John Quinlan from the Thatch Cottage in Cahersiveen tells us of fishing in his area:
May 1st: After some of the coldest weather for decades things have finally started to warm up. The last couple of weeks have seen a big improvement in bass catches. Nick Gough joined us for a weeks fishing which coincided with the first rise in temperatures this spring. He had some excellent sport with mullet, the best one weighed in at 4lb 6oz. He also enjoyed good sport with bass, taking fish up to 66cm (see photo below). He even manged to get our first fly caught bass of the season. We had several enjoyable days on the lakes where the brown trout were very obliging.
Matteo and Riccardo from Italy were both successful in catching their first ever Irish bass. (see photo below)
Michel and Baptiste Scola Grimaldi from France got off to a great start with their Irish bass fishing experience catching 20 bass on lure in their first two outings. Most were on caught on soft plastic lures but they had our first bass of the year on surface lure.
May 8th: Bass fishing in the Waterville area has finally taken off with good numbers of fish turning up on the beaches and on the reefs. Many bass seem to have just spawned so it is important to handle these fish carefully. While most of the bass are in the 2 to 4 lb range several better quality fish have been caught. Lugworm still seems to be the most effective bait from the beaches but peeler crab has been deadly fished over the reefs and rough ground. Just in the last few days bass are coming to the lure much more aggressively than before with some even taking on surface lures. The bay seems to be packed with sand eels at the moment and gannets and terns are getting in on the act as well as the bass.
Michel and Baptiste Scola-Grimaldi enjoyed some great sport with brown trout on the mountain lakes and Lough NaMona. We had fish up to almost 2lbs. They also tried their hand at pollock fishing for the first time, a fish that they don’t have in Italy. As well as some spectacular scenery they enjoyed good sport with the pollack.
John Quinlan
Thatch Cottage Ireland
Kenneigh West
Cahersiveen
Co. Kerry
Tel: +353 (0)66 9474721
E-mail: [email protected]
