Irish Bass Festival 2013

Just back from Ireland with Mark and Joe, after 4 days of some of the most hard and unrewarding fishing you'd ever come across. The fish were scarce, the weather was Mediterranean and the tides were small.  After a sleepless Wednesday night on Stena lines flagship the Marathon began. Thursday was a look around day, fishing a couple of marks, Padders taking a nice Sea-Trout, popping into Absolute Fishing to meet Cian, James and the staff. Chinese, more fishing and a couple of hours sleep. The Competition started Friday, and it got tougher.

We knew the fish were thin on the ground, and we tried everything, covering marks anything up to 35 miles apart. Fish were found and better returns could have been had if we stayed on certain venues, but these fish were small and the competition was all about the biggest fish. Saturday night while Ireland partied we fished until 2am, chest deep in a receding tide for a bite-less session. Over the 5 nights I got 8 hours sleep. Marks snoring wasn't helping. He didn't take his waders off for 2 days and when he did he seemed to have Trench-foot.

Mark did the best, catching consistently throughout with the best around 55 cm ( I think). We all caught fish, nowhere near big enough to worry the eventual winner. No storeys from us of lost monsters, but no moaning either. For all the money, effort and sleep deprivation this was a great experience. A well run comp, and the help and friendliness extended to us by the Irish was awesome. We know our way around a bit better now, and we know the fish are there, and that will get us back.