Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 368
- Reaction score
- 3,380
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
Though I’ve been on a roll lately in terms of bass numbers, the lack of any bigger fish was starting to get to me a little, so this week I decided to try a different mark, where I’ve caught the odd bigger fish in the past. First off as usual was Tuesday evening, and I arrived at the mark just after low water to find pretty much ideal conditions.
Having not fished the mark since last November, I was a little rusty to begin with, but the things I learnt about fishing the place last year, soon came back to me. As the big 31ft tide pushed me back at quite a pace, I fished the relatively shallow water with a lemon Swimmish on a belly weighted hook, and about 3 hours after low water my offering was hit. After an exciting little scrap in the fast flow I landed my first bass of the night, sadly not a biggie but I was happy just to know that my intended quarry were there
.
With the water in front of me getting deeper by the minute, I was hopeful now that the bass would come in numbers, but sadly it wasn’t to be. I spotted several small shoals of baitfish sheltering up against the shore from the worst of the flow, but the bass which usually prey on them just weren’t there. I did eventually catch a second schoolie, this time on the Mishna.
but that was it for my evening and I eventually called it a night just after midnight.
Next up was Thursday night and with freshening winds forecast, conditions promised to be a bit more challenging. As the winds would be diagonally offshore there, I decided to head back to Tuesday’s mark again.
I arrived to find just a gentle breeze blowing and calm conditions again, and it was very pleasant as I stood in waits deep water, fishing the clear water on the outside of a large weed bed. As low water came and went, the only sign of life I saw was a big splash directly behind me, as a bass smashed a tasty morsel in among the weed, but my lures remained untouched.
As the tide started to push, the wind began to freshen almost by the minute and by an hour after low, I was starting to struggle. My usual tactic is to cast diagonally up-tide and to let my lures swing around in the flow. But with a strong and gusty wind blowing with the tide, that just wasn’t possible. As the second hour of the flood got underway a moderate chop kicked up, and the water began to discolour quite quickly, and by 2 hours after low the water was actually unfishable. There was always the chance that the water might clear again with increasing depth, but it was a big gamble to wait things out, just on the off chance, so regrettably I decided to cut my losses and to head elsewhere in search of better conditions.
30 minutes later and I arrived at my second mark to find it was completely sheltered from the wind. I wasn’t particularly confident though, as the mark tends to fish better earlier in the year, but at least I would be fishing, and so in with a chance. Sadly it wasn’t to be and in 2 hours of fishing I didn’t get a touch. The closest I came was when I spotted some small fish, feeding up against a large patch of weed washed up in a small bay out of the main flow, but they wouldn’t touch a lure and I did wonder if they might have been small mullet .
I fished on until the tide turned, but it wasn’t my night and after 11 straight sessions of catching, my best run ever, my lucky streak finally came to an end
.
Having not fished the mark since last November, I was a little rusty to begin with, but the things I learnt about fishing the place last year, soon came back to me. As the big 31ft tide pushed me back at quite a pace, I fished the relatively shallow water with a lemon Swimmish on a belly weighted hook, and about 3 hours after low water my offering was hit. After an exciting little scrap in the fast flow I landed my first bass of the night, sadly not a biggie but I was happy just to know that my intended quarry were there
.With the water in front of me getting deeper by the minute, I was hopeful now that the bass would come in numbers, but sadly it wasn’t to be. I spotted several small shoals of baitfish sheltering up against the shore from the worst of the flow, but the bass which usually prey on them just weren’t there. I did eventually catch a second schoolie, this time on the Mishna
.but that was it for my evening and I eventually called it a night just after midnight.
Next up was Thursday night and with freshening winds forecast, conditions promised to be a bit more challenging. As the winds would be diagonally offshore there, I decided to head back to Tuesday’s mark again.
I arrived to find just a gentle breeze blowing and calm conditions again, and it was very pleasant as I stood in waits deep water, fishing the clear water on the outside of a large weed bed. As low water came and went, the only sign of life I saw was a big splash directly behind me, as a bass smashed a tasty morsel in among the weed, but my lures remained untouched.
As the tide started to push, the wind began to freshen almost by the minute and by an hour after low, I was starting to struggle. My usual tactic is to cast diagonally up-tide and to let my lures swing around in the flow. But with a strong and gusty wind blowing with the tide, that just wasn’t possible. As the second hour of the flood got underway a moderate chop kicked up, and the water began to discolour quite quickly, and by 2 hours after low the water was actually unfishable
. There was always the chance that the water might clear again with increasing depth, but it was a big gamble to wait things out, just on the off chance, so regrettably I decided to cut my losses and to head elsewhere in search of better conditions.30 minutes later and I arrived at my second mark to find it was completely sheltered from the wind. I wasn’t particularly confident though, as the mark tends to fish better earlier in the year, but at least I would be fishing, and so in with a chance. Sadly it wasn’t to be and in 2 hours of fishing I didn’t get a touch
. The closest I came was when I spotted some small fish, feeding up against a large patch of weed washed up in a small bay out of the main flow, but they wouldn’t touch a lure and I did wonder if they might have been small mullet .I fished on until the tide turned, but it wasn’t my night and after 11 straight sessions of catching, my best run ever, my lucky streak finally came to an end
.
