Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 362
- Reaction score
- 3,354
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
Though I had pretty much given up on the lures for another year, last weekends settled weather sparked a bit of a bass comeback locally, which of course peaked my interest. Typically the weather window didn’t last until I could get out on Thursday night, but with bass around I decided, against my better judgement I might add, to leave the conger hunting for a little while longer. My original plan was to head for the beach mark where I’ve done well on the schoolies this year, but someone in work just happened to mention that his mate, a local gill netter had been catching some nice fish lately 
, so I decided to stay local myself too.
The forecast wasn’t great, but the southerly winds should at least be offshore at my local mark, so I set off on the short journey in time to catch the last 2 hours of the flood. As I parked up I was encouraged by the fact that the wind was indeed southerly…ish but my confidence wasn’t to last and after a short walk I arrived on the beach to find the wind a lot stronger than I would have liked and blowing from the west! This wasn’t great and with a moderate surf travelling diagonally along the shore, coupled with visibility of 12 inches at most, it didn’t look good for lure fishing . Of course I had to give it a go and Lemon Meringue was the perfect colour for the dirty water, sadly though the water was still a little too shallow for the Mishna, so I clipped on its shallower swimming cousin the Swimmish instead. By punching the lure into the wind, I was able to get some decent distance on the cast but the wind blowing along the shore, dragged my braid and lure rapidly from left to right, spoiling the action. I wasn’t feeling even slightly confident, so after 15 minutes I admitted defeat and set off back to the car.
Still determined to stay local if possible, I headed next for a nearby mark which I’ve been meaning to try for a long time but have never got around to it yet. Being sheltered by a headland I hoped that conditions would be better there but despite it being a little bit calmer, the water clarity still left a lot to be desired and I didn’t even bother wetting a line this time. With valuable fishing time at stake, I had a decision to make and after a minimum of thought I set off on the 30 mile drive to my originally intended mark.
Worryingly the drive was a wet one, with virtually constant rain all the way but thankfully, the weather gods seemed to have taken pity on me and the rain stopped just as I pulled up at the parking spot. Not only had the rain stopped, but the skies had cleared completely and by the time I arrived at the shore, the dark but starlit sky was quite a sight.
After my earlier problems I had arrived later than I had hoped for and I had missed high water, but being a steeply sloping beach with a decent depth of water I have caught plenty there on the ebb and I was still confident of some action. The killer lure at this particular spot is the Mishna, so there was no question whatsoever of what to begin my hunt with, and I wasted no time in getting straight in the water.
With the wind on my local beach being westerly I was surprised to find it was now blowing southerly as it should have been, and this created quite a swell at this new mark. Being made up of coarse sand, gravel and rocks though, the water clarity was excellent save for a few bits of loosed weed here and there.
The first 20 minutes were quiet, as I stood knee deep in the water and fanned out casts to cover more ground, and though the waves were a little bit annoying as they smashed into my knees on a regular basis, they didn’t cause me any problems, that was until I caught sight of something interesting out of the corner of my eye. Though it was a dark and moonless night, there was still just enough light for me to make out a larger than usual wave breaking along the rocks to my right. I watched it get gradually closer until it reached the shore and broke directly in front of me, what happened next was quite unexpected to say the least. I’m guessing that it was due to the steep nature of the beach but rather than just run up the shingle, the water bounced straight back into the air and right over my head!
I was completely drenched, and I can’t repeat the first words out of my mouth on here without getting banned ??, but once I retreated up the beach and away from the water, I just couldn’t help laughing.
The towel I carry for drying my hands was completely soaked too, but I was soon able to dry myself just enough to enable me to get back to the fishing, but this time I stood in only ankle deep water and I kept a much closer eye on the waves ?. After this I continued to see the odd bigger swell in among the usual, but thankfully I didn’t see anything near the size of the earlier freak one and I gradually relaxed again and waded slightly further out.
For the next 20 minutes or so I switched to a white Wave Worm, in an effort to see if there were any fish closer to the bottom, but when this didn’t work I clipped on a Mishna again and it paid off instantly, when it was hit without warning. With so much at stake I played the fish really carefully, until I was finally able to beach it with the help of an altogether friendlier wave than the last one. So after a bit of a nightmare start to my evening, the world was suddenly a much nicer place and it was all down to my latest ever lure caught bass, a whole 6 days later than my previous best catch ?.
At around the 2lb mark, the bass was fairly standard for this year but having pretty much given up on lure fishing for 2020, it meant so much more to me and I couldn’t stop grinning as I unhooked it and returned it safely to the clear water ?.
The next 90 minutes were quiet, as I followed the retreating tide down the shore and by 11pm, with no more hits coming I was considering calling it a night. The swells had eased to virtually nothing by now and just as I was able to wade out onto the sand to explore some more ground, my lure was hit again. Sadly it didn’t connect but it meant that I couldn’t possibly leave just yet.
I gave it another half an hour but all was quiet and with the rain just starting again, and a club match booked in for the following night, I called it quits at 23:45 and headed for home to dry myself and my gear out.
So despite my earlier misgivings and it being a relatively quiet night, it was still mission accomplished and I was chuffed to bits with only my second ever lure caught November bass ?. The forecast for the coming week is looking dodgy, so time will tell if I get the chance to try for an even later one, but if it doesn’t pan out then I can’t complain and I’ve still had a good year on the lures, despite everything that Covid could throw at us ?.
, so I decided to stay local myself too.The forecast wasn’t great, but the southerly winds should at least be offshore at my local mark, so I set off on the short journey in time to catch the last 2 hours of the flood. As I parked up I was encouraged by the fact that the wind was indeed southerly…ish but my confidence wasn’t to last and after a short walk I arrived on the beach to find the wind a lot stronger than I would have liked and blowing from the west!
This wasn’t great and with a moderate surf travelling diagonally along the shore, coupled with visibility of 12 inches at most, it didn’t look good for lure fishing . Of course I had to give it a go and Lemon Meringue was the perfect colour for the dirty water, sadly though the water was still a little too shallow for the Mishna, so I clipped on its shallower swimming cousin the Swimmish instead. By punching the lure into the wind, I was able to get some decent distance on the cast but the wind blowing along the shore, dragged my braid and lure rapidly from left to right, spoiling the action. I wasn’t feeling even slightly confident, so after 15 minutes I admitted defeat and set off back to the car.Still determined to stay local if possible, I headed next for a nearby mark which I’ve been meaning to try for a long time but have never got around to it yet. Being sheltered by a headland I hoped that conditions would be better there but despite it being a little bit calmer, the water clarity still left a lot to be desired and I didn’t even bother wetting a line this time. With valuable fishing time at stake, I had a decision to make and after a minimum of thought I set off on the 30 mile drive to my originally intended mark.
Worryingly the drive was a wet one, with virtually constant rain all the way but thankfully, the weather gods seemed to have taken pity on me and the rain stopped just as I pulled up at the parking spot. Not only had the rain stopped, but the skies had cleared completely and by the time I arrived at the shore, the dark but starlit sky was quite a sight.
After my earlier problems I had arrived later than I had hoped for and I had missed high water, but being a steeply sloping beach with a decent depth of water I have caught plenty there on the ebb and I was still confident of some action. The killer lure at this particular spot is the Mishna, so there was no question whatsoever of what to begin my hunt with, and I wasted no time in getting straight in the water.
With the wind on my local beach being westerly I was surprised to find it was now blowing southerly as it should have been, and this created quite a swell at this new mark. Being made up of coarse sand, gravel and rocks though, the water clarity was excellent save for a few bits of loosed weed here and there.
The first 20 minutes were quiet, as I stood knee deep in the water and fanned out casts to cover more ground, and though the waves were a little bit annoying as they smashed into my knees on a regular basis, they didn’t cause me any problems, that was until I caught sight of something interesting out of the corner of my eye. Though it was a dark and moonless night, there was still just enough light for me to make out a larger than usual wave breaking along the rocks to my right. I watched it get gradually closer until it reached the shore and broke directly in front of me, what happened next was quite unexpected to say the least. I’m guessing that it was due to the steep nature of the beach but rather than just run up the shingle, the water bounced straight back into the air and right over my head!
I was completely drenched, and I can’t repeat the first words out of my mouth on here without getting banned ??, but once I retreated up the beach and away from the water, I just couldn’t help laughing.
The towel I carry for drying my hands was completely soaked too, but I was soon able to dry myself just enough to enable me to get back to the fishing, but this time I stood in only ankle deep water and I kept a much closer eye on the waves ?. After this I continued to see the odd bigger swell in among the usual, but thankfully I didn’t see anything near the size of the earlier freak one and I gradually relaxed again and waded slightly further out.
For the next 20 minutes or so I switched to a white Wave Worm, in an effort to see if there were any fish closer to the bottom, but when this didn’t work I clipped on a Mishna again and it paid off instantly, when it was hit without warning. With so much at stake I played the fish really carefully, until I was finally able to beach it with the help of an altogether friendlier wave than the last one. So after a bit of a nightmare start to my evening, the world was suddenly a much nicer place and it was all down to my latest ever lure caught bass, a whole 6 days later than my previous best catch ?.
At around the 2lb mark, the bass was fairly standard for this year but having pretty much given up on lure fishing for 2020, it meant so much more to me and I couldn’t stop grinning as I unhooked it and returned it safely to the clear water ?.
The next 90 minutes were quiet, as I followed the retreating tide down the shore and by 11pm, with no more hits coming I was considering calling it a night. The swells had eased to virtually nothing by now and just as I was able to wade out onto the sand to explore some more ground, my lure was hit again. Sadly it didn’t connect but it meant that I couldn’t possibly leave just yet.
I gave it another half an hour but all was quiet and with the rain just starting again, and a club match booked in for the following night, I called it quits at 23:45 and headed for home to dry myself and my gear out.
So despite my earlier misgivings and it being a relatively quiet night, it was still mission accomplished and I was chuffed to bits with only my second ever lure caught November bass ?. The forecast for the coming week is looking dodgy, so time will tell if I get the chance to try for an even later one, but if it doesn’t pan out then I can’t complain and I’ve still had a good year on the lures, despite everything that Covid could throw at us ?.
