Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 376
- Reaction score
- 3,442
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
After Wednesdays successful first outing at a new mark, I was feeling a lot more confident for my second session of the week. A jump in the tide from 27.5ft to 29ft and a forecast of light winds, was perfect for a return to the mark from where I had to make a hurried escape from the lightning last time. Typically though, the weather gods hadn’t finished with me yet and after promising dry weather all week, the forecast changed on Saturday morning to a 90% chance of heavy rain from 7pm to midnight, just when I planned to be fishing! ? On the plus side, there were no thunderstorms anywhere to be seen, so I decided to brave the rain anyway.
After a busy day clearing the decks of other, less important things, I was ready to go by 6pm and though I passed through several showers on the drive there, I arrived at the mark to find overcast but dry conditions, with no wind whatsoever and an air temperature of 19.5°C ?.
Before I started fishing I had something else to attend to first, which was to look for the Mishna I lost there last time out and sure enough, after 5 minutes of searching I found it ?. Unfortunately though, even in 2 short weeks the tip of the hook was corroded away and the jig-head was now useless ?. I was however surprised by just how much braid I had lost with it, which explained why the level of braid on my reel had been so far below the lip of the spool on my last session.
With the treasure hunt out of the way, it was time for the serious business of fishing and just as I was threading the braid through my rod rings, I was surprised to hear a series of splashes out in the calm water. With signs of life so soon in the tide, and before the depth was really enough for a Mishna, I choose to go with a top-water lure first and I clipped on the Patch 100 in 500g. This was then cast out to where I saw the disturbance, and it had barely settled on the surface of the water when it was hit! ? The take was so quick that I was taken completely by surprise and sadly the attacker missed the hook completely, but it was still a very encouraging start to the evening.
I spent the next 20 minutes trying several surface lures, but despite seeing a few more splashes and a half decent sea trout leaping completely clear of the water, I couldn’t tempt another take.
By now the water depth was increasing nicely and the flow was starting to pick up too, it was also at this point that I spotted several small schools of baitfish swimming against the tide, only a meter away from the shoreline, so all the signs were there for a decent session. It was now time for a switch to the Mishna and I started off with a 5g jig-head until the water got deeper again, I had only made a couple of casts when I saw a swirl just beyond my rod tip, as I lifted the lure out of the water ?. Though I was disappointed to miss a second chance, it didn’t take long for the next bit of action and only a few casts later my lure was hit further out, this time it resulted in a secure hook up and after a short scrap the blank was beaten with a small but beautifully conditioned schoolie ?.
I was chuffed to get off the mark so soon, and in daylight too, but as the light began to fade, the rain finally arrived and strangely the bass went off the feed ?.
The next hour was quiet, but going by my recent experience at this mark I was sure that the best of the action was still to come. I fished on and swapped to a heavier jig-head in order to keep the Mishna down in the increasing flow but it was at this point, only 10 minutes before I expected the bass to start feeding in numbers, that things went completely Pete Tong.
As I mentioned earlier, I’ve recently lost a fair bit of braid off my reel but though this had exposed a bit of a lump over the knot joining my braid to the backing line, it hadn’t been a problem, until now! For some reason, possibly the fact that the braid was now completely soaked by the rain, my braid suddenly started to catch on the bump when I cast out. If this had been at maximum casting distance, then it wouldn’t have been a problem but no! The braid decided to catch when the lure was only a few meters out. I tried varying my casting style and speed, in the hope that it would pull the braid over the knot more smoothly, but it didn’t make any difference. Of course I couldn’t fish the rest of the session with my casting limited to only a few meters, so I hatched an ingenious plan, or so I thought.
I moved away from the water, to an area of clean shingle and gently cast my lure as far as I could along the shore, I then started to pull the remaining braid off the spool. My plan was to re-position the knot at the bottom of the spool, where it wouldn’t get in the way but taking fine braid off the spool in the pouring rain was easier said than done. Though it took surprisingly long to reach the end of the braid, I got there eventually and moved the knot out of the way, but when I tried to reel the braid back onto the spool I realised that my plan wasn’t as fool proof as I thought. I had only managed to get a few meters of line back on the spool when I encountered a wind knot, this was completely unexpected but the knot looked fairly easy to unpick, so I began to gently tease it apart. After a minute or two I got to the point where it looked like a gentle pull would was all that was required to complete the puzzle, but as soon as I started to pull on the braid it snapped! ? With the expected feeding frenzy only minutes away I was totally horrified, but with no spare spool provided with my Vanford, I had no choice but to run back to the car for my spare reel. Despite the rain, the temperature was still around 18°C, so a jog of at least half a mile to the car in full waterproofs and chest waders was no easy task, but with bass at stake I pushed on and after swapping reels I immediately set off back to the mark. By the time I got there I was sweating like a glassblowers a**e ? but at least I was back in the game.
Having missed at least half an hour of fishing I had a lot of catching up to do, so I fished it hard now and thankfully I wasn’t too late, after 20 minutes or so my lure was hit almost at the rod tip. The bass was so close, with only about half a meter of braid showing from the top ring, that I couldn’t do anything apart from hang on for dear life as the fish thrashed about on the surface of the water, until it tired itself out. Once it stopped struggling, I simply walked backwards and pulled my catch ashore, not a big fish but I was more than happy with my second bass in some pretty atrocious conditions ?.
After spending almost 2 hours standing in the relentless rain, my wading jacket had long since given up the fight against the onslaught, and I could now feel the damp soaking through the smock I had on underneath, but with more than half an hour of the flood still to go I fished on. Thankfully my perseverance paid off, and dead on high water I was rewarded with schoolie number 3 of the night ?.
Before setting off from home, I had promised myself that I would call it a night at high water but with the bass still around, it seemed a shame to leave just yet, so I decided to fish on a little longer. Unfortunately this was wishful thinking and after an hour of the ebb I hadn’t seen any more action, as if this wasn’t bad enough the additional hour in the rain was enough for it to somehow find its way into my waders too and I was now completely drenched.
So for the second time in a row at this particular mark, I had ended up soaked to the skin and with the combination of the rain water which had managed to find its way through my so-called waterproofs, and the sweat from my earlier jog, the trudge back to the car was a bit uncomfortable to say the least, but at least this time I didn’t have any electrical storms to contend with so it wasn’t all bad ?.
After a busy day clearing the decks of other, less important things, I was ready to go by 6pm and though I passed through several showers on the drive there, I arrived at the mark to find overcast but dry conditions, with no wind whatsoever and an air temperature of 19.5°C ?.
Before I started fishing I had something else to attend to first, which was to look for the Mishna I lost there last time out and sure enough, after 5 minutes of searching I found it ?. Unfortunately though, even in 2 short weeks the tip of the hook was corroded away and the jig-head was now useless ?. I was however surprised by just how much braid I had lost with it, which explained why the level of braid on my reel had been so far below the lip of the spool on my last session.
With the treasure hunt out of the way, it was time for the serious business of fishing and just as I was threading the braid through my rod rings, I was surprised to hear a series of splashes out in the calm water. With signs of life so soon in the tide, and before the depth was really enough for a Mishna, I choose to go with a top-water lure first and I clipped on the Patch 100 in 500g. This was then cast out to where I saw the disturbance, and it had barely settled on the surface of the water when it was hit! ? The take was so quick that I was taken completely by surprise and sadly the attacker missed the hook completely, but it was still a very encouraging start to the evening.
I spent the next 20 minutes trying several surface lures, but despite seeing a few more splashes and a half decent sea trout leaping completely clear of the water, I couldn’t tempt another take.
By now the water depth was increasing nicely and the flow was starting to pick up too, it was also at this point that I spotted several small schools of baitfish swimming against the tide, only a meter away from the shoreline, so all the signs were there for a decent session. It was now time for a switch to the Mishna and I started off with a 5g jig-head until the water got deeper again, I had only made a couple of casts when I saw a swirl just beyond my rod tip, as I lifted the lure out of the water ?. Though I was disappointed to miss a second chance, it didn’t take long for the next bit of action and only a few casts later my lure was hit further out, this time it resulted in a secure hook up and after a short scrap the blank was beaten with a small but beautifully conditioned schoolie ?.
I was chuffed to get off the mark so soon, and in daylight too, but as the light began to fade, the rain finally arrived and strangely the bass went off the feed ?.
The next hour was quiet, but going by my recent experience at this mark I was sure that the best of the action was still to come. I fished on and swapped to a heavier jig-head in order to keep the Mishna down in the increasing flow but it was at this point, only 10 minutes before I expected the bass to start feeding in numbers, that things went completely Pete Tong.
As I mentioned earlier, I’ve recently lost a fair bit of braid off my reel but though this had exposed a bit of a lump over the knot joining my braid to the backing line, it hadn’t been a problem, until now! For some reason, possibly the fact that the braid was now completely soaked by the rain, my braid suddenly started to catch on the bump when I cast out. If this had been at maximum casting distance, then it wouldn’t have been a problem but no! The braid decided to catch when the lure was only a few meters out. I tried varying my casting style and speed, in the hope that it would pull the braid over the knot more smoothly, but it didn’t make any difference. Of course I couldn’t fish the rest of the session with my casting limited to only a few meters, so I hatched an ingenious plan, or so I thought.
I moved away from the water, to an area of clean shingle and gently cast my lure as far as I could along the shore, I then started to pull the remaining braid off the spool. My plan was to re-position the knot at the bottom of the spool, where it wouldn’t get in the way but taking fine braid off the spool in the pouring rain was easier said than done. Though it took surprisingly long to reach the end of the braid, I got there eventually and moved the knot out of the way, but when I tried to reel the braid back onto the spool I realised that my plan wasn’t as fool proof as I thought. I had only managed to get a few meters of line back on the spool when I encountered a wind knot, this was completely unexpected but the knot looked fairly easy to unpick, so I began to gently tease it apart. After a minute or two I got to the point where it looked like a gentle pull would was all that was required to complete the puzzle, but as soon as I started to pull on the braid it snapped! ? With the expected feeding frenzy only minutes away I was totally horrified, but with no spare spool provided with my Vanford, I had no choice but to run back to the car for my spare reel. Despite the rain, the temperature was still around 18°C, so a jog of at least half a mile to the car in full waterproofs and chest waders was no easy task, but with bass at stake I pushed on and after swapping reels I immediately set off back to the mark. By the time I got there I was sweating like a glassblowers a**e ? but at least I was back in the game.
Having missed at least half an hour of fishing I had a lot of catching up to do, so I fished it hard now and thankfully I wasn’t too late, after 20 minutes or so my lure was hit almost at the rod tip. The bass was so close, with only about half a meter of braid showing from the top ring, that I couldn’t do anything apart from hang on for dear life as the fish thrashed about on the surface of the water, until it tired itself out. Once it stopped struggling, I simply walked backwards and pulled my catch ashore, not a big fish but I was more than happy with my second bass in some pretty atrocious conditions ?.
After spending almost 2 hours standing in the relentless rain, my wading jacket had long since given up the fight against the onslaught, and I could now feel the damp soaking through the smock I had on underneath, but with more than half an hour of the flood still to go I fished on. Thankfully my perseverance paid off, and dead on high water I was rewarded with schoolie number 3 of the night ?.
Before setting off from home, I had promised myself that I would call it a night at high water but with the bass still around, it seemed a shame to leave just yet, so I decided to fish on a little longer. Unfortunately this was wishful thinking and after an hour of the ebb I hadn’t seen any more action, as if this wasn’t bad enough the additional hour in the rain was enough for it to somehow find its way into my waders too and I was now completely drenched.
So for the second time in a row at this particular mark, I had ended up soaked to the skin and with the combination of the rain water which had managed to find its way through my so-called waterproofs, and the sweat from my earlier jog, the trudge back to the car was a bit uncomfortable to say the least, but at least this time I didn’t have any electrical storms to contend with so it wasn’t all bad ?.
