Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 360
- Reaction score
- 3,336
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
After just a single full length lure session last week, which despite me being surrounded by feeding bass, somehow resulted in a disappointing blank ?, I was desperate to get out again this week. The lack of available transport until Wednesday night, only served to make the first few days of the week drag on even more, but Wednesday duly arrived and I set off full of anticipation 
. Despite some heavy holiday traffic, the drive to my chosen mark passed without incident and by soon after 7pm, I was making the long trudge to the low water mark. With a fresh sidewind blowing, the water close in was a little murky but as I waded out it gradually became clearer.
Now there was quite a lot of weed growth for the first 10 meters or so from shore, and the initial spot I tried resulted in an immediate entanglement of my Patch 100, not to be beaten though I moved 50 meters along the coast and tried again. Once at my new spot, I waded out again and with the tide still ebbing I was able to get out a little deeper than I usually do, and to position myself a couple of meters in from the edge of the undergrowth. From here I was able to comfortably cast to and fish the clearer water beyond.
The baby Patch was still clipped on and after a few casts I thought I saw a swirl directly behind it, but I couldn’t be sure with the ripple caused by the breeze. It was still an encouraging sight though and I fished on expectantly. The next 10 minutes didn’t produce any more interest in my lure, but I did see several splashes which betrayed the presence of my target species. Feeling a little more confident, I clipped on a Mishna next, but with the water being relatively shallow I opted for the 5g jig-head so as not to fish too deep. This had an immediate effect and after no more than 5 casts it was fish on! The fight, if you can call it that, was more a case of dragging the fish back through the weed, but after a couple of hairy moments I managed to pull my prize to shore, a nicely conditioned schoolie ?.
Now it’s been a while since I got off to such a good start in a session and I was buzzing, so I quickly waded back out and over the next 20 minutes I saw quite a few splashes all around me, as the bass fed hard. Eventually I hooked bass number 2 of the night and this time I was able to get it back through the weed without too much trouble.
The tide had turned by now and as it started to push inshore, I was forced back away from the weed, and where the bass were feeding, but thankfully it was also getting dark. This gave the bass the confidence to venture into the shallows in their search for food and incredibly, despite the lack of any real depth, I could still hear them feeding all around me. On more than one occasion I had to retreat into shallower water nearer the shore, so that I could actually cast my lure towards the feeding fish and not too far over them. With insufficient depth to fish weighted soft plastics, I first gave the weightless Swimmish a go, but when this failed to attract any interest I switched back to the small Patch. This had the desired effect and after 5 minutes or so it was smashed almost instantly, as soon as it hit the water. After a short but spirited scrap, schoolie number 3 of the evening was duly landed
.
The evening was going well but things began to slow down now, and as the flood got into its second hour the sounds of feeding fish began to subside, until eventually I was left alone in the dark with just my own thoughts for company.
The middle of the flood was quiet as I expected, and though the action wasn’t likely to pick up again until nearer high water, there’s always an exception to the rule, so I carried on fishing, hoping for that one rebel bass who didn’t give a damn for convention ?.
As the tide advanced further the current began to pick up, which was just what I hoped for, as it allowed me to cover a lot more water. In fact the flow increased so much, that my 5g jig-head wasn’t enough to keep my Mishna under water any more and it began skimming across the surface as I retrieved it back up-tide at the end of its drift. I had no option but to switch to a 10g head instead and this did the trick, and I felt a lot more confident knowing that my lure was now fishing nearer the bottom.
Now there’s always a trade off with fishing lures deeper, it does tend to increase your chances of a take but you also run the risk of snagging up, and when 10 minutes later my lure stopped dead in its tracks, this was exactly what I thought had happened
. I was just about to utter some expletive or other when the “snag” started moving! ?
The next thing I felt was a series of slow and deliberate downward pulls, which didn’t really suggest bass, but shortly after this my perceptions changed when ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ several meters of braid were stripped off my reel in a matter of seconds ?. Now I knew this was a better fish than I’ve hooked for quite a while, and the next indication I had of its size came when it surfaced 20 meters or so down-current, where illuminated by the moonlight, it began thrashing around on the surface. I still couldn’t see it clearly, but my heart was pounding as I kept thinking to myself, please don’t throw the hook, please don’t throw the hook! ? After a few moments of this it changed tactics again, and this time it headed diagonally up-tide and away from the shore, taking several more meters of line off against the drag as it did so, and after stopping it began to wallow on the surface once again. This wasn’t one of those crazy fish which charges around the place, but it’s slow and purposeful runs in the strong current suggested something very tasty.
As its runs got gradually less powerful, I began to relax slightly but I was still wary that it might make a last desperate attempt to escape. I considered loosening the drag just in case, but not wanting to allow it any slack line I decided against this. As it happened, this proved to be the right thing to do and no more runs materialised. The fish now resorted to holding station a few meters away from the shore and resisting my attempts to draw it closer, but gradually I got the upper hand and after what seemed like an eternity, the fish was now beaten, allowing me to draw it towards the shore. Once it was close enough, I grabbed the line and slid her quickly but gently onto the wet gravel, job done! ?
Once she was safely landed, I switched on my headlamp for a proper look and the first thing I noticed was the size of her head, which was absolutely huge! ? As for the lure, there was no sign of it, she had simple inhaled the thing and I literally had to put my whole hand in her mouth to retrieve it ?. The next job after unhooking her was to get the tape out and I then placed her gently onto it, where the tip of her tail came to a fraction under 75cm, a proper donkey! ?
Now I’ve only ever caught one bass bigger than this, which at 75cm exactly weighed 9lb 14oz, agonisingly close to the Holy Grail. That was a long time ago, in 2017 and I still remember what a porker she was, but despite the size of her head, this one certainly wasn’t as fat. There was only 1 way to find out for sure though, and it was now time for the moment of truth.
After wetting the weigh-sling and zeroing it on the scales, I placed her gently inside and lifted her aloft, I then waited for the scales to settle. As it happened, she wasn’t anywhere near a double but at 8lb 5oz she was still my biggest bass in over 4 years, and number 4 on my all-time list of heaviest fish ?.
All the while as I unhooked and weighed her, she had stayed very still but it was nothing to worry about, she was ready to go almost as soon as I lowered her in the water. After a minute or two of holding position facing into the current, she then glided off serenely into the darkness. Hopefully we’ll meet again in a month or two, when she’s packed on some weight ready for the winter ?.
It was getting late by now but I couldn’t possibly leave without a few more casts ?, and though no more takes were forthcoming, I wasn’t bothered in the slightest, my work for the night was done ?.
. Despite some heavy holiday traffic, the drive to my chosen mark passed without incident and by soon after 7pm, I was making the long trudge to the low water mark. With a fresh sidewind blowing, the water close in was a little murky but as I waded out it gradually became clearer.Now there was quite a lot of weed growth for the first 10 meters or so from shore, and the initial spot I tried resulted in an immediate entanglement of my Patch 100, not to be beaten though I moved 50 meters along the coast and tried again. Once at my new spot, I waded out again and with the tide still ebbing I was able to get out a little deeper than I usually do, and to position myself a couple of meters in from the edge of the undergrowth. From here I was able to comfortably cast to and fish the clearer water beyond.
The baby Patch was still clipped on and after a few casts I thought I saw a swirl directly behind it, but I couldn’t be sure with the ripple caused by the breeze. It was still an encouraging sight though and I fished on expectantly. The next 10 minutes didn’t produce any more interest in my lure, but I did see several splashes which betrayed the presence of my target species. Feeling a little more confident, I clipped on a Mishna next, but with the water being relatively shallow I opted for the 5g jig-head so as not to fish too deep. This had an immediate effect and after no more than 5 casts it was fish on! The fight, if you can call it that, was more a case of dragging the fish back through the weed, but after a couple of hairy moments I managed to pull my prize to shore, a nicely conditioned schoolie ?.
Now it’s been a while since I got off to such a good start in a session and I was buzzing, so I quickly waded back out and over the next 20 minutes I saw quite a few splashes all around me, as the bass fed hard. Eventually I hooked bass number 2 of the night and this time I was able to get it back through the weed without too much trouble.
The tide had turned by now and as it started to push inshore, I was forced back away from the weed, and where the bass were feeding, but thankfully it was also getting dark. This gave the bass the confidence to venture into the shallows in their search for food and incredibly, despite the lack of any real depth, I could still hear them feeding all around me. On more than one occasion I had to retreat into shallower water nearer the shore, so that I could actually cast my lure towards the feeding fish and not too far over them. With insufficient depth to fish weighted soft plastics, I first gave the weightless Swimmish a go, but when this failed to attract any interest I switched back to the small Patch. This had the desired effect and after 5 minutes or so it was smashed almost instantly, as soon as it hit the water. After a short but spirited scrap, schoolie number 3 of the evening was duly landed
.The evening was going well but things began to slow down now, and as the flood got into its second hour the sounds of feeding fish began to subside, until eventually I was left alone in the dark with just my own thoughts for company.
The middle of the flood was quiet as I expected, and though the action wasn’t likely to pick up again until nearer high water, there’s always an exception to the rule, so I carried on fishing, hoping for that one rebel bass who didn’t give a damn for convention ?.
As the tide advanced further the current began to pick up, which was just what I hoped for, as it allowed me to cover a lot more water. In fact the flow increased so much, that my 5g jig-head wasn’t enough to keep my Mishna under water any more and it began skimming across the surface as I retrieved it back up-tide at the end of its drift. I had no option but to switch to a 10g head instead and this did the trick, and I felt a lot more confident knowing that my lure was now fishing nearer the bottom.
Now there’s always a trade off with fishing lures deeper, it does tend to increase your chances of a take but you also run the risk of snagging up, and when 10 minutes later my lure stopped dead in its tracks, this was exactly what I thought had happened
. I was just about to utter some expletive or other when the “snag” started moving! ?The next thing I felt was a series of slow and deliberate downward pulls, which didn’t really suggest bass, but shortly after this my perceptions changed when ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ several meters of braid were stripped off my reel in a matter of seconds ?. Now I knew this was a better fish than I’ve hooked for quite a while, and the next indication I had of its size came when it surfaced 20 meters or so down-current, where illuminated by the moonlight, it began thrashing around on the surface. I still couldn’t see it clearly, but my heart was pounding as I kept thinking to myself, please don’t throw the hook, please don’t throw the hook! ? After a few moments of this it changed tactics again, and this time it headed diagonally up-tide and away from the shore, taking several more meters of line off against the drag as it did so, and after stopping it began to wallow on the surface once again. This wasn’t one of those crazy fish which charges around the place, but it’s slow and purposeful runs in the strong current suggested something very tasty.
As its runs got gradually less powerful, I began to relax slightly but I was still wary that it might make a last desperate attempt to escape. I considered loosening the drag just in case, but not wanting to allow it any slack line I decided against this. As it happened, this proved to be the right thing to do and no more runs materialised. The fish now resorted to holding station a few meters away from the shore and resisting my attempts to draw it closer, but gradually I got the upper hand and after what seemed like an eternity, the fish was now beaten, allowing me to draw it towards the shore. Once it was close enough, I grabbed the line and slid her quickly but gently onto the wet gravel, job done! ?
Once she was safely landed, I switched on my headlamp for a proper look and the first thing I noticed was the size of her head, which was absolutely huge! ? As for the lure, there was no sign of it, she had simple inhaled the thing and I literally had to put my whole hand in her mouth to retrieve it ?. The next job after unhooking her was to get the tape out and I then placed her gently onto it, where the tip of her tail came to a fraction under 75cm, a proper donkey! ?
Now I’ve only ever caught one bass bigger than this, which at 75cm exactly weighed 9lb 14oz, agonisingly close to the Holy Grail. That was a long time ago, in 2017 and I still remember what a porker she was, but despite the size of her head, this one certainly wasn’t as fat. There was only 1 way to find out for sure though, and it was now time for the moment of truth.
After wetting the weigh-sling and zeroing it on the scales, I placed her gently inside and lifted her aloft, I then waited for the scales to settle. As it happened, she wasn’t anywhere near a double but at 8lb 5oz she was still my biggest bass in over 4 years, and number 4 on my all-time list of heaviest fish ?.
All the while as I unhooked and weighed her, she had stayed very still but it was nothing to worry about, she was ready to go almost as soon as I lowered her in the water. After a minute or two of holding position facing into the current, she then glided off serenely into the darkness. Hopefully we’ll meet again in a month or two, when she’s packed on some weight ready for the winter ?.
It was getting late by now but I couldn’t possibly leave without a few more casts ?, and though no more takes were forthcoming, I wasn’t bothered in the slightest, my work for the night was done ?.
