Sean Jordan, of Bass Fishing Wexford, reports on a great bass trip where he had fish to 78cm…
“Early & late for the big girls”
One of the great south Wexford bass anglers of yesteryear used to always quip… Sadly long departed now, but his voice, and words came back to haunt me this week when a magnificent 78cm slid ashore, well in excess of 11lb’s, and in top condition.
Everyone knows about late season bass for sure, but a good friend of mine who fishes hard all year with lures has got his biggest bass in March, a fish of just under 14 lb’s!! And I’ll add to that, last March (2016), I spotted without a doubt the largest bass I’ve seen in a few years, cruising an isolated open sandy beach in bright sunshine The bass was well over 80cm, and swan within feet of me before being spooked, ggrrrr…. (But, it’s hard not to stand out in those places).
Is there a case of body mass making larger specimens more tolerant of cooler water ? Maybe, who can say for sure? They don’t always play by the rules many anglers go by. My own experiences with specimens, as I’ve said before, is that they can turn up at anytime, anywhere, usually when I’ve least expected them…
After a 10 minute battle with 3 long searing runs she was quickly measured, tagged, 4-5 scales taken for sampling, and released…
The scale’s will go for sampling for the IFI’s National Bass Programme Feedback from a 79 cm fish I sent in from 2015 was that the fish was spawned @ 2002, & was 13 + years old, but growth age/rates can vary greatly, another sample from a fish I caught in 2015, well offshore was recorded at 61 cm, was spawned @ 1998, & was 17+ years old. The larger bass are almost all invariably females, & in keeping with females of other species they like to keep their age a bit of a mystery
Sean Jordan,
Bass Fishing Wexford
Address: Sean Jordan, Belgrove Cross, Duncormick, Co. Wexford, Ireland.
Telephone: +353 (0)51 563132 or +353 (0)86 2611436
Email: [email protected] Web: www.bassfishingwexford.com
