Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 396
- Reaction score
- 3,602
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
After a long overdue week of relaxing in the sun with the family 
, it was back to the serious business of lure fishing last week. Despite being out of the country, I had seen several reports on Facebook bemoaning the previous week’s poor weather, and though things were finally settling down, the wind direction still meant that I wouldn’t be able to fish my first choice mark.
After giving it some consideration, I decided to try one of my later season spots and though I don't usually fish there until the second half of July, I had caught in an area not that far away the week before I went on holiday, so I figured that it was worth a try.
Conditions were pretty good with excellent water clarity, and my confidence was boosted when just 15 minutes after starting to fish, I spotted a large shoal of sandeel swimming past me. Despite this, the first 3hours were deathly quiet. As usual though, Andy’s second rule of fishing was eventually proved right, and 30 minutes after high water my lure was finally hit. After an enjoyable scrap in the fast running water, the blank was finally beaten with a nicely conditioned schoolie of 47cm
With darkness now falling, I was feeling a lot more confident and sure enough, over the course of the next 2 hours I landed 2 more bass, a little ‘un of 37cm, and the best fish of the night at 51cm
.
With the water getting shallower by the minute, I eventually called it a night at 00:30, happy with my first session back after a nice little break.
For session number 2 of the week, the winds has finally dropped right off and switched direction, so I was able to fish the mark I had hoped to visit on Tuesday. I arrived at the mark midway through the flood, but though the water was relatively clear, there were large drifts of rotting weed all along the shoreline. As if that wasn’t bad enough, these deposits were gradually floating out on the flooding tide, which made fishing very difficult, as the hooks were being covered in weed within a dozen turns of the reel handle after casting out
.
Determined not to be beaten I moved along the coast, casting as I went, and eventually I found a spot with some relatively weed free water. Despite the easier fishing, the bass were nowhere to be found, and for the next 2 and a half hours I thrashed the water to a foam with nothing to show for it
. By this point I was beginning to wonder if this might be another one of those nights, but yet again, my perseverance paid off when my lure was smashed when I least expected it 
. Though it wasn’t a monster, the fish gave a great account of itself in the shallow rock strewn water, but I eventually managed to tame it to beat the blank yet again 
.
20 minutes later I was forced to leave this particular spot, as the fading light made it increasingly difficult to wade around in among the rocks and weed. After making my way carefully to the shore, I set off along the coast in search of some weed free water. Though the water appeared to be relatively clear further out, the ebbing tide was carrying a wide band of floating cabbage in the first 5 meters or so from the shore. This meant that I could at least cover some water, but there was no way of getting the lure back to shore without it getting completely smothered in vegetation.
I did consider calling it a night at this point, but apart from the challenging conditions, it was a lovely evening to be out and about, with flat calm conditions and the large strawberry moon low in the sky, so I decided to carry on.
Sadly, apart from what felt like a half-hearted knock on my lure, nothing happened for the next 2 hours. It was also gone midnight by now so I decided to give it another 5 casts before finally calling it a night. You can probably guess where this is going
, and casts 1 to 3 resulted in the same story of weed tangled hooks, but then completely out of nowhere on cast 4 out of 5, my lure was hit after only a few turns of the reel handle 
. After all the effort it had taken to finally hook something, my heart was in my mouth as I carefully played the fish but the fight was an uneventful one and after a couple of minutes, bass number 2 of the evening was landed safely.
As always happens after a catch so late in a session, I just had to try a few more casts
, but with the fishing conditions being so tough I was seriously flagging by now and my heart wasn’t in it anymore, and I called it quits a few minutes later.
So with 5 more fish, I’m back on the bass trail after my holiday, and now I’m looking forward now to seeing what the rest of the season brings
.
, it was back to the serious business of lure fishing last week. Despite being out of the country, I had seen several reports on Facebook bemoaning the previous week’s poor weather, and though things were finally settling down, the wind direction still meant that I wouldn’t be able to fish my first choice mark.After giving it some consideration, I decided to try one of my later season spots and though I don't usually fish there until the second half of July, I had caught in an area not that far away the week before I went on holiday, so I figured that it was worth a try.
Conditions were pretty good with excellent water clarity, and my confidence was boosted when just 15 minutes after starting to fish, I spotted a large shoal of sandeel swimming past me. Despite this, the first 3hours were deathly quiet. As usual though, Andy’s second rule of fishing was eventually proved right, and 30 minutes after high water my lure was finally hit. After an enjoyable scrap in the fast running water, the blank was finally beaten with a nicely conditioned schoolie of 47cm
With darkness now falling, I was feeling a lot more confident and sure enough, over the course of the next 2 hours I landed 2 more bass, a little ‘un of 37cm, and the best fish of the night at 51cm
.With the water getting shallower by the minute, I eventually called it a night at 00:30, happy with my first session back after a nice little break.
For session number 2 of the week, the winds has finally dropped right off and switched direction, so I was able to fish the mark I had hoped to visit on Tuesday. I arrived at the mark midway through the flood, but though the water was relatively clear, there were large drifts of rotting weed all along the shoreline. As if that wasn’t bad enough, these deposits were gradually floating out on the flooding tide, which made fishing very difficult, as the hooks were being covered in weed within a dozen turns of the reel handle after casting out
.Determined not to be beaten I moved along the coast, casting as I went, and eventually I found a spot with some relatively weed free water. Despite the easier fishing, the bass were nowhere to be found, and for the next 2 and a half hours I thrashed the water to a foam with nothing to show for it
. By this point I was beginning to wonder if this might be another one of those nights, but yet again, my perseverance paid off when my lure was smashed when I least expected it . Though it wasn’t a monster, the fish gave a great account of itself in the shallow rock strewn water, but I eventually managed to tame it to beat the blank yet again .20 minutes later I was forced to leave this particular spot, as the fading light made it increasingly difficult to wade around in among the rocks and weed. After making my way carefully to the shore, I set off along the coast in search of some weed free water. Though the water appeared to be relatively clear further out, the ebbing tide was carrying a wide band of floating cabbage in the first 5 meters or so from the shore. This meant that I could at least cover some water, but there was no way of getting the lure back to shore without it getting completely smothered in vegetation.
I did consider calling it a night at this point, but apart from the challenging conditions, it was a lovely evening to be out and about, with flat calm conditions and the large strawberry moon low in the sky, so I decided to carry on.
Sadly, apart from what felt like a half-hearted knock on my lure, nothing happened for the next 2 hours. It was also gone midnight by now so I decided to give it another 5 casts before finally calling it a night. You can probably guess where this is going
, and casts 1 to 3 resulted in the same story of weed tangled hooks, but then completely out of nowhere on cast 4 out of 5, my lure was hit after only a few turns of the reel handle . After all the effort it had taken to finally hook something, my heart was in my mouth as I carefully played the fish but the fight was an uneventful one and after a couple of minutes, bass number 2 of the evening was landed safely.As always happens after a catch so late in a session, I just had to try a few more casts
, but with the fishing conditions being so tough I was seriously flagging by now and my heart wasn’t in it anymore, and I called it quits a few minutes later.So with 5 more fish, I’m back on the bass trail after my holiday, and now I’m looking forward now to seeing what the rest of the season brings
.
