Lure fishing for Bass

After a hard winter of constant North East winds bringing snow and cold weather I’d rather hoped that spring would herald a fishing friendly South Westerly. Despite the pleasant weather of the past few weeks, a cold Easterly has still dominated the weather here in Kent and ruined my early(ish) attempts to catch a few bass on the lure. So with a forecast of the wind swinging around overnight to the direction I was after Tony, Gary and I headed out this morning. The warm weather hadn’t materialised but we found clear water which was fairly calm and it wasn’t long before I got a hit from a bass, unfortunately she slipped the hooks, I must be a bit rusty, but with visual prove that bass where around confidence was sky high.

Two cast later, after just a few turns of the reel I was into a bass, after a nice little fight I had my first new season bass of the year. Before I could hold it up Tony was into a fish that hit him right at the end of his retrieve just before he lifted his lure from the water, safely landed we had a matching pair and after a quick photo we slipped them back into the water, click the read more for pic and more fish.

(L) Caught on a Maria Chase BW Blue Silver and (R) caught on a Megabass Zonk 120 Gataride Yoro-Yoro, PM Rainbow Pearl, see here.

Within no time I was into another bass, again on the Gataride, again at distance and again a nice little fight, the bass weighed in at 3lb 7oz, not massive but certainly most welcome, pictured below:

Again Tony’s rod, the Teklon Concept Spin 802ML that he won in Henry Gilbey’s photo comp (See Henry’s excellent website and blog here), bent over into a bass. I’ve had a good go with this rod and I’ve got to say it’s a great rod, very light weight with a medium fast action and a fit and finish of a rod that you would think would cost a lot more and certainly great if you win one. Anyway Tony’s second  fish wasn’t going to beat any records but it was certainly a beautiful fin perfect fish and a lively one at that.

On this mark as the tide drops you can push along the rocks and access more ground and some deeper water, I don’t think I’ve ever fished this mark having caught where we did and not continued to catch more once we are able to move further along. Unfortunately the friendly South West wind increased, to the point where the waves began to roll in and as ever on the Kent coast the water clarity we had benefitted from early soon deserted us. Still a brilliant day and all I can say is I hope the weather is good for the bank holiday weekend.