Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 376
- Reaction score
- 3,442
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
After a dirty bait session with my boys last Saturday, it was time this week to get back on the lures, in an attempt to beat last year’s total of 106 bass. First off was Tuesday evening but the tide was a bit early for my first choice mark, so I fished an alternative mark instead. I arrived to find a fresher breeze than I expected but despite a chop on the water, the clarity was still excellent 
.
First on was the Frosty in 500g and as I worked it back to shore, I took a moment to admire my surroundings, but when my lure got to a couple of rod lengths out, I was shocked when there was suddenly a big splash right next to it ?. Sadly the attacker missed, but it was a great sign for the evening ahead ?. A couple of minutes after this I was surprised again, when I saw a bass swim across in front of me, a few meters away, with its dorsal fin out of the water ?.
For the next 30 minutes or so I saw and heard a steady stream of splashes and swirls as the bass fed hard, but no matter what lures I tried, I just couldn’t tempt them into an attack. Eventually, the signs of feeding bass became less frequent, before they stopped completely and I just hoped that I hadn’t missed my chance ?.
I persevered though and after 90 minutes or so I finally had another take, this time the fish made no mistake and managed to actually hit my lure ?, and after a short but spirited scrap, the blank was beaten with bass number 106 of the year, to equal last year’s total ?.
Now that I had finally found a lure that the fish would take, I didn’t want to waste time wading back to shore through the boulders, so I took a quick picture in the water before shaking the fish off the hook, and getting straight back to the fishing.
As it happened though, saving a few minutes made no difference whatsoever. It seemed that the bass was a loner and apart from 1 more splash behind my lure, the rest of the night remained fishless.
Next up was Thursday night and with high water at around 11pm, and 2 foot bigger than it had been on Tuesday, things looked good for a return to my first choice mark. Again the breeze was a little fresher than forecast but once more the sea conditions were spot on. With the water being quite shallow to start with, the first lure on this time was the Swimish and I began to fan casts out to cover as much water as possible, while I waited for the current to start running. Despite the presence of bait fish in the water, things started off very quietly but when the flow eventually got going my confidence stated to increase.
Somewhat disappointingly, the first couple of hours passed without a single touch, as even the mighty Mishna failed to tempt anything to have a go, but when the light eventually started to fade, I had my first tap of the night. This first sign of interest proved to be a false alarm though and it was another 45 minutes before I had another touch.
After trying several more SPs without success, I was now using a white Wave Worm, which I was casting diagonally up-tide, before allowing it to drift around in the current and it was just as the lure reached the furthest point down-tide, that it was finally smashed. Though it didn’t take any line, the attacker put up a great scrap in the flow, but I took my time and eventually it was beaten, and I was able to slide bass number 107 ashore, a solid bar of silver of 51cm ?.
This first fish signalled the start of a purple patch and over the next 30 minutes I landed 2 more bass, a 50cm fish on the Wave Worm again
Followed by a particularly hungry fish of 49cm, caught on the Mishna.
It’s in there if you look closely ?.
This productive spell was followed by a bit of a lull but I carried on trying and eventually, as high water approached the bass started feeding again. In a 10 minute spell over high I added another 2 bass to my total, the smallest fish of the night at 47cm,
followed by another fish of 51cm, both on the Mishna ?.
Things went quiet again after this and though I fished on for another hour, I couldn’t find any more bass, so I eventually called it quits at midnight. So that’s another 6 bass this week, which keeps up my average of 3 bass per session, and it puts me just a dozen fish away from equalling my best ever season.
.First on was the Frosty in 500g and as I worked it back to shore, I took a moment to admire my surroundings, but when my lure got to a couple of rod lengths out, I was shocked when there was suddenly a big splash right next to it ?. Sadly the attacker missed, but it was a great sign for the evening ahead ?. A couple of minutes after this I was surprised again, when I saw a bass swim across in front of me, a few meters away, with its dorsal fin out of the water ?.
For the next 30 minutes or so I saw and heard a steady stream of splashes and swirls as the bass fed hard, but no matter what lures I tried, I just couldn’t tempt them into an attack. Eventually, the signs of feeding bass became less frequent, before they stopped completely and I just hoped that I hadn’t missed my chance ?.
I persevered though and after 90 minutes or so I finally had another take, this time the fish made no mistake and managed to actually hit my lure ?, and after a short but spirited scrap, the blank was beaten with bass number 106 of the year, to equal last year’s total ?.
Now that I had finally found a lure that the fish would take, I didn’t want to waste time wading back to shore through the boulders, so I took a quick picture in the water before shaking the fish off the hook, and getting straight back to the fishing.
As it happened though, saving a few minutes made no difference whatsoever. It seemed that the bass was a loner and apart from 1 more splash behind my lure, the rest of the night remained fishless.
Next up was Thursday night and with high water at around 11pm, and 2 foot bigger than it had been on Tuesday, things looked good for a return to my first choice mark
. Again the breeze was a little fresher than forecast but once more the sea conditions were spot on. With the water being quite shallow to start with, the first lure on this time was the Swimish and I began to fan casts out to cover as much water as possible, while I waited for the current to start running. Despite the presence of bait fish in the water, things started off very quietly but when the flow eventually got going my confidence stated to increase.Somewhat disappointingly, the first couple of hours passed without a single touch, as even the mighty Mishna failed to tempt anything to have a go, but when the light eventually started to fade, I had my first tap of the night. This first sign of interest proved to be a false alarm though and it was another 45 minutes before I had another touch.
After trying several more SPs without success, I was now using a white Wave Worm, which I was casting diagonally up-tide, before allowing it to drift around in the current and it was just as the lure reached the furthest point down-tide, that it was finally smashed. Though it didn’t take any line, the attacker put up a great scrap in the flow, but I took my time and eventually it was beaten, and I was able to slide bass number 107 ashore, a solid bar of silver of 51cm ?.
This first fish signalled the start of a purple patch and over the next 30 minutes I landed 2 more bass, a 50cm fish on the Wave Worm again
Followed by a particularly hungry fish of 49cm, caught on the Mishna.
It’s in there if you look closely ?.
This productive spell was followed by a bit of a lull but I carried on trying and eventually, as high water approached the bass started feeding again. In a 10 minute spell over high I added another 2 bass to my total, the smallest fish of the night at 47cm,
followed by another fish of 51cm, both on the Mishna ?.
Things went quiet again after this and though I fished on for another hour, I couldn’t find any more bass, so I eventually called it quits at midnight. So that’s another 6 bass this week, which keeps up my average of 3 bass per session, and it puts me just a dozen fish away from equalling my best ever season
.
