two young kids. Anyway, there was little time to sit down and write blogs about the fishing. To be fair, salmon fishing slowed down towards the end of summer this year. As always September is a mad hectic month for me as customers are keen to finish off the freshwater season with a salmon, trout or seatrout. Saltwater anglers know that some of the best bass tides of the year fall in September too. There was a lack of fresh salmon in most rivers and a few days on the lower Munster Blackwater with clients resulted in three salmon landed, two lost and a few seatrout in the mix. The water was very high then dropping nicely and clearing then rising fast all in the space of a few days! All but one of the fish the guys landed and lost were red. The high coloured water meant fishing from the bank rather than wading so we had to use the landing net and place the fish up on the grass for a quick photo before release.

My clients exercised their discretion to tag and keep a fresh salmon for the table. I rarely keep a fish anymore but at the end of the day it was up to them.

For me the seabass is one of the best game fish in our waters. I just love fishing for them. The September tides always produce some crackers and with some settled weather things looked really promising. I guided during the spring tides with Lee, Paul and Daire on alternate days and we had several superb fish with the best measuring 74cm. Belter!!

We had fish on soft plastics, surface lures and hard lures. One of my favourite shallow divers is the Feed Shallow but this year I have really taken to the IMA Komomo and Komomo II. These are excellent lures and fish well on a slow retrieve.

As often happens you can get a day or two when the sea conditions make bass fishing a less than promising option. However, the great thing about Dungarvan is that there are other good fishing options available, such as salmon or trout. So when the water got really discoloured Paul agreed to do some fly fishing over at Ardaire Springs in Mooncoin. I lost count of the amount of quality trout he landed on dries!

So we the rivers closing at the end of September there is still lots of opportunity to bass fish. Keep an eye out for my next blog on some awesome fly and lure fishing for large bass along the copper coast!!!!!

All about the bass, about the bass!

Posted on June 9, 2016 by gamefishingireland

Been very busy with guiding and tuition since I got back from the Northwest Angling Fair in Tyrone. At the Clancy festival in Carrick on Suir I did some casting demonstrations and tuition on the local Carrick on Suir Club waters. This is a super club who are very interested in promoting fly fishing and have worked hard to provide fantastic facilities of members and day permit holders. They have a really impressive stretch of water along the River Suir.

The daytime trout fishing has been tough in the bright warm conditions but we still had lots of fish on nymphs and dries but no really big ones. Having said that wild brown trout certainly don’t have to be big to be pretty fish. Just look at the beauty we had from a local stream the other day. Remarkable colours.

On the other hand the bass fishing along the copper coast and into Tramore has been awesome over the last set of spring tides. There were large numbers of fish caught in the Tramore area during night sessions. When the weather is very warm and sea is calm night fishing over shallow sandy surf beaches can be very productive indeed. However, as a fishing guide a lot of my clients either cannot or just do not want to fish during those hours so I am faced with trying to get them onto fish in daylight during the same conditions. This means trying a lot of tactics but the big tides do help quite a bit and we had some fantastic bass recently, with several over 70cm and one over 80cm.

Adapting to the fishing situation is important and we had fish on surface lures, shallow divers and in particularly the soft plastics. Senko worms are really doing the business along with some paddle tails.

The next spring tides are not far away so I’m really looking forward to getting out there. Remember the be familiar with the bass angling regulations and practice catch and release.

Fishing Update

Posted on July 20, 2015 by gamefishingireland

Been too busy lately to blog but here’s a quick update on how the fishing has been. We have had a few salmon on the Munster Blackwater from the Ballyduff Bridge Beats with Brendan O Dwyer having 4 grilse on fly yesterday at Ballincurrig and Tony Murtagh having another at Ballyduff Bridge. Most of my guiding in the past week has been for bass and things are improving here with some nice fish from these tides. Tight lines!

Cracker for Mark from Dublin

One from the boat for Kuba

Silver September

Posted on September 29, 2014 by gamefishingireland

I took a small break from guiding and blogging due to a family bereavement but got back into the swing of things towards the end of this month. With still no water in the river and Brian from Tyrone coming for a weeks fishing things didn’t look great on the salmon front. Maurice and Mike, also from Tyrone had some nice salmon the week before on natural bait but it was still tough fishing, even in the tidal beats. Luckily, Brian has really taken to bass fishing so it he didn’t mind about the salmon. I also spent a bass fishing session with Paul from the UK who was staying locally and hopes to come back around the same time next year. I am lucky to have such a variety of excellent options on my doorstep.

Route to a Waterford Coastal Mark

Brian is a big fan of fishing surface lures for bass so I organised a few sessions over likely ground. He was really enjoying the pleasant weather and the fishing turned out “better than expected” which was a real bonus.

The best fish Brian had for six days was an excellently conditioned bass of about 8lbs. This fish alone made the trip worthwhile for Brian.

On his best session Brian landed 5 bass to 6lbs.

Releasing a Waterford Bass

Local angler/fishing photographer Kuba joined us on one of our sessions and he had a nice bass of about 4.5lbs.

Another nice fish

Overall this set of spring tides fished well and I adopted a targeted and selective approach to our fishing sessions rather than flogging lures for hours on end. The guys seemed to appreciate this as they were still a little tired even after these shorter sessions. Although “bulging” surface lures seemed the most effective method, we still had fish on shallow divers and on soft plastics. I had a lovely fish when showing the guys how I fish one particular mark with a weightless weedless paddle tail.

Revive and release

Brian landed a total of 11 bass for his 6 days. He must have really enjoyed himself because he is talking about returning around the end of October or early November for one last throw!

Absolute Corkers

Posted on August 17, 2014 by gamefishingireland

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.

Fine Weather & Fine Fish

Posted on August 14, 2014 by gamefishingireland

The dry summer has continued into August in the South East with high temperatures and little rain. This fine weather is great for the beach etc but can make for some very tough fishing conditions . . . . tough but not impossible. On the trout front the rivers have been down to their bones. Still there was a rise in the evenings and this also included a rise of seatrout, particularly on the Munster Blackwater. The opportunity to catch seatrout on light tippet and small dries was not to be missed and casting pupil Peter and I had some superb fishing.

Blackwater Seatrout

Lovely Wild Brown trout

Most of our productive bass fishing had been by night using soft plastics but the tides were springing this week and the brisk wind from the land was making a nice disturbance on the water. This allowed for some decent lure fishing during the evenings.

Bass over 50cm

Soft plastics continued to work well fooling some fine sea bass.

Bass over 60cm

Salmon fishing had been really difficult. A few fish were laded in the lower Suir on fly in the early mornings but it was very difficult. The Blackwater was a similar story. Regular visitor Brian had one nice 10lbr on spinning tackle from the tidal waters but nothing on fly on this occasion.

10lb salmon

The Suir rose by 1ft on Sunday which gives very good salmon fly fishing prospects in the lower river for the coming days.

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Tag Archives: Copper Coast

Saltwater Fly Fishing

October Bass

The Year Ahead – Cautious Optimism!

October Bass on Lure and Fly

Autumn Gold (and Silver!)

All about the bass, about the bass!

Fishing Update

Silver September

Absolute Corkers

Fine Weather & Fine Fish

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