Lure fishing for Bass

Having had a successful trip at the weekend I’ve been keen to get back out all week to see if I could find a few bass again. Well today the forecast of cloud and a light South West wind proved to much to resist and I snuck out of the office at lunchtime and made my way towards the coast at light speed. A forecast of deteriorating weather over the weekend helped make up my mind, typical for a Bank Holiday I suppose. On arriving and looking down the cliff at the mark I was a little disappointed at the clarity of the water, not the clear water I’d found at the beginning of the session at the weekend, but good enough is what I told myself.

So the forecast of little wind was correct and the air had a humid feel to it, the sea was fairly calm but a swell was building and moving lots of water around, with the cloud cover it looked very fishy. First lure on was the Tackle House Feed Shallow (Mullet, No 11) taking care to lift the rod tip to bring the lure over the shallower areas and working the lure right to my feet I was really just passing time with one eye on the tide as it dropped, I wanted to get out to where I caught the other day, I wanted to access the deeper water that I could from that point, I wanted to be able to cast to that large structure that so often seems to attract bass but it was just too early, a wade to far if you like.

I needn’t of worried, just as I noticed a Seal passing a few hundred yards in front of me, a bass went for my lure, unfortunately it totally missed, but within a few more casts I had another hit which resulted in a nice little bass, I didn’t bother weighing or measuring it a quick photo and I slipped it back into the sea. Time to wade out to that spot (Click the Read More to continue).

I managed to get out to where I wanted to be, a little bit dodgy with the swell and the final leap of faith but I was there, I put the Megabass Zonk 120 Gataride Yoro-Yoro, PM Rainbow Pearl on (see here) that had worked the other day and before long had a good hit, fish one, this felt a better fish. With violent head shakes and a few kiting runs I managed to get the bass in and guided around me to land in a safer spot, the whole fight was accompanied by another bass who seemed intent on stealing the meal his mate had caught but not swallowed. The lure had hooked up under the bass, as pictured, which had allowed the bass to fight and kite above his weight, a chunky bass much in the same class as the fish at the weekend, around 3lb 7oz at a guess, maybe a little more.

First bass of the session caught on Tackle House Feed Shallow (Mullet, No 11)

With the tides that much bigger than last weekend, the tide was shooting out, so another move resulted in a follow and a few enticing jumps from what appeared to be reasonable sized Sea Trout. As the tide dropped the water clarity degraded further and it was time to pack up. So with the Winter we have had April wasn’t all I’d hopped but it certainly feels good to have found a few, lets hope the bass fishing kicks of big time in May.