Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 410
- Reaction score
- 3,703
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
After coming so close to hitting the ton of lure caught bass for the year before I went on holiday, I couldn’t wait to get out there again this week and as usual my first outing was on Tuesday evening. The journey to Anglesey wasn’t exactly encouraging though, with a long queue at the filling station, followed by a steady stream of people driving as slowly as half the speed limit at times 
. This meant that I didn’t get to my chosen mark until 20 minutes later than usual, but as soon as I waded out into the cool calm water, I felt the stresses of the journey just melt away.
Conditions were pretty good, with warm sunshine and well scattered cloud, plus a light to moderate breeze blowing, but being offshore this meant that the sea was nice and calm, with just a slight ripple.
First on was the Frosty in 500G, and once I avoided the curse of the first cast catch
, I immediately felt more confident. For the second time of the evening, I pinged the lure out to maximum range and this time I had barely started the retrieve, when it was stopped dead in its tracks! 
The lure muncher put up quite a scrap in the shallow water and at one point it swam headfirst into some thick weed, but I kept the pressure on and the fish soon swam free. Once in open water again it had nowhere to hide and after a minute or two, I safely landed my prize on a weed covered rock. At 48cm it wasn’t a monster, but the size was irrelevant, all that mattered was that the century was reached for another year, and though it was a couple of weeks later than it might have been, it was still a whole month earlier than last year and in 8 sessions less 
.
With an early bass landed, the pressure was off and though sport was quite slow, I wasn’t too concerned. I simply relaxed and enjoy the scenery, and over the next hour I saw all manner of wildlife, from terns, gulls, herons and guillemots, to a pair of seals as they drifted along on the current. Eventually I even caught another bass, as an almost identical 48cm silver took a shine to my Swimmish
.
With the tide ebbing quickly, the ground was starting to get quite shallow by now so I decided on a move to the mark where I had a bumper catch last time out. 20 minutes later and I arrived at my second spot of the night, where I didn’t have long to wait for the action to start. Just like at the previous spot, my lure was hit on only the second cast of the night
.
And over the next hour I landed another 5 bass, ranging from 33 to 51cm
The last of which was my 200th bass on the mighty Miashna. I also missed countless more hits, but then suddenly the bites tailed off sharply. I still had the occasional tap, but the culprits were very finicky, and I just couldn’t connect with any of them
.
I persevered for another hour, and the bass remained elusive, but I wasn’t done catching. Just before low water I felt another small tap on my lure and though it didn’t put up any fight, I could feel a definite weight on the line. I reeled in carefully and eventually something broke the surface, and belatedly started to put up some weak resistance. This was completely futile of course and as I guided the fish gently ashore I was surprised to see that the culprit was in fact a dogfish!
I have actually caught a dogfish on a lure before, but on that occasion it was foul-hooked in the tail, this time though it was hooked fairly and squarely in the gob and I was chuffed to bits with my catch 
.
More than happy with my evening’s work, and at beating the ton so early in the year, I soon called it a night and headed for home.
After such a great session, I couldn’t wait to get out again and I counted the hours until Thursday. When I arrived at the mark soon after 7 conditions weren’t as settled as they had been on Tuesday, with a strong and gusty wind blowing over my right shoulder, but apart from a chop, the water was still relatively calm and clear. Once again the first lure out of the box was the Frosty, but this time there was to be no flying start. In fact the start was positively dead, with no signs of life whatsoever
. The next 90 minutes remained deathly quiet, as I tried a variety of usually productive lures, and so I decided on a move along the coast to the spot where I bagged up last time out.
Unfortunately, with low tide being 3 hours later than on my last visit, the ground over which I usually catch wasn’t even exposed yet, so I fished a few other spots while I waited for the tide to drop. There were at least a few baitfish around this time, but that was it and for the next couple of hours the bass remained elusive.
By 11pm the water level was finally starting to drop nicely, and though it still wasn’t low enough for me to get to get to the usual spot, I was at least able to get onto an adjacent patch of clean ground. Once there I clipped on the mighty Mishna and flicked it out into the darkness, and it had barely splashed down when it was mugged! A short scrap later and the blank was beaten once again with a small but perfectly formed schoolie of 33cm
.
On the next cast my lure was hit again, but this time it failed to hook up, Then not long after this I did succeed in hooking into another fish, but this time it threw the hook literally under the rod tip!
With a training course in work today, I couldn’t afford to fish beyond midnight and so my time was now running out, but I was determined to catch at least 1 more fish, and thankfully 10 minutes later I succeeded. This time the culprit felt a bit bigger than the first couple of fish I had hooked, so I took my time in playing it properly before attempting to land it. Once it was beaten I slid my catch ashore, a half decent fish of 51cm
.
The next half an hour was quiet again, save for a few half-hearted taps on my lures, but typically, as the last 10 minutes of my planned fishing time began the bass came on the feed once more
.
In the next 10 casts I literally had a bite a chuck, resulting in another 2 bass of 41 and 37cm
and I’m convinced that had I stayed, then I could have caught plenty more, but as midnight ticked by I was forced to call an end to another successful week on the lures and to head home for some well-deserved sleep
.
. This meant that I didn’t get to my chosen mark until 20 minutes later than usual, but as soon as I waded out into the cool calm water, I felt the stresses of the journey just melt away.Conditions were pretty good, with warm sunshine and well scattered cloud, plus a light to moderate breeze blowing, but being offshore this meant that the sea was nice and calm, with just a slight ripple.
First on was the Frosty in 500G, and once I avoided the curse of the first cast catch
, I immediately felt more confident. For the second time of the evening, I pinged the lure out to maximum range and this time I had barely started the retrieve, when it was stopped dead in its tracks! The lure muncher put up quite a scrap in the shallow water and at one point it swam headfirst into some thick weed, but I kept the pressure on and the fish soon swam free. Once in open water again it had nowhere to hide and after a minute or two, I safely landed my prize on a weed covered rock. At 48cm it wasn’t a monster, but the size was irrelevant, all that mattered was that the century was reached for another year, and though it was a couple of weeks later than it might have been, it was still a whole month earlier than last year and in 8 sessions less .With an early bass landed, the pressure was off and though sport was quite slow, I wasn’t too concerned. I simply relaxed and enjoy the scenery, and over the next hour I saw all manner of wildlife, from terns, gulls, herons and guillemots, to a pair of seals as they drifted along on the current. Eventually I even caught another bass, as an almost identical 48cm silver took a shine to my Swimmish
.With the tide ebbing quickly, the ground was starting to get quite shallow by now so I decided on a move to the mark where I had a bumper catch last time out. 20 minutes later and I arrived at my second spot of the night, where I didn’t have long to wait for the action to start. Just like at the previous spot, my lure was hit on only the second cast of the night
.And over the next hour I landed another 5 bass, ranging from 33 to 51cm
The last of which was my 200th bass on the mighty Miashna. I also missed countless more hits, but then suddenly the bites tailed off sharply. I still had the occasional tap, but the culprits were very finicky, and I just couldn’t connect with any of them
.I persevered for another hour, and the bass remained elusive, but I wasn’t done catching. Just before low water I felt another small tap on my lure and though it didn’t put up any fight, I could feel a definite weight on the line. I reeled in carefully and eventually something broke the surface, and belatedly started to put up some weak resistance. This was completely futile of course and as I guided the fish gently ashore I was surprised to see that the culprit was in fact a dogfish!
I have actually caught a dogfish on a lure before, but on that occasion it was foul-hooked in the tail, this time though it was hooked fairly and squarely in the gob and I was chuffed to bits with my catch .More than happy with my evening’s work, and at beating the ton so early in the year, I soon called it a night and headed for home.
After such a great session, I couldn’t wait to get out again and I counted the hours until Thursday. When I arrived at the mark soon after 7 conditions weren’t as settled as they had been on Tuesday, with a strong and gusty wind blowing over my right shoulder, but apart from a chop, the water was still relatively calm and clear. Once again the first lure out of the box was the Frosty, but this time there was to be no flying start. In fact the start was positively dead, with no signs of life whatsoever
. The next 90 minutes remained deathly quiet, as I tried a variety of usually productive lures, and so I decided on a move along the coast to the spot where I bagged up last time out.Unfortunately, with low tide being 3 hours later than on my last visit, the ground over which I usually catch wasn’t even exposed yet, so I fished a few other spots while I waited for the tide to drop. There were at least a few baitfish around this time, but that was it and for the next couple of hours the bass remained elusive.
By 11pm the water level was finally starting to drop nicely, and though it still wasn’t low enough for me to get to get to the usual spot, I was at least able to get onto an adjacent patch of clean ground. Once there I clipped on the mighty Mishna and flicked it out into the darkness, and it had barely splashed down when it was mugged! A short scrap later and the blank was beaten once again with a small but perfectly formed schoolie of 33cm
.On the next cast my lure was hit again, but this time it failed to hook up, Then not long after this I did succeed in hooking into another fish, but this time it threw the hook literally under the rod tip!
With a training course in work today, I couldn’t afford to fish beyond midnight and so my time was now running out, but I was determined to catch at least 1 more fish, and thankfully 10 minutes later I succeeded. This time the culprit felt a bit bigger than the first couple of fish I had hooked, so I took my time in playing it properly before attempting to land it. Once it was beaten I slid my catch ashore, a half decent fish of 51cm
.The next half an hour was quiet again, save for a few half-hearted taps on my lures, but typically, as the last 10 minutes of my planned fishing time began the bass came on the feed once more
.In the next 10 casts I literally had a bite a chuck, resulting in another 2 bass of 41 and 37cm
and I’m convinced that had I stayed, then I could have caught plenty more, but as midnight ticked by I was forced to call an end to another successful week on the lures and to head home for some well-deserved sleep
.
. I'm still trying to get my first one 
