At the start of the week I'd decided that the combination of the tides size and time looked best for Thursday but come Tuesday morning i felt a calling that i hadn't felt since the end of last year. I actually wanted to go fishing. Yes, the wind was blowing a steady 10 knots South easterly, the tide was smaller then a small thing and there was barely a ripple of swell but for whatever reason, i really fancied a go. I picked Woody up just before low water to give us the chance to get set up in the day light and be fishing in time for the pushing tide. We crested the hill to be greeted by this glorious sight (left) and made a quick pit stop in the lay by to see what was what. Unusually the whole beach seemed pretty uniform.
With eager anticipation we jumped back into the car and headed down the hill to the car park. The light was just starting to fade so we both quickly threw on our gear, Put our rods together and made out way down to the beach and headed towards our favourite spot on the beach (it's our favourite spot quite simply because it's where we always seem to do best)
The plan we had formulated through the day was firstly to fish 2 rods each. One close in with a big squid bait for a Bass and the other at distance to try our luck and see if there were any early Small Eyed Ray about on the North coast yet.
My distance rod was going to be my trusted combo of an AWB 122 with a TSR strapped to it and a clipped down pulley rig. But for the second time in the year i was having a go with a set up that's new to me. In the winter i had bought a Shakespeare zed lite 2-4oz Bass rod (circa mid 90's) to sell as second hand stock. It had the original crappy rings on and the duplon handle was a bit on the tatty side but i was blown away by the blank. Firstly it looked fabulous. The blank itself and varnish protecting it was pristine. It has that Kevlar weave that many of the top end rod's of the 90's had (and some still do) in a light red and a light green colour which sounds grim but it looks lovely. The action was something else, just what i liked, a nice and soft but crisp tip action rod with a nice progressively gutsy mid to butt section. I just couldn't bring myself to sell it.
So i stripped it down and had a new set of Fuji bnog's put on it. With a new Fugi dps 22 reel seat and a length of x-weave shrink tube it back to looking it's best and had been given the rebuild such a rod deserved.
I already had a nice fixed spool to go on it and although the Biomaster 8000 was a touch on the big side i couldn't justify a new, only slightly smaller reel to go on it when i already owned a gloriously smooth reel. Si loaded that up with 50lb braid and a short 3ft 40lb leader. I always keep my leaders short when using braid as any knot tied using braid is rock hard and can easily pop the liners out of the eye's.
Being that i was planning on using this combo for close in fishing i didn't fancy using my usual pulley rigs so instead settled on using the simplest rig of them all, a running ledger. I was only going to be casting 30 or 40 yards maximum so there was going to be no need to clip any bait down. Up until now i have spent many hours refining how i fish on the beach in whatever conditions but with this set up being new it will pay to try some different things. I'm pleased to report though that it seemed to work well. I made it quite long at about 6ft of 30lb memorex and used a zip slider with a 4oz swivel pear lead. Of the 3 casts i had i didn't have a single bit of a tangle. But that said, it was as flat as a ballet dancers tit's and with the small tide there was no rip either so I'll need to try it in a few different types of conditions to pass any judgement. On the whole though I'm really pleased with the set up so far. It sets a lovely tip and it's nice and stable on a sand spike. I just cant wait to catch a mahoosive Bass on it. The combo of a light, tippy rod and braid should be great.
The sunset was breathtaking. It felt kind of special out there. Things just felt right again. As the light dropped further there was a lovely sight that you just don't see very often. It was dark but the sun was ever so lightly illuminating the clouds on the horizon. It looked spectacular how there was a slight red glow that faded into a fiery orange, then from a light green into a deep blue, then the stars and darkness of the sky. All within about 15deg of view. Venus was also particularly bright which was nice to see. The only thing i could liken it to was the glow that see around the Earth from pictures taken from space. I just felt totally at peace. I tried to take a picture of it but an iPhone camera has certain limitations.
So in the end the fishing was crap. Between the 2 of us we didn't have a single bite. But it didn't matter one bit. That one session, although poor in terms of fish, has given me back the bug. The motivation i need to get back out and start this years campaign proper. There are going to be plenty of blanks along the way but it's all part of the game when fishing for big Bass. A bad nights fishing is better then a good day at work.
I'm just not sure if my new found enthusiasm stretches to fishing tonight. Flat calm seas and North East winds. That said though, it's a nice tide at a nice time. You never know. I might just give it a bash.
Tight lines
Rich
