North Wales Good things still come to those who wait.

[Andy 1965]

With a week off work and the boys off school for the summer holidays, I decided on Monday night to take one of them lure fishing. Josh wasn’t particularly keen, but though Sam has already caught one bass on a lure, that was a long time ago now and he is keen to add to his tally. The chosen mark was one which should be coming into its own around now, and with high tide at around 11pm I had high hopes.

We arrived to find decent enough conditions and though the water clarity wasn’t the best, it was still fishable and would only improve as the depth of water increased. With 4 hours of the flood to go, the water was still relatively shallow and the current hadn’t really picked up yet, so we both started with a lure which has produced for me earlier in the flood, the Swimmish in Lemon Meringue. After a few words of advice, we were soon casting our lures diagonally up tide, before allowing them to swing gently around in the flow. Though I was feeling quite confident, things got up to a very slow start, and even with an increase in depth and flow, along with the presence of baitfish in the shallows, the bass were nowhere to be found .

After an hour or so of fishing with nothing to show for it, Sam was starting to lose interest by now and he started taking regular breaks to turn over a few rocks to see what might be living underneath them, but I persevered with the fishing. As darkness fell I told him our chances should improve, and he tried again for another 20 minutes before he lost interest once more.

By now I knew that I was fighting a losing battle, so I told Sam with would call it a night at 11, but just as high water approached, my Mishna was finally smashed only a couple of rod lengths out from the shore . After an exciting scrap in the shallow water, watched keenly by an excited young audience, my catch was soon tired out and the blank was finally beaten with a fish of 45cm .


The belated sight of a bass perked Sam’s interest once again and he gave it another 20 minutes, in an attempt to catch a bass of his own, but sadly it wasn’t to be and he blanked once more .

Despite the blank, I’m hopeful that Sam will have learned a valuable lesson, which is never to give up, either in fishing or in life .



With things to do later in the week, I decided to strike while the iron was hot and the following evening, I was back at the same mark. Once more I was a little early for the prime time, but this time the water was gin clear, and with the tide being almost a foot bigger than on Monday, I was very hopeful of getting an early bass.

Again the Swimmish was my first choice lure, but after seeing a couple of fish swirling on the surface, I also tried the small Patchinko and a Ruf Manic, but I couldn’t tempt anything into having a go at my offerings.

As the tide pushed in, I fished it hard but as on Monday things were very quiet. The baitfish were still there, possibly in bigger numbers than the previous night, but again there were no signs of any bass . As darkness fell I was getting the distinct feeling of déjà vu, and I was hopeful that things would finally kick off again nearer high water and thankfully, after over 3 hours of fishing my quarry finally showed up 45 minutes before high.

Perhaps not surprisingly, it was the Mishna which accounted for the blank beater again, and after a decent tussle, a nice fish of 50cm lay on the shingle .


Now that I was off the mark, I hoped there would be plenty more action and thankfully I wasn’t disappointed. It took a little bit longer than I would have liked but 30 minutes later my lure was hit again. This time the fish didn’t put up much of a fight to begin with, but as I drew it into the shallows and prepared to slide it ashore, it suddenly went absolutely mental! Though the boulder strewn water couldn’t have been more than 8 to 10 inches deep, the fish dashed around like an out of control torpedo and incredibly managed not to crash into anything . In an attempt to keep it under control, I held the rod up high and eventually I gained the upper hand. I was then finally able to land it, and as I switched on my headlamp I was amazed to see that my catch wasn’t actually that big. Given the scrap, I was expecting something decent and not a relatively small 48cm, I wasn’t bothered though and they all count .


Things were really warming up now and 15 minutes later I was in again, it wasn’t to be though and unfortunately after only a minute or so the fish managed to spit the hook .

There was no point in worrying about the lost fish, so I got straight back to it but it was to be another 40 minutes before I had take number 4 of the evening, and this time the hook hold was secure. After a rather uninspiring fight I was expecting to see another small fish, so I was pleasantly surprised when I switched on my headlamp to find a chunky fish of 55cm .


Keen for more, I fished on for another 45 minutes, but the bass had seemingly moved on and I didn’t get another touch before I called it a night at 1am.

So once again it took a while for sport to pick up, but I got there in the end, which goes to show that good things come to those who wait .

 

[Kevin3110]

Nice fishing mate

 

[richtic]

Great fishing Andy, well done