Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 375
- Reaction score
- 3,427
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
After a 5 hour blank on my first lure session of 2023, I was desperate to get out again for another go, but the weather gods did their utmost to thwart my plans. Last week's calm window in the weather was a distant memory, as North Wales was battered by strong winds, heavy rain and even snow on the hills 
. I knew the winds had to abate sometime though and after blowing all day, they were finally forecast to drop away to nothing through yesterday evening.
Having faced into the winds all week, my original choice of mark was a no go, and I was forced to change venue to somewhere which I hoped had only been dealt a glancing blow by the worst of the conditions. I arrived at my chosen venue to find a stiff breeze still blowing along the shore, leading to less than ideal water clarity, but I've caught in worse so I decided to give it a go regardless.
In order to counter the poor water clarity, bright coloured lures were the order of the day and I started my hunt with the mighty Mishna in Lemon Meringue. Not surprisingly so early in the season, things started off quietly and for the next 90 minutes I tried a variety of brighter lures without success. They ranged from the large and small Patchinkos in Yellow and Nacre, to the Ruf Manic in white and chartreuse, and I even gave the candy SF125 and the white Wave Worm some water time, but the bass remained elusive. I persevered though, and as darkness fell I finally felt a tap on my lure. Judging by how delicate it was, I put the interest down to a small pollack but whatever the culprit, it didn't come back, and for the next hour things were quiet again.
My original thinking was that my best chance of success would come at the start of the flood, so as the bottom of the tide approached my confidence began to grow. Having cycled through my usually productive lures I was now back on the big Patchinko in Nacre, and as I let it drift slowly down-tide for the umpteenth time it was suddenly stopped dead in it's tracks
. After a moment of shock from both myself and the bass 
, the battle commenced and hoping the hook hold was a good one, I played the fish slowly towards me. After a nerve-racking couple of minutes I had gained the upper hand and I was able to slide my first lure caught bass of 2023 safely ashore 
.
Though not a real biggie, at 51cm it was a decent fish to get off the mark with and I was chuffed to bits
.
After a quick pic and release I got straight back to the fishing, hoping that where there was one bass there would be more, but as the tide turned and began flooding things were all quiet. With no more action on the big Patch, I now opted for a switch to the Patch 100, in the hope that something more subtle would encourage the bass to have a go, and my plan bore fruit almost immediately. On only the second cast, the baby Patch was hit at maximum range and I was attached to a bass once more. This fish wasn't as big as the first, and after some initial resistance I was pretty much able to reel it straight in. At 43cm my second bass of the evening probably only weighed around the 2lb mark, but they all count and I was still a happy bunny
.
After a minimum of fuss I got straight back into the water, and this time I had barely been fishing for 5 minutes, when my baby Patch was hit again. I knew immediately that this was a better fish and the attacker actually managed to take a little line against the drag, I took my time though and after a decent scrap, bass number 3 of the session was eventually beaten. This was a nice deep fish and at 57cm it was probably somewhere in the region of 4 and a half pounds in weight, better than that though it was the same length as my best fish in the whole of 2022, so I was absolutely buzzing to equal my previous season's best at only the second attempt of 2023
.
I was well and truly on a roll now and I had visions of a bumper session, but typically the fishing gods had other ideas and once more the bass vanished without warning
. Hoping that they would start feeding again as quickly as they had stopped, I fished on for another couple of hours but apart from hearing a series of slurps and sploshes, which moved across in front of me as an unseen snacker drifted along wit the current, chomping as it went, I couldn't temp anything else into having a go at my lure, no matter what lures I tried.
I finally called it a night just before 1am and more than happy to be up and running for the new season, I set off for home to plan my next outing
.
. I knew the winds had to abate sometime though and after blowing all day, they were finally forecast to drop away to nothing through yesterday evening.Having faced into the winds all week, my original choice of mark was a no go, and I was forced to change venue to somewhere which I hoped had only been dealt a glancing blow by the worst of the conditions. I arrived at my chosen venue to find a stiff breeze still blowing along the shore, leading to less than ideal water clarity, but I've caught in worse so I decided to give it a go regardless.
In order to counter the poor water clarity, bright coloured lures were the order of the day and I started my hunt with the mighty Mishna in Lemon Meringue. Not surprisingly so early in the season, things started off quietly and for the next 90 minutes I tried a variety of brighter lures without success. They ranged from the large and small Patchinkos in Yellow and Nacre, to the Ruf Manic in white and chartreuse, and I even gave the candy SF125 and the white Wave Worm some water time, but the bass remained elusive. I persevered though, and as darkness fell I finally felt a tap on my lure. Judging by how delicate it was, I put the interest down to a small pollack but whatever the culprit, it didn't come back, and for the next hour things were quiet again.
My original thinking was that my best chance of success would come at the start of the flood, so as the bottom of the tide approached my confidence began to grow. Having cycled through my usually productive lures I was now back on the big Patchinko in Nacre, and as I let it drift slowly down-tide for the umpteenth time it was suddenly stopped dead in it's tracks
. After a moment of shock from both myself and the bass , the battle commenced and hoping the hook hold was a good one, I played the fish slowly towards me. After a nerve-racking couple of minutes I had gained the upper hand and I was able to slide my first lure caught bass of 2023 safely ashore .Though not a real biggie, at 51cm it was a decent fish to get off the mark with and I was chuffed to bits
.After a quick pic and release I got straight back to the fishing, hoping that where there was one bass there would be more, but as the tide turned and began flooding things were all quiet. With no more action on the big Patch, I now opted for a switch to the Patch 100, in the hope that something more subtle would encourage the bass to have a go, and my plan bore fruit almost immediately. On only the second cast, the baby Patch was hit at maximum range and I was attached to a bass once more. This fish wasn't as big as the first, and after some initial resistance I was pretty much able to reel it straight in. At 43cm my second bass of the evening probably only weighed around the 2lb mark, but they all count and I was still a happy bunny
.After a minimum of fuss I got straight back into the water, and this time I had barely been fishing for 5 minutes, when my baby Patch was hit again. I knew immediately that this was a better fish and the attacker actually managed to take a little line against the drag, I took my time though and after a decent scrap, bass number 3 of the session was eventually beaten. This was a nice deep fish and at 57cm it was probably somewhere in the region of 4 and a half pounds in weight, better than that though it was the same length as my best fish in the whole of 2022, so I was absolutely buzzing to equal my previous season's best at only the second attempt of 2023
.I was well and truly on a roll now and I had visions of a bumper session, but typically the fishing gods had other ideas and once more the bass vanished without warning
. Hoping that they would start feeding again as quickly as they had stopped, I fished on for another couple of hours but apart from hearing a series of slurps and sploshes, which moved across in front of me as an unseen snacker drifted along wit the current, chomping as it went, I couldn't temp anything else into having a go at my lure, no matter what lures I tried.I finally called it a night just before 1am and more than happy to be up and running for the new season, I set off for home to plan my next outing
.
