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!!
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