Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 402
- Reaction score
- 3,652
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
With the ton safely out of the way, I was feeling a lot more relaxed about the fishing this week but sadly once more, the weather gods weren’t about to go easy on me. There was also the small matter of the tide size, the tiny 22ft tides of last week were replaced by real monsters, increasing to 32.8ft by Thursday night ?.
My first session was on Tuesday night and I was just getting a few last bits and pieces together, when I thought I noticed a flash of light through the kitchen window, this was followed moments later by a loud rumple of thunder and immediately after this, the heavens opened
. I couldn’t believe that my fishing could be disrupted by a thunderstorm for the third time in 4 weeks, but at least this time it arrived while I was safely at home ?. Thankfully, the downpour didn’t last very long and 15 minutes later I was on the road. Though the rain had eased, the winds which had blown all day carried on and with 16mph North Westerlies, gusting to 34mph at times, it was a bit choppy nearer home to say the least ?.
I wasn’t put off though, as I had a South East facing mark in mind, where I should be nicely tucked away from the worst of it. I arrived at the mark to find decent enough conditions, and to start with it looked like my luck might be in. The water clarity was pretty good and there were also a few fish moving but unfortunately, things wouldn’t stay that was for long
.
The first hour passed by with only a small tap on my lure, I assumed from a small schoolie nipping at the tail of the Mishna, but before the tide could really start flooding properly and so encourage the fish to feed, the wind began to swing around to a more Northerly direction. This wasn’t a problem in itself but with the large tide now pushing harder, a nasty groundswell started to build. At first this only made conditions a little awkward but as the waves increased, they started to have a detrimental effect on the water clarity and by a couple of hours before high, the water was the colour of a watery soup and the swells were also a lot bigger ?.
I fished on until just before high water, but as the flow eased, I knew that any bass in the vicinity would now go off the feed, so I called it a night. 1 – 0 to the fishing gods
.
For my second session of the week I had the choice of 2 nights, but I didn’t fancy fishing tides near 33ft on Thursday, so I settled on Wednesday night instead,. The forecast was very similar for both nights, but I hoped that the slightly smaller tides on Wednesday would make the fishing a little easier ?.
As it happened, the sheer volume of water moving around wasn’t my only problem and I also had to contend with a 180° switch in the wind direction. In a complete change from 24 hours earlier, the forecast was for Southerly winds of 15mph, gusting to 28mph, but when I arrived at my first choice mark, where the wind should have been blowing offshore, I was disappointed to find that it was in fact blowing South Westerly and right along the coast. This resulted in some pretty dirty water and as if this wasn’t bad enough, the rain which should have cleared an hour ago, was also still falling.
After sitting in the car for 15 minutes or so, pondering what to do next, I decided that after making the effort to drive all the way there, I should at least give it a go, and when the rain finally abated, I emerged from my nice warm shelter to get suited and booted. As I walked to the shore, I hoped that the water might be a little clearer further out, but sadly it remained the colour of soup as far as the eye could see ?. Not wanting to admit defeat immediately, I gave it half an hour with the Nacre Patch 125, in the hope that the clarity might improve as the tide flooded, but I was out of luck, so I decided to move on.
I spent the next half an hour driving along the coast, fully kitted out in my waders and waterproofs ? in the hope of finding some clearer water, but after stopping at 2 other locations, I was still out of luck. I wasn’t done yet though and I had one more possible venue to look at, then a 15 minute drive later I arrived at my last chance saloon.
To begin with I was a little bit disappointed, as the wind was still blowing along the shore ?, but the water clarity was a definite improvement on everywhere else I had looked at so far. I also had an ace up my sleeve, as a short distance away was a sheltered little bay which faced in a slightly more Northerly direction than the other places I’d visited so far, and thankfully the water there was clearer still. Not perfect by any means but definitely fishable ?. The only drawback with this mark, was the fact that on such a large tide I would be cut off for 90 minutes either side of high water. Time which would pass in the blink of an eye if the fishing was good, but which would seem like an eternity if the fishing was poor.
There was still an hour to go yet, before I would have to make that decision, so I decided to at least give it a try. With an improvement in conditions, I switched to the mighty Mishna and I was actually feeling a little more confident, but this wasn’t to last. I had only been fishing for 20 minutes or so when the peace was shattered by the arrival of a 4 x 4 towing a rib boat fitted with a decent size outboard! As if this wasn’t bad enough, it was followed immediately after by another 2 ribs, and all accompanied by at least a dozen people wearing dry suits and retina burning headlamps, bright enough to turn night into day! ?
I was starting to get the idea by now, that it wasn’t going to be my night but there was still time for me to turn it around, so I decided to give it one last go. When the ribs eventually vanished off into the night, leaving me in peace once more, I resumed the hunt but I had only been fishing for a few minutes when my evening went from bad to worse.
I had only just switched to the baby Patch, which I was drifting along on the increasing current, when I heard the unmistakable sound of a wind knot passing through the rod rings as I cast ?. Wading ashore yet again, I switched on my headlamp to inspect the damage and thankfully it didn’t look too bad, looks can be deceiving though and try as I might I simply couldn’t unpick the knot. After several minutes of struggling I realised I had no option but to cut off about 5 meters of braid (CRY).
That was the final straw for me and I know when I’m fighting a losing battle, so I decided to call it a night only 2 hours into my evening, better to quit before anything went seriously wrong. That was 2 sessions without a sniff of a bass and 2 – 0 to the fishing gods ?.
So that was the end of a very frustrating week on the fishing front, but thankfully the tides this week are a lot more manageable. After a taste of what autumn has to offer though, I’m definitely starting to get the feeling that the end of the lure season isn’t that far away ?.
My first session was on Tuesday night and I was just getting a few last bits and pieces together, when I thought I noticed a flash of light through the kitchen window, this was followed moments later by a loud rumple of thunder and immediately after this, the heavens opened
. I couldn’t believe that my fishing could be disrupted by a thunderstorm for the third time in 4 weeks, but at least this time it arrived while I was safely at home ?. Thankfully, the downpour didn’t last very long and 15 minutes later I was on the road. Though the rain had eased, the winds which had blown all day carried on and with 16mph North Westerlies, gusting to 34mph at times, it was a bit choppy nearer home to say the least ?.I wasn’t put off though, as I had a South East facing mark in mind, where I should be nicely tucked away from the worst of it. I arrived at the mark to find decent enough conditions, and to start with it looked like my luck might be in. The water clarity was pretty good and there were also a few fish moving but unfortunately, things wouldn’t stay that was for long
.The first hour passed by with only a small tap on my lure, I assumed from a small schoolie nipping at the tail of the Mishna, but before the tide could really start flooding properly and so encourage the fish to feed, the wind began to swing around to a more Northerly direction. This wasn’t a problem in itself but with the large tide now pushing harder, a nasty groundswell started to build. At first this only made conditions a little awkward but as the waves increased, they started to have a detrimental effect on the water clarity and by a couple of hours before high, the water was the colour of a watery soup and the swells were also a lot bigger ?.
I fished on until just before high water, but as the flow eased, I knew that any bass in the vicinity would now go off the feed, so I called it a night. 1 – 0 to the fishing gods
.For my second session of the week I had the choice of 2 nights, but I didn’t fancy fishing tides near 33ft on Thursday, so I settled on Wednesday night instead,. The forecast was very similar for both nights, but I hoped that the slightly smaller tides on Wednesday would make the fishing a little easier ?.
As it happened, the sheer volume of water moving around wasn’t my only problem and I also had to contend with a 180° switch in the wind direction. In a complete change from 24 hours earlier, the forecast was for Southerly winds of 15mph, gusting to 28mph, but when I arrived at my first choice mark, where the wind should have been blowing offshore, I was disappointed to find that it was in fact blowing South Westerly and right along the coast. This resulted in some pretty dirty water and as if this wasn’t bad enough, the rain which should have cleared an hour ago, was also still falling.
After sitting in the car for 15 minutes or so, pondering what to do next, I decided that after making the effort to drive all the way there, I should at least give it a go, and when the rain finally abated, I emerged from my nice warm shelter to get suited and booted. As I walked to the shore, I hoped that the water might be a little clearer further out, but sadly it remained the colour of soup as far as the eye could see ?. Not wanting to admit defeat immediately, I gave it half an hour with the Nacre Patch 125, in the hope that the clarity might improve as the tide flooded, but I was out of luck, so I decided to move on.
I spent the next half an hour driving along the coast, fully kitted out in my waders and waterproofs ? in the hope of finding some clearer water, but after stopping at 2 other locations, I was still out of luck. I wasn’t done yet though and I had one more possible venue to look at, then a 15 minute drive later I arrived at my last chance saloon.
To begin with I was a little bit disappointed, as the wind was still blowing along the shore ?, but the water clarity was a definite improvement on everywhere else I had looked at so far. I also had an ace up my sleeve, as a short distance away was a sheltered little bay which faced in a slightly more Northerly direction than the other places I’d visited so far, and thankfully the water there was clearer still. Not perfect by any means but definitely fishable ?. The only drawback with this mark, was the fact that on such a large tide I would be cut off for 90 minutes either side of high water. Time which would pass in the blink of an eye if the fishing was good, but which would seem like an eternity if the fishing was poor.
There was still an hour to go yet, before I would have to make that decision, so I decided to at least give it a try. With an improvement in conditions, I switched to the mighty Mishna and I was actually feeling a little more confident, but this wasn’t to last. I had only been fishing for 20 minutes or so when the peace was shattered by the arrival of a 4 x 4 towing a rib boat fitted with a decent size outboard! As if this wasn’t bad enough, it was followed immediately after by another 2 ribs, and all accompanied by at least a dozen people wearing dry suits and retina burning headlamps, bright enough to turn night into day! ?
I was starting to get the idea by now, that it wasn’t going to be my night but there was still time for me to turn it around, so I decided to give it one last go. When the ribs eventually vanished off into the night, leaving me in peace once more, I resumed the hunt but I had only been fishing for a few minutes when my evening went from bad to worse.
I had only just switched to the baby Patch, which I was drifting along on the increasing current, when I heard the unmistakable sound of a wind knot passing through the rod rings as I cast ?. Wading ashore yet again, I switched on my headlamp to inspect the damage and thankfully it didn’t look too bad, looks can be deceiving though and try as I might I simply couldn’t unpick the knot. After several minutes of struggling I realised I had no option but to cut off about 5 meters of braid (CRY).
That was the final straw for me and I know when I’m fighting a losing battle, so I decided to call it a night only 2 hours into my evening, better to quit before anything went seriously wrong. That was 2 sessions without a sniff of a bass and 2 – 0 to the fishing gods ?.
So that was the end of a very frustrating week on the fishing front, but thankfully the tides this week are a lot more manageable. After a taste of what autumn has to offer though, I’m definitely starting to get the feeling that the end of the lure season isn’t that far away ?.
.