Day six…Darwin or God?

The Cornavirus Covid -19 pandemic is making me question myself on some of my basic beliefs.

An omnipotent God or Darwin?

I am constantly seeing social media posts asking why we cannot go fishing at this time?

This is the fundamental disturbance in the force for me.

Surely only a grand creator who loves ALL his/her creations would allow such stupidity to thrive?

If Darwin was correct in his seminal work published in 1859 ‘Origin of the Species’ or more correctly “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life” why are there so many stupid people still roaming the planet ??

Natural selection just isn’t cutting it, or is it just about to up it’s game?

Lets just imagine…

So you have decided that you are special, that fishing is a form of exercise, that you won’t get sick, it won’t affect you, that you cannot live another day without fishing or you just don’t care? You have bait, so no social contact with the struggling tackle shops, you can walk to the mark, no unnecessary driving for you, you wont break down in the car you won’t slip or fall on the way and become a further burden to the NHS

You are down on the rocks and another Neanderthal with similar views has fished at night 24 hours ago so no-one sees him (taking the precaution not to post a catch report for fear of being outed for what he is.) The previous idiot has left all his bait wrappings, which many idiots do, and you, a model citizen are outraged by this mindless act of stupidity and pick up the litter to dispose of responsibly, you will not cause the death of turtles or risk the wrath of Greta Thunberg, oh no, those recyclables can be made into new plastic bags or toilet rolls or the little brushes you clean in between your teeth with.

You now carry the Virus, what you didn’t know? Our Neanderthal bait caster was asymptomatic, he wasn’t ill, didn’t feel bad and wasn’t causing any harm. You did not know that the virus can live on plastic for two to three days or that our Neanderthal was desperate for a poo and busted out a wildy just over the rocks and with not way to clean up the ragworm wrappings are drafted in (don’t laugh you know at least one person who would do this) Now on his hands the fecal transmission is completed…… and you get to take it home to your wife and kids for free.

Once the Death Toll starts ramping up will you still ask why you cannot go fishing or do you need to wait to stand next to a hole in the ground while they lower a loved one in?

A bit strong? it’s only flu really, isn’t it ??

Hopefully this little scenario will never take place and it cannot if you do not let it.

It’s not difficult

It cannot be any easier, many of us are being paid 80% of our wages to stay at home, who ever imagined that. Contemplate the number of episodes of Jeremy Kyle this could fuel.

At the very least the longer we take no notice of the lockdown the longer it will be enforced for, and then we could miss the Hounds and Blonde Rays.

Rant over I quite enjoyed that, I haven’t had a rant for ages. I am just looking for a microphone to drop.

Back to the image.

Bass

Not one of my favourite fish but Clare is the forgotten cousin of Irish Bass fishing, for may years Kerry marks such as Inch Strand were the Mecca for shore bass hunters. Wexford ( where my own family are from) was high on the list for lure anglers.

People have overlooked Emmet Naughton and the 17lb 3oz fish which was caught in Doonbeg (just by Trump’s hotel) in 2000 and still stands as the official Irish record twenty years later.

With not much else to target Bass became my winter target, fishing with baits, mainly freshly dug lug on storm beaches such as Cregg, Lehinch and Fanore.

They are there if you want them and for those of you who don’t know there is no (legal) commercial bass fishing in Ireland, catch and release only from December to March and only two fish to be retained in a 24 hour period.

When I say they are not my favourite fish there is one exception, there is very little to compare with skitting and dancing a Gunfish (other surface lures are available) on a warm gentle summers evening and watching the bass explode after it.

Until tomorrow, enjoy another day in the asylum.