South East May rot! Pett Level 04/06

[ouchthathurt]

Morning all, after an abortive attempt the other night, which drew a blank, I still had a score of live lugworm wriggling away in the fridge. Watching the weather forecast saying breezy with good cloud cover and a chance of showers, I felt it may be good for a bass. So the alarm was set for 6am and I was on the beach for 7am with low tide at 9am. The tide hadn’t quite cleared the rocky reef, so I initially set up on the rocks and send two rigs baited with fresh lug into a gully about 40yrds out. The breeze was manageable, and the conditions seemed ok, so it was just a case of sitting back and waiting. I rather skilfully dropped my mobile into a rock pool, but my ninja reflexes snatched it from the clutches of Davy Jones before the water managed to seep through the splash proof case. Dodged a bullet there! After drying out the phone I got back to watching the tips. After a few mins, the right hand rod ever so gently dropped back, a steady retrieve produced a nice bass. The next cast produced another juddery drop back, hoping it was another bass, I took it easy on the wind in, but it turned out to be an eel.the rest of the session was biteless, with the may rot getting so bad the weight of It on the lines pulled the tripod over twice! Both rods were not damaged fortunately, as they landed on soft sand. With that I called it quits, released the last few lug and watched them bury themselves, then wrapped up and went home.

 

[Tatunka joe]

Couple of nice catches there bey ???

 

[bananas]

Well done on catching in what sounds not the best conditions, who bloody invented may bloom, nasty stuff!!

 

[ouchthathurt]

Mid tide the may rot was virtually non existent, both sessions have produced a nice bass within 5-10mins of the first chuck, but as soon as the tide dropped and the gullies empty, it’s a quick wade through the gully and onto the sand. Then you’re casting into “open sea” as it were. The may rot was awful! The baits were coming back totally untouched, I really think the may rot puts the fish off. The surf was running, the overcast conditions kept the light levels low, I would have thought I’d have a few more, but not a sausage. Still, the mark has changed totally overwinter, normally I wouldn’t expect to take bass mid tide here, they used to appear 45mins before low then 1-2hrs up. Last two bass have been 2-3hrs before low water. Local tackle shop said the beaches are infested with lil schoolies, but I’ve not had any (yet!)

 

[Bass&Chips]

Looks a very bassy mark

 

[Trampster]

Nice report & photos Ouchy! Target achieved, blank avoided, well done! ????

 

[Shirleycodlin]

Nice bass, well done ?