Weekending

I had the weekend to myself so I made plans for all out fishing. I did plan on being out this morning as well but a late night and the clocks going forward meant I well overslept.

Saturday started with me going down to the Straits on the Bangor side. I was using LRF and spinning gear, just trying to get a feel for using them. It was very slow going, with no sign of any fish. However I found a clear patch 3 foot deep amongst a load of seaweed, and dropping an imitation ragworm drew the attention of a small ballan wrasse. It had a look and I'm sure it took half of my lure, just not the half with the hook in it! It stayed interested for a couple of minutes before the swells from passing boats clouded up the water and the wrasse was gone. I give it an hour or so more but with nothing happening except the wind getting colder I headed off to prepare for my second session.

After digging a healthy amount of lugworm, I headed onto the island to try out a new mark for bass. Not sure on the timings, I arrived around 2 hours before high and before I had my second rod set up the first was already bouncing. I missed a couple of bites but soon landed one of the culprits which was a small bass about 8 inch long. This pattern continued up to high tide with many missed bites due to the fish taking the lug in between the pennel, therefore missing the hooks. I managed to land 5 fish before bites slowed down. Just after high I shone my head torch in the shallows and no more than a rod length out, shoals of fish were passing by. Initially I thought they were mullet, however the more I thought about it, the more convinced I am they were bass, all in the 1-2lb range.

With no sign of any bigger fish I moved to a mark slightly nearer the car. All was quiet for the first hour and a half, think I lost a doggie but that was the only action. Then as I debated packing up I had 2 bites in quick succession, first one missed but second one was on. Turned out to be a bass, and better than the fish I was catching earlier. This seemed to open the gates and it was manic for the next hour, I could only fish one rod at a time as they were biting before the rod was in the tripod. I landed another 4 with the best being close to 2lb. As quickly as they came on, the fish disappeared again and I headed off a lot later than planned but a feeling it was very worth it!