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South West Busy two hours on the bass

Great report Tony! Nice photos and a lovely brace of Bass! Well done mate! ??????
 
Mr Fish said:
Headed down to one of the marks where I collect the spider peeler this afternoon.
Why? Because the spiders are peeling and any fish worth their salt will be in there smashing them, but especially the bass.

I’d been waiting for a bit of wind in the right direction as you need surf over the rocks for it to fish.
Grabbed five spiders from the freezer (that’s 10 casts) and waded through the usual holiday traffic to the mark.

Just wore shorts, studded Snowbee wellies and t shirt. Not a good look but I expected the water to be up a bit on a smaller tide, so if I had to get wet to get there or back, it wasn’t a big deal.

Lovely bit of surf down there and I tackled up quickly. Light uptide rod (bass rod needs some eyes), slosh with 30lb straight through, running ledger, 4oz etc plain lead and 6/0 pennell.

I was fishing in 2-4 foot of water about 20-30 yards out and holding the rod.
First lob I felt I’d pulled it a bit too short. Was just musing on that when I missed a bite after all of three minutes, took me by surprise I admit.
Usually the bass don’t bite hard when they’re feeding shallow on the spiders, no idea why.

Lots of that green lettuce type weed down there. Unfortunately the right conditions can also mean weed, especially when there’s been a massive bloom during the hot weather, which there has.
I was picking big clumps off every cast, but you just have to fish through it, the bass don’t care.

I managed to miss a second bite (?), then possibly a third. Going well.
They were quite light rattling bites which is typical of bass here, so I felt I was on the right track.

A fourth carbon copy rattle, struck and…. Bang, bang, bang! Yep pretty sure that’s a bass.
Got him in close then realised there was a ridge of rock now exposed in front of me and of course I knocked the fish off on it. Argh!!!

Time for a slight reset. I crossed the adjacent gully and moved to a lower spur of rock where I could still cast to the same spot, but steer fish up the gully rather than over rocks.

Rattle rattle, whack! Fish on! Hmm, not very big, is it a dog or tiny hound?
Nope, it was a bass. Finally! Just a schoolie but at least I felt vindicated.

View attachment 12242
Probably about 1.5lb, if that, but target achieved.

But I knew there’d be bigger fish there so back out again. Straight into a snag and lost my gear. ?

Still, cut off the rough line, quick tie up of a new running ledger and we were back!

I cast a bit longer into the bigger surf and it wasn’t long before the rod pulled right over.
Could be a hound? If you cast too far here, you get the hounds, NOT what I was after.
But no, it was a bass and he gave a good account of himself.
A bit of fannying with the net and sure I’d lose it, but no, finally I got the net under it and we had a new friend, who was instantly christened ‘dinner’ and rewarded with a headache. ??

View attachment 12243
Dinner weighed in at 2lb 15. Not huge but my intent had been to get a couple for the pot, so he wasn’t going back!

Had two more schoolies, only about a pound each, then one of 2lb 4.
The tide was flooding now and I knew the gullies behind would be filling up.
Wasn’t too worried about getting wet while getting back, but needed to keep my gear fairly dry as I had phone and car keys etc in the rucksack.

Everything was moved back to a drier spot, then I went back down to the waters edge to use up the last half of spider.
Hadn’t been out there a minute when the rod went over again and ‘lunch’ joined dinner in the bag. He went 3lb 4.

Headed back to higher rocks to gut and descale lunch and dinner. Hate scaling at home as the damn things go everywhere and you’re finding them stuck to the curtains and the cat two months later ?

So not a bad quick session. Two hours, six bass and lunch and dinner in the bag ?

View attachment 12245

Might have to pop back tomorrow… ?

Oh, and for a glimpse of my fashionable outfit ???

View attachment 12246
Click to expand...
Outstanding! ?
 
Great write up Mr fish, I think your scales might be out they look bigger than the stated weight.

Hot tip....fill a bowl with water and descale the under the water. The scales stay in the water and not all over your kitchen. I usually then throw the water on the garden, a drink and a bit of extra nutrition for the plants.
 
Roccobrown24 said:
Great write up Mr fish, I think your scales might be out they look bigger than the stated weight.

Hot tip....fill a bowl with water and descale the under the water. The scales stay in the water and not all over your kitchen. I usually then throw the water on the garden, a drink and a bit of extra nutrition for the plants.
Click to expand...
Cheers mate but they were checked a year ago against certified scales and were near enough.
Doesn’t mean they haven’t gone wrong since, of course.
Probably hard to tell from the pictures but the fish did look to me about the weights they registered.

That’s a good shout on the water, cheers, although ideally if I can leave the heads, guts and scales down on the mark, I’d prefer that to taking them home.
It’s not a spot where anyone other than the odd angler would go, so I don’t worry about the ‘mess’.
 

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