Sometimes the unexpected can be most rewarding, so I am out on some pretty awesome ground in the hunt for bass, real nice shallow reefy ground, somewhere that last year was my most successful bass ground! Ok so it was not exactly the conditions I wanted being that it usually produces on a real strong onshore wind resulting in nice big waves crashing over a shallow reef, fizzing everywhere. Today it wasn’t quite that although it wasn’t flat calm.

Being such shallow ground lure choice is rather important, this was learnt the hard way, this being me chucking numerous soft plastics mounted on heavy jigheads at the reef, although at low tide most of the reef is exposed and I took a walk along it one day and actually managed to salvage one of my Savage Gear Sandeels and a Fiiish Black Minnow. Anyway I went with the Salt Skimmer red belly sardine, a lure that I had recently gained faith in, although no fish it was nice to see that it worked perfectly over the top of small waves!! I then went on to use a few different Megabass soft plastics mounted on 3/0 belly weight hooks slowly twitching them over the bottom, at this point im starting to expect a smash on any cast as the wind actually starts to pick up and there’s some decent fizz in the water.

Time to bring out the big gun, the IMA Komomo SF 125 in Cotton Candy, now this is a lure I used out in Ireland a couple weeks back given to me by Henry Gilbey, ill admit at first sight the colour doesn’t really give me confidence in thinking a fish would mistake it for something they would usually target, but I did as I was told and oh my, 4 bass in a small space of time and a whole lot more hits on the lure that’s enough to install confidence!! So I start fishing the komomo and with the water being so clear I can see the lure really working just hovering above the reef, after a few casts I notice something in the corner of my eye I look down and see a glimpse of a fish literally under a ledge of the rock im standing on just beyond my rod tip, immediately im thinking bass and it looked like a decent sized fish, the water fizzed up and I lose sight of the fish but I cast my lure over the top a started to retrieve, just a slow straight retrieve. Just as my lure is getting to the ledge I see the fish shoot out from the ledge to position itself behind the lure then paused for split second before smashing the lure, now as soon as I saw the fish move I saw it wasn’t a bass and that infact it was a wrasse, after a decent but short scrap I land the fish then realising it was of a decent size. I don’t carry scales on me but I did measure it and it was 51cm and was a rather fat one aswell, im no expert but id say that it was nudging over 4lbs, being that I fish alone the pictures are not great as they are shot on a timer so don’t really do the fish justice but at least its something.

Anyway as the title says it was certainly a surprise to hit into a decent wrasse on a cotton candy SF 125 but a very welcome surprise at that!!