In the previous blog I was talking about fishing a certain mark that was really successful for me last year, but unfortunately hadn’t really had the conditions I wanted to fish it. Well every now and then we get a early finish at work compared to the usual work all day, this happened to be on the Monday, so straight away im checking the tide times and XC Weather for some info, and im really liking what I see ” 6:40 high tide, overcast, maybe rain and most important a 20mph+ SW wind” now im getting really excited!! I knew with these conditions there would be bass there.

So after a agonisingly long drive to my mark I arrive to see a thick covering of weed, abit off putting but where I wanted to fish was around the corner so I thought it might be clearer around there. I get set up and on mark and the conditions are just awesome, onshore wind kicking up big surf on top of a shallow reef with plenty of gulley’s and big structure in the water, is there really a better sounding mark!! I start fishing trying a few different lures and tactics, and am picking up abit of weed with not many clean retrieves, so I work my way up the coast trying to find clearer water to no success. Right so the plan is stick to my original spot stick the Black Minnow on and fish it hard, weed wasn’t so bad with the weedless set up of the BM, and within 15 minutes I cast out couple winds and BANG, thank god for that I knew there would be fish here, after a little scrap I land the bass, not big but seriously welcome!! 

So now that I have saved a blank im happy, and carry on fishing hard, really expecting to get smashed any second, as with this mark I’ve found that it is usually 30ish minutes of craziness followed by a sudden stop in action!! anyway id say about half an hour im starting to think its all over with the weed also becoming worse until I get mullered right at my feet about 2-3 metres away from my feet right in the breaking waves, at first im thinking im snagged until I start to hear the sound of my drag ripping braid off my spool, this fishes first run is huge, im literally standing there holding on waiting for him to stop, I gain abit of line then run number 2 takes as much line again, by this time my hearts just about beating out of my chest, the fish gives up for abit and im able to gain quite abit of line back, until run number 3 not as long but still hard, I think the fish has finally given in and I can see the fish thrashing on the top, even from a way out I can see this fish is big, im seriously excited and shaking, I get the fish close bearing in mind ive got big breaking waves to contend with, and as I crush my barbs I need to keep that line tight so he doesn’t shake the hook. I must be at the last couple metres so I grab the line in my hand and I can see the lure in the fishes mouth and the weight is something ive never felt before I know its big, so a start walking back line in hand then PING, line gave in and my fish swims away!! My heart sank, I was literally speechless I stood there for minutes replaying what just happened wondering what I had done wrong. I know everyone’s perceptions of anglers tales of “ones that got away”, but this fish took 3 big runs and if im honest my drag was on the tighter side of what it should have been, also I saw the fish and felt the weight of it in my hand and it really had to easily be 6lb+ and that’s really being conservative!! bearing in mind my PB is 5.5lbs which was caught about 3 weeks previous, the one this week made my PB feel like a mackerel!!