Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 370
- Reaction score
- 3,401
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
After a great season so far, the fishing has started to get a little patchy for me lately and following on from my second double blank of the last month, the pressure was back on this week to find some fish again.
The tides weren’t ideal, being around the smallest of the current cycle, and with high tide quite early in the evening, I would be fishing mostly on the ebb. It was however still worth a go, as in a complete change from last year, the mark I had in mind has definitely fished best on the ebb in 2022, as opposed to the flood in 2021.
My first session was on Tuesday evening and though the tide wasn’t great, on the plus side the weather forecast couldn’t have been better, with very light winds on the cards, so I was at least in with a chance. I arrived at my chosen mark an hour before high water, to find calm conditions with a slight ripple on the surface. The water clarity was also excellent and there were even some bait fish in the shallows, so everything seemed to be in place for a productive session. Unfortunately, looks can sometimes be deceiving and the last of the flood was very quiet.
As the tide turned, the light also began to fade and I was feeling a little more confident, but still my usually well received offerings of the Mishna, Wave Worm and Albie Snax all failed to attract any interest.
It was still early yet, so I kept cycling through my lures and moving up and down the shoreline and eventually, about 80 minutes after high water my Mishna was finally smashed. Though the fish took a few inches of braid when it first hit the lure, I could tell it wasn’t a biggie but after almost 12 hours without a bass I would take whatever I could get ?.
I played the fish as gently as I dared, while being careful not to give it any slack line, and eventually it was beaten and ready for landing. Next, I drew it into the shallows, but before I could do anything else, it gave one last flick of its tail and the lure gently fell out of its mouth! ?
I was absolutely horrified, and for a brief moment time stood completely still, but thankfully my reactions were quicker than the bass, and in one smooth movement, while holding my rod in one hand I leaned over and flicked my prize ashore with the other hand, what a massive relief! At 48cm it wasn’t a monster, but I didn’t care, as I was finally back on the bass trail ?.
After a quick snap and release, I got back to the fishing with renewed belief, but things remained on the quiet side. Despite this, I was still confident of another fish, as this year I have caught there until 2 and a half hours after high. Sure enough, the bass were still around and 45 minutes later I was in again, when a smaller fish of 37cm also took a shine to my Mishna ?.
After a busy weekend, I was beginning to flag by now and happy with my evening’s work, I decided to give it another 45 minutes before calling it a night at 23:00. The time passed quickly, but without any more activity, and at 22:55 I decided to have just 5 more casts. The first 3 of these passed by without incident and I was actually looking forward to getting into a nice warm car for the drive home, but it wasn’t to be, as the bass had other ideas and on cast number 4, I was in again ?.
The scrap this time was a lot more exciting, as the fish gave a great account of itself, but I wasn’t to be denied and after a couple of minutes, bass number 3 of the night was beaten, a nice 50cm bar of silver ?.
You can probably guess what I did next, as no self-respecting lure angler could possibly leave while the bass were still feeding (LAUGH), so I decided to give it another 15 minutes. Yet again this seemed to do the trick and a short while later, just as I said to myself “5 more casts” for the second time of the evening, my lure was hit once more ?. Another decent scrap soon resulted in bass number 4, at 49cm this time ?.
Again, I vowed to give it another 15 minutes, and yet again my lure was smashed just as I was about to call it a night. At 51cm, bass number 5 was the biggest of the evening ? and I was beginning to wonder if this routine might go on all night? ?
I fished on expectantly, but the water in front of me was getting increasingly shallow now, and I could feel my lure bumping on the submerged rocks with increasing frequency. I knew the bass were still feeding, as I could hear the occasional splash out in the darkness, but by fishing on I was running an increasing risk of losing what had now become my lucky Mishna. I gave it another 30 minutes, but when no more takes were forthcoming, I finally decided to call it a night.
So, another poor run had come to an end, and once again I was closing in on my all-time highest bass total in a season ?. It remained to be seen whether I could continue that journey on my next outing.
As it happened, I didn’t have to wait long to find out, with further closures planned on the A55 coast road on Thursday night, along with the forecast of heavy rain, I decided to mix it up a bit and to fish again on Wednesday night instead. Surely the bass would never expect me to fish 2 nights on the trot I thought ?
After the previous night’s success, there was no question of where to fish and I arrived back at the same place a couple of hours before high water. In a marked contrast to 24 hours earlier, I was greeted this time by a fresh and gusty wind but thankfully it was blowing across the shore. Being a case of wind against tide, this wasn’t ideal but at least it meant that the water was still relatively calm, though quite choppy, and thankfully the clarity was also still excellent.
As on the previous session, the fishing was quiet to begin with, but to be honest I didn’t expect anything to happen until a couple of hours after high. I was pleasantly surprised though, when my lure was hit dead on high water ?. Once more the fish wasn’t huge, but at 47cm it was still more than welcome ?.
I hoped that this might be the start of fairly regular catches, as it had been the night before, but this time I have to wait 80 minutes for my next take. When it came, I was convinced the culprit wasn’t particularly big, as after the initial hit the fish allowed me to reel it towards shore with no real resistance. Once it reached a few meters out it did wake up slightly, but the fight still wasn’t anything to write home about, so I was pleasantly surprised to find it was in fact 51cm long ?.
Things were getting interesting now, as I was slowly edging nearer to my previous best yearly total and when 30 minutes later, bass number 122 showed up, I was within touching distance of equalling it.
With my target so close, the nerves were building, and I was hoping that the fish didn’t go off the feed, but I needn’t have worried, as 25 minutes later I finally matched my previous best season with bass number 123 ?.
Though it had been quite blustery all evening, it was around this time that the wind really started to pick up and as it did so, it turned slightly offshore. It wasn’t exactly full in my face, but it did cause a moderate swell to pick up, which was hitting the shore at a 45-degree angle. Thankfully, with the ground consisting of boulders and gravel, this didn’t stir up any sediment and the water clarity remained pretty good.
With the conditions becoming more challenging by the minute, I fished on with my fingers crossed that they wouldn’t affect the fishing too much, but I wasn’t to be denied and 10 minutes later I had another take. With so much at stake, I played this fish very carefully, but the hook hold was a good one and after several nervous minutes, I landed my 124th lure caught bass of the season to set a new highest tally ?. As if that wasn’t enough to be happy about, at 52cm it was also the biggest fish of the night so far
.
With the fish feeding well, I hoped that I might be able to add a couple more in the last half an hour, but it wasn’t to be and with the wind continuing to increase, I had to settle for just another 5 fish session ?.
With 10 bass in a week though, I’m definitely not complaining and with probably another 5 weeks of my season to go, I’m sure I can add a few more yet, with hopefully something a little bigger thrown in for good measure ?.
The tides weren’t ideal, being around the smallest of the current cycle, and with high tide quite early in the evening, I would be fishing mostly on the ebb. It was however still worth a go, as in a complete change from last year, the mark I had in mind has definitely fished best on the ebb in 2022, as opposed to the flood in 2021.
My first session was on Tuesday evening and though the tide wasn’t great, on the plus side the weather forecast couldn’t have been better, with very light winds on the cards, so I was at least in with a chance. I arrived at my chosen mark an hour before high water, to find calm conditions with a slight ripple on the surface. The water clarity was also excellent and there were even some bait fish in the shallows, so everything seemed to be in place for a productive session. Unfortunately, looks can sometimes be deceiving and the last of the flood was very quiet.
As the tide turned, the light also began to fade and I was feeling a little more confident, but still my usually well received offerings of the Mishna, Wave Worm and Albie Snax all failed to attract any interest.
It was still early yet, so I kept cycling through my lures and moving up and down the shoreline and eventually, about 80 minutes after high water my Mishna was finally smashed. Though the fish took a few inches of braid when it first hit the lure, I could tell it wasn’t a biggie but after almost 12 hours without a bass I would take whatever I could get ?.
I played the fish as gently as I dared, while being careful not to give it any slack line, and eventually it was beaten and ready for landing. Next, I drew it into the shallows, but before I could do anything else, it gave one last flick of its tail and the lure gently fell out of its mouth! ?
I was absolutely horrified, and for a brief moment time stood completely still, but thankfully my reactions were quicker than the bass, and in one smooth movement, while holding my rod in one hand I leaned over and flicked my prize ashore with the other hand, what a massive relief! At 48cm it wasn’t a monster, but I didn’t care, as I was finally back on the bass trail ?.
After a quick snap and release, I got back to the fishing with renewed belief, but things remained on the quiet side. Despite this, I was still confident of another fish, as this year I have caught there until 2 and a half hours after high. Sure enough, the bass were still around and 45 minutes later I was in again, when a smaller fish of 37cm also took a shine to my Mishna ?.
After a busy weekend, I was beginning to flag by now and happy with my evening’s work, I decided to give it another 45 minutes before calling it a night at 23:00. The time passed quickly, but without any more activity, and at 22:55 I decided to have just 5 more casts. The first 3 of these passed by without incident and I was actually looking forward to getting into a nice warm car for the drive home, but it wasn’t to be, as the bass had other ideas and on cast number 4, I was in again ?.
The scrap this time was a lot more exciting, as the fish gave a great account of itself, but I wasn’t to be denied and after a couple of minutes, bass number 3 of the night was beaten, a nice 50cm bar of silver ?.
You can probably guess what I did next, as no self-respecting lure angler could possibly leave while the bass were still feeding (LAUGH), so I decided to give it another 15 minutes. Yet again this seemed to do the trick and a short while later, just as I said to myself “5 more casts” for the second time of the evening, my lure was hit once more ?. Another decent scrap soon resulted in bass number 4, at 49cm this time ?.
Again, I vowed to give it another 15 minutes, and yet again my lure was smashed just as I was about to call it a night. At 51cm, bass number 5 was the biggest of the evening ? and I was beginning to wonder if this routine might go on all night? ?
I fished on expectantly, but the water in front of me was getting increasingly shallow now, and I could feel my lure bumping on the submerged rocks with increasing frequency. I knew the bass were still feeding, as I could hear the occasional splash out in the darkness, but by fishing on I was running an increasing risk of losing what had now become my lucky Mishna. I gave it another 30 minutes, but when no more takes were forthcoming, I finally decided to call it a night.
So, another poor run had come to an end, and once again I was closing in on my all-time highest bass total in a season ?. It remained to be seen whether I could continue that journey on my next outing.
As it happened, I didn’t have to wait long to find out, with further closures planned on the A55 coast road on Thursday night, along with the forecast of heavy rain, I decided to mix it up a bit and to fish again on Wednesday night instead. Surely the bass would never expect me to fish 2 nights on the trot I thought ?
After the previous night’s success, there was no question of where to fish and I arrived back at the same place a couple of hours before high water. In a marked contrast to 24 hours earlier, I was greeted this time by a fresh and gusty wind but thankfully it was blowing across the shore. Being a case of wind against tide, this wasn’t ideal but at least it meant that the water was still relatively calm, though quite choppy, and thankfully the clarity was also still excellent.
As on the previous session, the fishing was quiet to begin with, but to be honest I didn’t expect anything to happen until a couple of hours after high. I was pleasantly surprised though, when my lure was hit dead on high water ?. Once more the fish wasn’t huge, but at 47cm it was still more than welcome ?.
I hoped that this might be the start of fairly regular catches, as it had been the night before, but this time I have to wait 80 minutes for my next take. When it came, I was convinced the culprit wasn’t particularly big, as after the initial hit the fish allowed me to reel it towards shore with no real resistance. Once it reached a few meters out it did wake up slightly, but the fight still wasn’t anything to write home about, so I was pleasantly surprised to find it was in fact 51cm long ?.
Things were getting interesting now, as I was slowly edging nearer to my previous best yearly total and when 30 minutes later, bass number 122 showed up, I was within touching distance of equalling it.
With my target so close, the nerves were building, and I was hoping that the fish didn’t go off the feed, but I needn’t have worried, as 25 minutes later I finally matched my previous best season with bass number 123 ?.
Though it had been quite blustery all evening, it was around this time that the wind really started to pick up and as it did so, it turned slightly offshore. It wasn’t exactly full in my face, but it did cause a moderate swell to pick up, which was hitting the shore at a 45-degree angle. Thankfully, with the ground consisting of boulders and gravel, this didn’t stir up any sediment and the water clarity remained pretty good.
With the conditions becoming more challenging by the minute, I fished on with my fingers crossed that they wouldn’t affect the fishing too much, but I wasn’t to be denied and 10 minutes later I had another take. With so much at stake, I played this fish very carefully, but the hook hold was a good one and after several nervous minutes, I landed my 124th lure caught bass of the season to set a new highest tally ?. As if that wasn’t enough to be happy about, at 52cm it was also the biggest fish of the night so far
.With the fish feeding well, I hoped that I might be able to add a couple more in the last half an hour, but it wasn’t to be and with the wind continuing to increase, I had to settle for just another 5 fish session ?.
With 10 bass in a week though, I’m definitely not complaining and with probably another 5 weeks of my season to go, I’m sure I can add a few more yet, with hopefully something a little bigger thrown in for good measure ?.
