Out in Ireland - surely bass fishing can't get any better ?

• Andy Bignell and I got here bang on time yesterday, with an easy Stena Line ferry crossing from Fishguard to Rosslare, and a short drive this side to our hotel. We met Graham and made a plan to be on the rocks for first light, together with local bass freaks Pat and Cian. Dawn this morning was stunning, with a beautiful sunrise and really good plugging conditions, and I knew something might be up when I very quickly caught a bass around 3lbs on a Halco popper. I honestly thought I had seen south east Ireland as good as it can get for bass fishing, but this morning's session was simply off the scale........

• After my one bass, I essentially stopped fishing to make sure I got proper photos of the awesome light and the fantastic fishing - this place never ceases to amaze me, and as always, guess how many other anglers we saw on the rocks this morning ? That's right, none !! The mind boggles. There were around fifteen bass landed today, a few more lost, plus some nice pollack - Graham had a treble hook busted by a really good fish, and as well as the outstanding fish below, there were some others around the 6 and 7lb mark - this coastline is as good as it gets for bass fishing, and the whole area we fished this morning was completely new to me. That's it, enough talk, I have got to move over here !!

• Here is Cian O'Halloran with the best bass of the morning, a cracking 9lb 9oz fish taken on the shallow diving minnow of the moment, the classic Tackle House Feed Shallow (you can get them here). This is a fish if a lifetime, and Cian saw it come right in and hit his lure at his feet - what a bass, well done to the man, and as you can see, it was not difficult to ask him to smile !! Of course the fish went back just fine after the photo call.

• Don't do this at home !! Above is a somewhat extreme example of landing a bass - Graham is by the water's edge to help Pat land another decent bass, and they both got a proper soaking into the bargain. Both of them know exactly what they are doing though and they were in no danger - it made for a bunch of great photos, and I happened to be perfectly lined up to shoot the events unfolding. The bass was successfully landed, photographed, and returned. I know that some people are going to think that this is unsafe fishing, but Pat and Graham know these waters and are simply not into taking risks. Believe me, it looks far worse than it was. Anyway, you've got to be in it to win it !!

• Most of the bass this morning were short and very stocky, and the photo of Graham above does not do justice to the fish - we gave it around 7lbs, and of course it went right back. This modern lure fishing is such a blast. All of us are fishing with these outrageous red Tenryu plugging rods (see them here) and all of us can't believe we have gone so long without them. The ease with which I could work my popper early this morning was staggering - just a simple and small snap of the wrist and the popper was doing its lethal business. I got hit hard as well on big Duo Tide Minnow (see here), but really I had to stop fishing and take photos, it was that good. A bunch of bass were also taken on the ever faithful and highly successful Maria Chase BW in the holographic silver colour (get them here). Basically, the fish were on big time this morning.

• How can you have more fun in fishing than this ? A bunch of fantastic people, a deserted coastline, decent weather conditions (ok, so we got hit big time this afternoon by a bit of "Irish mist"), and even better tides tomorrow morning. I really thought that south east Ireland had shown me the best bass fishing that I am ever going to see, but then we have a day like today and I see just how much more potential there is out here. Andy is blown away, indeed I think he is not quite sure how to take in what he is seeing, and he has been bass fishing for years. I keep banging the drum about bass fishing over here, but it really is that good.

• We climbed and walked over some seriously treacherous ground today, but as with a lot of fishing, the more effort you put in, the greater the rewards. All of us are wearing decent breathable chest waders and wading boots, they are essential for this type of mobile fishing - the new Greys Platinum waders and wading boots are being seriously used and abused by Graham and they are coming through with flying colours. You simply can't put fishing gear through a harder workout than the kind of stuff we are doing over here. Anyway, time to dry the gear out ready for another early start tomorrow morning....

Back from Jersey

• I got back into Plymouth airport late yesterday afternoon - it is so cool to be arriving back at my local airport instead of the more usual Heathrow, especially when my wife and two girls are there to pick me up. It is so easy to do this trip, and when time and weather allows I have every intention to head back out to Jersey to do a load more bass related stuff, plus of course get in amongst the excellent shore and other boat fishing. There is some great stuff over there, including big blondes, tope and bream from the boats. The Channel Islands are so accessible to many of us, and trips over there can be really cheap.

• I am in serious debt to the people who went so far out their way to help me over in Jersey - a huge thanks to you all. This kind of trip just reaffirms to me just why fishing is the greatest sport on earth, for the people involved in it are without doubt the best there are. So many of the local anglers will do all they can to help visitors out. The buzz around modern bass fishing continues to grow.......

• Above is Trevor Sangan with a nice bass that he caught late on Saturday evening - the fishing really picked up big time as that tide began to push hard, and we landed a few nice bass in amongst the rocks. But we then lost the light and had to run for home. Trevor is continuing to use and abuse the Tackle House Feed Shallow lure, indeed he had it virtually welded to the end of his line over in Ireland and he continues to smash bass with it back home. What a lure - it ain't cheap, but it works. You can get hold of them here. I would not head out lure fishing now without a couple in my box, I feel that confident with them - exactly like I do with the Maria Chase BW in the holo silver colour. To have a few lures you trust implicitly really gives my confidence levels an extra kick.

• Here's a sight for the tackle junkies among you, and I include me here - a fistful of gorgeous red Tenyru rods. This brief trip visit back to Jersey really struck home to me how forward thinking a lot of these anglers are when it comes to their bass fishing. They are so close to the coast of France, and I know a lot of the bass fishing expertise over there travels across to Jersey, and the guys then mix and match it with their own fishing. It is easy to slate expensive gear as being too much when you haven't tried it, but when you start fishing with purpose designed and built bassing gear, it is a different world, and my eyes have really been opening up another notch this year.

• I bought a bunch of bass lures from Mick, including two different sizes of the Duo Tide Minnow SLD-F, and some more Tackle House Feed Shallow lures. These shallow diving minnows have different actions under the water and they can both be lethal at times. I really like ultra-shallow diving minnows for a lot of bass fishing and I also have a problem with lures - many of you are suffering with this addiction, and some of us are going to have to seek help.

• Sunday morning was like a different world - blowing a monster and lashing down with rain, but we managed to get out on the boats for a few hours in amongst the rocks where there was a bit of shelter. There was a real chop on the water and the light levels were very low, so I really fancied a popper might do the trick. It might only have been a small bass, but I nailed one on a Lucky Craft G-Splash popper right over a patch of rough ground. Trevor caught one as well, but we then ran back to port as the wind picked up even more. But within a couple of hours the sun was out and the wind had dropped down - by then though I was having to pack up and head for the airport.

• I simply would not head out bass fishing any more without a lip-grab tool for holding onto the fish. I have not been spiked once this year because I can secure this tool onto the bottom lip of the fish and then keep it nice and relaxed in the water ready for some photos. The fish stays calm and comes to no harm, I get my shots, and then the bass goes back very strongly. I use the highly efficient Berkley Pistol Trigger Grip and it works perfectly every single time. More anglers should carry something like this - bass are spiky as hell, and it makes for far easier unhooking, recovery and then releasing if you can grip the fish safely and securely.

• Here's a shot of the sun going down on the Minquiers from Friday evening - I put my rod and reel against the sky and shot a few frames just before the sun dipped below the horizon. Friday night was something seriously special and I feel so lucky to have visited a place like that. I will never forget that barbecue under the stars. Fishing and visiting wild, out of the way places really gets me going. Too much to do and too little time.

The best bass fishing I know of......

Canon 1D MK111, 70-200mm f4L IS lens (at 200mm), ISO 400, f14, 1/160th

• Within three casts of starting plugging yesterday morning, a bass of about 3lbs smashed into my lure lure like a steam train, and a few minutes later a crocodile of a fish tried to hit Pat's lure and missed - that was a proper bass, just the sound of it as it tried to kill Pat's surface lure was scary !! We thought it was going to go insane, but for some reason we did not see another bass landed yesterday morning. Why ? If we knew it all we would be doing something else, and that is why I love fishing.

• The surface lure that did the damage for me was the Zorus Patchinko, a deadly walk the dog/popper hybrid that casts like an arrow and allows you to cover so much water. See here for full details of the lure. I have to also say that these red Tenryu rods are just proving again and again how perfect they are for this lure fishing - what a bass rod, and what a joy to use. The degree of ease with which I can work lures the whole way in gives me such an edge to my fishing. Check out the Red Devils here.

Canon 1D MK111, 24-105mm f4L IS lens (at 55mm), ISO 400, f4, 1/6oth, flash

• Graham had a small bass on a Maria Chase BW on another mark, but again, for some reason, the bass were not really on - is it because it is staying unseasonably cold ? Whatever the reason, the conditions yesterday looked so good we were all raving like loons, but that's fishing for you.

• But then, as is the thing with bassing in Ireland, it just jumped into gear last night - Graham had to head back to meet the Jersey lads who were flying in, so I went out with Pat and Cian to give the bass one more go for the day, and we hit gold big time.

• Pat and Cian were fishing surface and shallow diving lures as we went into darkness, and I was fishing with crab baits - once again, I am loving using braid for the bait fishing, it is so good for this method. Above you can see Cian kindly holding my first bass of the night, a nice bass over 5lbs that slammed into my crab in very shallow water and really scrapped hard.

Canon 1D MK111, 24-105mm f4L IS lens (at 70mm), ISO 400, f4, 1/60th, flash

• It was mayhem last night, and we did not fish for very long - I had a bite or a bass on every cast, and the biggest for me was this stunner above, around 7lbs, and in prime condition. Pat and Cian were also nailing fish on the lures, at night, so they were over the moon. I kept hearing excited shouts through the darkness which meant more fish - Ireland gets me every time. The water was alive with sandeels and the whole place just breathed fish - if it was England there would have been other anglers out, but as is normal out here, we saw nobody else at all. Paradise on earth, believe me. How can it get any better ?

Canon 1D MK111, 24-105mm f4L IS lens (at 45mm), ISO 400, f4, 1/60th, flash

• Pat hit this nice 5lb plus bass on a Maria Chase BW in holographic silver, fishing right into the turbulent water, and it went bananas in the tide. What a fish to take on a lure at night. We wanted to see if it would work on this mark, and we proved it beyond any doubt.

• What last night does show us is that this particular location is alive with fish and food, so where on earth do you think we are going this morning ? I am about to go and meet Graham and the Jersey lads, and hopefully the fish will be on as strong as they were last night. Words do not do justice to how good this bass fishing is out here when it turns on, but the brief session last night was about as good as any fishing is ever going to get anywhere on earth, and I love it to bits. Standing thigh deep in water in the dark last night was such a great feeling, and that hit from a bass on braid when it nails the crab is insanely exciting. Roll on another day........

Irish bass fishing - awesome as always

Canon 1D MK111, 16-35mm f2.8L lens (at 16mm), ISO 400, f6.3, 1/400th, polarising filter

• We were fishing by 5.30am this morning here in south east Ireland, and you can see the kind of stunning light and conditions we had in the photo above. I managed a nice fish of about 2.5lbs that smashed into my lure I swear not five yards out. The bass came in and swerved on my lure, and somehow I managed to dip the rod tip to give the fish a little bit more time, and I then saw it nail the lure right in front of me. I so love the bassing out here, and up until now I still have not found anywhere better - each and every time I come here reinforces this belief. When I get back home it is time to have a chat with my wife, along the lines of "I think we should look at moving over to Ireland"...........!!

• The successful lure was a Duo Tide Minnow, and I know you can get them here. These things cast like bullets and work really nicely through the water - they are not cheap, but these Tide Minnow lures are fast becoming a "do not go out without one" kind of bass weapon for me, very much like the holographic silver Maria Chase BW. The Tide Minnow dives a little deeper than the Maria Chase and rolls from side to side on the retrieve, so they give a decent range of options between them.

Canon 1D MK111, 70-200mm f4L IS lens (at 85mm), ISO 200, f9, 1/200th

• The great thing about this area is that there are so many different marks within close proximity of each other. After the early morning plugging session we headed out to a beach location for some bait fishing, but Graham's brother Alan did manage to get a couple of bass swirl on his surface lure while we were setting up. I hit a nice bass of about 5lbs on a crab bait on my first cast - the water looked so good and the tide was just about perfect. I have started to use 30lb braid on my Van Staal spinning reel for this bait fishing, teamed with the Greys BZe 3-50z light shore rod, and I am really liking the directness of the braid for this "static" fishing, as well as for the plugging. My fish hit me so hard on the braid that it went and hooked itself before I could even strike - seeing that fish moving through the water was fantastic, and of course we put it back.

• Graham was next up with a bass that was nudging 7lbs, as you can see above. It could not have been in any better condition, and it went back strongly. What a scrap in the racing tide, and it was all we could do to stop grinning like a pair of monkeys. Loads of fish were moving around, and gannets and terns were working the bait shoals - this place is alive and it really gets me going to be out fishing and photographing it.

Canon 1D MK111, 70-200mm f4L IS lens (at 200mm), ISO 200, f8, 1/160th

• I could photograph these fish only for the rest of my life and be happy - and the same for the fishing. Bass are such a blast to be around and they get me every single time. A king among fish, and I feel so lucky to come over here when possible and get in amongst this incredible fishing. In reality today has been a bit slow by Irish standards, but I'll take "slow" any day of the week.

• Graham had another bass on bait, as did Alan, and we all had a number of dropped bites - not sure why really, but that's fishing. Tomorrow we are heading to a place that I have never fished before, but I know of some big fish from there in the last month or so - when I have time I will post reports here, so keep checking back to see how we do. This is how bassing should be.......

Canon 1D MK111, 70-200mm f4L IS lens (at 155mm), ISO 200, f8, 1/320th

• The safest way to hold a bass and not get spiked !! It doesn't get much better than this. We are also trying something a little off the wall late tomorrow if the weather lets us.

Perfect conditions, but only one bass landed

• Check out how good it looked on yesterday evening's low water - about as perfect as I could hope for in fact. A small swell, a bit of chop, good clarity and fairly overcast skies. I had a feeling it would be like this from the weather forecast. Plenty of "life" to the water. These are the kinds of conditions you can dream about for chucking lures at bass, and I really thought we might clean up........

• Early on, a bass that might have touched 4lb chased my lure in almost right to my feet, to the point where I ran out of water on the retrieve. I never saw the fish again, but I knew they had to be around. The sea just looked too good. The lure ? The Maria Chase BW. There were also a few small pollack smashing at the lures, but Mark, James and I had only bass in our sights. Just seeing these fish chase your lures is enough to give me heart palpitations. One day soon it's going to be a monster bass chasing my lure in and grabbing it right at my feet...........nothing like dreaming !!

• It is Mark in the photo above, fishing a stunning looking gully with his holographic silver Maria Chase BW (you need this lure in your box for bass fishing, see here). Just before I shot this photograph, Mark saw a nice bass around 5lbs charge and turn on his lure, and although he felt the fish, it did not hook up. What a shame. If you want to fish ground like this for bass, do yourself a serious favour and look for a decent pair of breathable chest waders and proper wading boots. I know I bang on about them, but they will revolutionise your fishing. Check here for some good waders and boots. To me they are as vital as a decent rod and reel.

• James hooked and landed a small bass that you can see above, and all this happened before low water. Naturally I thought the flood tide and impending darkness would bring the bass on the feed big time, but for some reason all it did was switch them off !! None of us saw a proper hint of another fish, save for some small pollack. Weird......

• Note the green braid on James' spinning reel - he has gone and succumbed to the awesome Varivas Avani Sea Bass braid in 23lb breaking strain. It is vital to really underfill your spinning reel, almost to the point where you think you might lose a bit of distance because of it. But this is the right level to fish braid at so that you don't get those infernal wind knots. Sometime soon I will post a photograph of my line level on the spool of my spinning reel to show what I mean.

• It's a later low water this evening and a slightly bigger tide - conditions look good again. Guess what I'm doing later on this afternoon ?

First bass of the year - small but beautiful

• I managed to get few hours in plugging yesterday afternoon before I needed to be back to babysit my two daughters for the evening, and it turned out to be a blast. Just me, my sheepdog Jess and a deserted coastline, with the strong NE wind off our backs and what seemed like fairly good conditions. I knew something was looking up when the first rock I waded to had a nice, perhaps 4-5lb bass rooting around just behind it - but the fish saw me and promptly legged it !! You simply can not put a value on decent polarised sunglasses, and I wear what I believe are the best on the market today, Maui Jim. It was flat calm and the water was verging on being almost too clear (weeks of east winds), but when a proper sized pollack turned on my Maria Chase BW (check the lure here) right at the edge of the rocks and showed me that big, predator eye, I reckoned my luck might be in. I then had numerous follows from plenty of other, smaller pollack, plus a small bass, before moving to another set of rocks close by and landing three small pollack. Together they might have struggled to reach 1.5lbs, but at least there was plenty of life around.

• About two hours after low water I went and snagged my Maria Chase up properly and lost it, so I re-tied a short 30lb Varivas fluorocarbon leader on and picked out another great shallow-diving minnow, the Lucky Craft Flash Minnow. I really like this lure, but it dives a little deeper than the Maria and I had to retrieve for the most part with my rod held high to get it closer to the surface. I also reckon it works better with a slower retrieve than I use for the Maria. But it worked......

• The bass you see above is my first this year on a lure, and although it might be "slightly" on the small side (!!), I could not be happier to see one - seriously overjoyed in fact. A typical smash into the lure typifies these magnificent fish. It went back fine after a few photos taken with the aid of this great little tool, the Berkley TEC Pistol Trigger Grip. I picked it up in the US a few weeks ago, principally to enable me to at least get a few photos of fish I might happen to catch when I am fishing on my own. It is designed for gripping a fish like a bass for unhooking - no harm comes to the fish and no more will you end up with spike and cut marks all over your hands. It sits in a little holster on your belt and I would not be without it now.

• I also saw a big wrasse follow my lure right in to my feet before I caught the bass, and after I moved to another finger of rock and hooked the bass, on virtually the next cast I caught this one you can see above. Around 3.5lbs I reckon, it was great fun on this Tenryu plugging rod and it put up a typical wrasse kind of scrap. It had stunning markings and went back fine. I love these fish and I am really pleased to have nailed one on the plug where I was fishing. On a Bank Holiday weekend, I saw nobody - amazing. To have that kind of good looking water to myself was a real treat.

• That was it, I had to head back home and take on the babysitting duties so that my wife could go out on the razzle. How badly would I have loved to stay on fishing, but I could not even get any mobile phone reception to try and call and tell a little lie about my car breaking down or something like that !! Not that the thought has ever entered my head...........

• Below is the lure that did the business, the Lucky Craft Flash Minnow. It does cast a little better than the Maria and it "rolls" incredibly seductively through the water - I like having different options in my lure box. I just have to remember to slow down on the retrieve when using the Flash Minnow.

• The more I am using this stunning Tenryu Red Dragon Express plugging rod, the more I can see just how advanced a fishing rod it is for this kind of bassing. You can see my initial review of it here, and my views have not changed at all. It is the single best plugging rod I have ever picked up, and I feel totally confident of getting the upper hand on any bass that might come my way (setting myself up for a fall I know !!). But I do know that I am working my lures effectively from the moment they hit the water.

• And as for this Varivias braid I am using - wow !! Yes, it costs more than most others, but it is sublime to fish with. The bright green Avani Sea Bass Braid in 23lb is awesome to use, and I love the colour, but the Avani Sea Bass Max Power PE in 20lb is a class apart. I just wish they did it in a really hi-vis colour like yellow or orange (hint, hint). I have yet to find another braid that feels like this - you will not believe how thin and easy casting it is. I used a different Varivas 8-strand braid out in the Florida Keys the other day and it did great, so I guess I am sold on the merits of this stuff. I know you can get both the Varivas braids I am raving about here. If you are seriously into your lure fishing, you will no doubt be prepared to pay to get the best.

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.

At least I saw a bass....

• I got back to Plymouth late on Tuesday night after a couple of days up in Alnwick with Hardy & Greys, and before I went to bed I checked the local forecast - perfect for another go at some bass on the lures, so on Wednesday morning I gave Mark Bryce a shout and we went out for a short session on the first of the push. The actual conditions could not have been better - decent tide, gentle westerly breeze, a bit of chop, and fantastic water clarity. Just look at the photo above to see how good it looked for bass yesterday.

• While it still might be a little early to expect much success, about two hours after low tide I had a bass come at my lure and then turn away. I saw the fish plain as day, very close in, but the bass was that small he might actually have had a bit of a problem trying to nail my lure - again, the Maria Chase BW in holographic silver. I was able to watch my different lures work all the way in yesterday, and you can't believe how good they look in the water. Check here to get some of the Maria Chase lures - whatever you do, have one or two in your lure box at all times.

• So, I got skunked again, but at least I saw a bass, albeit a little on the minnow size !! Mark got all excited when he saw a bigger fish track his lure at one point, but it turned out to be a nice mullet. I am going to keep trying as things are looking up - hopefully the weather will behave next week for a few attempts, because after that I am off to the Florida Keys to get hurt by some tarpon for a few days. Work of course. And when I am back it is time to head out plugging whenever time allows.

• I had a really good couple of days with Hardy & Greys, doing a bunch of stuff on the game fishing side - there are a whole raft of very exciting looking new products to be launched this year, so keep your eyes open for them. A lot of the game fishing clothing such as breathable waders, wading boots, wading jackets and other clothing is exactly what I like to use for my mobile fishing, such as chasing bass and mullet.

• I am out with Nick Hart next week to photograph some wild Cornish brown trout if conditions let us, and this is awesome fly fishing. There are few prettier fish in the world than a prime condition brown trout - roll on Montana in June, can't wait. Check out a load of fly fishing photographs here.

• Check out the full report from Pete McLeod's recent bonefishing trip out to Los Roques by clicking here. One of the world's great destinations for bonefish, you can book a trip through Aardvark McLeod, check here for their website. If fly fishing for bonefish is your thing, get out there as soon as you can. You can also see a photo of me hard at work out in Canada last year by looking here. Check here for photos from Canada and here for photos from Los Roques.

• And onto spinning rods that work well for bass fishing. Below, Mark is using what I believe to be one of the best value for money plugging rods in the UK at the moment. Don't get me wrong, there are lots of good spinning rods out there right now, check here for a load, but the rod that Mark is casting happens to work particularly well for bass fishing. It is the Shimano Technium DF BX Spinning rod, and the exact model is code STECDFBX30H - about 10' long, a nice, fast action for working all kinds of lures, and a hell of a lot of rod for not very much money at all. I know you can get them here.

Are the bass here ?

• I went out late yesterday afternoon to have my first proper go of the year for bass - just me, my sheepdog Jess and a deserted coastline. There really is nothing like travelling light and being able to move around the rocks, gullies, beaches and rips where the bass like to hang out. The general feeling around here is that the plugging season is close to getting going. The tide was on the neap side, but about two hours back I got hit hard about ten yards out. The bass did not connect properly with my lure, but in that split second my heart jumped into my mouth and it gave me real hope. But after that one hit I had nothing else. Still, I loved every single second of it - nobody around, a light onshore breeze, good clarity to the water, and a stack of awesome looking ground over which to play with my expanding lure collection !! Not that I like bass lures or anything......

• Above is a photograph of the sun setting just as I was getting ready to walk back to my car. South Devon is a great part of the world to live around and on evenings like this I can't really believe that I get to call this part of the world my home.

• I tried various lures out, including some incredible looking soft plastics that look so good in the water no self-respecting bass is going to refuse them. I will keep testing them out and then I will reveal what they are, where to get them and how to fish them. If you fish very shallow, weedy marks for bass, then these lures are very quickly going to find a place in your box. I am honestly amazed at how a bit of soft plastic can look so good in the water. Hell, I was tempted to dive in myself and grab it.

• But the lure that I got hit on yesterday was the ever faithful Maria Chase BW in the holographic silver colour. You need to work these things fast, and make sure to regularly jerk the rod tip to make them slash and dart from side to side. You can get your Maria Chase lures from here. I did give the good looking new colour Maria Chase BW a go yesterday, but I snagged it up and lost it straight away. I knew I should not have cast it where I did. One down.....

• I am currently testing out various different products to use for my bass fishing, including rods, reels, lures and lines. As I sink further and further into the world of modern bass fishing, I want my tackle to keep up with the task - the more research I do into all this, the more I know I have to learn. The secret is knowing where to look, and often that is outside of the UK. There are plenty of good bass fishing products on the market, but there are a few very special bits and pieces indeed. The rod I was using yesterday is simply stunning, there is no other word to describe it, but give me a bit more time and I will tell all.

• But one product you seriously need to check out is one of the most incredible braids that I have ever used, as you can see loaded up on my reel below. For some years now I have been using what I believe are the best UK-style shore fishing hooks on the market, the Varivas Big Mouth and Big Mouth Extras. Check here to get hold of them. Not only do they just look right to my eyes, but they work seriously well.

• Varivas also make a whole range of other high-tech fishing products, including lines and braids, and the one that I have fallen for in a big way is the green braid you can see below. Called Varivas Avani Sea Bass Premium SE braid, I am using the 23lb variety that comes in 150m spools. The only place I know that does this braid in the UK is here, and whilst it is not exactly cheap, what price the best ? One spool could last you for ages though. I like the colour, I love the way it feels, it lays perfectly on my reel, and it casts and fishes incredibly well. I also have another Varivas braid to try here, but for the moment this Avani Sea Bass Premium SE is going to get serious punishment from me. Take it from me, it is awesome stuff.

Interesting new bass lure

• I have just been sent a really interesting looking new lure that I reckon might work rather well for our bass. Called a Maria Bull Chop (where do they come up with these names ?), it is a bit of a strange one........

• Weighing 40g and with very strong looking hooks, it casts like a bullet, but it is not a "conventional" surface or sub-surface lure, indeed this Bull Chop seems as if it can be worked in a variety of different ways. I went out yesterday to give it a quick go on the water and see how it behaved and I reckon this lure might do well in a variety of situations. I will put a photo of the lure up here in due course.

• When you first look at the lure, it says "surface lure" to you, but the thing is heavy and it sinks - I used it in a variety of different ways yesterday and I reckon you can fish it very effectively in two, if not three different ways. I will be really interested to see how this Bull Chop performs when the bass are around, but if a lure can give me various options then I am starting to like it already. But we shall see.

• Method 1 - blast it and retrieve instantly with a high rod to get the lure up on the surface. Use a high rod technique to get the lure both walking and spitting back to you. Impart a lot of wrist action to create this hybrid popper/walk movement. Should be great for shallow water, covering loads of ground. Closest to a walking the dog action to me.

• Method 2 - blast it and retrieve the lure with a low rod, deliberately letting it work just under the surface. Occasionally the lure will break the surface and then go back under, and then it comes right on the surface as it gets closer to you. Now is the time to really make this thing walk across the surface like you would with a lure such as the Lucky Craft Sammy.

• Method 3 - I am not sure about this one, but since this lure casts well and sinks fast if you let it, I would imagine that working it almost like a jerkbait will produce takes in deeper water. I don't tend to lure fish for bass in very deep water, but it would be worth trying it like this, and you could get it to sink and draw and then break the surface.

• But if anybody out there knows any more about these Maria Bull Chop lures, please do tell me. We in the UK have a lot to learn when it comes to modern lure fishing methods, techniques and tackle.

• My current favourite bass lure is the Maria Chase BW in holographic silver, but like any addict, I always enjoy playing with different bits of plastic when I can, so I will be interested to see what this Bull Chop does. I will take a couple with me to the Florida Keys in a few weeks to see how they do there. You can get all your Maria lures here.

• I have ordered a few spinning rods to test out for bass plugging, and I have a feeling that one of them is going to be the rod that I have been after. There are loads of spinning rods on the market that do good jobs, but I have been looking for the one rod that just feels totally right to me the moment I pick it up. All details will be given out in due course. I am even hoping that a couple of the rods might well be "the one" !! We shall see........not that I am particular about my fishing rods or anything.

• And on to music - anybody into metal is going to have loved Iron Maiden all their lives, so you seriously need to get hold of their recently released live DVD called "Live After Death", from when they toured the Powerslave album back in 1985, when I was only 12 !! I am ashamed to say that Iron Maiden are the one band that I have never seen live, but I am going to rectify that the next time they are in the UK. Seeing them launch into songs like The Trooper, Hallowed be Thy Name and Aces High on this DVD nearly brought tears to my eyes with the sheer emotion of it. I had to tell my wife that it was a bit of dust caught in my eye. Check here to get hold of this awesome DVD.

Fishing lures

• OK, so the above is hardly the greatest fishing photo ever taken, but I wanted to try and show you an example of how simple fishing can be, and how much lure fishing around the globe shares such a similar approach. Please note the lures above - a Storm Thunderstick (left), a Daiwa Saltiga Popper (middle) and a Yo-Zuri Hydro Popper. If you ignore the fact that the lures have had their front treble hooks replaced with much stronger 5/0 ones, what you see here are some of the exact lures that worked really well for the monster golden dorado out in Argentina (see a load of photos here), and these same lures will catch plenty of bass for you as well.

• Think about what in my mind is THE fastest growing branch of UK sea fishing - light tackle lure and bait fishing for bass. All these lures are proven bass catchers. Predators are often remarkably similar the world over, and plenty of them will hit the same lures in the same ways as each other, albeit the size of fish may vary greatly.

• So yes, I grant you, it is very hard to resist buying every single kind of lure going when you see all those shiny new ones winking at you in your local tackle shop, but how many do you really need ? (easy for me to say, I am an avid collector just like the next man)

• Personally, I would not go lure fishing for bass around the kinds of marks I fish without three kinds of lures, and even then I do recognise that I have a lot to learn about fishing soft plastics for bass (more news to come on this through the year, I have some seriously cool products to try here) - I always make sure that I have a few poppers and "walk the dog" lures (for surface fishing) and a variety of shallow diving lures that are going to work at no more than about a metre or preferably less below the surface. Nothing yet has persuaded me to think otherwise about most lure caught bass coming from the upper levels of the water when we are shore fishing.

• And I made a classic mistake when I went over to fish for and photograph these monster golden dorado - I left a lot of lures at home because I thought they would be too small, when in fact most of the lures that really did well were just like the ones I use at home. Thanks to the guys on the trip for coming with such well-stocked lures boxes and for allowing me to trash some of them.

• What really surprised me was how well this new Greys Missionary 6 40-100g spinning rod was able to deal with the lighter lures, in fact it blasted them out with ease, even with the 50lb Sufix Performance Braid that I was using and abusing. This stuff is seriously good braid and the rod has fast become a personal favourite of mine.

• Some of the lures that worked well for the dorado and also work well for our bass were the Storm Chug Bug, the Yo-Zuri Surface Cruiser, the Daiwa Saltiga Popper, the Storm Thunderstick, the Yo-Zuri Hydro Popper, and of course, my all time favourite surface lure, the fantastically successful Halco Roosta Popper. You can by a lot of very successful UK bass lures by clicking here. Do not forget to buy some of the lethal Maria Chase BW lures in holographic silver - this thing smashes bass hard !!

• And forgetting fishing for a second - if you have any serious interest in photography, you owe it to yourself to buy what I believe is the best book on the subject that has been released for a while now. "The Moment it Clicks" by the world-famous photographer Joe McNally is a fascinating and very informal look at how he set up some of his best shots, for he is a true lighting genius. I am in complete awe of a lot of the stuff he has done. I know that you can get the book by clicking here. I took it with me on the way down to Argentina and I could hardly put it down - it is that good.

• And for a bit of culture on this rather dank Friday, below is a shot of some tango dancing that I came across on a street in Beunos Aires. This dancing is just incredible and I only wish I had not had to rush off to the airport so quickly. Another good excuse for going back. A few more tango dancing shots are at the end of this web gallery here.