Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 396
- Reaction score
- 3,602
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
With my tally of continuous blank free lure sessions standing at a personal best 15, I had planned to try a completely new mark on Tuesday in the hope of a better fish, but truth be told I wasn’t feeling particularly confident about it. As it happened, my mate who was supposed to show me the way to the mark didn’t get in touch, so I bottled it 
and took the opportunity to fish a mark I know well instead, where I felt much more confident of keeping my roll going. As it happened though, this turned out not to be a good decision 
.
Conditions at my chosen mark looked good, and going by my previous sessions there this year I should have been in with a chance of a few fish, but for some reason I just wasn’t feeling it and apart from a couple of small sea trout jumping, I saw no signs of life. As if that wasn’t bad enough, after almost 5 hours of fishing without any signs of life, things suddenly got a whole lot worse when my lure flew off into the darkness, as my leader knot inexplicably gave way
.
Little did I know, but this was just the start of my misfortunes, and after trying on a new leader I discovered that the braid was tangled around the rod tip, so I had to cut it off and re-tie it again!
Everything was soon in place, and I was ready to start fishing again, but then despite a completely dry weather forecast, the heavens unexpectedly opened and out of nowhere, I got absolutely soaked!!
If that wasn't bad enough, when I looked up there were stars showing everywhere and the only cloud in an otherwise clear sky, was directly above me!!!
Needless to say, this resulted in my first blank since April 4th and though I was gutted
, I tried to be philosophical about it, so I kept telling myself that all good things must come to an end 
, and I immediately started making plans for the following night, when hopefully I would get straight back on the bass trail 
.
After giving it some thought, the following evening I found myself on a rough ground mark, a couple of hours after low water and though the water clarity wasn’t the best, the sight of terns diving further out meant I was hopeful of a few fish. Despite these signs, things were quiet to begin with, as I was slowly pushed back by the rapidly flooding tide, but a couple of hours before high water a strong right to left current developed.
Now from personal experience, I knew that the bass would be feeding in this rip, as it carried small fish across the boulders, so I clipped on a Lemon Meringue Swimish, and sure enough, 10 minutes later the trials and tribulations of the previous night were forgotten about, when I landed a hard fighting schoolie of 40cm
.
Over the next 30 minutes I fished it hard, but despite a series of boils and splashes on the surface, and the frequent sight of baitfish scattering across the surface, I had to settle for just a couple of missed hits
. Eventually, I was pushed further and further away from the feeding fish, and with the rapidly fading light making it increasingly difficult to make my way around in the rock-strewn water, I decided to sound the retreat and to move somewhere else.
For the next 45 minutes I walked along the shore, trying a few casts in any likely looking places, and I must have covered at least a mile by the time I eventually found the bass. Over the course of the next 80 minutes, I caught 4 more bass between 30 and 47cm
,
but eventually time caught up with me and I reluctantly called it a night
.
I wasn’t quite finished yet though and, on the way, back to the car I just happened to spot a likely looking mark, which I couldn’t possibly pass without having a cheeky couple of casts
. Sadly, they failed to tempt anything into an attack, so I decided just to have 1 more cast for luck before heading for home. I pinged my Mishna out to maximum range, and I had only turned the reel handle a couple of times when bang! The lure was hit. After a nervous couple of minutes, bass number 6 of the night, and 80 for the year was successfully landed 
, and Tuesday’s little setback was well and truly forgotten 
.
and took the opportunity to fish a mark I know well instead, where I felt much more confident of keeping my roll going. As it happened though, this turned out not to be a good decision .Conditions at my chosen mark looked good, and going by my previous sessions there this year I should have been in with a chance of a few fish, but for some reason I just wasn’t feeling it and apart from a couple of small sea trout jumping, I saw no signs of life. As if that wasn’t bad enough, after almost 5 hours of fishing without any signs of life, things suddenly got a whole lot worse when my lure flew off into the darkness, as my leader knot inexplicably gave way
.Little did I know, but this was just the start of my misfortunes, and after trying on a new leader I discovered that the braid was tangled around the rod tip, so I had to cut it off and re-tie it again!
Everything was soon in place, and I was ready to start fishing again, but then despite a completely dry weather forecast, the heavens unexpectedly opened and out of nowhere, I got absolutely soaked!!
If that wasn't bad enough, when I looked up there were stars showing everywhere and the only cloud in an otherwise clear sky, was directly above me!!!
Needless to say, this resulted in my first blank since April 4th and though I was gutted
, I tried to be philosophical about it, so I kept telling myself that all good things must come to an end , and I immediately started making plans for the following night, when hopefully I would get straight back on the bass trail .After giving it some thought, the following evening I found myself on a rough ground mark, a couple of hours after low water and though the water clarity wasn’t the best, the sight of terns diving further out meant I was hopeful of a few fish. Despite these signs, things were quiet to begin with, as I was slowly pushed back by the rapidly flooding tide, but a couple of hours before high water a strong right to left current developed.
Now from personal experience, I knew that the bass would be feeding in this rip, as it carried small fish across the boulders, so I clipped on a Lemon Meringue Swimish, and sure enough, 10 minutes later the trials and tribulations of the previous night were forgotten about, when I landed a hard fighting schoolie of 40cm
.Over the next 30 minutes I fished it hard, but despite a series of boils and splashes on the surface, and the frequent sight of baitfish scattering across the surface, I had to settle for just a couple of missed hits
. Eventually, I was pushed further and further away from the feeding fish, and with the rapidly fading light making it increasingly difficult to make my way around in the rock-strewn water, I decided to sound the retreat and to move somewhere else.For the next 45 minutes I walked along the shore, trying a few casts in any likely looking places, and I must have covered at least a mile by the time I eventually found the bass. Over the course of the next 80 minutes, I caught 4 more bass between 30 and 47cm
,but eventually time caught up with me and I reluctantly called it a night
.I wasn’t quite finished yet though and, on the way, back to the car I just happened to spot a likely looking mark, which I couldn’t possibly pass without having a cheeky couple of casts
. Sadly, they failed to tempt anything into an attack, so I decided just to have 1 more cast for luck before heading for home. I pinged my Mishna out to maximum range, and I had only turned the reel handle a couple of times when bang! The lure was hit. After a nervous couple of minutes, bass number 6 of the night, and 80 for the year was successfully landed , and Tuesday’s little setback was well and truly forgotten .
Didnt last long, you soon got back out catching. well done Andy 