Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 376
- Reaction score
- 3,442
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
After last Thursday’s bumper session, I would have liked to go back last night for more of the same, but unfortunately the weather gods had other ideas. It wasn’t all bad though, as my back-up spot had also produced the goods for me the last time I fished there. After a particularly early dart, I arrived on the shore about 20 minutes before high water, to find the algae still in evidence, though encouragingly it wasn’t quite as bad as the last time I fished there. The one major difference though was the bird activity, as a few hundred meters off-shore, sadly too far even for the big Patchinko to reach ?, the gannets were going absolutely bonkers and hammering some helpless baitfish. This gave my confidence a massive boost, and I started the session with a particularly productive lure for shallow, gnarly ground, the Swimmish in Lemon Meringue.
The first half an hour was quiet, as I also tried the big Patch in both Nacre and Yellow, plus the Frosty in 500g, but despite the extra range they gave me over the Swimmish, I still didn’t see any signs of life. Eventually I switched back to the soft plastic and after a few casts it was stopped in its tracks ?. After a momentary pause, while it dawned on both me and the bass that we were connected to each other ?, I heard that amazing sound as ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ the lure muncher headed for the horizon. Sadly though I wasn’t able to enjoy the experience for long, and after only a few seconds the line went slack ?. I was completely gutted, and I reeled in to find that the leader was all frayed from contact with a barnacle covered rock, and the lure, clip and bass were all gone ?.
Feeling sick to my stomach, I waded back to the shore to tie on a new leader, before clipping on another Swimmish and getting straight back to into it, but not before I had tightened my drag to stop the next bugger from doing the same to me again ?. As usual, I couldn’t help but worry that I might have missed what could be my only chance of the night, and the next half an hour was very quiet, but eventually a switch to a Swimmish in Live resulted in take number 2 of the night. With my drag suitably tightened, this one wasn’t about to take me into a snag but it still put up a great scrap in the shallow water. There was only ever going to be one winner though, and after a few minutes my catch was played out and I was able to land it on a suitable weed covered rock, a pristine silver bar of 51cm ?.
With the blank beaten, the sense of relief that my earlier misfortune hadn’t cost me dearly was massive, and I fished on with renewed confidence. The next hour wasn’t as manic as last Thursday, but I was still kept busy enough. Next up was a smaller bass of 41cm
Followed 20 minutes later by another fish of 46cm,
Then bass number 4 at a respectable 54cm
And lastly, just before the light was lost, the fifth bass of the evening at 48cm ?.
All of which were perfectly conditioned and put up a great scrap in the shallow, snag filled water ?.
With darkness now falling, it was time to get off the rough stuff and to head for cleaner ground, and with similar conditions to the last time I fished there and found the bass feeding hard on sandeel, I was feeling confident of some more action.
Strangely, given the amount of birds diving further out, and in complete contrast to my last visit, there was a distinct lack of baitfish over the clean ground ?. It was still early though, and I hoped that things might improve once it got completely dark.
Sadly, it wasn’t to be and over the next 90 minutes I thrashed the water with the usually reliable Mishna, and even the Ruf Manic which had served me so well last week, but apart from 1 missed hit I didn’t get any joy.
Eventually by 23:45, and with a light rain starting to fall, I decided to settle for just the 5 bass ? and to have a relatively early night, saving my strength to do it all again on Thursday ?.
The first half an hour was quiet, as I also tried the big Patch in both Nacre and Yellow, plus the Frosty in 500g, but despite the extra range they gave me over the Swimmish, I still didn’t see any signs of life. Eventually I switched back to the soft plastic and after a few casts it was stopped in its tracks ?. After a momentary pause, while it dawned on both me and the bass that we were connected to each other ?, I heard that amazing sound as ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ the lure muncher headed for the horizon. Sadly though I wasn’t able to enjoy the experience for long, and after only a few seconds the line went slack ?. I was completely gutted, and I reeled in to find that the leader was all frayed from contact with a barnacle covered rock, and the lure, clip and bass were all gone ?.
Feeling sick to my stomach, I waded back to the shore to tie on a new leader, before clipping on another Swimmish and getting straight back to into it, but not before I had tightened my drag to stop the next bugger from doing the same to me again ?. As usual, I couldn’t help but worry that I might have missed what could be my only chance of the night, and the next half an hour was very quiet, but eventually a switch to a Swimmish in Live resulted in take number 2 of the night. With my drag suitably tightened, this one wasn’t about to take me into a snag but it still put up a great scrap in the shallow water. There was only ever going to be one winner though, and after a few minutes my catch was played out and I was able to land it on a suitable weed covered rock, a pristine silver bar of 51cm ?.
With the blank beaten, the sense of relief that my earlier misfortune hadn’t cost me dearly was massive, and I fished on with renewed confidence. The next hour wasn’t as manic as last Thursday, but I was still kept busy enough. Next up was a smaller bass of 41cm
Followed 20 minutes later by another fish of 46cm,
Then bass number 4 at a respectable 54cm
And lastly, just before the light was lost, the fifth bass of the evening at 48cm ?.
All of which were perfectly conditioned and put up a great scrap in the shallow, snag filled water ?.
With darkness now falling, it was time to get off the rough stuff and to head for cleaner ground, and with similar conditions to the last time I fished there and found the bass feeding hard on sandeel, I was feeling confident of some more action.
Strangely, given the amount of birds diving further out, and in complete contrast to my last visit, there was a distinct lack of baitfish over the clean ground ?. It was still early though, and I hoped that things might improve once it got completely dark.
Sadly, it wasn’t to be and over the next 90 minutes I thrashed the water with the usually reliable Mishna, and even the Ruf Manic which had served me so well last week, but apart from 1 missed hit I didn’t get any joy.
Eventually by 23:45, and with a light rain starting to fall, I decided to settle for just the 5 bass ? and to have a relatively early night, saving my strength to do it all again on Thursday ?.
