Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 375
- Reaction score
- 3,426
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
After 2 consecutive blanks with my boys, the pressure was really on to get back on the bass trail. Unfortunately, as the previous week had showed, the bass have really thinned out at my usual early season marks, and sadly the winds last week made my usual June marks unfishable. There was only one thing for it, and so Tuesday night saw me return to the same spot I had fished with Sam.
I arrived to find that despite a light breeze blowing, conditions were a damn sight better than they had been on that occasion, so I was feeling quite confident that I might actually be in with a chance of catching. Sadly it wasn’t to be quite that easy and for the first 4 hours I walked along the shore, trying a wide variety of different lures in any fishy looking spots I could find, without so much as a touch
.
Eventually the light began to fade, so I decided to head for the spot where I had caught a few weeks back, at an almost identical state of the tide. After a 10 minute walk I arrived and waded out to a small reef which juts out into the tide run. Once there, I clipped on the Patch 125 in yellow and launched it uptide. As the lure drifted along with the flow, I kept its movement to a minimum, with only the occasional twitch to attract any predators in the vicinity, and just as it came out of the swift running water and into a slacker eddy, my lure was smashed!
After a short scrap the fish was beaten and though it was only a schoolie of 44cm, I was still chuffed to bits
.
Hoping this was just the start of a productive period, I fished it hard for the next 90 minutes, but sadly that was to be it for my night. I did hear the occasional fish splashing out in the darkness, but no matter what I tried, I couldn’t tempt anything else into having a go at my offerings.
Next up was Thursday night, and this time I decided to try somewhere completely new. It wasn’t far from another of my regular haunts, but it was a stretch of coast that I’ve never fished before. This time conditions were very different, and the light breeze soon died away completely, leaving flat calm conditions, but with the air temperature at 22°c and the sun blazing down from a completely cloudless sky, it was very hot work walking along the coast in my waders
.
Over the next 2 hours I walked a couple of miles along the shore, trying a variety of lures anywhere that looked like it might hold fish, and when the tide turned I retraced my steps, but apart from a solitary swirl and a small shoal of sandeel, I saw no other signs of life.
After such a quiet start to the session, I had been considering my options for a while, so as dusk started to fall I decided that I was wasting my time along this particular stretch of coast, and I made the decision to head for the other nearby mark where I’ve fished before.
After a brisk 20 minute walk I arrived at my destination, boiling hot and dripping with sweat
, but I immediately felt more confident. I then waded out into the lovely cool water to resume my hunt.
Despite the move, things were still deathly quiet but I carried on trying, then an hour and a quarter after I started fishing again, my lure was hit without warning
. The attacker put up a decent enough scrap, but after a minute or two I started to gain the upper hand. The fish wasn’t done yet though, and just as I started to draw my catch towards the shore, it dived head first into a thick bed of bladder wrack and became stuck fast 
.
For the next couple of minutes I tried everything I could think of to free the fish, and at one point as I gave it some slack I felt it taking some line, but as soon as I tried to reel in again it immediately became stuck fast once more. Eventually I had run out of options, and there was nothing for it but to pull and hope for the best. Thankfully I was able to get my lure back, but sadly the fish made good its escape. Having missed what could well be my only chance of the night, I was gutted and facing the very real possibility that I was about to blank for the third time in 4 sessions
.
It was getting late by now, so I began to make my way back towards the car but I couldn’t resist having a few more casts on the way
. 30 minutes later and I had reached the point where I would have to leave the shore and head back to the car, but I couldn’t leave without having one last try.
As it happened, I was so glad that I did, as on the very next cast my lure was hit again. I could tell immediately that the fish was only small, but having missed one chance already, I wasn’t bothered in the slightest
. I took my time though and the fish was finally beaten. The fishing gods weren’t quite finished with me yet though and just as I slid my catch ashore, the hooks fell out! 
My heart actually stopped for a moment, but I wasn’t to be denied a second time, and I was able to grab my prize before it could get back into the water 
.
It was only a tiddler of 34cm but I wasn’t bothered in the slightest, the blank was avoided by the narrowest of margins for the second time in a week
.
I arrived to find that despite a light breeze blowing, conditions were a damn sight better than they had been on that occasion, so I was feeling quite confident that I might actually be in with a chance of catching. Sadly it wasn’t to be quite that easy and for the first 4 hours I walked along the shore, trying a wide variety of different lures in any fishy looking spots I could find, without so much as a touch
.Eventually the light began to fade, so I decided to head for the spot where I had caught a few weeks back, at an almost identical state of the tide. After a 10 minute walk I arrived and waded out to a small reef which juts out into the tide run. Once there, I clipped on the Patch 125 in yellow and launched it uptide. As the lure drifted along with the flow, I kept its movement to a minimum, with only the occasional twitch to attract any predators in the vicinity, and just as it came out of the swift running water and into a slacker eddy, my lure was smashed!
After a short scrap the fish was beaten and though it was only a schoolie of 44cm, I was still chuffed to bits
.Hoping this was just the start of a productive period, I fished it hard for the next 90 minutes, but sadly that was to be it for my night. I did hear the occasional fish splashing out in the darkness, but no matter what I tried, I couldn’t tempt anything else into having a go at my offerings
.Next up was Thursday night, and this time I decided to try somewhere completely new. It wasn’t far from another of my regular haunts, but it was a stretch of coast that I’ve never fished before. This time conditions were very different, and the light breeze soon died away completely, leaving flat calm conditions, but with the air temperature at 22°c and the sun blazing down from a completely cloudless sky, it was very hot work walking along the coast in my waders
.Over the next 2 hours I walked a couple of miles along the shore, trying a variety of lures anywhere that looked like it might hold fish, and when the tide turned I retraced my steps, but apart from a solitary swirl and a small shoal of sandeel, I saw no other signs of life.
After such a quiet start to the session, I had been considering my options for a while, so as dusk started to fall I decided that I was wasting my time along this particular stretch of coast, and I made the decision to head for the other nearby mark where I’ve fished before.
After a brisk 20 minute walk I arrived at my destination, boiling hot and dripping with sweat
, but I immediately felt more confident. I then waded out into the lovely cool water to resume my hunt.Despite the move, things were still deathly quiet but I carried on trying, then an hour and a quarter after I started fishing again, my lure was hit without warning
. The attacker put up a decent enough scrap, but after a minute or two I started to gain the upper hand. The fish wasn’t done yet though, and just as I started to draw my catch towards the shore, it dived head first into a thick bed of bladder wrack and became stuck fast .For the next couple of minutes I tried everything I could think of to free the fish, and at one point as I gave it some slack I felt it taking some line, but as soon as I tried to reel in again it immediately became stuck fast once more. Eventually I had run out of options, and there was nothing for it but to pull and hope for the best. Thankfully I was able to get my lure back, but sadly the fish made good its escape. Having missed what could well be my only chance of the night, I was gutted and facing the very real possibility that I was about to blank for the third time in 4 sessions
.It was getting late by now, so I began to make my way back towards the car but I couldn’t resist having a few more casts on the way
. 30 minutes later and I had reached the point where I would have to leave the shore and head back to the car, but I couldn’t leave without having one last try.As it happened, I was so glad that I did, as on the very next cast my lure was hit again. I could tell immediately that the fish was only small, but having missed one chance already, I wasn’t bothered in the slightest
. I took my time though and the fish was finally beaten. The fishing gods weren’t quite finished with me yet though and just as I slid my catch ashore, the hooks fell out! My heart actually stopped for a moment, but I wasn’t to be denied a second time, and I was able to grab my prize before it could get back into the water .It was only a tiddler of 34cm but I wasn’t bothered in the slightest, the blank was avoided by the narrowest of margins for the second time in a week
.
