Bass Fishing In The Surf
To say it had been a productive week of lure fishing is an understatement. Not without its ‘ups & downs’ though. We still have those NE winds that continue to blow us all over the place, especially when you’re wading up to your nuts in the water.
Luckily managed not to fall over thanks to that trusty wading stick, I would recommend getting one to anyone, especially if you’re a clumsy git like me.
The fishing shenanigans had started well last week but not for me I had not been due to the tide scenario. On that Saturday Steve Wood had been down to test the water and see if there were any fish around.
The reason was that previously, a couple of local lads had been hammering the bass on the neap tides. This would prove useless to the likes of me because the low would fall in the daytime. Meaning I would be at work so couldn’t go anyway.
They had 70 bass, in one unbelievable session which is incredible. The thing is it didn’t stop there this carried on for days before it went public and then obviously loads of people were turning up.
The conditions were awful with the constant North Easterly wind, but the water was crystal clear. Especially right out on the mark where have fished for years. So fair play to those two, they’ve certainly changed my theories about weather conditions and catching bass.
On Sunday, I just couldn’t resist so took the day off and headed down to the venue. I already knew that the number of bass (by now) had been depleted.
Also, we noticed a fishing boat that was drift netting which was not a good sight at all. But we moan but at the end of the day, they are only out there trying to make a living. They’ve been doing it for years.
As for the fishing. It wasn’t prolific by no means but we did catch a few. We had just got there a little too late, maybe all those lures down there hitting the water scared them off.
Blankety Blank
So here’s what’s happened On Monday 5th we turned up to our normal spot, only this time there was already several people down there.
So we found a little spot and started to fish, and as usual, the wind was an absolute nightmare, and trying to find the right lure that would do the business was proving to be harder than I thought.
Steve Wood caught two fish on an SG V2 Sandeel, another bloke caught nine on a ‘Westin Sandy Andy’ and everybody else had caught at least one, but good ol muggings didn’t catch a bloody thing. But how ironic: all those lures that I’ve acquired over the years and I still felt like I didn’t have the right one, would you believe it?
So the next night I had a change of tactics. Knowing that everybody else seemed to be catching on the khaki soft plastics. (The only one I didn’t have). All I could find was a Savage Gear Pencil, in the sand eel colour.
So the next night armed with my new ammunition we headed for our spot. Even though the wind was blowing a hoolie (again) I knew this bad boy pencil would fly and it did. I could’ve used the SG Surf Seeker or the 18g Westin Salty.
These metals had worked on Sunday (one on each) but not on Monday, so basically I’d written them off. Sure enough, a couple of casts in, and bang! I was in. I was dreading it would come off but no, fish number 1. Next cast…Bang, I was in again.
The fish were definitely at a distance, haha! “Reach them with your soft plastics,” I thought. I managed to catch 7 then people started to turn up. Then I never had a fish after that. Steve Wood had had his fair share too and had had 12 on the previous Saturday.
Wednesday Bring In The Seeker!
So now it was Wednesday and we couldn’t resist it and arranged for that night to go again. But walking out to our spot I thought the wind seemed even stronger. So I decided to go back to the Seeker.
Some bloke swore blind that the 30g SG Surf Seeker was his favourite lure, by a mile. So with that in mind, I’d give it another go. I cast that Seeker into the distance and very slowly started the retrieve. Then, I was in! Wow! We just got there. This felt a better fish than the ones from the previous night and sure enough, it was, probably around the mid-50 mark.
Fish After Fish Amazing!
Trust me, unless it’s a biggun I can’t be arsed to walk to dry land to measure them. There could be a shoal out there so need to cast back out again. Sure enough again, fish on! Another mid-50.
These were a much better stamp of fish than the previous night, was it down to the Seeker? Then sure enough a couple of casts later and I was in again, only this time this felt a much better fish. It was taking line but managed to steer it towards me through the crashing waves.
This fish was probably just over 60cm so well pleased what a great start to the evening. By this time Steve Wood had had a couple of good fish too, so we were both on a roll. But after the fifth fish, it went dead again. And again people started turning up. Strange.
See Footage On Youtube
You’ve guessed it, Thursday we were back down there again. You have to make the most of it when it’s on it probably won’t last.
This time we still stuck to the same tactics regarding the tide. About 3 hours before the low. Same wind as the day before although the day before our lures (metals) were finishing off right around to the right of us.
Again, we were straight into the fish but they were right in front of where Steve Wood was standing, to the right of me. So when my lure swung round bang I was in. This was different to the previous nights but we still ended up with 12 fish between us.
So the next question would be: Where did they go to? The strange thing is the same happened every night. When you consider we had fish 5 days on the trot there was a pattern to all this.
On the day I blanked and the other day caught two, we arrived later. Also, there were already people fishing. But the last 3 sessions we were first down there.
Ultimately, if the conditions hold for the next evening low tide scenario we will try even earlier than this productive week.
The trouble is the depth of water before you get out to the island will be a lot deeper so you have to be careful. You don’t want to fall over taking risks or even fall over full stop.
As the tide dropped the fish had buggered off. My theory was the waves were trapping food that the bass was feeding on. The water was only about a foot deep where we’d been catching the fish.
This week was new territory for me fishing in that strong headwind. Amazing.
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