This week Sea Bass Hunter Tomasz Ekert was renewing old friendships…

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Tomasz with his recapture which wins him Catch of the Week

This morning I caught at Smerwick Harbour Sea Bass with tag No. 01088. the fish was originally tagged by Aidan O Sullivan on 24/8/15 in the Shannon Estuary. In between been caught it travelled at least 69 kms and was at liberty for 232 days. 

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John Sheehan with a bass that Tomasz tagged last year

One of my own tagged fish was recaptured this earlier in April at Fermoyle Beach.  B-1042 was tagged by me on 29/10/15 at Dingle Harbour and was recaptured  on 3/4/16 at Fermoyle Beach.  It is approximately 57kms from Dingle to Fermoyle Beach by water. The fish had been at liberty for 157 days.  The fish was caught and released by John Sheehan of Kerry Sea Guide’s & Bait’s:  https://www.facebook.com/Kerry-Sea-Guides-Baits-1556115324701795

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Dave McPhillips with his first of the year

Elsewhere in Kerry guests of John Quinlan at Thatch Cottage Ireland in Waterville are getting some bass too. Dave McPhillips had his first of the year on a Fiish crazy sand eel. On Monday Ian Herbert also had a bass on lure.

Bass angling regulations

Anglers fishing for bass is Ireland are now bound by articles 10.5 and 10.6 of the recently introduced EU Regulation 2016/72 which stipulates catch and release for bass between Jan 1 and June 30th and bag limit of 1 fish per day from July 1st to December 31st.  There is no longer a closed season.

Further legislation has been drafted to implement the increased size limit from 42cm as per the EU Regulation to 50cm in line with the IFI Bass Policy.

Bass angling survey

Inland Fisheries Ireland have designed a survey to evaluate the Irish bass fishery, bass angling and the current regulations in place which relate to the bass fishery in Ireland. If you fished for bass in Ireland in 2015 or caught bass in Ireland in 2015 while targeting other species your input would be welcome. The survey should take 10 -15 minutes to complete and respondents who participate have the chance to win a day’s guided bass angling. Results of the survey will be reported on in August/September 2016 and the report will be made available to the public via the IFI website. Data collected as part of this survey will be analysed by both IFI staff and the Socio-economic Marine Research Unit of NUI Galway; this data will be protected and will not be made available to others.

If you would like to participate in the survey, please follow this linkhttps://www.surveymonkey.com/r/IrishBassSurvey

National Bass Programme

IFI has established a National Bass Programme to collect data on bass in order to provide scientific advice to support management and conservation of Ireland’s bass resource. Bass is Ireland’s only marine fish species which is managed for angling. The programme is being developed to determine the status of bass stocks and also to improve understanding of their ecology and biology in Ireland for the long-term sustainability of the species. See further details on www.fisheriesireland.ie/Projects/national-bass-programme

Go fishing…

Kerry Sea Guide’s & Bait

John Sheehan of Kerry Sea Guide’s & Bait’s:  https://www.facebook.com/Kerry-Sea-Guides-Baits-1556115324701795

Thatch Cottage

Lure and fly fishing for bass normally begins mid to late March with April and May often giving superb sport.  Please get in touch to check for best times and availability. If you fancy a spring bass fishing break just give John a call on (066) 947 4721 (or +353 66 947 4721 from abroad).

E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.thatchcottageireland.co.uk