A few thoughts about the French bass trip.....

• Graham and I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the French bass guys who went so far out of their way to help us over on the stunning island of Belle Ile. Yannick from Ultimate Fishing and his good friend Bruno are incredibly talented bass fishermen and I am sure we have made some friends for life - it was a blast to fish, photograph and spend time with them in a little bit of bass heaven over in France. I got some very cool photos, and when time allows I will get some more up here - one of the afternoons we fished was just about as good as it gets for photographing fishing I reckon.

• OK, so the weather was not great when we there, indeed the amount of rain was staggering, but I will be back there someday soon. Thinking about autumn either this year or next year, depending on time and commitments. When the fishing is good the reports are of some quite spectacular bass fishing, with plenty of big fish coming to a variety of different methods and locations - quiet bays, treacherous cliffs, rolling surf, you name it, Belle Ile I reckon offers everything that a bass angler could possibly want. The general shore fishing itself can be fantastic.

• One of the aspects of the trip that I enjoyed the most was seeing the French guys fishing, and the way in which they are incorporating these ultra-modern, light tackle methods into it all. Of course you can nail bass on a good old fashioned spinner for the rest of your days, but these newer hard and soft lures enable you to fish over so much more ground in so many different and effective ways. I know I am guilty of asking a lot of questions, but the thing is that I simply want to learn more about fishing - and not just because I work as a fishing journalist. This sport fascinates me, and I simply can not stand sitting still and not advancing myself. I will begin posting plenty of bits and pieces I learnt out there when I have a little more time........

• It was just so easy to get to Belle Ile, so I would implore any of you thinking of heading out there to get on to Brittany Ferries and take yourself over there with your car stashed full of fishing gear. But the problem is that there is a small but very full tackle shop on Belle Ile that just happens to be jammed full of awesome bass fishing gear - as I said a few weeks back, I am weak man when it comes to this kind of fishing tackle. The wallet's on lock down for a bit now !!

• Graham and I were looking through a load of French fishing magazines and it was amazing to see the number of times that photos of anglers using red Tenryu rods were appearing all over the place. The more I use these rods, the more I want to get more of them !! Once you have used a rod that has been very specifically designed to do certain jobs by anglers who really know their stuff then there is no turning back. I know that I talk these rods up a lot, but in my view they are that good that they deserve it - there are loads of other really good rods for bass fishing out there, often at far better prices, but the red ones are off the scale in my book. And in case you were wondering, no, I do not work for Tenryu. I say it as I see it. Talk to these red rod junkies here if the idea of getting one floats your boat. Bruno was using a brand new red Tenryu rod for some of his soft plastic bass fishing and it was one of the most awesome bits of kit I have ever picked up. Help !!

• My new website is very close to going live - when this happens, this blog is going to move there, but of course I will let you know right here what is going on etc. It should be fairly seamless to go from one to the other, so when it's up and running I hope to see you there, and of course I would welcome all thoughts and comments. Not long now.