No country for old Bass anglers

I spent some time in Wales last week with Matt. This was my first visit to Wales fishing on what is a rough and tough Pembrokeshire coast.  

The plan was for me was to get some fishing done before meeting up with friends in the Midlands. Plans were made the forecast was good and the drive was a long one.

When I arrived Matt had the burgers on the barbi and this Soulpad tent which was to me home for the next few days was good to go. It was spacious, comfortable and the inflatable bed was already sorted out as after the long drive I don’t think I had the puff to deal with it.

After a couple of beers it was off to bed for a 4am start. When we got back for breakfast Matt introduced me to Laver seaweed picked fresh from the shore we fished that morning. This was fried with butter and seasoned and I have to say, really nice and a very different accompaniment to the sausage and egg.

Matt has some really nice spots to fish. The conditions in general were good with lots of movement in the sea which was running clear and green with a nice white fizzy look to it that sharpens you up the minute you get close to it.

A Weslh Bass in action

The tactics were mainly SP’s and my Wave Worm Bamboo Stiks fished weedless and weightless seemed to work well fished in the rocky gully’s, white water and current. It’s a nice way to fish picking your moments to cast between breaking waves and basically keeping in touch with the lure while imparting a few taps and a little movement.

Not the biggest Bass when they wanted it the takes were solid and these Welsh fish tore around in the white water putting a smile on my face and a bend in the rod. Nice fishing.

Me perched at sunset

As happens Matt and I have the same camera. We lost various picture to water on the lense.When you're in the water with the waves an auto close shutter might be an improvement for the Lumix.

 The bamboo stik again

A Wrasse on SG slug

 

Half man half seal?

The bald eagle with one from a nice run you can see in the background

 

On our last afternoon the conditions weren’t great so we had a crack for Mullet, what a laugh. We eventually brought the fish on the feed and had a lot of chances ending up with one each. We could have had a few more and big fish at that. I had my first thin lip and Matt had thick lip. It was nice way to end the trip.

Matt's fish which was a little porker

My Mullet making a break for it

I like what Matt’s doing in Wales have a look Here He worked his socks (in his case a wetsuit) off to find the fish and we caught each session and I ended up with a dozen Bass on my visit. I’ll remember the fish below for a while, it’s not allways about big fish or lots of fish but sometimes  just that one moment, attention to detail, something shared then put into action, good memories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Journey

jour·ney (jûr n )

n. pl.jour·neys

1.

a. The act of traveling from one place to another; a trip.

b. A distance to be traveled or the time required for a trip:

2. A process or course likened to traveling; a passage

 

 

I count myself lucky in a lot of ways when it comes to my fishing.  Over the last 15 years I’ve visited and fished in some great places. When I started out free lining  for Mackerel in Troon harbour as a kid I could only  dream of wetting a line in some far flung places for the huge fish that I might have saw in the pages of publications such as the Angling Times or Sea Angler back then. Equally, sleeping in a bus shelter waiting for the first bus home after fishing all night for Codling is a long way from getting dragged around like a rag doll 30 miles out in the Pacific attached to a Sailfish, great memories just the same of people and places, fish caught and of course fish lost across the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans the Caribbean and up in the Arctic.  I took getting spooled by an estimated 1000+ pound Blue Marlin pretty well for instance, the skipper took it worse than me I’d  had a good week, 5 Blues to 550+ pounds and a bonus Big Eye Tuna of 220 pounds, what’s to get upset about? I was lucky in Portugal landing a Mako on my own travel rod in the last 5 minutes of a tourist boat trip, lucky catching two GT’s on a canoe on a “day off” from the main trip, lucky beating a seal to my PB Mullet, it’s a borderline obsession you see.

Total bedlam

These days I’m happy closer to home catching Bass. At times chasing what might be described as the right fish seems a bit like me assuming the role of Captain Ahab and the Bass being Moby Dick ,as it stands today I’ve still got both legs and I’ve not had a boat wrecked so things are fine. I met an angler recently who got the fish he was after in June this year, he was 67 and yet again, recently it was reported on a forum that someone got the fish of a lifetime on his first attempt, it’s an odd thing this fishing and it can do strange things to your head if you let it but that’s the challenge and the uncertainty I guess. All I can do is learn, keep fishing and make the cast. The train might get into the station on the next trip or I may need to sit back and enjoy the view for a while, either way I’m still lucky.