Monday morning metal madness

• Monday morning is always a bit of a shock, so I tend to turn to a bit of extreme metal to get me through it. In reality I should have gone and tried for a bass or two around first light this morning, the conditions are really good for another crack at it, but work calls. More's the pity.

• I am hearing more and more reports from all over the place of bass just about starting to turn up on the lures, and Kevin Brain tells me that he is still smashing big numbers of bass over on the west coast of Ireland. I bet he's still got the place virtually to himself.

• At times like this I think back to my Plymouth university days - if there was ever a question back then of going fishing or going to lectures (three hours of marine law anyone ??!!), you can guess which way won every time. How times have changed. Regression is an option that crosses my mind from time to time, I can tell you. Drop out, fade away, go fishing.

• Check out the new album by a band called Absu - the CD is called Absu as well, so there's no chance of getting this one wrong. Feels like a really good dose of fast paced death/thrash metal to me, perfect for the start of another working week. Heavy as hell, and really catchy in places. Listen to a few tracks here. Rest assured that it is playing here at my desk while I am typing this blog post. Nice........

• The new look Trout Fisherman magazine that I told you about the other day (see here) is now out in the shops, and I reckon it looks really good. If any kind of fly fishing floats your boat, pick this issue up. Just to make me feel good, above is my cover shot (again) - I had a close look at this on the shelves and I reckon it fairly "jumps" at you, and that surely is the point of a cover. "Buy me, I look really interesting" kind of thing.

Brand new look Trout Fisherman - out soon

• It fascinates me to see such a well known and well established fishing magazine like Trout Fisherman being completely overhauled and then relaunched. On March 26th you will be able to see the results of the new look Trout Fisherman magazine when it hits the shops, and here is a sneak preview. I know I work for them, but I have to say that I am hugely impressed by what has been going on, as you can see here. Magazines have to overhauled from time to time, and it takes a lot of hard work and vision to ring these changes. Sea Angler had the same thing a little while ago (see here), and the magazine looks better and better to me every month.

• What makes me even happier is that the powers that be have chosen one of my photos to go on the cover of the relaunch issue. Nice one !! OK, so I might be a bit biased towards their choice, but I really like what has been done with the photo of Nick Hart you can see on the forthcoming cover above. What a strong way to launch this brand new fly casting series we have been shooting recently - with words from Nick of course.

• The whole style of the magazine looks that bit "cleaner" to me, and personally I believe that is a good thing. So much information has to be crammed into these kinds of publications, and the trick is to make sure this info is put across in a way that can appeal to fishermen of very different skill levels. Plus you want a big dollop of inspiration in there. I reckon they have done this here, and the proof will be on the shelves at the end of this month.

• Those Irish bass keep on coming. Keven Brain emailed me from Kerry to tell me of more bass up to 8lbs over the weekend, all returned. I would hazard a guess that he has the spots all to himself as well.

• And from south east Ireland, I hear that my mates Graham, Pat and Cian had a ball over the weekend, with numerous bass coming to lures and baits - the biggest going a cracking 10lbs (on a soft plastic lure), to the efforts of Mr. Hill himself. Check out the full report on Graham's blog here. That is some fishing, and again it proves two points to me - there is no better shore fishing for bass that I know of than over in Ireland, and that they can have awesome fishing all year round for them if the conditions play ball. I can't wait to start "discovering" a bit of the French bass fishing, but it is going to have to go a long way to match the fishing I know of in Ireland. Outstanding stuff indeed. The urge to emigrate has never been stronger !!

• How about the rugby on Sunday ? A day to warm the heart. The first half of England v France had me jumping up and down in delight, and I can't help but feel that those forty odd minutes had been coming for a while now. We just had to let go and play rugby if that makes any sense. It had to happen sometime, and perhaps it was just good timing that it happened against the French at Twickenham, and in perfect spring weather as well. The second half could never live up to the first, but what a fantastic game. I reckon England were almost so shocked at what they had achieved in the first half that they went back into their shells somewhat. Still, we won properly, and the big test now is to see how we perform against Scotland on Saturday. If we play well and win properly, I reckon we are allowed to hope again. Perhaps even dream again. But we shall see............

• While my website is undergoing a rebuild, I have come across a great way of putting up really good looking web-based galleries of my photos, and I have put a few up recently. Check out a load of black and white photos here for starters. For more, check out the links on the right hand side page of this blog, under the "My Photos - various galleries" heading. There is plenty of bass stuff up there if that floats your boat.

Lots of west coast Irish bass

Photo courtesy of Kevin Brain

K.B. Fishing Ireland

• What perfect timing !! There I was writing yesterday about the value I attach to fishing with decent guides, and then shore fishing guide Kevin Brain emails me from Waterville on the west coast of Ireland to tell me it's almost not fair the numbers of bass he has been catching. Nice one. Above you can see Kevin with a cracking 9.5lb bass he took recently, and this morning I found photos in my inbox of some nice ones he has yesterday to around 7lbs. I told you, the guy can catch bass - Kevin is a great shore fishing guide, and you can book him right here.

• Above is a photo I took of Kevin on one of his favourite bass marks a few years ago - the moody tones of black and white really work well I reckon for this very classical type of "standing in the surf and touch ledgering" kind of bass fishing. There can be little argument that one of the spiritual homes of bass fishing is the rugged west coast of Ireland. A place like Kerry is very accessible to anglers who are prepared to make a bit of an effort and want a real adventure.

• Going back to a point I made yesterday - I get plenty of emails asking when and where to go for some decent bass fishing, but lots of anglers still think that it's a late spring/summer/autumn thing only. Most people do not realise that the wild west coast of Ireland often fishes best when the conditions come right during winter - they can have awesome fishing nearly all year out there, but when the tourists have long gone is often when the bassing really fires. Just look at the top photo for proof !!

• I am extremely honoured to have a few of my photos featured on one of the web's most highly regarded fly fishing sites - Midcurrent is an awesome resource for anybody with any interest in fly fishing (or fishing full stop), and it makes me really proud to see my work up there with some truly outstanding photographers. See here for the photo page. Scroll down the page and you will see little old me, the token Brit !! If you have any interest in how good fishing can look, take a little time to check these photographers out - there are plenty of links to their respective websites. Fishing done well is truly inspirational.

• If you want to see some (non-fishing) outstanding nature and wildlife photos, then check this link here, and scroll through the winning images. The world is a stunning place when it is photographed well. This kind of photography blows me away.

• Bearing in mind that I am setting up my first bass fishing trip over to France for later on this year, it is with great trepidation that I await Sunday's Six Nations clash between our two great countries. I love France and I hugely respect the French, but I can't take losing to them in the rugby. Form says we should be beaten, but me being the eternal optimist, here's hoping that England turns France over and wins a glorious match. Imagine, a proper England win !! And then at least I can hold my head up high when I cruise on down to Brittany and wax lyrical about the "good old days" of English rugby - 2003 still brings tears to my eyes..........

Bass and shore fishing guides

• A great way to learn more about fishing is of course to pay for the services of a guide. In UK saltwater fishing we have plenty of professional charter skippers, but there are not very many shore guides that I am aware of. While it is perfectly normal in say fly fishing to hire a guide (or a ghillie) and work with their knowledge to better your fishing, our UK sea fishing culture is not really ingrained with using the services of a guide.

• My post from the other day about lure fishing confusion got me thinking about this, as did an email from Tim Griffin alerting me to a bass guide I had never heard of (thank you). Yes, of course we all like to go out and do things ourselves, and I know that the idea of actually paying somebody to take you out shore fishing is anathema to many anglers, but I know of few more shortcuts to success than working with a decent guide. I have worked with loads of different guides and operations all over the world, but what about in the UK and Ireland ?

• And also bear in mind that there are loads of professional bass fishing guides over in France, where their bass fishing "culture" tends to revolve around fast open boats and wildly exciting waters. As I learn more about this, so will you. Isn't it strange how working with guides and the attitudes surrounding it is so different from country to country, and also between the various fishing disciplines ?

• The guide I can most wholeheartedly recommend for bass and also general shore fishing over in north Cornwall is of course Ed Schliffke (aka "Ed the Bass"). Ed used to take me and my brother out shore fishing some years ago now when we were down on family holidays near Padstow, and he is still one of the best there is. I will never forget those trips, and I lay some of the blame for my fishing addiction firmly at his door !! Ed knows his bass fishing big time. You can contact him here. Take on board what he advises you go for and you will have an awesome time. Take the kids out as well and spend time on one of the most beautiful coastlines there is.

• I have worked a couple of times with an excellent bass and shore fishing guide over on the outrageously stunning Ring of Kerry in south west Ireland (in Waterville to be precise). Kevin Brain has a bad bass fishing addiction, and he puts lots of clients into plenty of fish. He emailed me the other day to say they have been having a spectacular winter on the bass. Why on earth do more bass freaks not spend more time over there in winter ? They also have a B&B where you can stay. Contact Kevin here and see a feature on him right here.

• Bill Ryan works further up the coast from Kevin, on the equally pretty, wild, and rugged Clare coastline. He's one of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet, and I very much look forward to working with Bill again. See a feature on Bill here, and contact him here. There is a huge amount of good fishing around here.

• Tim Griffin told me of a professional bass fishing guide on the west coast of Wales, see here for all the details. I have not fished with these guys, but the operation they run comes highly recommended. I am also in contact with another angler setting up as a bass guide in Wales, so as and when I have more info, I will post it here.

• There is of course my mate Nick Hart who is one of the best fly fishing guides and instructors I have ever worked with, anywhere. Nick also guides a fair bit of bass fishing on the fly, so do make sure to contact him here if you are coming to the westcountry. If you are from the saltwater or coarse fishing worlds, why not have a go at fly fishing ? It's a blast.

• This is by no means the definitive list of bass and shore fishing guides, but I hope it helps for the moment. As I come across and fish/photograph with more, I will get the details up here and in the various fishing magazines I work for. Think about the time and money that can be spent on going to different places for fishing, and then work in the costs of a decent guide - suddenly it all makes sense when you are into fish that you might never have caught on your own. Local knowledge is key.

Winter bass fishing - what do we do ?

• Now that we are properly into winter, what does the bass junkie do ? On a personal level, I used to spend virtually all my fishing time in the winter chasing cod - collecting bait, fishing, surviving on very little sleep, fishing again, crabbing at strange hours, and trying a few rigs up. And then fishing again - a lot !! Times have changed though. But what are our options if we want to carry on chasing bass through the colder months ?

• Well, to be perfectly honest, I am not completely sure of all our options - there always seem to be bass around somewhere in the south west, and especially up the estuaries (bear in mind I am talking about shore fishing here). We used to sometimes catch schoolie bass in almost plague proportions when we were cod fishing in very rough seas just inside the Camel estuary (and especially off Flat Rock and Stepper Point), and I know of some really big bass caught when guys are flounder fishing. So it is not as if every single bass does a disappearing act until later on in the spring !!

• So we know that bass are a distinct possibility when fishing with baits, and I know guys who love this time of year for going after big bass. But what about on the lures ? A tougher time without question, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it is worth a few attempts with these soft plastics that you can fish on jigs, bouncing them along the bottom. It is not going to be a bumper time of year on them, but I would guess that a few of us might get the odd surprise from time to time.............

• The most famous place for "depths of winter" bass fishing has to be the south west of Ireland (and specifically Kerry and Dingle), where the local bass freaks can experience some staggeringly good fishing on the right conditions. All the tourists and visiting anglers have long gone home, but when they get the correct onshore conditions into January and February especially, I know of a few guys who do really well when bait fishing for the bass - the Irish strands are of course the stuff of bass fishing legend, and sometime soon I simply have to get myself over to the south west to experience it. I reckon that classic fishing could look very cool in black and white as well.

• It is a real punt to go that far for winter bass fishing, for you are gambling with the weather in a big way, but it has to be worth it just for the chance to stand thigh deep in surf, waiting for a bite, and with nobody else around. If you are interested, the person I would contact can be found right here - Kevin is a professional shore fishing guide in Kerry, and he just happens to be a serious bass junkie. Check out some photos of him fishing right here. We never hear about a lot of their Irish winter bass fishing, but it can be very good.

• As for the south east coast of Ireland that I am head over heels in love with (the country as whole in fact), well it does seem that they can catch bass all year round, depending on conditions of course - on baits and on lures. I am sure you can sense from this post that I have a lifetime of information still to absorb on bass fishing, and then I could probably live again and still be left with more to learn. But isn't that what makes fishing such a profoundly absorbing sport ? I stand by what I have always said - walk away from the angler who professes to know it all.......

• I hope you like the two black and white bass photos here - they are such a magnificent species and in my view they deserve to be shown off in glorious colour. But I have stumbled on the odd shot in my (vast and ever growing !!) photo library that has jumped at me with my black and white eyes on. The tail shot especially is one I really like far more in black and white than in colour.

Fantastic Irish bass

Photo courtesy of Matthew Thomas

• This kind of thing really makes my day here in the office - Matthew Thomas emailed me to tell me all about the huge bass you can see above (thanks for letting me use the photo Matthew). Weighing 11lbs 4oz, he caught and returned this magnificent fish around Waterville over on the Kerry coastline in Ireland. To catch and then return a fish like this really deserves huge respect from us all.

• But what has made me so especially pleased is that Matthew told me he had read some of the Sea Angler articles that I have done with his fishing guide over in Ireland, the extremely talented Kevin Brain. After reading those articles, Matthew booked a day with Kevin over in Waterville and this bass of a lifetime was the result. This proves two things to me - that fishing articles do work in putting anglers in touch with good fishing, and that a guide is as invaluable as a decent fishing rod. There are not many guides in our UK and Irish sea fishing worlds, so we need to use them as much as possible and help ensure their future. Well done to Matthew and to Kevin.

• Check here for a feature on what Kevin Brain does over in Ireland, and then contact him here. We filmed a TV programme over in Kerry a couple of years ago, and we would not have got anywhere without the expert help and guidance from Kevin. If you are heading that way, make sure to get in touch with him and I assure you that you will catch a truck load more fish and learn a staggering amount from him. Better still, make a proper trip out of it and fish yourself to a standstill !! Bass, mullet, wrasse, rays, codling, pollack, huss, sea trout and salmon, you name it, Kerry has the lot.

• Once again this shows that Ireland offers the best shore fishing for bass that I know of anywhere, and Kevin catches some awesome fish on bait, lures and fly. Words can not describe how pretty the Kerry coastline is, indeed when I first saw it my jaw hit the floor and remained there until I was on the ferry back home. I must get myself back over there soon..............

• My mate Graham Hill also landed a big bass the other day from that magical south east corner of Ireland - weighing over 10lbs, he also returned the fish successfully. I know he lost his Tackle House Feed Shallow lure to a real crocodile of a fish earlier in the session, so he went and put on one of his old favourites, the jointed Storm Thunderstick. These Tackle House lures are really starting to get noticed by keen bass anglers, and so they should - they slay big time. You can get them here. Well done Graham, I will be back over as soon as I can. Bass fishing is an addiction, as Matthew Thomas tells me !! Give in, it ain't worth trying to fight it.............

• What on earth is going on with bass fishing ? Granted, it has always been hugely popular, but there is an explosion in interest going on, as I have continually alluded to in this blog. Why is this happening ? Is it because so many anglers are fed up with staring at rod tips and are looking for a more "involved" way of fishing ? Is it because there is more and more press on going bass fishing ? Is it because the bass is the one species we have that crosses the fishing divides ? I have never met a fisherman who did not want to try and catch a bass. Whatever the reasons, it is making me think hard about what to do in the future, so watch this space and if I come up with any decent ideas you will be the first to know. Perhaps I should start looking into guided/led trips over to various locations in Ireland, or perhaps even think about bass fishing clinics ? Believe me, I am learning all the time, but I am very conscious that there are a load of other people out there who are hungry for information.

• How can I go this long without telling you about another great metal release ? I first got into the Danish band Raunchy around the time of their "Confusion Bay" CD, and you really need to check out their new album, called "Wasteland Discotheque". Check out a few tracks here. I love this kind of insanely catchy extreme metal that gets deep into your head and beats your brain to a submissive pulp !! Give me more.