Stutter, splutter, splash and pop!

Close your eyes. Imagine yourself in your chest waders. The warm water laps gently against your thighs. The amber sun says goodbye to another day among the hills directly behind you, however it still feels warm on your shoulders, there's still another couple of hours of twilight to be enjoyed. You remove your carefully selected fly from its holder just above the handle on your fly-rod. Around you shovel like tails as big as your hand are poking out of the water as the fish are head down in 18 inches of water. They're feeding like pigs on the abundant shrimp, crabs and small fish. Your hands start to tremble as you tentatively strip some line from your reel and the anticipation grows. You're suddenly very aware of your tongue! This is what you've travelled for. This is what you've waited for. You try to work out which direction the fish are travelling so that you can cast your line to intercept one of them. This is not as easy as it sounds!

You make a fairly straight cast slightly to your left and begin your jerky retrieve. Suddenly, a bow wave appears in the shallow water behind your fly. Alas, this develops into nothing as the fish changes its mind and takes another shrimp instead, but at least you've generated some interest! You stand still for a moment, waiting to see if you can spot another fish to intercept. Again you spot the tell tail sign as a fish cruises along in search of food. Again you try to anticipate the fishes cruising speed so that your retrieve will pull the fly across his nose. Again the bow wave appears. However this time there's a violent splash followed by a vicious pull on your line. There's no need to set the hook. The fish has engulfed your fly and is now making for the far shore of this shallow weedy bay at a rate of knots. All you can do now is hang on helplessly as yards of line are taken from your now seemingly inadequate reel!

Now open your eyes. Where do you think you have just been? Stalking bonefish in the Bahamas I suspect will be your first guess. Guess again! This is saltwater fly fishing for Bass. This is Carlingford Lough on Ireland's East coast. Welcome to my world.

GETTING STARTED
Up until a few years ago most of my bass fishing hours were put in watching a beachcaster's tip remain static for days at a time with only a few bites to show for my efforts. The successes I had were all too few in comparison to the amount of time I was putting in. All of this changed when I booked a days fishing with John Hall in Co Cork.

John is a professional Bass fishing guide, and an excellent one at that. John really opened my eyes in terms of fishing methods and the types of ground I should be fishing. We fished shallow rocky ground with surface popping plugs and also fly fished. I was fascinated with the effect these lures had on the fish. The takes were many, and spectacular to say the least. (Mind you, John and I spent the session getting our backsides kicked by my fiance', in terms of numbers of fish taken!)

Upon returning home I began to rethink my local fishing marks and the tackle I was using. I left my beachcasters at home and I purchased a study fly rod, a 10ft, stiff spinning rod and a pair of breathable waders. Next thing was to find a good mark.

I knew of a local beach at the mouth of Carlingford Lough where there was some shallow rocky ground complete with some large weed beds. I suspected this was a good place to start. I was still finding my way with the fly rod, so out went a chug bug. A surface popping plug retrieved with a jerky, splashy retrieve was exactly what had worked previously, so my hopes were high. Sure enough about 40 minutes had elapsed when a bass attempted to halt the little lure's progress almost right at my feet and.. missed!

My heart almost stopped when I saw that great fish's girth no more than 12 feet away from me! It had almost completely broached the surface of the water in its attempt to capture my little chug bug! In desperation at such a near miss, I stopped retrieving and cursed my luck. Try again. I had barely begun resuming my retrieve when the lure was engulfed in the cavernous maws of the bass which 10 seconds ago I thought had escaped my clutches! A 10 minute struggle later and she was mine. 7 1/2lbs of pure silver. Success!

Since that eventful day, I have never looked back! 90% of my sea fishing is now conducted using the above methods and it's been extremely successful for me. Please don't get me wrong, I am no expert! I'm still finding my feet with these methods. It's just that I've been persistent and I've been lucky to live in a good bass holding area. I've also had some sound advice from an extremely good source. However, to get you on the road, here is some basic advice that has worked for me.

PLUGGING
Most of my plugging is now conducted with surface popping plugs. There are many good ones on the market of which the two best and most popular are the Chug bugs and Duel's Aile Magnet. I find the Aile Magnet especially effective. If you purchase one in the sand eel colour and one in mackerel you'll be well covered. These are best worked with a stiff spinning rod and a medium fixed spool reel loaded with 10-12lb line. If you're using a slightly softer rod, try using 20lb braid and a mono leader of about 4-5 feet long. This will help with properly working your poppers.

These lures are extremely effective when cast alongside and sometimes over weedbeds. Retrieve them in jerks and spurts. (ie. Make em' pop!) Don't ignore boulders, with the water breaking round them. These are often good fish holding features. Bass will often be in attendance as these rocks provide food and cover. Also, if mackerel are herding baitfish near to your position and they're boiling on the surface cast to the rear of the shoal. Bass will often be behind and below the mackerel shoal, mopping up any baitfish they've left behind in their wake. You will often take some of your bigger bass in this situation. You may also pick up some bonus mackerel for supper!!

Fishing surface poppers is not rocket science by any means! However there are a few simple guidelines to keep in mind.

1.Really work the lure at all times. Make it stutter splutter, splash and pop! This is what attracts the fish and is especially important in rougher conditions. Keep working the lure until it's right at your feet. Bass will often take the lure as you're about to lift it from the water!

2. Keep on the move. Don't stand in one spot and continuously cast for hours on end! Keep searching for the fish. Fan your casts from left to right in a 180 degree arc in front of you. Again look out for the features I've mentioned above.

3. Don't wade in straight away. In fact if possible, make your first few casts from 4 or 5 yards from the waters edge. Remember bass will happily feed in a foot of water and you'll just scare these fish away if you just plough straight into the water!

One of the best things about plugging and fly fishing is that it really gets you thinking about what you're doing. You're continuously moving (at least you should be!), continuously casting. You're always on the lookout for new marks to try. Your watercraft really starts to kick in and more often than not you're travelling light. Gone are the large holdalls, seat boxes and buckets of bait. In comes the rucksack, waders and rod approach!

Once you've become comfortable with the notion of travelling light and searching for fish to take your poppers, the natural progression is fly fishing.

FLY FISHING
As a converted trout fisherman I found the progression to fly fishing for bass to be quite a natural one. Although on my first attempt with John Hall, I found it extremely difficult to handle the really heavy rods and line widely used for saltwater flyfishing. Personally, I'm not a fan of the super heavy fly rods with the fighting handles etc. I much prefer to use a sturdy rod taking an 8-9 line, like a rod used for sea trout and grilse in rivers. I couple this with a large arbour fly reel and a weight forward floating line. I find this to be more than capable of handling all but the worst of bass fly fishing conditions. It is my opinion that to fish too heavy takes much of the enjoyment out of fly fishing at all. In really bad conditions, I tend to either fish plugs or head for the pub! Again it's down to personal opinion and preferences as I know a lot of people more experienced and proficient with the fly rod recommend those heavy fighting handle type rods!

Once again, you should be fishing the same kind of ground and looking for the same features as mentioned for fishing the surface poppers. (Boulders, weedbeds etc.) However because of the often more delicate and precise nature of fly fishing you can do as I do and seek out gaps in weedbeds to land a surface popping fly right in these gaps with your fly line laying right across the top! This is extremely exciting form of fishing and quite often your fly will be taken as soon as it hits the surface! I suppose it's akin to stalking trout with a dry fly on a river. This was how I fished for years so it again came quite naturally to me! You can also wade out gently and place a cast parallel to the weedbeds. Retrieve your fly in a similar manner to your plugs. Don't be afraid to leave the fly sitting for 5-10 seconds at a time, before continuing your retrieve with small jerks and pulls. The take will usually be decisive with a bow wave appearing behind the fly followed by an arm wrenching pull on your rod tip. A strike is usually unnecessary as when using popping flies they will usually be taken right into the mouth. Make sure you carry either long nosed pliers or specialist unhooking tools like the kind used by pike anglers.

The flies for this kind of fishing could not be simpler! They are simply a tail of bucktail, body of Fritz Chenille and an ethafoam back and head to keep it afloat. I usually tie these on Aberdeen hooks in sizes 2-2/0. Colours are entirely up to you. I like predominately white with some chartreuse. All chartreuse can be excellent as is a dark olive fly in the late evening heading into night as it gives a much better silhouette. I usually put in either red gills made from Artic fox or use red dubbing in a band just behind the head. As with trout flies, I think this flash of red gives the fish a target point to home in on during the take. Again, this is just a theory that I have. There may be nothing to it! It's up to you to experiment!

Over the cleaner, deeper ground you won't go far wrong sticking to the same colours but in various deceiver, clouser minnow and sandeel patterns. I usually tie these a little bigger than usual. I think a 2/0 or a 3/0 stainless steel O'Shaugnesy hook in medium gauge wire is about right. One thing about these patterns, is just to make sure that they're fitted with eyes that look a size bigger than looks right. Bass definitely take an large eyed pattern better. I think they use these as a target point when they attack, just like the flash of red I incorporate into my poppers. With these patterns used over the cleaner ground, I'd advise you to use as fast a retrieve as possible! In fact often the most successful retrieve is to tuck the rod under your arm and retrieve the line hand over hand as fast as you can. Trust me, it works!

In terms of a leader, just attach about 8 feet of clear 10lb mono to your braided loop. That's it! Bass aren't line shy, so a leader of 10-15lb is perfect. I do use fluorocarbon tippets on my leader, but it's by no means essential. It's just my usual belt and braces approach to everything remotely connected to fishing! If only I could attach this attitude to my life in general my fiance, boss and bank manager (no jokes about this being the same person please!) would be a lot happier!!

So now you're ready for the water. Well almost! One last tip I will pass on to you is to buy yourself one of those cheap plastic baskets, about the size of a washing up basin. Attach this round your waist with an old belt. This acts as a line tray. It's amazing how often your line will become snagged if you just let it fall in bunches at your feet on this snaggy kelpy ground! Trust me, I lost a decent bass one day for this very reason.

One last thing, PLEASE, PLEASE return the vast majority of bass you catch. These wonderful creatures are extremely slow growing and an 8lb fish is a creature that is much too valuable to be caught just once. There is no harm in taking the odd fish for the pot, but a conservationist attitude is essential to help preserve our sport. Personally I only ever take fish that I think have a poor chance of survival, such as badly hooked or completely worn out fish that I cannot revive. To put this in context, this usually equates to 2-3 fish per year.

So there you are! I hope this encourages you to have a go at this style of bass fishing. Ok you may get some strange looks from the peeler crabs brigade, as you walk down the rocks with a washing up basin strapped to your waist and nothing on your hook but a load of feather and fluff, but trust me in the right conditions you'll out fish them by 4 fish to 1 and you'll have a lot more fun!!