Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 396
- Reaction score
- 3,602
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
After the previous Thursday’s bumper session, I was hoping for more of the same this week, but with the tides not being the best, I was expecting a tougher test. With high water on Tuesday being very early, and still in daylight, I started off on a shallow, boulder strewn mark where I have previously caught on a similar tide, but it wasn’t to be 
. After 2 hours of fishing, with just a tiny bump of my Swimmish to show for me efforts, I decided to try a different mark for the ebb.
30 minutes later and I resumed the hunt at mark 2, but I still wasn’t feeling particularly confident. Despite the move, the bass were still nowhere to be found, and though I fished on in the hope things would change, I just wasn’t feeling the bass vibe
. Things remained quiet for the next 90 minutes, and as I felt a few spots of rain starting to fall, I was seriously considering giving up for the night, when completely out of nowhere my lure was hit! 
I knew straight away that the attacker was only small, but with the blank at stake I prayed that it wouldn’t come off
. After a nerve-racking minute or two I was able to slide my catch ashore and I’ve never been so pleased to see a little schoolie of just 36cm, which once again proved Andy’s Second law of angling 
.
As I watched the fish swim off into the clear water, I felt a massive sense of relief, and I hoped that I might be the start of a busy spell, but it wasn’t to be. I fished on for another 45 minutes but apart from 1 more tiny tap on my lure, I didn’t see any more signs of fish, and I called it a night at 00:20.
With Thursday night’s tide being nearly 2 feet larger, and with high tide after dark this time, I decided to give Tuesday night’s mark another go. Conditions were very similar, though the wind was a slightly stronger, and this caused a bit of a swell to roll onto the reef, the water clarity was still good though and I was feeling quite hopeful. Sure enough, I had only been fishing for 30 minutes when my lure was first hit. It failed to hook up, but I was still encouraged to know that there were fish around.
An hour later and the next bass to attack my lure made no mistake, and after the initial hit, my rod took on a satisfying curve
. I took my time playing the fish in the shallow water, hoping that it wouldn’t find a snag, and after a couple of minutes it was beaten. Not a monster, but I was more than happy to catch a 46cm bass relatively soon in the session 
.
After this success, things sadly went quiet again and over the next 40 minutes I only had 1 more missed hit but as the last hour of the flood approached, the groundswell began to increase in size. Along with the fading light, this made negotiating the shallow boulder and weed covered ground quite a challenge, so I reluctantly decided to move to somewhere safer.
20 minutes later and I arrived at my second mark of the evening with 30 minutes of the flood to go. After a few casts with the Mishna, I decided on a change of lure in an attempt to reach deeper water, so the Mishna was replaced with a SG Seeker and almost immediately this was hit. I could tell straight away that it wasn’t a bass, but I was still happy to catch my first mackerel of the year
.
After a few more casts with the Seeker, it was back to the serious business of bass fishing and the Mishna was clipped on again. Over the next 30 minutes I explored the water in front of me, moving occasionally in order to locate the fish and eventually I found them. In the next 10 minutes I caught 2 more bass of 32 & 41cm
before things suddenly went quiet again.
For the next hour I didn’t see any more signs of life, so I decided to call it a night, but I was just about to pack in when my lure was hit once again. This fish felt a lot stronger than the 2 I had caught earlier, and while it didn’t take any line, it wasn’t as easy to turn as the earlier bass had been. Several times it tried to set off along the shore and I had to apply some serious side-strain to stop it, but it just wouldn’t come out into open water. Despite this, I wasn’t too concerned as there were no visible snags for it to reach but as it tried once more to get away, the hook suddenly pulled free and the fish was gone!
After catching so many smaller fish recently, I was gutted to lose what could have been my first decent fish in quite a while, so I decided to give it another half an hour. It wasn’t to be though and I didn’t get another touch.
Despite the lack of a decent fish, I couldn’t help but be happy to keep my catching streak going, and it now stands at 1 blank in 23 sessions since the first week of April, not too shabby I suppose.
. After 2 hours of fishing, with just a tiny bump of my Swimmish to show for me efforts, I decided to try a different mark for the ebb.30 minutes later and I resumed the hunt at mark 2, but I still wasn’t feeling particularly confident. Despite the move, the bass were still nowhere to be found, and though I fished on in the hope things would change, I just wasn’t feeling the bass vibe
. Things remained quiet for the next 90 minutes, and as I felt a few spots of rain starting to fall, I was seriously considering giving up for the night, when completely out of nowhere my lure was hit! I knew straight away that the attacker was only small, but with the blank at stake I prayed that it wouldn’t come off
. After a nerve-racking minute or two I was able to slide my catch ashore and I’ve never been so pleased to see a little schoolie of just 36cm, which once again proved Andy’s Second law of angling .As I watched the fish swim off into the clear water, I felt a massive sense of relief, and I hoped that I might be the start of a busy spell, but it wasn’t to be. I fished on for another 45 minutes but apart from 1 more tiny tap on my lure, I didn’t see any more signs of fish, and I called it a night at 00:20.
With Thursday night’s tide being nearly 2 feet larger, and with high tide after dark this time, I decided to give Tuesday night’s mark another go. Conditions were very similar, though the wind was a slightly stronger, and this caused a bit of a swell to roll onto the reef, the water clarity was still good though and I was feeling quite hopeful. Sure enough, I had only been fishing for 30 minutes when my lure was first hit. It failed to hook up, but I was still encouraged to know that there were fish around.
An hour later and the next bass to attack my lure made no mistake, and after the initial hit, my rod took on a satisfying curve
. I took my time playing the fish in the shallow water, hoping that it wouldn’t find a snag, and after a couple of minutes it was beaten. Not a monster, but I was more than happy to catch a 46cm bass relatively soon in the session .After this success, things sadly went quiet again and over the next 40 minutes I only had 1 more missed hit but as the last hour of the flood approached, the groundswell began to increase in size. Along with the fading light, this made negotiating the shallow boulder and weed covered ground quite a challenge, so I reluctantly decided to move to somewhere safer.
20 minutes later and I arrived at my second mark of the evening with 30 minutes of the flood to go. After a few casts with the Mishna, I decided on a change of lure in an attempt to reach deeper water, so the Mishna was replaced with a SG Seeker and almost immediately this was hit. I could tell straight away that it wasn’t a bass, but I was still happy to catch my first mackerel of the year
.After a few more casts with the Seeker, it was back to the serious business of bass fishing and the Mishna was clipped on again. Over the next 30 minutes I explored the water in front of me, moving occasionally in order to locate the fish and eventually I found them. In the next 10 minutes I caught 2 more bass of 32 & 41cm
before things suddenly went quiet again.
For the next hour I didn’t see any more signs of life, so I decided to call it a night, but I was just about to pack in when my lure was hit once again. This fish felt a lot stronger than the 2 I had caught earlier, and while it didn’t take any line, it wasn’t as easy to turn as the earlier bass had been. Several times it tried to set off along the shore and I had to apply some serious side-strain to stop it, but it just wouldn’t come out into open water. Despite this, I wasn’t too concerned as there were no visible snags for it to reach but as it tried once more to get away, the hook suddenly pulled free and the fish was gone!
After catching so many smaller fish recently, I was gutted to lose what could have been my first decent fish in quite a while, so I decided to give it another half an hour. It wasn’t to be though and I didn’t get another touch.
Despite the lack of a decent fish, I couldn’t help but be happy to keep my catching streak going, and it now stands at 1 blank in 23 sessions since the first week of April, not too shabby I suppose.
