Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 376
- Reaction score
- 3,439
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
After last Thursday’s marathon 7-hour blanking session, the pressure was really on this week to get back among the bass, so despite the forecast of heavy rain on Tuesday evening, I decided to venture out anyway. What was the worst that could happen? ?
With the bass having vanished from one of my so far reliable 2022 marks, I still had another venue to try, which has so far fished quite consistently this year. Given the forecast, I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived to find it much brighter than expected, and with barely a breath of wind, conditions were very pleasant ?. The water was also gin clear, and a vast improvement on the last time I fished there. Now in recent weeks this venue has tended to fish best over high water and on the first hour of the ebb, but though I was a bit late this time, I was still feeling very confident of some good sport
.
As it turned out, I was very sadly mistaken and for the next two and a half hours, despite me trying a variety of lures, I saw just the 1 splash, with no other signs of life whatsoever. Even the usually reliable Swimmish failed to produce the goods ?.
I wasn’t beaten yet though and as the light finally began to fade, and the cloud cover started to increase, I made my way off the reef and along the shore to the nearby clean ground, which usually produces after dark and further down the tide.
Once more conditions were almost perfect, with calm and clear water, but as I waded out, I noticed that there was quite a lot of loose weed wafting gently backwards and forwards on the bottom. Weed isn’t a rare thing at this particular beach, but whereas it usually occurs closer in at the surf line, this time it seemed to extend quite a long way out ?. There was only one way to find out how far it went, so I clipped on a Mishna on a 5g jig-head and began to search the water in front of me.
It wasn’t good news, and on every cast my lure came back with bits of weed on it. In order to avoid this I could have used a lure which would swim nearer the surface, and I did briefly try a Ruf Manic, but the bass at this particular spot seem to like a lure fished near the bottom, so it wasn’t doing my chances of a fish any good. In a last desperate attempt to avoid the weed I walked several hundred meters along the shore, trying to find some water which was clear of it, but it was absolutely everywhere ?.
It wasn’t particularly late by now, and with still no sign of the promised deluge I couldn’t bring myself to call it a night just yet, so I decided to take a bit of a gamble for the last hour and I headed back to the reef again. Now I’ve never actually caught anything on the reef after dark, in fact I’ve never even had a take there after sunset before, but I was getting desperate by now ?.
As I expected, things were very quiet in the shallow, boulder strewn water and I was forced to use very shallow swimming or surface lures, but despite me trying the Swimmish, the Albie Snax and the baby Patch, I didn’t get a sniff of a bass. Eventually, with midnight approaching I decided to give it another 5 minutes with the Swimmish and incredibly I belatedly had the first take of the night ?, but just like last Thursday night, after only a few seconds the line went slack again and the fish was gone, leaving just one seriously p’d off angler cursing alone in the darkness! ?
Of course I couldn’t leave it there, so I stayed for another 15 minutes but just like on my last outing, the take was a one off and for the second time in succession I had missed my only chance of the night.
Still cursing my luck after just 2 missed takes in 12 hours of fishing, I made my way back to the car, as belatedly I felt the first few drops of rain start to fall. So despite another disappointing blank, I at least had the consolation that I didn’t get a soaking too.
48 hours later it was time to head out again, but this time the weather left a lot to be desired. There was no rain in the forecast, but the lovely calm conditions were replaced by winds gusting to almost 35mph ?. Now this didn’t leave me many options for where to fish, so against my better judgement I headed back to the same place as I fished on Tuesday. My reasoning for this was the fact that I would be able to get there for the last of the flood this time, and so be able to fish the “hot” couple of hours, but only time would tell if I had made the correct decision ?.
With the wind blowing hard over my right shoulder, the sea was much choppier than it had been on my last visit, but despite the disturbance, the water was still crystal clear. With high hopes that the chop would provide some cover for feeding bass, I fished hard for the next 90 minutes, cycling through the lures which usually produce the goods, but apart from 1 small tap on the Lemon Swimmish, I was frustrated once more.
With the first hour of the ebb now gone, and not wanting to waste any more time at this particular spot, I decided to move on, but with my usual back up mark being weeded out 2 days before, I moved a mile or so along the coast to an area I’ve only fished once before, unsuccessfully I might add.
It was while making this move that Andy’s first law of fishing came into play, this law states that “The amount of wildlife seen on the way to a mark, is inversely proportional to the amount of fish caught at said mark”.
Now the move started off well enough but with the tide still being fairly high, I was forced to cut across country to get to my new spot. It was only a ten minute walk, but as soon as I entered the open fields I disturbed a large pheasant which had been sheltering in a patch of longer grass. This sighting was followed by a partridge, at least 2 dozen rabbits, which scattered in all directions as I walked past them and finally, as I approached the shore again I startled a heron and what I assume was a little egret. This was all very nice to look at, but it didn’t bode well for the next part of my evening.
This second mark consisted of a large and fairly shallow bay, where areas of clean sand were interspersed with patches of weed covered pebbles, and where the water would have been warmed by the early evening sun. I hoped the warm water would attract some bait fish for the bass to feed on, and first off I started with the Mishna. With a 5g jig-head and the rod held high, I hoped to avoid any patches of weed but when this didn’t work I switched to a Frosty. Although this solved the weed problem, the strong wind made working a surface lure very difficult, so next up I tried the SF125. I fished this lure for the next 20 minutes and at one point I thought I felt a small tap, but I couldn’t be sure if this was a fish or not. Eventually, as the water continued to shallow up even the FS125 started to catch the weed, and no matter where I searched, I couldn’t find any deeper areas. Finally I decided to put this failed attempt at finding a new area down to experience and to move on again.
As I retraced my steps back across country I had a decision to make, should I call it a night in this area and move on to somewhere completely different, and closer to home, or should I give my usual night time spot a go to see if the weed had cleared. After giving it some thought, I decided on the latter and 20 minutes later and I arrived at my next port of call to find calm conditions, with only a light swell rolling ashore. Just like on Tuesday, the water clarity was excellent and there were still some bits of loose weed closer in, but this time there seemed to be a lot less cabbage as I waded out from the shore.
With some renewed optimism I started once more with the Mishna, and thankfully the lure came back clear of weed more often than not (SMILE). This gave my confidence a boost and a few minutes later it was boosted further when my lure was hit. Once again the attacker failed to find he hook but it was a great sign that there were some fish about. The next 20 minutes brought 3 more hits, all missed, but soon after this my lure suddenly got heavier mid-way through the retrieve. I immediately thought I had picked up some weed, but as the “weed” broke the surface a couple of rod lengths away from me, it started to splash around! ? Puzzled by this I switched on the red light of my headlamp and I was amazed to see a doggie on the end of my line!! ?
It was actually hooked in the tail, about as far away from the business end as you can get, but I’m still claiming it as my first ever dog on a lure ?. It was also the inspiration for my new, second law of fishing, which states, “If you chuck a bit of plastic with a hook in it around for long enough, you will hook something eventually” ?.
Though it wasn’t silver, I was still buzzing to have beaten the blank and a few casts later I thought I might even have repeated the feat, when my lure suddenly got heavier half way in again, but this time I found something else on my line. Incredibly, my Mishna had been grabbed in motion by a very ambitious shore crab ?.
The crab wasn’t actually hooked, and was simply holding on to my lure, so despite the fact that he put a couple of serious slices in the soft plastic I was actually quite impressed that he had both been able to grab the lure in passing, and to keep holding on to it all the way in to shore ?.
After 16 hours of bassless fishing, spread over 3 sessions, things had suddenly become quite entertaining, but they were about to get even better. A few cats later, my lure was hit again and this time the hook actually held. I could tell straight away that it wasn’t particularly big but that didn’t matter, I only hoped that it was at least silver ?. With my heart pounding I backed slowly towards the shore, praying that the fish wouldn’t escape, and eventually I was able to slide my catch safely ashore. Once there I switched on my headlamp, and illuminated my first lure caught bass in over 2 weeks ?. At 36cm it was pretty small but I didn’t care one bit, as well as being my first one for a few sessions it was also a landmark catch and my 500th lure caught bass ?.
After a quick snap and release I waded out again and amazingly, on the very next cast my Mishna was munched again! A more spirited fight this time resulted in a slightly better bass of 41cm ?.
After losing my bass mojo completely over the last 3 sessions, all the doubts had now melted away and I hoped for more to come. As it happened though, that was wishful thinking and apart from a few more missed takes, I didn’t have any more luck. I wasn’t bothered in the slightest though, as my perseverance had finally paid off and I was finally back on the bass trail ?.
With the bass having vanished from one of my so far reliable 2022 marks, I still had another venue to try, which has so far fished quite consistently this year. Given the forecast, I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived to find it much brighter than expected, and with barely a breath of wind, conditions were very pleasant ?. The water was also gin clear, and a vast improvement on the last time I fished there. Now in recent weeks this venue has tended to fish best over high water and on the first hour of the ebb, but though I was a bit late this time, I was still feeling very confident of some good sport
.As it turned out, I was very sadly mistaken and for the next two and a half hours, despite me trying a variety of lures, I saw just the 1 splash, with no other signs of life whatsoever. Even the usually reliable Swimmish failed to produce the goods ?.
I wasn’t beaten yet though and as the light finally began to fade, and the cloud cover started to increase, I made my way off the reef and along the shore to the nearby clean ground, which usually produces after dark and further down the tide.
Once more conditions were almost perfect, with calm and clear water, but as I waded out, I noticed that there was quite a lot of loose weed wafting gently backwards and forwards on the bottom. Weed isn’t a rare thing at this particular beach, but whereas it usually occurs closer in at the surf line, this time it seemed to extend quite a long way out ?. There was only one way to find out how far it went, so I clipped on a Mishna on a 5g jig-head and began to search the water in front of me.
It wasn’t good news, and on every cast my lure came back with bits of weed on it. In order to avoid this I could have used a lure which would swim nearer the surface, and I did briefly try a Ruf Manic, but the bass at this particular spot seem to like a lure fished near the bottom, so it wasn’t doing my chances of a fish any good. In a last desperate attempt to avoid the weed I walked several hundred meters along the shore, trying to find some water which was clear of it, but it was absolutely everywhere ?.
It wasn’t particularly late by now, and with still no sign of the promised deluge I couldn’t bring myself to call it a night just yet, so I decided to take a bit of a gamble for the last hour and I headed back to the reef again. Now I’ve never actually caught anything on the reef after dark, in fact I’ve never even had a take there after sunset before, but I was getting desperate by now ?.
As I expected, things were very quiet in the shallow, boulder strewn water and I was forced to use very shallow swimming or surface lures, but despite me trying the Swimmish, the Albie Snax and the baby Patch, I didn’t get a sniff of a bass. Eventually, with midnight approaching I decided to give it another 5 minutes with the Swimmish and incredibly I belatedly had the first take of the night ?, but just like last Thursday night, after only a few seconds the line went slack again and the fish was gone, leaving just one seriously p’d off angler cursing alone in the darkness! ?
Of course I couldn’t leave it there, so I stayed for another 15 minutes but just like on my last outing, the take was a one off and for the second time in succession I had missed my only chance of the night.
Still cursing my luck after just 2 missed takes in 12 hours of fishing, I made my way back to the car, as belatedly I felt the first few drops of rain start to fall. So despite another disappointing blank, I at least had the consolation that I didn’t get a soaking too.
48 hours later it was time to head out again, but this time the weather left a lot to be desired. There was no rain in the forecast, but the lovely calm conditions were replaced by winds gusting to almost 35mph ?. Now this didn’t leave me many options for where to fish, so against my better judgement I headed back to the same place as I fished on Tuesday. My reasoning for this was the fact that I would be able to get there for the last of the flood this time, and so be able to fish the “hot” couple of hours, but only time would tell if I had made the correct decision ?.
With the wind blowing hard over my right shoulder, the sea was much choppier than it had been on my last visit, but despite the disturbance, the water was still crystal clear. With high hopes that the chop would provide some cover for feeding bass, I fished hard for the next 90 minutes, cycling through the lures which usually produce the goods, but apart from 1 small tap on the Lemon Swimmish, I was frustrated once more
.With the first hour of the ebb now gone, and not wanting to waste any more time at this particular spot, I decided to move on, but with my usual back up mark being weeded out 2 days before, I moved a mile or so along the coast to an area I’ve only fished once before, unsuccessfully I might add.
It was while making this move that Andy’s first law of fishing came into play, this law states that “The amount of wildlife seen on the way to a mark, is inversely proportional to the amount of fish caught at said mark”.
Now the move started off well enough but with the tide still being fairly high, I was forced to cut across country to get to my new spot. It was only a ten minute walk, but as soon as I entered the open fields I disturbed a large pheasant which had been sheltering in a patch of longer grass. This sighting was followed by a partridge, at least 2 dozen rabbits, which scattered in all directions as I walked past them and finally, as I approached the shore again I startled a heron and what I assume was a little egret. This was all very nice to look at, but it didn’t bode well for the next part of my evening
.This second mark consisted of a large and fairly shallow bay, where areas of clean sand were interspersed with patches of weed covered pebbles, and where the water would have been warmed by the early evening sun. I hoped the warm water would attract some bait fish for the bass to feed on, and first off I started with the Mishna. With a 5g jig-head and the rod held high, I hoped to avoid any patches of weed but when this didn’t work I switched to a Frosty. Although this solved the weed problem, the strong wind made working a surface lure very difficult, so next up I tried the SF125. I fished this lure for the next 20 minutes and at one point I thought I felt a small tap, but I couldn’t be sure if this was a fish or not. Eventually, as the water continued to shallow up even the FS125 started to catch the weed, and no matter where I searched, I couldn’t find any deeper areas. Finally I decided to put this failed attempt at finding a new area down to experience and to move on again.
As I retraced my steps back across country I had a decision to make, should I call it a night in this area and move on to somewhere completely different, and closer to home, or should I give my usual night time spot a go to see if the weed had cleared. After giving it some thought, I decided on the latter and 20 minutes later and I arrived at my next port of call to find calm conditions, with only a light swell rolling ashore. Just like on Tuesday, the water clarity was excellent and there were still some bits of loose weed closer in, but this time there seemed to be a lot less cabbage as I waded out from the shore.
With some renewed optimism I started once more with the Mishna, and thankfully the lure came back clear of weed more often than not (SMILE). This gave my confidence a boost and a few minutes later it was boosted further when my lure was hit. Once again the attacker failed to find he hook but it was a great sign that there were some fish about. The next 20 minutes brought 3 more hits, all missed
, but soon after this my lure suddenly got heavier mid-way through the retrieve. I immediately thought I had picked up some weed, but as the “weed” broke the surface a couple of rod lengths away from me, it started to splash around! ? Puzzled by this I switched on the red light of my headlamp and I was amazed to see a doggie on the end of my line!! ?It was actually hooked in the tail, about as far away from the business end as you can get, but I’m still claiming it as my first ever dog on a lure ?. It was also the inspiration for my new, second law of fishing, which states, “If you chuck a bit of plastic with a hook in it around for long enough, you will hook something eventually” ?.
Though it wasn’t silver, I was still buzzing to have beaten the blank and a few casts later I thought I might even have repeated the feat, when my lure suddenly got heavier half way in again, but this time I found something else on my line. Incredibly, my Mishna had been grabbed in motion by a very ambitious shore crab ?.
The crab wasn’t actually hooked, and was simply holding on to my lure, so despite the fact that he put a couple of serious slices in the soft plastic I was actually quite impressed that he had both been able to grab the lure in passing, and to keep holding on to it all the way in to shore ?.
After 16 hours of bassless fishing, spread over 3 sessions, things had suddenly become quite entertaining, but they were about to get even better. A few cats later, my lure was hit again and this time the hook actually held. I could tell straight away that it wasn’t particularly big but that didn’t matter, I only hoped that it was at least silver ?. With my heart pounding I backed slowly towards the shore, praying that the fish wouldn’t escape, and eventually I was able to slide my catch safely ashore. Once there I switched on my headlamp, and illuminated my first lure caught bass in over 2 weeks ?. At 36cm it was pretty small but I didn’t care one bit, as well as being my first one for a few sessions it was also a landmark catch and my 500th lure caught bass ?.
After a quick snap and release I waded out again and amazingly, on the very next cast my Mishna was munched again! A more spirited fight this time resulted in a slightly better bass of 41cm ?.
After losing my bass mojo completely over the last 3 sessions, all the doubts had now melted away and I hoped for more to come. As it happened though, that was wishful thinking and apart from a few more missed takes, I didn’t have any more luck. I wasn’t bothered in the slightest though, as my perseverance had finally paid off and I was finally back on the bass trail ?.
