Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 402
- Reaction score
- 3,651
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
With some pretty uninspiring neap tides this week, along with early highs and late lows, I struggled to think of a suitable mark. At one point I even considered giving it a miss completely, but that was a bloody stupid idea and I soon talked some sense into myself 
. Though the tides weren’t great, it was a shame to waste some half decent weather, so after giving it a lot of thought I decided to finally try a fishy looking spot close to home. Now I’ve been meaning to fish this place for the last 10 years 
, without ever getting around to it, but this seemed as good an opportunity as any.
I arrived just after high water to find glassy calm conditions and as I surveyed the fabulous scene before me, I immediately saw a disturbance on the surface as something small and fishy met its maker at the hand of something bigger and fishy. This spurred me on to get fishing and with no time to waste, I quickly got suited and booted before I set off along the shore to explore.
I spent the next hour slowly walking away from my starting point, exploring more and more ground as it was exposed by the ebbing tide, until eventually I found a rocky, weed covered outcrop which jutted out into deep water. This gave me the perfect vantage point to cast out into the main flow. I spent the next hour casting a variety of SPs upstream of my position, before bouncing them along the bottom with the aid of the current. As well as my favourite, the mighty Mishna in a couple of different colours, I also tried a couple of different Dark Sleepers and though I expected a take at any minute, I didn’t get any signs of interest.
By now I was beginning to wonder if there were actually any bass in the area and I was seriously considering a move, but first I decided to try something different for 10 minutes. Instead of bouncing the lure along the bottom, I opted for the good old straight retrieve and on the very first cast, just as the lure reached the furthest down-tide point of its arc, it was smashed without warning. After a brief pause, the attacker then set off downstream at a rate of knots, taking several meters of line in the process.
After a brief pause, the fish was off again and it made 3 runs in total before I was finally able to stop it!
Wary that this felt like something very decent, I took my time in pumping it back towards my position where I eventually had it beaten, but still a good few meters below me. My next problem was how to get my catch up to my vantage point, but when I switched on my headlamp to get a better look, I was surprised to see that it wasn’t that big after all 
. The fish had obviously made the most of the current in its attempts to escape but now that it had stopped struggling I was easily able to lift it out of the water. At around 2.5 – 3lb in weight it was no monster, but I was still delighted with my first bass from this particular area at the first attempt there 
.
After a couple of quick snaps, I was able to scramble down to the water and to release the bass to fight another day.
Having got off the mark at the first time of asking, I was now filled with renewed optimism and I fished on hard for another couple of hours, but it seemed that the bass was a loner. With the tide ebbing quickly and the water getting shallower by the minute, that was it for the night’s action and I called it quits just before midnight.
So a tide which had promised little had actually delivered, and more than that it’s given me the confidence to return to the area for another go very soon. If the mark proves to be half as productive as I suspect it might be, then I could be in for some serious fun there in years to come
.
. Though the tides weren’t great, it was a shame to waste some half decent weather, so after giving it a lot of thought I decided to finally try a fishy looking spot close to home. Now I’ve been meaning to fish this place for the last 10 years , without ever getting around to it, but this seemed as good an opportunity as any.I arrived just after high water to find glassy calm conditions and as I surveyed the fabulous scene before me, I immediately saw a disturbance on the surface as something small and fishy met its maker at the hand of something bigger and fishy. This spurred me on to get fishing and with no time to waste, I quickly got suited and booted before I set off along the shore to explore.
I spent the next hour slowly walking away from my starting point, exploring more and more ground as it was exposed by the ebbing tide, until eventually I found a rocky, weed covered outcrop which jutted out into deep water. This gave me the perfect vantage point to cast out into the main flow. I spent the next hour casting a variety of SPs upstream of my position, before bouncing them along the bottom with the aid of the current. As well as my favourite, the mighty Mishna in a couple of different colours, I also tried a couple of different Dark Sleepers and though I expected a take at any minute, I didn’t get any signs of interest.
By now I was beginning to wonder if there were actually any bass in the area and I was seriously considering a move, but first I decided to try something different for 10 minutes. Instead of bouncing the lure along the bottom, I opted for the good old straight retrieve and on the very first cast, just as the lure reached the furthest down-tide point of its arc, it was smashed without warning. After a brief pause, the attacker then set off downstream at a rate of knots, taking several meters of line in the process.
After a brief pause, the fish was off again and it made 3 runs in total before I was finally able to stop it!
Wary that this felt like something very decent, I took my time in pumping it back towards my position where I eventually had it beaten, but still a good few meters below me. My next problem was how to get my catch up to my vantage point, but when I switched on my headlamp to get a better look, I was surprised to see that it wasn’t that big after all . The fish had obviously made the most of the current in its attempts to escape but now that it had stopped struggling I was easily able to lift it out of the water. At around 2.5 – 3lb in weight it was no monster, but I was still delighted with my first bass from this particular area at the first attempt there .After a couple of quick snaps, I was able to scramble down to the water and to release the bass to fight another day.
Having got off the mark at the first time of asking, I was now filled with renewed optimism and I fished on hard for another couple of hours, but it seemed that the bass was a loner. With the tide ebbing quickly and the water getting shallower by the minute, that was it for the night’s action and I called it quits just before midnight.
So a tide which had promised little had actually delivered, and more than that it’s given me the confidence to return to the area for another go very soon. If the mark proves to be half as productive as I suspect it might be, then I could be in for some serious fun there in years to come
.
