Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 362
- Reaction score
- 3,354
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
After last Wednesday’s bumper session, there was no doubt about where I would be fishing this week and thankfully conditions were very similar. The dark clouds were replaced by bright sunshine but if anything, the offshore wind was even stronger than last week, meaning maximum casting range once more.
Whereas last week it had been a case of action almost from the start, things were a lot quieter this time and apart from the occasional speculative dive towards my lure, by curious terns with nothing better to do, I saw no signs of life for the first 90 minutes. As the tide ebbed towards low water, I gave time to the Frosty in a couple of different colours, the Asturie 110, the Mag Popper 105, the Komomo II and of course the hero of last week, the Swimmish but none of my choices resulted in so much as a bump
.
Not one to give up without a fight though, I hoped that the turn of the tide would change things and sure enough, exactly as low water arrived I heard a splash, as a tern made the first proper dive since I’d arrived. Over the next few minutes their numbers increased rapidly and then my Swimmish was hit for the first time of the evening. Sadly the first couple of attacks failed to connect, but finally it was a case of third time lucky, as a decent feeling bass turned for the horizon with my lure in its mouth, taking a small amount of line as it did so . After waiting for so long for the action to start, I couldn’t help wondering if this was just the start of another productive evening, but it wasn’t to be and after a couple of short runs the attacker threw the hook! I was of course gutted and I couldn’t help but wonder if I might have blown my only chance of the night, but I needn’t have worried.
Only a couple of minutes later my lure was smashed again, and this time the hook hold was secure. After a fantastic scrap in the shallow rock strewn water, I was able to slide my prize onto a flat, weed covered rock directly in front of me, perfect for photographing and unhooking fish. The average size of bass last Thursday was in the 1.5 – 2lb range, but this time I had started off with a better fish around the 2 – 2.5lb mark, so I was well chuffed .
Once the bass was nudged off the rock and back into the gin clear water, I got straight back to it and incredibly my lure was hit again almost immediately! Another great fight resulted in a second fish of a similar size, but sadly this time my catch was tinged with sadness. After accounting for all 10 fish last week, and another 2 this time, my Swimmish was badly damaged and left in need of an urgent trip to the ho”SP”ital for a consultation with Dr Superglue .
With no time for sentiment, I clipped on a new lure and I was back in the game with the minimum of delay, then amazingly the new lure carried on where its predecessor left off by being engulfed on only the second cast. The assailant was a little smaller this time and managed to unhook itself just as I slid it onto the rock, but I was able to get a quick snap before it was able to complete its escape.
So that was 3 bass in 7 minutes and they just kept on coming, bass number 4 came 3 minutes later,
Followed by number 5, at around 3.5lb the best fish of the session so far, another 3 minutes after that,
I knew this couldn’t go on forever, and after missing several more hits I had to wait a whole 5 minutes for the next one, slightly smaller this time.
The flooding tide was picking up the pace by now and forcing me away from the hot-spot, but by moving back to higher ground I was able to account for bass number 7 of the evening, another slightly smaller than the first few I’d caught but still enough to take me to 57 for the year, one more than my total for the whole of 2020, after only 11 weeks of fishing!
Unfortunately, this was only delaying the inevitable and a dozen or so casts later, as the water deepened and the light began to fade, I was forced to retreat to safer ground.
Though the fun was over for the time being, I was still hopeful of more action and for the next hour I fished over the same ground where I’d bagged up last week, but for some unknown reason the bass were nowhere to be found this time.
The tide continued to push and it was getting too dark now for wandering around the gnarly ground, so with an hour to go before my planned finishing time I moved next to an alternative area a short distance away. This was another mark where I’ve previously had some good sessions, but once more it didn’t live up to my expectations and apart from a couple of small taps on the Mishna, which could well have been small pollack, I didn’t get any more joy.
Finally midnight arrived, and with one eye on my next planned session this Thursday night, I decided not to waste any more time chasing ghosts and to settle for another 7 bass in that crazy half hour.
Whereas last week it had been a case of action almost from the start, things were a lot quieter this time and apart from the occasional speculative dive towards my lure, by curious terns with nothing better to do, I saw no signs of life for the first 90 minutes. As the tide ebbed towards low water, I gave time to the Frosty in a couple of different colours, the Asturie 110, the Mag Popper 105, the Komomo II and of course the hero of last week, the Swimmish but none of my choices resulted in so much as a bump
.Not one to give up without a fight though, I hoped that the turn of the tide would change things and sure enough, exactly as low water arrived I heard a splash, as a tern made the first proper dive since I’d arrived. Over the next few minutes their numbers increased rapidly and then my Swimmish was hit for the first time of the evening
. Sadly the first couple of attacks failed to connect, but finally it was a case of third time lucky, as a decent feeling bass turned for the horizon with my lure in its mouth, taking a small amount of line as it did so . After waiting for so long for the action to start, I couldn’t help wondering if this was just the start of another productive evening, but it wasn’t to be and after a couple of short runs the attacker threw the hook! I was of course gutted and I couldn’t help but wonder if I might have blown my only chance of the night, but I needn’t have worried.Only a couple of minutes later my lure was smashed again, and this time the hook hold was secure. After a fantastic scrap in the shallow rock strewn water, I was able to slide my prize onto a flat, weed covered rock directly in front of me, perfect for photographing and unhooking fish
. The average size of bass last Thursday was in the 1.5 – 2lb range, but this time I had started off with a better fish around the 2 – 2.5lb mark, so I was well chuffed .Once the bass was nudged off the rock and back into the gin clear water, I got straight back to it and incredibly my lure was hit again almost immediately! Another great fight resulted in a second fish of a similar size, but sadly this time my catch was tinged with sadness
. After accounting for all 10 fish last week, and another 2 this time, my Swimmish was badly damaged and left in need of an urgent trip to the ho”SP”ital for a consultation with Dr Superglue .With no time for sentiment, I clipped on a new lure and I was back in the game with the minimum of delay, then amazingly the new lure carried on where its predecessor left off by being engulfed on only the second cast. The assailant was a little smaller this time and managed to unhook itself just as I slid it onto the rock, but I was able to get a quick snap before it was able to complete its escape
.So that was 3 bass in 7 minutes and they just kept on coming, bass number 4 came 3 minutes later,
Followed by number 5, at around 3.5lb the best fish of the session so far, another 3 minutes after that,
I knew this couldn’t go on forever, and after missing several more hits I had to wait a whole 5 minutes for the next one
, slightly smaller this time.The flooding tide was picking up the pace by now and forcing me away from the hot-spot, but by moving back to higher ground I was able to account for bass number 7 of the evening, another slightly smaller than the first few I’d caught but still enough to take me to 57 for the year, one more than my total for the whole of 2020, after only 11 weeks of fishing!
Unfortunately, this was only delaying the inevitable and a dozen or so casts later, as the water deepened and the light began to fade, I was forced to retreat to safer ground.
Though the fun was over for the time being, I was still hopeful of more action and for the next hour I fished over the same ground where I’d bagged up last week, but for some unknown reason the bass were nowhere to be found this time
.The tide continued to push and it was getting too dark now for wandering around the gnarly ground, so with an hour to go before my planned finishing time I moved next to an alternative area a short distance away. This was another mark where I’ve previously had some good sessions, but once more it didn’t live up to my expectations and apart from a couple of small taps on the Mishna, which could well have been small pollack, I didn’t get any more joy
.Finally midnight arrived, and with one eye on my next planned session this Thursday night, I decided not to waste any more time chasing ghosts and to settle for another 7 bass in that crazy half hour
.
