Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 376
- Reaction score
- 3,432
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
Part 1.
After 2 weeks of the lurgy, I was finally feeling better this week and keen to make up for last week’s consecutive blanks. With settled weather forecast and much more suitable tides, I was confident of getting back into some bass
.
First off was Tuesday evening and I arrived at my chosen mark nice and early, with a good proportion of the flood still ahead of me. This meant that the water was still quite shallow to begin with, so the first lure out of the box was a topwater, the baby Patch, and I immediately got to work covering as much of the water in front of me as possible. Things were quiet to begin with, but within half an hour the depth was increasing nicely and the flow starting to push, so I swapped to a Mishna, albeit on a relatively light 7g head. This change of lure had an almost instant success, and within a few casts I was off the mark with the first bass of the evening, only a tiddler of 35cm but they all count ?.
Chuffed to bits with this early success, I fished on, half expecting another fish at any minute, but it wasn’t to be and for the next 90 minutes all was quiet
. I persevered though and eventually, just as the light began to fade, I was in again. Once more the successful lure was the Mighty Mishna and after a nice little scrap in the fast-flowing water, bass number 2 of the night was safely landed, a slightly better fish this time of 46cm ?.
This gave my confidence a boost, but again I had to wait for my next bit of action, and it was a whole hour before my lure was hit again, during which time high water came and went, and the tide slowly began to ebb. When the take finally did come, my lure was hit surprisingly close in to shore and with so little line between me and the fish, I was a bit concerned, that I wouldn’t be able to cushion the lunges it made in its attempts to escape. I needn’t have worried though, as the flow had now eased a lot and without this to help it, the bass tired quite quickly. After a minute or two I was able to safely land number 3 of the evening, another 46cm fish ?.
It was getting late by now and the tide was receding at quite a pace, so I only gave it another hour and when no more hits were forthcoming, I called it quits at midnight, more than happy to be back on the bass trail with another 3 to take my tally for the year up to 90 ?.
Part 2.
After such a start to the week, I couldn’t wait to get out again and with high tide being later and well after dark, my expectations for Thursday were sky high. After a somewhat dodgy forecast earlier in the week, the weather had now settled down nicely and I arrived at the mark to find flat calm conditions. With high tide being that bit later, the water was even more shallow than it had been on Tuesday, so I decided to start off my evening with something nice and shallow, the Swimish on a 3g belly weighted hook. This would give me that little bit more distance on the cast, and hopefully reach some deeper water, without making the lure swim to deep, well that was the theory anyway ?.
After wading out some distance from the shore, I pinged out my first cast of the night and after soaring through the air in a lazy arc my lure splashed down gently, I then engaged the bail arm and began to retrieve it to shore. Slowly relaxing now, after a long hard day in work, I had only made a few turns of the handle when my lure was smashed without warning! ? I was taken completely by surprise, but before I could gain control of the fish it was gone, and my line fell slack again ?. Though I was gutted to lose a fish first cast, I was also massively encouraged to see action so soon, and so without wasting any time worrying about what might have been, I just got straight back to it.
Of course I hoped that the bass might be feeding right in front of me, but that appeared to be a little optimistic on my part and the next few casts proved fruitless. I didn’t need to worry though, as only 10 minutes or so later my lure was smashed for a second time and on this occasion the hook held. The bass put up a great scrap in the shallow water, but I took my time and eventually I was able to land my prize, a chunky specimen of 50cm ?.
After getting off to an absolute flyer I hoped for a very productive night but disappointingly, that was the end of my fun for the time being.
For the next couple of hours I fished it hard, but despite what seemed to me like perfect conditions and the presence of lots of bait fish, the bass were nowhere to be found. Eventually though, as the light began to fade my lure was hit again, though the attacker somehow missed the hook ?. Despite the missed chance, I was encouraged to see signs of life and half an hour later, once complete darkness had fallen, I had a chance to make amends. This time, as it arced around in the current my lure was stopped dead in its tracks and the hook held. Once again the fish put up a great scrap in the flow and I was expecting it to be a decent size, but when I eventually landed it I was surprised to find it was only 42cm long. A bass is a bass though and I was just happy to have caught another fish ?.
The next hour was quiet again but as high water approached, the fishing picked up again. It wasn’t mad busy, but another 2 fish of 47 & 50cm were accounted for in the 20 minutes either side of high ?.
It was gone midnight by now but I couldn’t leave while the fish were feeding ?, so I decided to give it until 12:30. The next 25 minutes were quiet again, so I promised myself 5 more casts but typically, on the last of those casts my lure was hit once more, literally under the rod tip ?. After an exciting fight with lots of splashing, bass number 5 was duly landed, a plump fish of 49cm this time ?.
Of course I couldn’t leave after, that so I decided to give a few more casts, followed by a few more ?. Eventually though, with the clock ticking towards 1am I finally called it a night and headed for home, more than happy with my evening’s work and to be another few steps nearer the ton ?.
After 2 weeks of the lurgy, I was finally feeling better this week and keen to make up for last week’s consecutive blanks. With settled weather forecast and much more suitable tides, I was confident of getting back into some bass
.First off was Tuesday evening and I arrived at my chosen mark nice and early, with a good proportion of the flood still ahead of me. This meant that the water was still quite shallow to begin with, so the first lure out of the box was a topwater, the baby Patch, and I immediately got to work covering as much of the water in front of me as possible. Things were quiet to begin with, but within half an hour the depth was increasing nicely and the flow starting to push, so I swapped to a Mishna, albeit on a relatively light 7g head. This change of lure had an almost instant success, and within a few casts I was off the mark with the first bass of the evening, only a tiddler of 35cm but they all count ?.
Chuffed to bits with this early success, I fished on, half expecting another fish at any minute, but it wasn’t to be and for the next 90 minutes all was quiet
. I persevered though and eventually, just as the light began to fade, I was in again. Once more the successful lure was the Mighty Mishna and after a nice little scrap in the fast-flowing water, bass number 2 of the night was safely landed, a slightly better fish this time of 46cm ?.This gave my confidence a boost, but again I had to wait for my next bit of action, and it was a whole hour before my lure was hit again, during which time high water came and went, and the tide slowly began to ebb. When the take finally did come, my lure was hit surprisingly close in to shore and with so little line between me and the fish, I was a bit concerned, that I wouldn’t be able to cushion the lunges it made in its attempts to escape. I needn’t have worried though, as the flow had now eased a lot and without this to help it, the bass tired quite quickly. After a minute or two I was able to safely land number 3 of the evening, another 46cm fish ?.
It was getting late by now and the tide was receding at quite a pace, so I only gave it another hour and when no more hits were forthcoming, I called it quits at midnight, more than happy to be back on the bass trail with another 3 to take my tally for the year up to 90 ?.
Part 2.
After such a start to the week, I couldn’t wait to get out again and with high tide being later and well after dark, my expectations for Thursday were sky high. After a somewhat dodgy forecast earlier in the week, the weather had now settled down nicely and I arrived at the mark to find flat calm conditions. With high tide being that bit later, the water was even more shallow than it had been on Tuesday, so I decided to start off my evening with something nice and shallow, the Swimish on a 3g belly weighted hook. This would give me that little bit more distance on the cast, and hopefully reach some deeper water, without making the lure swim to deep, well that was the theory anyway ?.
After wading out some distance from the shore, I pinged out my first cast of the night and after soaring through the air in a lazy arc my lure splashed down gently, I then engaged the bail arm and began to retrieve it to shore. Slowly relaxing now, after a long hard day in work, I had only made a few turns of the handle when my lure was smashed without warning! ? I was taken completely by surprise, but before I could gain control of the fish it was gone, and my line fell slack again ?. Though I was gutted to lose a fish first cast, I was also massively encouraged to see action so soon, and so without wasting any time worrying about what might have been, I just got straight back to it.
Of course I hoped that the bass might be feeding right in front of me, but that appeared to be a little optimistic on my part and the next few casts proved fruitless. I didn’t need to worry though, as only 10 minutes or so later my lure was smashed for a second time and on this occasion the hook held. The bass put up a great scrap in the shallow water, but I took my time and eventually I was able to land my prize, a chunky specimen of 50cm ?.
After getting off to an absolute flyer I hoped for a very productive night but disappointingly, that was the end of my fun for the time being.
For the next couple of hours I fished it hard, but despite what seemed to me like perfect conditions and the presence of lots of bait fish, the bass were nowhere to be found. Eventually though, as the light began to fade my lure was hit again, though the attacker somehow missed the hook ?. Despite the missed chance, I was encouraged to see signs of life and half an hour later, once complete darkness had fallen, I had a chance to make amends. This time, as it arced around in the current my lure was stopped dead in its tracks and the hook held. Once again the fish put up a great scrap in the flow and I was expecting it to be a decent size, but when I eventually landed it I was surprised to find it was only 42cm long. A bass is a bass though and I was just happy to have caught another fish ?.
The next hour was quiet again but as high water approached, the fishing picked up again. It wasn’t mad busy, but another 2 fish of 47 & 50cm were accounted for in the 20 minutes either side of high ?.
It was gone midnight by now but I couldn’t leave while the fish were feeding ?, so I decided to give it until 12:30. The next 25 minutes were quiet again, so I promised myself 5 more casts but typically, on the last of those casts my lure was hit once more, literally under the rod tip ?. After an exciting fight with lots of splashing, bass number 5 was duly landed, a plump fish of 49cm this time ?.
Of course I couldn’t leave after, that so I decided to give a few more casts, followed by a few more ?. Eventually though, with the clock ticking towards 1am I finally called it a night and headed for home, more than happy with my evening’s work and to be another few steps nearer the ton ?.
