North Wales A tide too far.

[Andy 1965]

Part 1.

After last week’s struggles, which resulted in just the 1 small schoolie, I then had a nightmare club match on Saturday, where I lost virtually a rig a cast while the lads around my bagged up on dogs , so by this week I was in serious need of a bass fix. Small tides, with low water in the early hours didn’t look great but weather-wise conditions looked fine, so my plans were hatched. The aim of the game was simply to restore my mojo and size wasn’t really important; so I decided to head for a well know schoolie mark and to keep my fingers crossed that it wasn’t too busy. After staying in on Tuesday evening to watch the match (get in there City! ) my plan was to fish it hard on both Wednesday and Thursday nights, and though this promised to be a bit tiring, I told myself “He who dares!” and there would be plenty of time to rest and recuperate over the weekend.

The journey went as planned but on the country lane down to the mark I had quite a shock, as I came up behind a large vehicle. From a distance it looked quite agricultural but as I got closer, I spotted a serving hatch on one side. Now I know the mark can get crowded and that people often joke about parking a burger van there to cater for the combat fishing hordes, but it looked like someone was actually going through with it! Thankfully the van pulled off into a property before it reached the shore, but I couldn’t help but laugh at what might have been.

As expected, conditions looked good with calm water, a very small swell and a slight ripple from the wind, always a help in daylight to make the fish feed a little more confidently . There was a slight murkiness to the water, caused by the annual algal bloom but thankfully, and probably due to the chilly nights, it wasn’t as bad as it usually is and it shouldn’t drive the bass out into clearer offshore waters. From recent experience I knew that the bass would most likely be at range, especially in daylight, so distance was the order of the day and for the next 90 minutes I blasted a range of lures towards the horizon. From the Line-thru Sandeel & Seeker to the Bay Ruf Manic, and from the Vulture to the Patch 140, but there was nothing doing and no signs of life . I even tried a few shorter casting lures, such as the SF125 & Komomo II, and finally some SPs like the Wave Worm and the mighty Mishna, but still I couldn’t buy a bite.

Eventually the sun began to set and as the light level dropped, I saw the first action of the night. I had just retrieved the large yellow Patchinko from maximum range until it was just a few rod lengths out, but after going through the same routine of blast, pause, retrieve/twitch and repeat for so long, I wasn’t really concentrating any more. Suddenly though, out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw a swirl at the surface . For a moment I wasn’t even sure where my lure was, but as I peered at the spot where I saw the disturbance, I could just make out the Patch’s nose sticking out of the water. Hoping that whatever caused the splash was still in the area, I gave the lure a gentle twitch and almost immediately it was hit. The fight was short and there was only ever going to be one outcome, but that didn’t matter and the blank was soon beaten, with a cracking little schoolie .


As usual I hoped that this was only the beginning, but disappointingly it seemed to be a one off. I gave it everything in my pursuit of another bass, but no matter what I tried I couldn’t follow up on my early success. Even a brief spell of action, when 2 guys fishing to my right caught a couple of fish in quick succession failed to produce for me and so 4 and a half hours later, as the clock approached midnight and the cold began to bite, I decided to give it a few more casts before calling it a night.

Midnight duly arrived and despite hearing a few splashes out in the darkness, the lure of a nice warm car was strong. Ready by now to settle for just the 1 fish, I waded ashore before heading towards the car, but I had barely gone 50 meters, when I changed my mind . After waiting so long for it to start, it seemed a shame to leave just when he bass were coming on the feed again, and what harm would another half an hour do?

I waded out once more into the dark, calm water and the decision to stay almost paid off immediately, as my lure was hit on the very first cast, but sadly after a few brief headshakes the attacker was gone. Still I was encouraged by the first bit of action since sunset, and with the sounds of topping fish growing more frequent by the minute, I carried on.

As well as several more missed hits, the next half an hour resulted in another 3 small basslets, which were shaken off the hook in the water to maximise fishing time. In fact there were so many of them around that I had no doubt I could have carried on catching, but with low water still another half an hour away and a 7am alarm set for the morning, I reluctantly called it quits at 00:45.

So the decision to stay had paid off, with my most productive session of 2021 so far and taking my total to 16 for the year but how would I feel in the morning?


Part 2.

Though I was completely shattered the following day, the second I left work I was suddenly wide awake again , and keen for more of the same I was back at the mark 30 minutes before the evening high water. This time there were a few other anglers there already, but sadly the bass weren’t playing ball and it seemed that none of them had seen a single fish all afternoon. Having experienced the pattern several times this year though, I didn’t expect much happen in daylight.

By 21:00 the light was fading fast, when I heard the first splash of the evening out in the gathering gloom, and at the same time the other guys decided to call it a night. They set off back along the shoreline and incredibly they were no more than 50meters past me, when my Patch was hit at maximum range. I knew immediately is was a little-un but I didn’t care, I was just happy to beat the blank once more, and a whole 45 minutes earlier in the tide than on Wednesday too .


In a change from the previous day, the next 30 minutes after sunset were busy with fish swirling and slurping everywhere but rather frustratingly, I just couldn’t tempt them to hit my lure. I tried all the usual suspects but to no avail and by 40 minutes after sunset, all was quiet again.

Despite the action being over for the moment, I felt confident that the bass would be back and I pressed on, but this time there was to be no action in the middle of the ebb like there had been on Wednesday, in fact I didn’t see any more signs of life all evening. Despite there still being a long time to go until the “magic hour”, I was starting to feel the effects of Wednesday night by now, so I decided to stick with my original plan and to pack in at midnight, but once more fate stuck its oar in .

At about 23:55 I decided to have 5 more casts and incredibly, a few seconds after my lure splashed down on the first of those, it was hit for the first time in almost 3 hours of fishing . A brief scrap later the second schoolie of the night was beaten and quickly shaken off the hook in the water.

I guess you know where this story is going, but catching another fish took my mind off the cold completely and the remaining 4 casts soon turned into 10 more, and then 20 and so on. Despite me missing 1 more decent hit though, I was now losing the feeling in my fingers and eventually I was forced to call it a night at 00:30. With low water not until almost 2:30am it was simply a tide too far.

Before leaving I had 1 more job to do and when I switched on my headlamp to take the temperature I was surprised to see steam rising from the calm water . This was soon explained by the fact that the air temp had dropped from a mild 10.6°C when I arrived, to a very chilly 2.9°C . The water on the other hand was still a relatively warm 9.8°C, only 0.9°C lower than earlier.

So it was a case of mission accomplished this week and the schoolie hit had restored my mojo, next week though with the return of bigger tides and high water after dark, I will be hoping for something a little bigger .

 

[Kevin3110]

Great report, ticking away nicely. Hopefully better tides next week if this weather plays ball.

 

[Warby72]

Fantastic report mate. ?