I can happily say that since my last blog the fishing has continued in the same way. Again the majority has been at night as this just seems to be when there is really that better chance of hitting into more and bigger bass. For about 3 weeks now I have been using a new rod I got from down in Cornwall, it is the Bass Go Deeper Black Back. As soon as Nick Mackrory announced he was having some hand-made rods made up on his design I had my name down for one. At a later date I will get around to writing up a full review on the rod but from what I’ve experienced so far this is one hell of a rod. It’s made on a Toray Carbon blank and is a 7ft one piece rod, rated at 5-20g. Nick designed it on the best bits of a lot of different rods he has used over the years resulting in one super rod. It’s the perfect rod for any of the fishing I’m doing locally and haven’t used anything else since it has arrived. Even with its light rating and super sensitive feel to it, it still has the capability to beast bigger fish. Recently Nick has had Bass up to 10lb and Pollock up to 14b of the boat using this rods, so it certainly has the back bone to handle donkeys. I myself have already had two 60cm+ fish on it and the rod makes it a pleasure fighting these fish. The rod feels so natural when using it, it’s almost just like an extension of your arm, it gives you so much control over the fish and you turn the fish where you want it to go not the other way around.

I also finally got around to having a look around the Sunslicker website and there were a couple lures that immediately jumped out at me as having potential for some epic night fishing. The Doodle Shad 5″ in Pichot and Platinum and the Gibbon Paddle ups in Lemon Meringue and Pearl Sparkle. I got them ordered up and they were here in a couple of days ready for a swim. After about 5 night fishing sessions on the trot fishing till late me and my mate decided it may be a good idea to give it a night off before the weekend so we were fresh and ready for putting in some hours. Well this wasn’t to be, with me being so lucky my phone had broken during the day so I had no contact with my fishing buddy which was fine as we had no plans to go fishing that night. That was until I received a late email from him saying that he had spoken to his mate Mark from Cornwall and he mentioned how keen he was to get back down this way and fish, in the end they decided that tonight was the night and that they were meeting on the mark at 11pm. Now regardless of how tired I was I could let them go down and fish on their own, plus I had met Mark before a couple of times and he happens to be a hell of an angler and extremely knowledgeable so I was well up for a fish with him. I set about packing my gear and getting things ready, I walk down to the van about 1030 in order to get there a bit before them, it’s a 5 min drive and I’m onto some of the best bass ground around the south hams.
I get in the van only to find I had left the lights on after getting home from work, so no van no phone leaves me with one option, walk. I got my nice heavy sweaty PVC waders on my backpack full of gear and my rod and set of walking/running, it’s a 3.5 mile walk. Finally i got there after some time very hot and sweaty but by the sea with a rod in hand. I met the guys had a little chat and explained everything which they thought was sightly amusing but at the same time did show some commitment as would have been easy to stay at home and sit the session out. We started fishing on a mark where me and Andy had fish on previous nights so there was optimism there. The first lure I was keen to get on was the Sunslicker Doodle Shad in Platinum it’s quite a full-bodied paddle tail with ribs all the way down, perfect for fishing on a slow straight retrieve. There was a slight colour in the water and unfortunately a bit of weed, but as with the previous couple nights the weed started to thin out over high tide. Also the way I had the lure rigged was really helping to not pick up the weed, it was rigged on the TT Snaked head articulated jig head.

No one had any signs of fish not even a bite, about an hour in approaching high tide I was beginning to lose my confidence and thought maybe with fish coming out of the same place a few nights on the trot it may not be fishing again. Whilst fishing away happily I looked up into the clear sky with a half-moon beaming down and a sky full of stars and saw a shooting star. Well I think you could safely guess what I wished for, what else would anyone else in the world wish for apart from bass? About ten minutes later I’m fishing away and make a cast further to my right to cover some more ground, half way through my retrieve and the rod just arcs over. It was one of those times when my mind was elsewhere and I wasn’t expecting it but it soon woke me up when it started pulling. It seems to be that a lot of the time at night you get hit first before the fish fully hits the lures and you have to be sharp and quick on the bite to strike it. This fish though did the whole thing itself and inhaled the lure hooking itself. I could tell it was more than a schoolie from the harder pull and head shakes, I turned my head torch on to allow me to safely land the fish. The fish went 57cm and was lovely condition, they certainly seem to be getting healthier fish and are not so skinny anymore which must mean there is plenty of bait fish around for them to feed on. After a couple of pictures taken by Mark the fish was returned strong. Very good photos by mark i might add, i don’t know why he doesn’t do more of the photography down in Cornwall with Henry in front of the camera!!

I’ve got to say it is a pretty good way to christen a new lure and certainly gives you confidence using it, especially when I managed a couple more bass on the lure the next day this time in day light. Hopefully there are plenty more fish to be had and a few big boys chucked in as well, Me and Andy are off to Ireland at the end of July for a weeks fishing including the Irish Bass Festival so I’ve got plenty to be looking forward to on top of the great fishing I’m having locally.

When your sat at home in the winter just waiting and dreaming of that warmer weather to arrive, bringing the warmer waters, bait fish and not far behind the large shoals of bass that inhabit our shores in the warmer months. You no doubt will be dreaming of that perfect start to the season, with lots of fish and a few nicer sized ones chucked in for good measure. Well so far from my experience what we dream of and what actually happens are to different things, but as for this year those dreams have become reality. Well it’s that or I haven’t woken from a deep hibernation over the winter. The first fish of the season actually came quite a bit earlier than expected and certainly was a beauty of a fish. I hadn’t been out a lot over that period and to be honest the conditions were not what i was looking for. It was one of those times when your stubborn side takes over and whatever the weather and conditions I was going. To be honest it’s just nice being out regardless feeling those lures working the water and a nice bit of fresh air filling the lungs. It was mid march when I caught the first of the season, I went down to a local mark no more than a 5 minute drive from my front door. Upon arriving at the mark I was met with quite murky water with a bit of floating weed, it was also a small neep tide and bright sunshine, not particularly what I would have hoped for but I prevailed. The one thing I had on my side was a bit of life to the water this alone was the reason I pushed on. So I started fishing over some very shallow ground no more than a couple of feet but after 5 minutes I just wasn’t feeling it, I find it best to move on when you get that feeling as you never seem to fish efficiently if you’re not confident on the spot. So I moved down about 50m down the coast to a spot where there water was a bit deeper which meant there was some swell moving around. I switched lures to a IMA Hound Glide 125f as I wanted a lure I knew I could beam out far and would dig into the bigger swell. I start reeling in feeling the lure dig down into the swell, about half way through the retrieve I feel the unmistakable hit of a fish on the lure. It was one of those hits when you just know it’s a fish, no snags or anything to mistake it for. Straight away I stopped the retrieve for a split second and then resume reeling and bang, I have a fish on. To say I was surprised was an understatement, but in that moment the only thing I was thinking was how do I safely and quickly get this fish landed. It wasn’t the longest fight but did have a couple good dives but with a pretty tight drag it never really got far. I got it to the surface and that’s when my heart rate increased even more after seeing the fish. It was decent size and what didn’t help was nowhere easy to land it especially in big swell and rough water. I was perched a bit higher up on a rock and in the end I just grabbed the leader wrapped it around my hand and lifted it up, hoping the line would not part from being rubbed on the rocks during the fight. After a quick measure and weight it’s resulted in one of the healthiest looking fish I had ever seen at 59cm and 5.8lbs. Quick snap and the fish was released unharmed, no better way to start the season off for me and certainly gives you the drive to get out in any weather.
The next few weeks went pretty quiet with some rubbish weather not helping and easterlies churning up the water and bringing the weed in.

Once things settled down again things were picking up, for a while now I’ve been talking to a few local lads about getting out with them for a spot of night fishing. Something I’ve dabbled in but not really had success, well Keir Tim and Neil over the past couple years have had more than good success at night and while the bass are in they turn almost nocturnal. So we arrange to get out on a spot very close to me for a few hours into darkness, while waiting for the dark to settle in there was some good sport with the wrasse that are present pretty much on all the coastline I fish. Great fun and easy enough for anyone to get involved in, but this night was all about the bass and as darkness engulfed us I was first in on the bass, just a schoolie but great to feel that rod bending in dark. The bass fell to a savage gear sandeel in pearl white on a straight retrieve at normal pace. In the next couple hours another 4 bass were landed between us nothing of big size but even just that one fish really give you heaps of confidence at night

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So thanks to the guys I now had the confidence and a bit more knowledge of the dark side of fishing. After a stressful day I decided the only remedy was to catch some bass and when I set out that afternoon I didn’t have a clue what I was going to be greeted with come the end of the session. I fished the same mark as the previous night, I fished a couple of hours down and then right up the whole tide, so a good solid 8 hour session. Others might never stick on one mark for that period of time but being a new mark to me I wanted to fish the full tide to see when it produced and my god it was worth it. Apart from one small wrasse I had nothing for the first 5 hours and by this time I’m thinking of heading home, when suddenly the Megabass x120 produces a bass. Possibly the smallest I’ve ever caught but bass none the less. Just this small fish gives you the drive to keep going, and in the next hour I landed 3 more fish 2 on the Duo jerkbait 120 sp and one on the redgill evostik both in pear white. The last 3 I may add were in the dark and after pulling back what was looking like a blank I was more than content with my efforts. I started the walk back over the rocks and back onto the shingle beach. Now for some reason I just could not resist chucking a few off the shingle, maybe it was the shallow reef and numerous gullies that lay in front. Second chuck bang fish on, just a schoolie but now im absolutely buzzing. A few more chucks and this time bang, fish on but this was more than a schoolie straight away you can feel the heavy knocks and head shakes that the better fish give you. After a good little scrap I pull a nice looking fish up onto the shingle, it measured 58cm and it was a prime condition bass. I stuck the head torch on and waded out to my knees to release this fish, I cradled it in the water and you just feel when its ready to go, a flick of the tail and it graciously swims of into the gully as I watch with the head torch.
I though maybe after a bit more commotion and the light shining all over the water where I was fishing there would be a good chance I had spooked any other fish that were present. I though wrong next cast another good hit and up comes another decent fish this one coming in at 54cm, at this point I’m in utter shock. After 5 hours of fishing with one tiny bass it then got dark and it was although someone has flicked a switch and the bass have turned on. Now I could quite happily go on and on describing each fish I caught in detail but there just not enough time for that as I have to get back out fishing. The summary though is that I ended up catching 15 bass in that session all of which were caught in the last 3 hours of the flood. This is the best session I have ever had and in fact, number wise this tripled my previous best session of 5 fish. It got to the stage where it was getting that late and with work the next day I was saying after this cast I’m leaving, but then on that last cast I would catch another and there is no chance I’m leaving after landing another. In the end I think I had 5 last casts all of which produced fish before they actually seemed to dry up! So after moving off the rocks to make my way home after catching a very modest 4 bass I then went on to land another 11 bass, yes 11!! All of which I may add were caught stood in exactly the same spot, casting dead straight out in front of me and all on the savage gear sandeel in the Lemon back colour. I’ll tell you now this night fishing has really changed the game for me, conditions seem to matter less, tides and time of tide still come into play, but this session it was flat calm and crystal clear not the conditions we would exactly go looking for in the day for bass. Since this session I’ve gone on to have another 5 or 6 good sessions down on this mark at night not to the level of 15 fish but landing an average of 5 fish a session.

After all this great fishing you would think how could it get much better? Well I think I definitely got the cherry on top the other night whilst out on a Session with one of my new fishing buddy’s, Tim. Conditions were looking good so we decided to head out, we got to our chosen mark and was already dark so it had potential to be good fishing right from the first chuck. Away we go and on Tim’s first cast he connects with a fish, unfortunately it wasn’t to stay on but it felt like a better fish. That is certainly the sort of sign you want straight away, knowing for sure there are feeding fish around makes you fish that much better and with confidence. A few chucks later and me and Tim had both landed the first of the night, only schoolies but always nice to see some silver. We carried on with good confidence of seeing a better fish, I cast long with my new very trusted Savage Gear sandeel this time in pearl white. The lure hits the water and over the bail arm goes, I start cranking at a fairly slow pace but just fast enough to stop snagging on the bottom, then bang I’m into a fish. I shout to Tim I have a fish on and it felt like a better size, just felt heavier and wasn’t as erratic as the schoolies generally are. I get it about half way in and Tim gets in a position so he is able to land it for me, he switches on the head torch. I can see the flashes of silver but can’t really tell the size of the fish from that distance in the dark. I slowly ease the fish in after a respectable scrap and pull it towards Tim, he reaches for the leader to pull it up onto the rock in front and just as he starts to lift the fish it goes a bit mad shaking its head. This resulted in him chucking the lure and falling back into the water, now I’m stood up on the rock above so didn’t really know what was happening but next thing I see is Tim diving forward to the water plunging his arm into it almost shoulder deep. I’m shouting down to him don’t worry mate leave it, its just a fish and as I said this I see him reach deeper. Now honestly I though the fish had gone which was fine always more to catch but after about 10 seconds Tim’s arm re appears grasping a fine specimen of a bass, it was held high like a trophy, and rightly so. That was by far the best and most dedicated landing of a fish I have ever seen and for someone else’s fish. I seriously take my hat of to the man for the sheer commitment shown to land the fish and my god when I saw it up close I was pleased he had retrieved the escapee fish, it measured a great 63cm which was to be my new English PB bass.

These are the sort of results I could only dream on 2 years ago when I started out lure fishing especially when I would spend a week fishing most days for solid sessions to scrape one small schoolie. It really is one good example of being patient and keep going as you will one day see the results. So all in this has just been a dream start to the season and especially good considering all the time the coast has been weeded out or the water has coloured right up from all the east winds.