Autumn bassing with Eire Bass....

Richie Ryan's autumn has kicked off nicely. The saltwater fly-fishing guide was concerned that the plethora of mackeral and fry in the harbour during the late summer and early autumn would make bass fishing difficult. The abundance of baitfish had certainly made things difficult in mid-summer. However, Richie was quite happy with results from early September on.

In the first week of September Richie had a husband and wife team, Vin and Sue Heron, booked for five days. The UK couple were anxious to keep one bass during their week's guided fishing as they had their campervan with them and while catering for themselves wanted to taste a bass again.

In fairness to them they hooked up every day. On the day they had designated for keeping one of the catch, the bass caught were all too big for the pot. Richie prevailed upon them to release the large females on this occasion. As can be seen from these photos, it was important that these brood stock breed again and they gladly released all these large bass.

They were eventually rewarded; the next day Vin picked up a fish of about 3lbs, probably the smallest catch of the week, the ideal size for the pan. That night Sue cooked that bass according to one of her recipes and both enjoyed an excellent home cooked meal.

Richie was very impressed by Sue's fly fishing ability. Husband Vin was more happy to use more traditional angling techniques and, in fairness, had a good variety of species during the week. In fact, the couple were so happy with the fishing and scenery in Cork Harbour that they booked Richie again for next year.

If you'd fancy a day's guided fishing with Richie Ryan then give him a call on 00-353-86-1940744. Check out his website Eire Bass here for more details.

Richie's boat, Sea Hawk, is the first boat in Ireland to be licensed for saltwater fly-fishing. On the fly Richie targets seatrout, golden grey mullet, thick lipped mullet, pollack, aswell as bass!