Schoolies out for Summer!

There are two things I have been wanting to do for a while now, one was to do a sunrise session and the other to get a 50+ cm Bass for my Lure Forum team. I figured the two could go hand in hand realistically as my best Bass have always come at or just after Sunrise on 4-5m tides.

With that in mind I left my house at 1:45 last night and arrived at my mark just after 3:00. It's the first time I have fished this mark early morning and it was strange how different it looked under the light conditions, almost scary.

I left my light game gear at home this time and took my regular Bassing gear in the hope of landing a bigger fish. I started off fishing using a Megabass Cutter 90 and could occasionally feel Bass sucking at it on the retrieve, yet no hook ups. I chopped and changed lures often and varied my retrieves, with no success. This is not how the session went in my mind before hand!

In fact the sun was well risen when I had my second take on my ZipBaits Fakie Dog, I had barely started to retrieve when a little schoolie hit it.

It wasn't quite what I was after but, at least I had beat the blank and broke in a new lure!

It really wasn't long before I came to terms with the fact I wasn't going to get my fish for the team. With the fish being small again, I switched to my trusty jigs and landed another four Bass.

The largest was 46cm and actually put up quite a fight, in fact as small as they all were, they were all  quite aggressive.

The fishing died off so I took the opportunity for a bite to eat and a couple of hours sleep on the shore. Having not slept and walking a few miles I was absolutely beat.

When I woke from my slumber  the tide had started to retreat and so I fished a little more. I caught another small Bass and a Garfish.

I did fish on for another hour or so and despite being able to see Bass, I could not get them to take my lures. I put it down to the bright conditions. 

I do hope I am able to get a decent fish for my team soon.

All in all though I am quite pleased with the Bass season so far, especially in comparison to 2012!

There's plenty of time yet and there are a few large girls coming out around our shores, lets just hope I can be in the right place at the right time.

Thanks for reading and tight lines!

A Little Tackle Talk?

I think I can speak for everyone across the UK and Ireland when I say the early Bass season has been the hardest we have known it for a long time, in fact for myself, so far it has been a non-starter.

The sea temperatures are nearly half what they were this time last year and with a slow thaw still leaking icy cold water onto the shore, things are still looking a little bleak.

I have been out a few times but aside from a few fish sightings, I have blanked as far as lure fishing goes.

There is a difficulty to know what to write about when the fishing is so poor, as much as I hear people say "I'd like to hear more reports where people have blanked", it really doesn't make pleasant reading and in reality is about as miserable as the blank itself.

Of course a day out on the shore is always better than a day at work, but thats as much as I'd like to write about it.

There is of course one thing we lure anglers like to do when not out fishing and that is buying lures and lure fishing equipment, so I guess I shall share a few purchases I have made lately. We all love a little bit of shiny don't we?!

I personally get a little excited about lures and especially ones which are currently unavailable in the UK. As I'm sure some of you know, buying from abroad can also work out a bit cheaper in the long run too (At least that's what I tell myself).

So, fishing shallow reefs as I sometimes do, I rather like lures that swim no deeper than 30cm, so not to get snagged on weed and still reach the fish that are help up there. These two appear to fit the bill perfectly;

The Duo Tide Minnow Lipless Slim.

I chose the first colour as the rainbow pearl patterns always seem to do well for me and I feel very confident fishing lures with this pattern. The second pattern is a Mullet Pattern and also tends to be very effective around the UK for many anglers, after all small Mullet tend to be a good food source for Bass. At 19 grams it should cast a good distance and I am quite excited to see how these lures will work for me in the coming season.

The next lure is one I contemplated about buying for a while as, I am unsure it will be effective in our waters, although it may be good on hot sticky summer nights.

The ima Aldente 95s.

From what I understand the Aldente is supposed to mimic a surface swimming Sandworm. Its a sinking wake bait, 95mm long and weighs 7.1 grams. I could possibly cast this on a light rockfish rod, but I bought it for use with my Megabass XOR Shadow SXX-85L primarily in mind.

The next is a surface lure that has been doing some damage for a few anglers here for a while now.

The Zipbaits Fakie Dog.

A lovely finish on this lure and it weighs 12 grams. I also have a couple of the Fakie Dog Downsize coming too, though hopefully by the time they arrive I shall be blogging about catches and not so much about lures.

Now I am not about to neglect the light gaming this year either, I picked up a real bargain from a fellow Lure Forum member recently. Practically new and at an absolute steal of a price!

The Yamaga Blanks Blue Current 80

I think everyone knows how much I love my BLC-74 and this will complement it nicely, I'll be using it for heavier stuff on the open shore and headlands. This at least I have used now a couple of times in the hope of an early Turbot, but I am yet to actually break her in with a fish.

Finally I bought two Sinking pencil baits which I shall easily be able to use on the above rod, whether they will actually do any damage remains to be seen, but they do match the profile of Sandeel and small fry that so many species like to feed on.

The Jackall RollaMinnow 5.1g in Ayu

The ZipBaits S.P.M. 55

The next time you see these lures I very much hope they shall be accompanied by fish! I certainly expect the DUO's and Fakie Dogs to work just fine, but the others are somewhat experimental.

Lets hope we get a run of good conditions soon, I'd personally like to see everything heat up a degree or ten, with a good dose of light westerlies and overcast skies, but who knows? I stand beside my fellow UK and Irish lure anglers and look forward to wading waist deep and to scramble the rocks in search of our various target species. Won't be long now surely???

Tight lines.