Bass fishing on the brain......

• Doesn't it drive you mad when you keep thinking about something, yet you can't go and do it ? I've got more bass lures than you could imagine, I've got my reels loaded up with 30lb Sufix Performance Braid (in yellow for high-vis), and I am closer to finding my ultimate spinning/plugging rod. Now all I have to do is wait a bit longer for the fish to turn up down here............and the waiting is driving me mad !! Come on fish, please turn up nice and early.

• The photo above is of a slightly younger and even possibly wiser (!!) Graham Hill over in Ireland - he emailed me off my website a few years ago and asked me to come on over and check out the bass fishing he had on his doorstep. And does he have some bass fishing over there, indeed I have thought long and hard about moving my family over to SE Ireland to be closer to this outstanding fishing. The photo actually ended up on the front cover of Sea Angler magazine, where they cropped it to fit the page. Graham was happy to play ball, so I waited until a small wave broke over his hands and arms to try and add something to this trophy style shot. I look forward to many years fishing this unspoilt, lonely coastline with Graham. Check out a load of bass photos here.

• This is a hard time of year fishing wise down here in the south west, when even the best anglers I know tend to struggle. Some nice bull huss have been taken from the rock marks, but otherwise it is a lean time. But then fishing is like that - one week it is driving you to drink, and the next week a change in the weather can bring a bumper time. If you want to go huss fishing down here, look at the rock marks around the mouth of Dartmouth, near to Start and Prawle Point, and all along the Bolt Head/Bolt Tail stretch of coast. I like dark nights, medium to large tides, and generally the back (outgoing) tide for these fish, but rock marks all fish somewhat differently. Squid is the top bait, but big sandeels and mackerel all have their days.

• Some guys are finding a few big mullet around, including one of 6lb 13oz that I heard of the other day. If there is one fish that can drive a man insane, it is the mullet, but they are worth every minute spent on them. A very special fish that is an incredible thing to hook on light tackle.

• I mentioned a while ago that I was testing out a new bass spinning/plugging rod - well I have taken it out a bit and cast all kinds of lures with it, and sadly it is not quite what I am after. Don't get me wrong, the rod works well, and it will land any bass we have in our waters, but it is not the rod I was personally after. I think I have narrowed my search down to about three rods, so I will try to get my hands on them and give them a proper workout. When I find the rod I am after, you will know about it. The fish and the fishing are worth this bit of extra effort.

• Don't forget to have a look at this new web gallery I created recently. Click here to see some of my favourite fly fishing photos from the various places I have been to for my work.

• Back to music - let's be honest here - AC/DC are one of the greatest bands ever to have walked upon this earth, but their musical output over the last while has been somewhat scarce and hardly up to scratch. If this kind of classic hard rock is your thing, you seriously need to check out the new pretenders to AC/DC's throne - the Aussie band Airbourne. Check here to listen to some tracks, and then buy the album - yes, of course I have got it, and it is something truly brilliant. If you can't bang your head in time to this stuff then you should go to the doctor.