10 Angry Bass - 06/08/11

People: Me

Duration: 18.30 - 23.00

Tide: Low at 17.30

Weather: Mild, light westerly, dry, bright

Rigs: Lures

Results: 10 Bass

Report:

I'd had a few blanks when targetting bass in recent weeks, but figured I'd give it another go. The weather cleared to dry in late afternoon and with a rising neap high tide into darkness and light westerly winds conditions seemed decent.

I arrived at the mark at 18.30 and was fishing 15 minutes later. Water clarity was decent, with a little bit of murkiness after the daytime rain and there was some floating weed but nothing too bad. There was a also nice bit of swell coming in stirring up the water. After fishing 10minutes I switched to a Feed Shallow lure, and had a follow right to my feet on the first cast, this gave me some confidence at least to see that there were some fish around. I continued with the Feed Shallow but had no interest and didn't see any more follows, so switched to the soft plastics and tried a weedless Slug-go for some time, still nothing. I then moved onto a different spot and had one more follow on a Feed Shallow but the fish still seemed reluctant to take anything.

After another while moved back to first spot and finally had a take on the Feed Shallow, I connected with the fish about 30yards out and then the fish slack lined me, swimming fast towards me. I managed to connect again, and then he took off towards the right. After some coaxing the fish turned and was safely landed shortly after, a nice 52cm bass coming in at 4lb, quick photo and returned to sea.


I continued to fish the same spot for some more time but had no more follows or takes, so I decided to take a walk to another area. Again, on my first cast I had a follow (on the Feed Shallow), and after that nothing for 20 minutes so I moved on again.

The sun had set by now, with twilight and a quarter moon shining there was still plenty of light. I was fishing a pebbley beach area and cast out, started retrieving and bang fish on when the lure was just 4 yards from where I stood. Unforuntately I lost the fish after just a few seconds. I immediately cast again, and two casts later bang fish on, again really close to the shore. This fish was not lost and was landed after some line stripping, a lovely 61cm fish maybe between 4 and 5 pounds, it looked a bit skinny for its length.


I knew at this stage I was into something, maybe a small shoal which were actively feeding. I noticed a line of washed up kelp/weed just a few metres above the waterline and believe the fish were feeding on small bits of food being washed back down to them from the kelp by the backwash of the waves - and they were waiting just below the waterline.

I cast out again, and connected with but lost another fish close to shore. 5 minutes later I landed another nice fish, approx 56cm, maybe 4lb in weight. I was beginning to enter cloud cuckoo land and things became a bit blurry after this.. I won't go through all the details but over the next hour and a bit I landed another 7 bass and lost another one or two. I'm still buzzing from it, I think it will be many a year before I experience a session like it again. Photos of some of the fish below, all taken on mobile phone :\












Every fish was taken on a Feed Shallow, 9 out of 10 fish were safely returned (one fish was badly damaged from foul hooking so was dispatched and kept), about 2 or 3 fish were schoolies around 2lb weight, but the remainder were upwards of 4lb with the best fish at 6lb - a new personal best. The brilliant Feed Shallow came through again, but to be honest I believe that if I had switched to another lure when I was into the shoal its likely it would also have caught fish - but if its not broken... I decided to pack it in just before high tide when I reached the magic number of 10 bass, if I had stayed there may have been a few more but 10 was more than enough for me - my previous best was 3 bass in one session.. Up to this bonanza I had a grand total of 5 bass this year, now it has tripled up to 15 Happy days!

Edit: I returned to the mark the following night and fished the same state of the tide at the same spot, hopeful some fish would show again but didn't have a single fish, bass fishing is a funny old game..

nice fishing

well done savage session this has me thinking are bass more active on a new moon right up to 1st quarter alot of bass reports over this period just wondering as ive heard about this before any theorys?????

well done savage session this has me thinking are Bass more active on a new moon right up to 1st quarter alot of Bass reports over this period just wondering as ive heard about this before any theorys?????

this should keep you occupied for a while

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9704&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

angry? any bass that takes your lure is hungry how do you think you,d feel if you found a treble hook in your supper great session

like a few of my dreams couldnt have asked for better and the quality of the fish!well done 10 bass in 1 session that for the year id be well pleased as would many more!oh id love to get out on the beach now after that report lol!
tightlines
fergal

thats perfeck session,well done!

nice few fish there,,,keep pluggin away!

There was me thinking I done well getting one last night Nice report and even nicer fishing, well done

Fantastic fishing-well done.

super fishing mate well done would love a session like that

Great session, well done.

Unreal fishing, great report.........

thats a cracking session , i'm jealous ! haven't had a bass yet and have tried on many occasions bait fishing and lure fishing ! will keep working at it ! who makes this feed shallow lure you are using ? well done again man !

Thanks all for the kind replies

thats a cracking session , i'm jealous ! haven't had a Bass yet and have tried on many occasions bait fishing and lure fishing ! will keep working at it ! who makes this feed shallow lure you are using ? well done again man !

The Feed Shallow is a Japanese lure made by Tacklehouse, unfortunately it's a bloody expensive lure. Here is an example of one in sandeel/launce colour: http://www.mrfishjersey.com/lures/shallow-diving-lures/tackle-house/tackle-house-feed-shallow-128-ubi-5.html. You can possibly get them on eBay for cheaper than in the shops.

The one I used the other night was in the mullet colour. They're expensive but worth it IMO if you can take care not to lose it, 13 of the 15 bass I have caught this year have been caught on a FS (but then again I use it more than other lures!). They are an easy lure to fish also, as just a straight retrieve is often all that is needed (the action of the lure makes it wobble side to side on retrieve) - so eg. twitches / walk the dog / other retrieve types usually not needed - just varying the speed of retrieve..

well done on a cracking evenings fishing i hope to have a trip like that one day ,well done again.

wow what a evenings fishing fair play to you great pic of the catch

yea expensive lure but guess they are well worth it if its looked after have you seen any of them in the shops over here in Dublin