Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 370
- Reaction score
- 3,401
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
With the lure season rapidly coming to an end, I should be filing my boots while I still can, but I’ve been struggling to motivate myself lately. I only fished the one session last week, a 5 hour blank in what looked like perfect conditions, so this week I was determined to fit in my usual 2 sessions again.
First session of the week was at a mark I haven’t fished since much earlier in the season, but as the bass tend to drop back Southwards later in the year, with the retreating warmer water, I figured it was worth a go
.
Conditions couldn’t have been better when I arrived, and the sight of a heron hunting in the margins convinced me there must be some baitfish about, which in turn would attract some hungry silver things. I was full of confidence as I began my quest, but this faith was obviously misplaced and the first hour was deathly quiet. Not wanting to waste time fishing a spot seemingly devoid of fish, I decided to move about half a mile along the shore.
Within a few minutes of starting to fish again, the sound of a topping bass out in the darkness convinced me that I had done the right thing in moving, but despite the presence of feeding fish, I still couldn’t tempt them into an attack on my lures
. After another hour and a quarter without any interest whatsoever, I decided it was time to move on again for the remainder of the ebb.
My next choice of mark was a short drive away, and in order not to waste any more time than necessary I drove there in my waders ?, this meant that within 25 minutes of reeling in at one mark, I was casting out again at my third location of the evening.
With 90 minutes to go until low water, there was still a bit of tide run at this new mark and I used this to cover as much water as possible. First off, I tried the Sunslicker Swimish, followed by the Albie Snax, next I clipped on a large Patchinko to fish at range, before I decided to try an old favourite of mine. Since I discovered the Mighty Mishna, this lure has been limited to only the occasional outing, but despite this serious lack of water time, it still sits at number 4 in the list of my most productive lures. With a calibre like that it had to be worth a try, so I clipped on the SF125 in Plasma Candy.
If I’m completely honest, after several hours without a touch I wasn’t really expecting much, but incredibly, only a few casts later, the fish magnet did what it does best and it was hit by a hungry bass ?. After almost 8 hours without a fish, the scrap was thoroughly enjoyable and soon resulted in a perfectly conditioned 48cm bar of Welsh silver ?.
Thinking I had cracked it, I fished on with renewed confidence but the next hour was quiet again, as I tried several lures in an effort to attract another bite. Eventually though, I was in again as this time my Komomo II in Gold Candy was smashed. After another feisty scrap, bass number 2 was beaten, a better fish this time of 55cm ?.
After another 15 minutes without any further interest in the Komomo, I decided to switch back to the SF125 again and this had an almost immediate effect, when bass number 3 of the evening, a smaller fish of 47cm put in an appearance a couple of minutes later ?.
After this another quiet spell followed, as low water came and went, and as it was now past midnight I decided to have 5 more casts, before calling it a night ?. The first 4 of those produced nothing but typically, I had barely started to retrieve my lure on cast number 5, when it was smashed ?. This resulted in another 50cm+ fish, which rather than waste a second taking a photo was shaken off the hook in the water, but despite me having a few more “last casts”, I couldn’t add to my total.
So, my week had got off to a great start and with a second outing planned for 2 days later, I was beginning to feel a little more motivated again ?.
For my second outing of the week, I decided on a return visit to my new favourite ebb mark. On the last 4 occasions when I’ve fished there, on tides of a similar time and size, I’ve managed to catch 19 bass, so I was hoping for more of the same. Once more, conditions on my arrival were absolutely perfect, with flat calm water, clear blue skies and not a breath of wind, so I couldn’t see how I could possibly fail to catch.
With hindsight, I should have known better than to be so confident ?, and for the first 2 and a half hours of the evening were very quiet. Eventually though, Andy’s second law of fishing proved to be right again as my first hit of the evening resulted in my first fish. At 41cm it was a long way off being the big autumn girl I was hoping for, but that didn’t matter one bit, I was still chuffed just to see a bass of any size ?.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t to be the start of the feeding frenzy I hoped for, as once again I had managed to find that rare thing, a solitary schoolie ?. The next 2 hours were quiet again but with dark and starlit skies, it was a stunning night to be out and I was enjoying every minute of it.
It was still relatively early yet though, so I fished on, and eventually the fish felt sorry for me as bass number 2 of the evening kindly attacked my lure. Though at 48cm it was bigger than my first one, it was still on the small side for this particular mark, but I was at least heading in the right direction ?.
Hoping to finish on a high, I gave it another hour and a bit, but the bass were definitely playing hard to get, and with the water in front of me getting shallower by the minute, I called it quits on another week, rather than risk losing any lures.
So after a bassless week I was back in among the fish and my mojo is back for the last bit of the season. Only time will tell if the big girls will come out to play, but with my mojo now rediscovered, I’ll be out there looking for them again as soon as I get a chance ?.
First session of the week was at a mark I haven’t fished since much earlier in the season, but as the bass tend to drop back Southwards later in the year, with the retreating warmer water, I figured it was worth a go
.Conditions couldn’t have been better when I arrived, and the sight of a heron hunting in the margins convinced me there must be some baitfish about, which in turn would attract some hungry silver things. I was full of confidence as I began my quest, but this faith was obviously misplaced and the first hour was deathly quiet
. Not wanting to waste time fishing a spot seemingly devoid of fish, I decided to move about half a mile along the shore.Within a few minutes of starting to fish again, the sound of a topping bass out in the darkness convinced me that I had done the right thing in moving, but despite the presence of feeding fish, I still couldn’t tempt them into an attack on my lures
. After another hour and a quarter without any interest whatsoever, I decided it was time to move on again for the remainder of the ebb.My next choice of mark was a short drive away, and in order not to waste any more time than necessary I drove there in my waders ?, this meant that within 25 minutes of reeling in at one mark, I was casting out again at my third location of the evening.
With 90 minutes to go until low water, there was still a bit of tide run at this new mark and I used this to cover as much water as possible. First off, I tried the Sunslicker Swimish, followed by the Albie Snax, next I clipped on a large Patchinko to fish at range, before I decided to try an old favourite of mine. Since I discovered the Mighty Mishna, this lure has been limited to only the occasional outing, but despite this serious lack of water time, it still sits at number 4 in the list of my most productive lures. With a calibre like that it had to be worth a try, so I clipped on the SF125 in Plasma Candy.
If I’m completely honest, after several hours without a touch I wasn’t really expecting much, but incredibly, only a few casts later, the fish magnet did what it does best and it was hit by a hungry bass ?. After almost 8 hours without a fish, the scrap was thoroughly enjoyable and soon resulted in a perfectly conditioned 48cm bar of Welsh silver ?.
Thinking I had cracked it, I fished on with renewed confidence but the next hour was quiet again, as I tried several lures in an effort to attract another bite. Eventually though, I was in again as this time my Komomo II in Gold Candy was smashed. After another feisty scrap, bass number 2 was beaten, a better fish this time of 55cm ?.
After another 15 minutes without any further interest in the Komomo, I decided to switch back to the SF125 again and this had an almost immediate effect, when bass number 3 of the evening, a smaller fish of 47cm put in an appearance a couple of minutes later ?.
After this another quiet spell followed, as low water came and went, and as it was now past midnight I decided to have 5 more casts, before calling it a night ?. The first 4 of those produced nothing but typically, I had barely started to retrieve my lure on cast number 5, when it was smashed ?. This resulted in another 50cm+ fish, which rather than waste a second taking a photo was shaken off the hook in the water, but despite me having a few more “last casts”, I couldn’t add to my total.
So, my week had got off to a great start and with a second outing planned for 2 days later, I was beginning to feel a little more motivated again ?.
For my second outing of the week, I decided on a return visit to my new favourite ebb mark. On the last 4 occasions when I’ve fished there, on tides of a similar time and size, I’ve managed to catch 19 bass, so I was hoping for more of the same. Once more, conditions on my arrival were absolutely perfect, with flat calm water, clear blue skies and not a breath of wind, so I couldn’t see how I could possibly fail to catch.
With hindsight, I should have known better than to be so confident ?, and for the first 2 and a half hours of the evening were very quiet. Eventually though, Andy’s second law of fishing proved to be right again as my first hit of the evening resulted in my first fish. At 41cm it was a long way off being the big autumn girl I was hoping for, but that didn’t matter one bit, I was still chuffed just to see a bass of any size ?.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t to be the start of the feeding frenzy I hoped for, as once again I had managed to find that rare thing, a solitary schoolie ?. The next 2 hours were quiet again but with dark and starlit skies, it was a stunning night to be out and I was enjoying every minute of it.
It was still relatively early yet though, so I fished on, and eventually the fish felt sorry for me as bass number 2 of the evening kindly attacked my lure. Though at 48cm it was bigger than my first one, it was still on the small side for this particular mark, but I was at least heading in the right direction ?.
Hoping to finish on a high, I gave it another hour and a bit, but the bass were definitely playing hard to get, and with the water in front of me getting shallower by the minute, I called it quits on another week, rather than risk losing any lures.
So after a bassless week I was back in among the fish and my mojo is back for the last bit of the season. Only time will tell if the big girls will come out to play, but with my mojo now rediscovered, I’ll be out there looking for them again as soon as I get a chance ?.
