As temperatures finally start to drop, although it still remains blissfully calm and dry, I'm starting to reflect on a pretty good season here in beautiful West Cork...
It was a season that saw the evolution of new ideas starting to have a real effect on my fishing, a season where new fishing friends were made,old friendships reacquainted...
and visting anglers went away happy with some epic tales to tell!
Old favored locations were revisited with good results and a new locations were added...
some surprising!
Trips away were by and large productive and I was lucky enough to fish the famed Stripers of Cape Cod for the first time with fly and lure - What an incredible place!
The fact that my fishing is still moving forward apace is one of the most enjoyable and rewarding aspects to me, new ideas and discoveries have changed my routines completely...
I did very little fishing off the rocks with hard lures (Except at night) instead I spent a huge amount of time developing my understanding of metals over sand and rough ground to add to my soft plastics...
along with a lot of night fishing but it didn't account for as large a percentage of my fish as previous years which I'm delighted about, especially from a photographic point of view...
Much as I enjoy the Night Game nothing beats taking in the stunning scenery around me while fishing - especially if I'm catching!
It may not be all over yet either...I will be venturing out between now and Christmas whenever the conditions look half decent and who knows what could happen...That's Fishing ;-)
Thanks for reading - David
P.S. Sensible emergency measures were introduced at the beginning of 2016 across Europe prohibiting the taking of Bass during the first half of 2016 along with other restrictions for the rest of the year due to the fact this is a species under severe pressure from commercial interests legal and illegal. I kept only a single fish for the table in 2016...
