Check out this bass lure

• I have recently got hold of this bass lure above, backed up by reports of some stunning bass catches over in Jersey last year from the guys who were using it. It is amazing to see just where surface fishing for bass is headed, when lures like this make it so easy and effective. If you are fishing rocky, weedy, shallow to medium depth ground and want to cover a lot of water, you really should have a look at this lure. Better still, team it up with a proper plugging rod like my new Tenryu and you have the ultimate set up.

• Called the Patchinko II, and made by Xorus, it casts like a bullet. Seriously, I have rarely come across a surface lure that cuts through the wind so well. The Lucky Craft Sammy and GunFish are excellent casting lures as well, but this Patchinko II has the edge. You can cover a serious amount of water with it, and that can only be a good thing.

• Like all good things in life, specialist lures like this can be tricky to get hold of, but I know you can order them here. It is worth tracking this one down. The great thing about surface lures is that you so rarely lose them, unless that is you are fishing for monster golden dorado that take huge delight in relieving me of my favourite Halco poppers. See the photos here.

• So how does this Patchinko II lure work ? In my mind it is close to an ultra-modern version of an established favourite, the Yo-Zuri Mag Popper - a kind of hybrid walk the dog/popper lure. It is closest in action to the Lucky Craft GunFish I reckon, whereby it "walks" seductively across the surface and also spits water out in front with that in-turned mouth. And this one really walks big time. Whereas the Sammy is best suited to calm conditions and tends to get knocked about when it is a little choppy, lures like this Patchinko II and the GunFish are that extra bit more stable.

• Using a lure like this really is a perfect example of when a specialist plugging rod like the new Tenryu that I have here comes into its own (check out my rod review here). Such a fast, powerful action to a rod gives you instant pick-up on a lure like this, and it means that however far you cast it, the moment you snap that bail arm over and begin the retrieve, the lure is working properly. You hardly have to move the rod tip to get this Patchinko II lure doing its stuff across the surface, and in my mind that has made the purchase of this kind of modern bass plugging rod more than worthwhile. Covering more water effectively is the key.

• The Jersey guys tell me that when bass hit this Patchinko II lure, they nail it big time, so there is obviously something a bit special about it. I can see myself using this one a lot over the summer and autumn. I did hear from my mate Graham Hill over in Ireland that he had three nice bass on a Lucky Craft GunFish just before their close season kicked in on May 15th. I also hear that he is currently going up the wall with frustration, and they are only a few days into the close season !! Still, it's a good thing and I respect the Irish authorities a huge amount for implementing a thing like that.

• And as for frustration, tell me about it !! Photographing pike on the fly was cancelled for Monday, for various tedious reasons, and then today I was meant to be out with Malcolm Jones on his charter boat. But while the sun might be shining, we very annoyingly have fresh east winds that are making things very difficult. Yes, you guessed, another day cancelled. I am known for my lack of patience, and this is testing it somewhat !! Still, at least I am out with Nick Hart tomorrow to photograph some west country river fly fishing. If we get a meteor shower that destroys the river between now and tomorrow, I might just scream......

• Still, to calm you down, put the new CD from Belphegor into your stereo and crank it up to the max. Any album with the glorious title of "Bondage Goat Zombie" deserves a listen (where do they get these album names from ??!!), but this is seriously good extreme metal. Check it out here. The soothing sound of the first crushing track is calming me down no end. I could almost forget the fresh east wind blowing outside.

Just too much breeze

• I was meant to be out photographing with Malcolm Jones today, the skipper of the Plymouth charter boat Sea Angler II, but the forecast was just that bit too fresh to get out. It's a real shame - Malcolm rang me on his way back from sea yesterday to say that they have a really good day, with plenty of good pollack up to about 15lbs, and masses of launce around for bait. We are going to try again this Tuesday. If you want to spend a day at sea with one of the nicest guys you could hope to meet, book Malcolm up for some fishing. The photo above is Malcolm at the wheel of his boat, just passing by Plymouth breakwater.

• Bright and early tomorrow morning I head up to photograph some fly fishing for pike up on Chew reservoir with Nick Hart and Wayne Thomas from North Devon. Wayne is a seriously good all round angler and it is always a blast going out with these guys - Wayne recently landed some seriously good pike up on Chew, check here for details. And if the pike don't want to play ball, then it is a very good time for trout up there.

• Hopefully the weather holds for Tuesday out at sea with Malcolm, and then on Wednesday I am back out with Nick Hart to try and photograph one of stunning local rivers for the wild browns and grayling. I simply love this style of fishing and photography. In less than a month, Nick and I are heading out to Montana and both of us are in a complete state of over excitement about it. Fly fishing for wild trout is surely one of the best things on earth, and I get a huge kick out of photographing it.

• I heard of a stunning 9lb plus bass taken on a lure from Jersey waters, on Saturday I believe - that is a proper fish and the angler deserves all credit, especially as he released the fish unharmed. I know the guy caught it on a Tide Minnow 145SLD lure that is apparently working well over there at the moment. A tricky lure to get hold of, but you can get them here. If they work in the Channel Islands, you can bet your life they'll smash fish over here as well. Good to hear that the guy concerned took the fish on his new Tenryu rod (a Rod Bar Model 240 I believe) - these red devils are starting a mini-revolution in top end bass fishing, so check them out here.

At least I christened my new rod....

• I had to make a decision this morning - stay here and work, or head out fishing for a few hours. Not a tough one. Flat calm conditions, hardly a breath of wind, overcast, and good water clarity - any breeze there was seemed to be variable at best. Seemed pretty good for a bash with the bass lures and my new Tenyru plugging rod.

• It all felt pretty good when I saw a nice shoal of sandeels moving into a gully just after low water, and I also saw a decent fish jump right out of the water - a sea trout I am presuming, as it was not a bass. I also saw a fish or two down deep which I am sure were pollack. It is amazing how much more you see with polarised sunglasses, even when it is overcast like it was this morning. In my opinion, Maui Jim make the best ones in the world - worth every single penny. They are as vital as a good rod and reel.

• Anyway, about two hours up I finally got hit by a fish, but pretty quickly I could tell it was not a bass, and also that it was hardly about to test the new rod to the max. But at least it was a fish, albeit a small pollack - see the photo above. It went back fine. I carried on for a bit, but saw not a sniff of a bass.

• But my Tenyru rod has at last been christened !! The more I use this rod, the more I am realising just how good it is for our bass fishing - I seriously can not believe how effortlessly it chucks lures out there, indeed I am actually backing off the power in my casting because the rod works more efficiently like that. I stand by everything I said about the rod the other day, check here for that review. The accuracy with which you can deliver lures, and the lack of effort it requires to work them properly makes fishing with it a complete joy. The less tiring it is to work lures properly, the longer you will work them more efficiently. If you are after what I believe is the ultimate bass plugging rod, check here on where to get one (or two or three !!). This one rod has forever changed my opinion on what makes a good plugging rod - and note the word plugging, not spinning. They are two completely different things.

• The lure that caught the pollack was none other than the ever faithful Maria Chase BW in holographic silver. I love watching this thing "swimming" in the water and I feel very confident every time I fish with it. Get these lures here. Now for some bass please.......

• Another top extreme music tip here - get the new Deicide album, Til Death do us Part. For years these guys have been at the forefront of death metal, with various ups and downs along the way, but this new album is a savage classic. I saw these guys live when they toured their first ever album and they ripped big time back then. Good to hear that they have kept the insanity going for all these years !! What an awesome CD to write a fishing feature to.......

Out at sea

• Above is the intro page of the May edition of the Hardy and Greys online magazine, Fin & Fly - it is a photo of mine from Rost in Norway. I deliberately used the amazing clouds to fill the frame and allow plenty of room for this kind of use. Check my latest Fin & Fly feature out here. What a place Rost and the surrounding waters are, and the fishing is going off big time right now. I have heard that they are catching lots of big halibut, including some 200lb plus monsters, plus stacks of big cod and coalfish. Yes, this area costs more than the cheaper "package-style" pirking for cod areas further up north, but you get what you pay for - the areas around Rost in my mind offer some of the best boat fishing in Europe. Check here for the best guiding operation there is up there, and the guys come extremely highly recommended by me.

• I have actually just heard that Per Jonasson, the guide who worked with us up there last summer for the big coalfish on the fly, has put one of his clients onto a new world record halibut, see here for full details. That is some fish !! I told you these guys were good. You get what you pay for in fishing. See my photos from that trip last year here.

• My mate Malcolm Jones rang me yesterday to tell me all about the great boat fishing he has been putting his customers over out of my home port of Plymouth. The recent good weather has given them a real boost, and they have been smashing good numbers of big pollack to about 18lbs on live launce. This is one of favourite forms of fishing, for you can scale right down and really have a blast with them when they crash dive. I reckon this is one situation when the US style gear I talked about the other day would work well (scroll down the blog). I see no reason why a decent spinning reel and a good spinning rod would not work well. I have landed coalfish to 35lbs on this kind of gear over in Norway, plus big cod, so of course it will work well here. My rod of choice for this is the stunning Greys Missionary 6 30-100g spinning rod.

• Malcolm's boat is called Sea Angler II, and he is one of the best charter skippers around, plus a thoroughly nice guy into the bargain. A day's fishing with Malcolm is always a serious pleasure, so get in touch here. He also makes a blinding cup of tea or coffee !!

• I am not heading over to Norway to photograph the pike fishing, for my contact has just told me that the weather has suddenly turned and messed their fishing up, so I guess it will be next year. A real shame as I so wanted to see this fishing. My contact over there is a mad keen angler with a world of experience, and he also happens to be the drummer for one of Norway's best extreme metal bands, Enslaved. Check out some tracks here. This is one seriously awesome band, and I can't wait to hear their new album due out later this year. I would never have come across places like Rost if it was not for Cato Bekkevold - how perfect is that ? A proper mix of fishing and metal. A seriously nice guy, an awesomely talented drummer, and a complete fishing junkie. I photographed Enslaved a while ago when they were playing a gig in London, shooting for Metal Hammer magazine - they blew the other bands off the stage. Scroll to the bottom of this page to see them in action, with some photos of Cato in action as well. Now if this isn't a cool way to slip extreme metal into a fishing blog then I don't know what is !! You have to give me some credit here.......

Catalogue cover

• I got hold of a copy of the new Veals 2008 Bass catalogue today, with a photo of mine on the cover, and plenty more inside. I really like the choice of photo as it works well for the landscape format of the catalogue. And there is a huge amount of bass fishing tackle inside - check out their mail order website here. These are the guys I get my much loved Maria Chase lures from.

• A couple of friends of mine had an incredible catch of 19 small-eyed rays the other night off a rock mark in North Cornwall. The rays may have been of no great size, but that is incredible shore fishing in anybody's book. I have always had a soft spot for small-eyed ray fishing, and one of my favourite marks of all time has to be the well known Skate Rock close to Treyarnon Bay in Cornwall. I used to spend a lot of time up there and we had some awesome fishing over the years. I have sensed a bit of a revival in the numbers of rays around over the last few years, and I hope it continues.

• Check out a plaice fishing feature of mine in the new issue of Sea Angler, on pages 120, 121, 122 and 124. Whilst they are not exactly the most "explosive" of fish to catch, there is something very special about seeing these flatfish.

• With the current explosion in light tackle bass fishing interest, I am really glad to see that Mel Russ (Sea Angler editor) has gone and "discovered" the delights of fishing with surface lures. I note that he was fishing with one of Ireland's top bass anglers, John Hall. Check out some stuff I did with John a few years ago, click here. Little can beat fishing with topwater lures anywhere in the world.

• There are a bunch of my photos in the current issue of Trout Fisherman, check out pages 42, 43, 44, 45 and 46. Words are by Nick Hart.

• Anyway, enough about fishing. How about a bit more metal ? Anybody who has been into metal long enough to witness the "birth" of thrash metal will have several Testament CDs in their collection. And they are back with a stunning new album called The Formation of Damnation, check here for a few samples.

• If you do not have Slayer's historical album Reign in Blood in your thrash metal collection, then please leave the building and close the door. I will never forget listening to that album for the first time, and back then I believe I bought it on vinyl. I would argue that nobody has ever bettered it as a pure thrash metal release. Yes, of course, it's in my top five of all time.

• All we need now is for the (once) mighty Metallica to release an album that can come close to their first three masterpieces. What on earth happened to these guys and their recent output ? Go back and listen to the awesome Master of Puppets to see just how good they once were. I don't own any of their CDs after the Black album, and even that I rate as somewhat suspect.

Learning more about fishing

• What awesome weather to get back to - summer is properly here now. Out come the shorts !! I love my trips overseas, but nothing beats getting home and seeing the family. I had a great trip to the Keys and I learnt more than I could possibly imagine - one of the real advantages to travelling for my work is the chance to see so many different kinds of fishing and fishing methods. I like to and need to keep learning all the time. This trip to the Keys has really made me think hard about the different kinds of rods and reels we use for our fishing, and especially the strength of modern spinning (fixed spool) reels. What we can do with these kinds of reels now is amazing, indeed here in the UK I reckon we have a lot to learn about where to use them.

• Take the reels in the photo above. The new Fin-Nor Offshore Spinning reels are only around $160, yet they offer insane levels of power and huge line capacities. Plenty of guys use them for smashing huge tarpon and also various kinds of big fish sport both inshore and offshore. Don't get me wrong, I love using multipliers (called conventional reels in the US), but more so I am seeing just how stable and efficient it is to fight big fish with a decent spinning reel. The kinds of spinning and conventional inshore and offshore rods you can get in the US cover a huge range of fishing, from the largemouth bass up to and beyond species like amberjack and tuna. I reckon the Fin-Nor 65 Offshore reel is an incredible bit of kit for the money. Simple, strong, reliable and designed to beast big fish.

• If I simply stood still and did the same things all the time, I would get nowhere with my working in fishing, and my own interest would begin to wane. I don't care if it happens to be on my doorstep or thousands of miles away - doing different things in fishing is vital to me and I am going to keep embracing change and adaptation as much as I can. Take the two guys I was out in Florida with, Scott and John - both of them think nothing of going bass fishing one day, then trout fishing the next, and then say barbel fishing after that. True all rounders, very good anglers as a result, and a complete blast to spend time with. I hear they have been catching some more big tarpon, Goliath groupers, wahoo and amberjack after I left, so well done guys. Rodney Goodship of Fish the Dream is a true gent and puts his clients over some outrageous fishing. Get out there as soon as you can. You would be surprised at just how cost effective this world class fishing can be.

• Here is Rodney with that tarpon I photographed the other day. Words really can not do justice to how special these fish are, but you would be surprised at how relatively light you can fish for them. It is not only the power of the fish that tends to smash you up, rather the places you fish for them - big fish around bridges and structure are a handful, plain and simple. We were using mainly US style spinning rods, rated for lines up to 30lbs, with those Fin-Nor Offshore 65 spinning reels and 0.50mm/30lb line. Next time I am going to change over to 50lb braid for them - my dream would be to use a Shimano Stella 8000FA for this kind of fishing, but we shall see. I did meet a local guide who uses a Stella 5000 and a light kind of inshore spinning rod for his tarpon fishing, but he has been doing it all his life. I'm not quite there yet !!

• And another good thing about going away is that I usually come back to a CD or two that I have ordered - if metal is your thing (and it should be !!), you seriously need to check out the new album from the Greek band Septic Flesh, called Communion. Listen to a few tracks here. This is awesome metal, nearly up to the standards of the other mighty Greek band, Rotting Christ - naturally you have noted that they released my favourite album of last year, see here.

• If you have been into extreme metal for ages, you will have known all about an incredible old band called Exhorder - they released two outstanding albums, "Slaughter in the Vatican" and "The Law", and then promptly spilt up. I personally reckon Exhorder were a better band than Pantera ever were, so it is with great joy that I recently heard about Exhorder getting back together to tour and record. This is seriously exciting news. But not quite as monumental as the mighty Immortal reforming last year - you don't know how much I am looking forward to them releasing another CD, although how they could possibly better one of my top five albums of all time is going to be tough. "Sons of Northern Darkness" should be in every single metal fan's collection.

• I have just heard that the winds have shifted around in Norway, and that has put the pike down a bit - if it all comes right, I head over to take photos, and if it doesn't, then there is always next year......

Last gasp tarpon in the boat

• Around 5.30am this morning, Scott hooked a good tarpon down at Seven Mile bridge, and this fish decided to indulge us and head for open water - after giving us a few nightmares around the bridge pylons of course. I have to admit to being a nervous wreck through the whole fight, but Scott did so well, and Rodney did exactly what was needed with the boat.

• And we got it !! Success is sweet, well done to Scott for hanging on for over an hour to tame this magnificent tarpon, around 100lbs we reckon. Rodney did a great job on the leader as the fish finally came close enough to the boat to grab, and after a very quick couple of photos we managed to slip him back unharmed. What a great end to my few days to be able to grab a few proper tarpon photos - the fish did me good and proper this year, but that is tarpon fishing. You had to see the power the fish above had this morning to understand how incredible this fishing is.

• Scott described it well this morning - this is world class fishing for a world class fish, but at sensible money. Come out and do this Florida Keys stuff if you can, and contact Rodney Goodship of Fish the Dream to do it. I can not recommend the whole set-up wholeheartedly enough.

• Anyway, I am just off to Miami airport now to head home - hope the bass are in and feeding now !! There is actually a high chance that I am heading out to Norway next week to photograph some insane shallow water pike fishing, but that very much depends on day to day conditions. Already they have had pike to 25lbs in a metre of water, on a surface fly. Too much to do, too little time......

Chewed up and spat out - part 2

• I have rarely had fishing kick me so hard - the Florida Keys have decided this year to teach me a lesson !! We headed down to the Bahia Honda bridge today, a place stacked full of tarpon that feed throughout the day because of the deeper water under the road bridge. But the trade off is that Bahia Honda is an extremely difficult place to actually land the tarpon. These mighty fish might well be hungry, but nine times out of ten they head straight for the various line-busting structures that festoon this area and smash you up with a scary degree of ease. With a fish this powerful there is simply nothing you can do to stop them - ok, so we have been losing some good fish this week, but big powerful fish that want to make your life hell are going to from time to time. It's one of the main reasons we keep coming back for more......

• Check out the photo above for the kind of tarpon fishing that goes on down at Bahia Honda - hook the fish, fight it hard, trust your skipper to be able to weave in and out of the pylons, and hope to hell that the fish doesn't do you in. But tarpon are not the silver kings for nothing.

• I got done four times today - and I mean done properly. On one fish the hook simply pulled, on another the leader parted, and on two others the mainline parted like a rifle shot on the running fish. I wish I knew why the mainline parted, but that is fishing I guess. On at least one fish I felt I had the upper hand from the first minute, but of course that was simply false hope - this is tarpon fishing after all. I am totally in awe of these fish and it seems like a long time ago now that I did actually successfully land one of nearly 150lbs up at Islamorada. The soothing fog of distant memories !!

• Scott came the closest today, on a really big 150lb plus fish that hit him hard, ran around some structure, came free with some seriously excellent boat manoeuvring by Rodney, and then snorted out into the bay to do its stuff. After about half an hour we thought that this fish might well be ours, but the brute decided to edge its way back to the bridge. Scott did all be could to turn the fish (check the photo below), but suddenly it ran straight for one of the pylons and broke the line. I say it again - you simply can not stop these fish if they want to run. You simply have to hope that they run into clear water. To say we were gutted would be nowhere close to how beaten up we feel at the moment. John also got done a couple of times on structure. This is some of the most exciting fishing on earth, and the levels of sport are incredibly consistent in the Keys - each year the huge numbers of migrating tarpon offer months of extreme sport fishing to countless anglers. Get yourself out here as soon as you can - contact Rodney Goodship here.

• I am flying back to the UK tomorrow, but the timings allow me time to have one more crack at the tarpon in the morning. After that I head off to Miami airport to catch an overnight flight back to Heathrow. I hear that the weather is still great, so save some for me please. I can't wait to see my wife, two daughters and of course my sheepdog Jess. The UK in summer is a very special place - hopefully there will be a few bass around. Huge thanks to Rodney, John Aplin and Scott Rice for having me along on this trip, I have had a blast - and it ain't over yet. Tomorrow is always another day........