My First Bass

It was a  blustery cold winters evening. I had always wanted to have a go at fishing Ballyheigue beach. So that's where we headed off to. With the car packed and ready we set on our way to North Kerry. We heard there had been fine painted  rays being caught and we all needed one for our species hunt. Mom, Dad, Oisin and Myself were all hoping for one of these super fish. 

We arrived at the destination during dark. Setting up took awhile because of the howling conditions. I asked my parents what setup to use Mom kindly replied "you know just as well as us". I decided to use the same rig that caught me my Stingray during the Summer. On the top hook I used Sandeel and on the bottom hook I used Mackerel. Once all of us were setup we hit the beach Dad carried his and Oisin's gear to the right of the slipway and Mom stayed in front of it. I went slightly to the left of her. I waded out and cast my line. I tightened my line and left my rod to go over to Mom. Dad was showing her what a Bass bite would look like. No sooner had he done that I saw my rod tip go wild. It looked exactly how Dad had just demonstrated. I ran to the rod and struck the fish, I knew I had hooked him because I could feel him on the line. I thought I had lost the fish half way through reeling him in because I couldn't feel it anymore but when the rig was at my feet I could see it was a Bass. I called out to Mom "I caught a Bass I caught a Bass" Mom called the same to Dad and he brought the measuring stick and my species hunt card. When we measured the fish it was 33 cm long . My fish was the biggest and only Bass of the night. Oisin and myself were having our own little competition. Oisin caught a small coley and so did Mom, unfortunately Dad blanked with no fish. Oisin started to get cold and so we packed up. Luckily Moms friend Cathy was in the area and had invited us for dinner. She made us a cup of tea and gave us a bowl of beef stew.(the best stew I ever tasted). Mum and Dad talked to Cathy for about an hour, it was late and we had to leave. Overall I was ecstatic. It wasnt my first Bass, but it was my first Bass that I caught unaided. 

Tight Lines

Eoin Angler 

Co Kerry 

Ireland