Bass on my Brain!

I haven't been out lure fishing for a little while now and though I intended to go out today, the wind is howling and the temperature is biting.

March is nearly through and my thoughts have been increasingly turning to Bass fishing. It seems like too long ago since I felt the head shakes and weight of a good Sea Bass and I am just dying to get into them once more.

This time last year the weather was remarkably different and on April the 1st I caught 2012's first Bass which fell to what is possibly my favourite Bass lure; the Tackle House Feed Shallow in rainbow pearl.

I really hope to catch one earlier this year, April is the earliest I have ever caught Bass on lure and although catching them on bait seems to be much more productive earlier in the year, it just doesn't have the same buzz for me.

Catching early season last year filled me with excitement and anticipation for the then coming season, I had expected a good year. 

That was certainly not the case, in fact 2012 was my worst year for Bass to date, my tally was way down. The lack of success was largely down to poor weather conditions on my days off work, the other main reason was  because I spent a lot of time light gaming for other species too. 

Obviously I picked up a few Bass while out with the light game gear and enjoyed those moments intensely, the most memorable Bass was the one I picked up whilst targeting Flounder.

Of course I certainly do not regret targeting other species and still intend to do a fair bit this year.

I hope however, to be able to target Bass more regularly and I am seriously hoping for better weather, I would like to get out on my local marks a lot more often. I would also like to beat my personal best of alb and am thinking of methods and marks to help me achieve that goal.

I'm also very much looking forward to fishing with my friend Tim, who regularly holidays here and is a bit of a Bass nut. Funnily he arrives around the same time as the Bass each year!

Myself and Tim have had some really good fishing together and a good laugh is always guaranteed even if the Bass aren't biting!

But there's no getting away from it, I Bass on my brain! I have some new lures on order from Shimreels Tackle and I am just so looking forward to spring/summer Dawn and Dusk raids. I look forward to being waist deep in water and casting shallow divers, surface lures and soft lures over the reefs and sand bars. Lets just hope with the prolonged winter this year, that summer will be good and consistent!

Tight lines all.

The Three Amigos Meet, part two

On Monday 18th Feb, myself and Scott wanted to get down the Peninsula and lure fish for Pollock, Ross's advice was to the contrary, but we went ahead with the original plan. After arriving on the Llyn we soon discovered we should have listened to Ross, the conditions were tough and the preferred marks were inaccessible due to a four foot swell, I found myself wishing I had my wetsuit and bodyboard!

Despite the less than Ideal conditions I felt it was good for Scott to see the area, as the Llyn is such a beautiful place and I hope we can fish it together more in the summer. We did get a few fish, although they were not the quantities or size we might have hoped for.
We were all fishing quite heavy, using circa 45g drilled leads to get down and maintain bottom contact, the trace to the lure was around 60cm.

Scott was first to catch on a Lunker City Ribster.

My tiny effort fell to a Kiddy Brill Bait.

Ross on the right out fished us in his usual style.

That night Ross took us to a mark in the hope of Ray and though tough going due to having to switch to a second choice mark, Ross caught a Thornback of 5lb odd.

Scott caught a Doggie,

And I blanked! It was a chilled night though and I enjoyed the company and fishing none the less, I was also glad Ross got into a fish as he was he was not having the best of days until that point.

Being ever so slightly tired from the late night we all had a lie in on Tuesday and finished our trip with an afternoon of light game antics for mini species.

Here's a couple more pictures of fish I caught.

It was an enjoyable way to end the trip and the weather was really good to us.

Overall the fishing for the duration of the trip was tough, but having no massive expectations it didn't get me down in the slightest. Ross did a superb job of guiding us around Anglesey and I learned a fair bit in watching how he does certain things and in his explanations on tides and conditions.

The trip was not without the odd incident either, I managed to break the tip guide on my Beachcaster, Scott wrecked his Floatation suit trousers (clearly not designed for actually fishing in) and poor ol' Scott managed to lose his phone on the last session too, not good! Oh and Scott has really cheesy feet.

Despite those things, it was a good trip. We had some good fishing given the time of year, good banter and the company was also good, what more can you ask for?
Well I suppose more lure fishing opportunities, but March is just around the corner and that should see in the first run of School Bass.

I'll end the report with a curious picture of Scott, please add your captions in the comments box below.

Tight Lines!

The Three Amigos Meet, part one.

A short while back when Ross started catching Thornback and Small eyed Ray, Scott text me and asked if I had any time off work mid February, Scott wanted to come down and bag a Small Eyed Ray. With a little re-jigging of the schedules I managed to get four days off in a row. That started the ball rolling for the three of us arranging to meet up and fish from the 15th -19th, targeting a range of species. 

Due to the time of year a pure lure fishing fest was not going to realistically happen and I don't think Ross and Scott would have wanted that anyway, we therefore were doing a fair amount of bait fishing at night and mixing things up a bit during daylight hours. We were fairly realistic about our expectations on this meet, knowing it would be tough, after all February is probably the toughest month for any type of fishing in North Wales. The main goal was to meet, fish and have a laugh and the trip certainly ticked those boxes for the most part.

Though Ross and Scott had been fishing on Friday daytime, I met up with them Friday night after work. Although I was expecting to kick off with a Ray session, we had to opt for Rockling and Conger Eel fishing due to imperfect Ray conditions.

During the session myself and Ross both lost Conger Eels and we ended the nights session with Scott  breaking his bad run on the Rockling, with a nicely coloured Shore Rockling.

On Saturday Ross had to work and myself and Scott were left to our own devices and opted on a mark 20 minutes walk (Ross time) away from our hotel (about an hours walk by normal persons standards).

We tried both lure and Bait but could not get any fish from the Menai Straights and our lure rods quickly turned into expensive crab lines. My crabs were of course all lure caught and therefore come in better than Scotts rag worm caught specimens.

Well after the silliness we conceded defeat and grabbed some food on the way to visit Ross at Menai Angling where he works. We chatted over a coffee and met some nice folk, including a fella who was just embarking on his first light game activities. We discussed Saturday nights plans with Ross and Ross looked at us like we were loons when we said we wanted to try some light lure fishing. Taking his advise into consideration myself and Scott ended up opting for some general bait fishing whilst Ross and his mate went Conger fishing.
Scott caught some Whiting, Codling, Poor Cod and another Shore Rockling. I caught some Whiting, Poor Cod and a Codling, I also managed a long awaited lure caught Poor Cod on my lrf gear, which did please me.
Here's a couple of Scotts fish;

Here's a couple of mine;

My first Whiting that saw me beat my blanking streak.

At last, Poor Cod on a lure!

When Ross Met us later he was quite pleased at having caught two Conger Eels and a Scorpion fish, though his mate was not quite as pleased with having only caught a Dog fish.

After a few hours sleep and some breakfast, we all headed out Sunday Morning for some Pike fishing and blanked. In the afternoon we headed to Wylfa Power Station, for some mini species fishing and caught Corkwing Wrasse, Common Blennies and Tompot Blennies. It was quite a bit of fun.
Sadly I didn't catch a Tompot Blenny and my hunt for those is still on.

We lost a lot of drop sot weights at this mark! 

One of Ross's Tompots.

Sunday night we all headed to another one of Ross's Conger marks but despite one run, which I cocked up, we all blanked.
The tide starting to run concluded the first half of our trip and we headed back to Bangor for some much needed sleep.
Bait fishing is definitely not my first choice of fishing methods, but after having felt the power of those fish twice now I must admit to wanting to get into some more of those and maybe actually land one!

A report on the second half  is to follow, 'til then;
Tight lines.