IRISH BASS WELCOME TO OUR MAY eNEWSLETTER

WELCOME TO OUR MAY eNEWSLETTER
31st MAY 2010
REPORTS


Bass fishing has remained good in Kerry, but the bass are now more spread out. While a month ago warm water was only found over rocks and reefs at high tide, the sea temperature has now increased enough for bass to be active and feeding all day long. Bass have been seen feeding on sand eels and fish have been boiling on the surface at times. While bait fishing is still effective, surface lures are now working very well and some better quality bass are showing up.

Some good reports have come in from the Cork coast and right along the South coast to Wexford. Several fish into double figures have been landed though mostly the bass seem a little on the small side compared to other years. There is no doubt that the illegal bass fishery is having an effect on the number and quality of bass being caught.

When the bass season opens again on the 15th June bass should have spread all along the south coast and up the east coast. Set that alarm clock and get out for some early morning sport.
FISHING TIPS
As we head into the summer bass feeding behaviour is affected as much by the time of day as by the state of the tide. Try to fish in low light conditions ie early and late.


NEWS


The Irish Bass group has been very busy since the last newsletter. New leaflets have been printed and we hope to have them in every coastal tackle shop in the South of Ireland by the 15th of June.

The new Irish Bass website is finally online www.irishbass.org. With your help we can make it the go to website for all bass anglers in Ireland. You can help by passing on the link www.irishbass.org to all your friends. You can also contact us if you have any good bass angling photos, recent bass fishing reports (yes, we know it’s the closed season now), tips or techniques. We would love to hear from you if you have any special bass fishing stores. You can contact us on info@irishbass.org .
The Irish Bass group had a very important meeting with Paul Connolly (head of the Marine Institute Fisheries Science Services division). Paul Connolly produced the controversial bass report which recommended the change in the Irish bass protection legislation sought by the FIF. Paul Connolly admitted that the report was basically unsound and that a new report would be needed to take into account the issues raised by Irish Bass. We will be contacting Minister Connick as soon as possible to discuss the matter with him.

There has been incredible interest in our bass from overseas journalists and film makers this year. Anglers from other countries in Europe are starting to realise how good our bass angling is and how special our bass protection regulations are. This may mean we will see more tourist anglers fishing for bass in Ireland. Some Irish anglers may not see this as a good thing but if we do not promote our bass fishing and show how valuable a resource it is to the Irish economy then in the long term we will have little chance of holding on to our legislation. Also, the best chance we have to get better enforcement of the regulations is to show how valuable a resource our bass are and can be if managed properly.

I know most of you have already done so but we still need people to contact Minister Sean Connick to urge him to reject the FIF proposal. If you click on his email address sean.connick@oireachtas.ie you can send a quick message. Let him know bass anglers have not gone away and we are not prepared to let our bas protection legislation slip away so easily.

Thank you for your help and support.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Did you know that several European countries have sea angling licences and the UK is considering bringing one in? Despite this, anglers are given virtually no say in how their marine fish stocks are managed.

Visit us at www.irishbass.org

"…to safeguard the future of Irish sea bass, the anglers who respect them and the many livelihoods those anglers support"

Become a friend of www.irishbass.org


This message was sent from John Quinlan to rinnasharksac@gmail.com. It was sent from: Administration Team, Kinneigh west, caherciveen, Kerry Killarney, Ireland. You can modify/update your subscription via the link below.