Co.Kerry (Species caught from around the Coast) December 10.

[KERRY1]

People: Myself & K2

Bait used: Razorfish & fresh lugworm

Methods used: Bait fishing, spinning, plugging & lure fishing

Tides: Various states of tide depending on mark/location being fished

Weather: (Mixed) Windy at times, dry, bright, sunny, very very cold, alot of ice and heavy frost with very little cloud cover making it extremely cold at night!

Results: Bass, codling, flounder, whiting, coalfish, rockling, pollock & dogfish



Report

After having such a great time down in Kerry a few weeks previous and before the madness of Christmas arrived, K2 and I decided to go away again on another bass trip to relax and chill out, and no better place to do that than down in the Kingdom!

So, we got our gear packed, the accommodation was booked and we were both excited and looking forward to the trip ahead. Following on from our last trip down at the end of October - the start of November, expectations were high but little did we know at the time when we booked and made our plans that we were going to be travelling down when some of the coldest and worst weather conditions seen in the country for years was going to hit us, with heavy snow and severe ice everywhere.

With 350 miles to drive to get to our destination, we very nearly cancelled but with everything ready to go, the bait bought and the house booked we decided just to go for it and so we went anyway.
The journey down was abit hairy and dodgy to say the least, with some roads not gritted at all, making driving very treacherous and dangerous in places. We just took our time and although a journey that usually takes us approx 7 hours ended up taking us nearly 9, we figured it was better getting there abit later than not getting there at all and ending up in a ditch somewhere on the way down!

When we eventually arrived we were surprised to see that there was very little snow, apart from on the higher roads and mountains surrounding us, but there was alot of ice and heavy frost making it very, very cold indeed. This severe cold made going out fishing more of a challenge than usual but it didn’t put us off. The coldest temperature we recorded that we were out fishing in was a freezing minus - 13. I know what you are thinking, we must be mad!! We probably were but we both love our fishing and it would take abit more than the cold to stop us from going out for a session.
I remember saying to K2 at the start of the trip that the only thing we were going to catch was hyperthermia but thankfully that wasn’t the case!

Bass was our main target of the trip but again we did manage to catch a few other species as well which made it abit more interesting and gave us abit of variety during our fishing sessions.
Our mission was accomplished with us both catching bass, most of which were small but although we would have liked to have caught a few bigger ones, we weren’t complaining. We were both just happy to be out fishing and catching.
The fishing throughout was quite consistent and steady with us both catching on each session. We concentrated mainly on bait fishing and found that we had our best results while out on our night time sessions when it was dark, compared to those during the day.

We did give the lures and plugs abit of a run out a couple of times but the results were poor with no fish having been caught using this method this time but we didn’t expect to either as we knew that in the very cold weather bass are much slower and sluggish, caused when the water temperature drops which slows down their metabolism making them less active. That is why in the colder winter months there isn’t as many bass caught on the lures compared to when using bait in the same conditions.

If anything, we knew that if we were going to stand any chance of catching a bass on the plugs and lures, we would have to go abit deeper, rather than target them on the top of the surface and so we used a few of our sub - surface and deeper diving plugs that we had with us to try and reach them and entice the out of the weed etc. We also slowed down the retrieve of the lures and plugs because they do tend to be slower at this time of year but nothing worked, they weren’t interested, but we had to try. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts we just packed up our plugging gear and focused on the bait fishing the rest of the time.

As a result of the very bad ice on the roads we weren’t able to access or get to a few of the marks we had planned to fish, due to the roads to them either being impassable or closed completely which was a shame. Those that we did go to had quite alot of weed which was a real pain at times but we just kept moving until we found a spot on the beach that was clear and fished there instead.

The bait that worked best for us this time down was fresh lugworm which was harder to dig with them being much deeper down in the sand due to it being so cold but when we did reach them it was worth the effort with nice juicy black lugworm collected to use.

One night in particular we hit a beach that is known to throw up a few cod each year but not many and much to my delight, we both got one not long into the session, with my one I got being the biggest I have got to date and so I was well pleased! Not only did I get a new species to add to my list for the year, but it was a new PB also.

We put in alot of hours, over quite alot of sessions but it was well worth it with our overall bass tally at the end of the trip totalling 48. The last night was the best of the whole trip, with us catching 15 bass between us over a period of a few hours, great crack and as a result we ended our trip on a real high.

Despite the weather making things more unpleasant and difficult, I can speak for us both when I say that we had a great time as we always do when we go to Kerry, in such cold weather we didn’t expect to catch as much as we did and so the journey we made down was well worth making in the end. Co. Kerry lived up to its reputation as being both a great place to visit and to fish.

Can I take this opportunity to say from K2 and myself – Happy Christmas! everyone and Happy New Year to you all, I hope 2011 brings us plenty more fish to catch and report on.

Below are some pictures from our trip for you to have a look at.

[KERRY1]

More pictures.......

[KERRY1]

More pictures.......

[KERRY1]

More pictures........

[KERRY1]

Last pictures.

[The Austrian]

Fantastic report and fishing Paula and Norman, suppose you've already planned a trip to Norway then after completing this low temp ice fishing training sessions here successfully
I wish both of you a very Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year, and tight lines always!

[junior conger]

well done ye had some good fishing there
happy christmas and tight lines for 2011

[polmac]

brilliant report and pics, a good session was had by the looks of it

[RockHunter]

Great report - and great fishing too despite the cold weather, you certainly deserved those bass for getting out at night in those temperatures.

[FisherKing]

Great report, pics & fish well done & Happy Christmas to ye I haven't been out in ages but after looking at them fish, think I might have to sneak out Christmas day for a few hours & try to catch one more fish before the new year

[roger de dodger]

cool in more ways than normal thats some drive for a bit of fishing,fair play guys

[immunecfg]

Nice going guys.

I hope the new year brings you the same fortune as this year did.!

[pookie5488]

once again great report well done you two keep it up.

[doggie3131]

ya are flipping MAD!!......i'm so jelous!! well done and i hope ye have a great christmas and a happy new year,no doubt fishing in bloody kerry!!

[eyesreilly]

Well done you two, excellent results, i feel like a bit of a wimp now ,,,Merry Christmas to Paula and Norman

[saving private brian]

nice fishin and report well done

[declan65]

Well done Paula and Norman on putting in the hours in terrible conditions, excellent report as usual and great fishing too!

[flyno]

Some nice fish there and excellent pictures as usual. Well done and a merry chrishmas and new year.

[rab 525]

well done paula on the fishing and braving the elements merry xmas

[davetilly]

o to be on the red sands of kerry