Friday 26 July 2013

Time for some bassin!

With my massive preoccupation this year regarding battling wrasse on light tackle I have forfeited many a chance of pursuing everyone’s favourite quarry, the European Seabass. Hunting out a decent wrasse on the rocks has lead me away from my home turf this year and with increasing reports of some decent bass caught in my local area I was beginning to feel a little left-out and rather inferior to say the least.

With all that in mind and with some big spring tides coinciding with sun-down it seemed fairly appropriate to put down the wrassing gear and see if I still had what it takes to hunt out a lure-caught bass. On the intended evening everything looked perfect, slightly overcast and with a swift south-westerly breeze pushing across the harbour. I arrived at my intended mark only to take one quick look and turn straight around and get back in the car. The seabed had been churned up to such an extent that the silt and clay bottom had now turned the sea to something more like chocolate milk and with doubt in my mind I opted for a quick move to a slightly cleaner mark. My decision turned out to be a good one and on arrival with the wind in my face I could see the water was cloudy with sand but still with a level of visibility. I hoped this would make it easier for a bass to search out my lure and with a confident attitude I set up my rod and equipped myself with an ever-trusty, weedless-rigged X-layer.

With the wind in my face, punching my lure into the surf I instantly remembered why and how much I loved these lures. Twitching away I became instantly at one with my surroundings and as the tide pushed in around me I felt confident that I had done the right thing by moving location. Having had only a couple of casts to settle in I was instantly woken by some resistance and in a flash I had remembered the feeling of a bass hoovering in your lure and was quick to strike hoping to fully set my weedless hook. Next came the familiar rush as a decent bass surged on a run trying to get the better of me. With my regular bullying of wrasse more recently I reacted in a similar manner and instantly remembered how different it was with a bass on the other end. Getting it to the surface with its bucket mouth in view I was looking to get hold of the fish when it decided to turn and power off below the surface ripping back the yards of line from my reel I had just gained and refusing to give up. After a spirited battle I managed to get down and grab the lovely bass of around 3lb. (No scales or camera due to them both being broken so camera phone and guesstimate weight it was!). 



Pretty chuffed that it had all worked out so well I carried on into the last hour of light missing one other take but still happy with my first real attempt on the bass this year. That’s definitely re-lit the fire for me and it’s safe to say that my dreams have become a little less wrassy and a bit more bassy! I’m still keen to improve on my PB wrasse but might try and focus on the bass for the next few months when the conditions are right.
That's all for now anyway, thanks for reading as always!!

Wednesday 10 July 2013

Better late than never


Yes that's right the mackerel have arrived! Unfortunately as predicted not in the numbers that we would usually expect. The water temperatures are still a few degrees below our average for this time of year but nonetheless this 'too-tasty for its own-good' fish has most certainly been thin on the ground in comparison to previous years.

Not that it has much impact on the grand scheme of things but personally I don’t buy into commercial fishing and that means at some point in the season I'm going to kill fish in order for me to eat something tasty. 

Mackerel with sauté potatoes, chorizo and cherry tomatoes

I've also been back out targeting the wrasse which are rapidly becoming my favourite sport-fish. With a new-found love for my 2-7 gram rod I am continuing to hone my skills and feel much more confident with the set-up than I did last year. I think now that I have become accustomed to the rough environments we frequent and know what to expect from our intended quarry, I have become more willing, and able to push my tackle to its limits. 




I still have to nail a lot of smaller fish to get the odd specimen but that to me is where the fun is at. I'm glad to have come full-circle and am back in line with my early days as a young course-angler fishing for various species such as roach and chub on light-float tackle. I think that's always been my thing and although beach-fishing was an integral part of my transition to salt-water, I'm pretty sure the tripod and multipliers are now relegated for the foreseeable future. 

Short and sweet this time, thanks for reading as always.. I'm off to make the most of our British summer.., it'll be gone again before we know it!!