Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 367
- Reaction score
- 3,376
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
For what could possibly be the last week of my lure season, I had hoped to get 2 sessions in, but sadly the weather gods had other ideas. With a forecast of strong winds and heavy rain, Tuesday night was out, so that left me just Thursday night to improve on my season’s tally.
After a look back in my diary, I happened to spot that the tide size and time were exactly the same as they had been on October 31st, 2019, and on that occasion, I had caught a brace of bass including a decent fish of 5lb 10oz, so I decided on a return visit to the same mark, to see if bass were creatures of habit.
Conditions on my arrival at the mark were challenging to say the least, with a fresh and gusty wind blowing along the shore, but thankfully it was blowing in the same direction that the tide was running.
The successful tactics back in 2019 had been to fish a white Waveworm around in the flow, before slowly retrieving it back up-tide again, and I saw no reason to do anything different this time.
With the flood having just got underway, there wasn’t a great deal of tide run to begin with, but as the tide was the second largest of the cycle it didn’t take long for the pace to pick up. Despite this, the first hour was quiet, apart from 1 very small tap, which could just have been the lure hitting a rock. 15 minutes later I had my first definite hit of the night, but it wasn’t a big fish, so I wasn’t too disappointed when it didn’t connect, my money was on it being a pollack. 5 minutes later my lure was hit again and this time it resulted in a successful hook up. Again, it was something small though and with a strong flow now running, the fish had no chance of putting up any sort of scrap. It was simply a case of reeling it straight in, and I wasn’t surprised in the slightest, when this small pollack appeared from the water.
Though I was happy to get off the mark, it wasn’t what I was after, so I got straight back to the fishing.
By now the tide was pushing hard, but that was also the case back in 2019, so I was still hopeful of another fish. This was also the exact stage of the tide that I caught there last time and incredibly, almost to the exact same minute my lure was smashed again
. This time there was no doubt as to the identity of the attacker and using the current to its advantage, it put up a great fight, but I took my time and after a few minutes I landed the first bass of the night, a nice fish of 51cm 
.
With the tide in full flow by now, my time on the mark was limited and after another 20 minutes I was pushed so far back into the weed that I could no longer fish the main run. I kept trying, but after another 30 minutes with no more signs of life, I reluctantly moved on.
For the rest of the flood, I moved a mark about a mile along the coast, where I’ve had some luck in the past, but despite trying a variety of the lures which I’ve caught on there before, I couldn’t tempt anything into having a go at them. Finally, I could take no more excitement, so I called it a night just before midnight.
So, with a week’s fishing in Norway to look forward to next, I won’t be fishing in the UK again now until mid-November at the earliest, and with my latest lure caught bass being on November 12th, that’s potentially it for my season. If that is the case then I won’t complain, as with higher numbers of bass than I’ve ever managed before, it’s certainly been a year to remember
.
After a look back in my diary, I happened to spot that the tide size and time were exactly the same as they had been on October 31st, 2019, and on that occasion, I had caught a brace of bass including a decent fish of 5lb 10oz, so I decided on a return visit to the same mark, to see if bass were creatures of habit.
Conditions on my arrival at the mark were challenging to say the least, with a fresh and gusty wind blowing along the shore, but thankfully it was blowing in the same direction that the tide was running.
The successful tactics back in 2019 had been to fish a white Waveworm around in the flow, before slowly retrieving it back up-tide again, and I saw no reason to do anything different this time.
With the flood having just got underway, there wasn’t a great deal of tide run to begin with, but as the tide was the second largest of the cycle it didn’t take long for the pace to pick up. Despite this, the first hour was quiet, apart from 1 very small tap, which could just have been the lure hitting a rock. 15 minutes later I had my first definite hit of the night, but it wasn’t a big fish, so I wasn’t too disappointed when it didn’t connect, my money was on it being a pollack. 5 minutes later my lure was hit again and this time it resulted in a successful hook up. Again, it was something small though and with a strong flow now running, the fish had no chance of putting up any sort of scrap. It was simply a case of reeling it straight in, and I wasn’t surprised in the slightest, when this small pollack appeared from the water.
Though I was happy to get off the mark, it wasn’t what I was after, so I got straight back to the fishing.
By now the tide was pushing hard, but that was also the case back in 2019, so I was still hopeful of another fish. This was also the exact stage of the tide that I caught there last time and incredibly, almost to the exact same minute my lure was smashed again
. This time there was no doubt as to the identity of the attacker and using the current to its advantage, it put up a great fight, but I took my time and after a few minutes I landed the first bass of the night, a nice fish of 51cm .With the tide in full flow by now, my time on the mark was limited and after another 20 minutes I was pushed so far back into the weed that I could no longer fish the main run. I kept trying, but after another 30 minutes with no more signs of life, I reluctantly moved on.
For the rest of the flood, I moved a mark about a mile along the coast, where I’ve had some luck in the past, but despite trying a variety of the lures which I’ve caught on there before, I couldn’t tempt anything into having a go at them. Finally, I could take no more excitement, so I called it a night just before midnight.
So, with a week’s fishing in Norway to look forward to next, I won’t be fishing in the UK again now until mid-November at the earliest, and with my latest lure caught bass being on November 12th, that’s potentially it for my season. If that is the case then I won’t complain, as with higher numbers of bass than I’ve ever managed before, it’s certainly been a year to remember
.
.
.