Angling guide and guest house owners John & Lynn Quinlan from Thatch Cottage Ireland reports on some good bass fishing:
Great scenery and beautiful bass made a great start to the holidays for Nathaniel James.


Eddie Feakes getting in on the act too with a super fish. All bass are coming to soft plastics at the moment.


John tells us that tt’s still very cold there so soft plastics fished deep and slow are doing the trick.
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
John Quinlan
Thatch Cottage Ireland
Kenneigh West, Cahersiveen, Co. Kerry
Make a booking
We are now taking bookings for the 2016 season. 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