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North Wales Far from the madding crowd.

Andy 1965

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After Tuesday’s struggles I’d had enough of that particular mark for now, so On Thursday evening I set off in search of some relative solitude, and hopefully some bigger fish ?. With strengthening winds promised again I headed for a mark where the blow would at least be offshore, rather than in my face again. I arrived to find a fresh breeze blowing along the shore, but thankfully, the water clarity was still good and with the wind forecast to swing around after a few hours, I was feeling confident.

With this being my first visit to the mark of 2022, I didn’t know exactly what to expect so I started my quest with some of the lures which worked there early last year. With an hour of the ebb to go, I wasn’t particularly confident of an early catch and sure enough, the Line-Thru Sandeel, Mishna, SF125 and Patch II failed to illicit a response. It was still early yet though, and I wasn’t overly concerned.

I fished on determinedly, as the tide turned and started to flood, pushing me gradually back up the shore and as the water in front of me deepened and the flow started to push, my confidence started to grow. After 2 and a half hours of fishing the tide was well on the flood as the light finally began to fade, and it was at this moment I saw my first piece of action. After so long without a hit, I was in a world of my own and so when something grabbed hold of my Patchinko it took me completely by surprise ?. It didn’t feel big by any means, and I was able to reel it in to shore with no dramas, but annoyingly once under the rod tip it gave a last flick of its tail and was gone ?. I was a bit miffed of course, but the night was still young and where there is one schoolie, there are usually more.

Despite this encouraging first sign, the next 40 minutes passed by without any more takes but it was completely dark now, and I knew my lure could be hit at any moment, it was at this point though, when my evening ran into some serious trouble ?.

I was now using a Ruf Manic 135, meaning I was getting some serious distance on my cast, but I suddenly became aware of a worrying sound just before my lure splashed down at maximum range. I knew straight away that this was a dreaded wind-knot, but I couldn’t possibly attempt to un-tangle it with a sinking lure on the end of my line. Thinking on my feet, I decided to reel in and swap lures and there was only one suitable candidate, the big Patch. Once I had swapped lures, I gave the next cast everything and thankfully, just as the lure hit the water I heard the knot running through the rigs. Switching on my headlamp, I immediately spotted the offending tangle and started to try and unpick it before my lure drifted too far on the current. Unfortunately the knot must have caused some damage and as I tried to untangle it, my braid snapped! ?

With at least half of my braid off the reel and a lure in the water, there really was no time to lose, so I grabbed the end of the braid tightly and ran up the shore as far as I could away from the water, to pull the lure as close to land as possible. Once my lure was safely in the shallows I could at last relax slightly, but the question was what to do next? :unsure: There was only one thing for it, so I carefully joined both ends of the braid with a double blood knot. The first knot I tied snapped when pulled tight but thankfully, at the second attempt my repair stood firm.

With a weak point in the line, I would have to be very careful from now on so I loosened my drag slightly, just in case I got a take when fishing at maximum range. Once this was done I tried a cast, to see how smoothly the join would pass through the rod rings. All seemed to be fine, but then sods law intervened and my lure was smashed as soon as I started to retrieve it! ? The next couple of minutes was heart in the mouth stuff, but once I got the repair onto the spool again I began to relax and to enjoy myself.

The rest of the fight went without a hitch and the blank was soon beaten with my first bass of the night, a half decent fish of 51cm and around 3lb in weight ;).
Bass-15_2022.jpg

This first fish was just the start and a few minutes later I was in again, but for the second time of the evening the attacker managed to throw the hooks ?. Thankfully this was only a temporary setback and 15 minutes later I was in once more, with a second smaller fish of 39cm ?.
Bass-16_2022.jpg

It looked like things were going to kick off properly now, but frustratingly the next hour went strangely quiet again. I wasn’t about to give up though and eventually I started to hear the odd slurp and splash out in the darkness. I kept on cycling through the lures and eventually I managed to match the hatch, when a switch to the baby Patch finally tempted another take. This fish put up a much better scrap and after a nerve wracking few minutes I was finally able to slide the culprit ashore. At 57cm and around the 4.5lb mark, it was a new biggest fish for the year for me and I was really chuffed ?.
Bass-17_2022.jpg

After a couple of false starts, sport finally picked up properly now and my lure was getting hit on a regular basis, not all of the takes connected but enough did to keep me thoroughly entertained. Over the next 30 minutes I caught another 3 bass, of 47cm
Bass-18_2022.jpg

38cm
Bass-19_2022.jpg

and 42cm
Bass-20_2022.jpg

As well as losing a few more.

In fact I was having such a great time that my originally planned departure time of midnight was long gone by now ?.

With bites coming on a regular basis I continued to fish for another hour but eventually, as the flow began to ease the bites died off and I belatedly took the chance to call it a night at 1am ?.

So a change of venue had paid off with a few fish and some very pleasant peace and quiet ;).
 
Thanks all, it was great to find the bass feeding at a different mark and to avoid the angling masses for a change ?.


Well done Andy putting the pressure back on you @Kevin3110 ??

As Kevin says, there's no pressure on anyone, we're both just enjoying making the most of the fishing ?.
 
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