Are you struggling in this cold weather?

I think back to catching a few bass on creature baits in February in shallow waters within an estuary when I’m wearing thermal compression gear under my waders and a waterproof jacket to try and cut the cold wind out. I was most likely also wearing gloves because my hands get much colder these days due to the heart pills - yet there were some bass around in areas and conditions I would never have thought about seriously targeting before these more controlled and subtle ways of targeting bass fully entered my sphere…………….

Wrapped up against a bloody cold NW wind the other day!

So we’re in the middle of May here, and except for the odd day it just doesn’t feel nearly as warm as we would hope for the time of year. It’s not quite February cold, but you get my drift. I remember having a conversation with a weather person some years ago who told me that I was wrong when I said that I am absolutely convinced we get way more (cold) NW winds than we used to down here in Devon and Cornwall. Surely as anglers we can’t help but pick up on stuff that perhaps other more normal people do not?

Call me strange, but via forecast apps and tide apps plus various webcams and sea/swell forecasts I like to know at least roughly what’s going on out there as regards the sea state every single day. Mostly around my local area for sure, but with the information so readily and mostly freely available to us these days I don’t personally understand an angler who doesn’t keep him or herself informed - even if you’re not actually going fishing. If I am not fishing it helps me to plan for when I am going fishing, and when I am going fishing this information obviously helps inform me where to go. If I go out and catch a bunch of fish then knowing what’s been going on out there in the days leading up to my success helps with continuing to learn and understand. And so on.

Something doesn’t feel quite right at the moment though. I have always believed that there are various patterns within the natural world which we will never quite grasp because we are human beings and what makes us human naturally disconnects us from many of the natural rhythms which drive the natural world. A friend said to me once that if you think about it, fish are essentially set on feeding and breeding and something within their DNA drives this without them consciously realising or understanding. As anglers we try to put ourselves in front of them when they are feeding or looking for food. As humans we spend our lives trying to understand the meaning of life but perhaps we are no better off for doing so?

February bass in the cold, so what’s different when it’s cold in May?

If there is one wind direction I don’t like around here, it’s a north west. My two biggest bass both came on east winds and bright sunshine so I am generally fairly comfortable with east winds at certain times of the year. I don’t like them much for the open coast but night fishing has sorted that one out on many occasions, and I don’t much like very persistent easterlies. Ever notice how we tend to get a few weeks of east winds sometime in March or April nearly every year? I started to notice this when the bull huss fishing tended to pick up in early spring but then die a death for those few weeks of east winds - then pick up again when it changed.

But it’s north west winds which really fry my brain, and it happens to be north winds which I am 100% convinced we get way more of than we used to. Why I don’t know. I’d love to blame the Donald or social media, but I am pretty sure those forces don’t shape the weather. Not yet anyway! If there’s a bit of sea running out there I have had plenty of good bass sessions on the open coast when the wind changes to north west and preferably doesn’t sit there for days on end (like it seems to more and more).

It’s in our numerous estuaries where I notice that NW winds seem to have the most adverse effect. An estuary mark which I know fairly well and which I have fished in every condition going without doubt produces the worst bass fishing in north west winds, whatever the strength of them. I have cleaned up one day on say a (warm) southerly wind, then blanked the next day with the wind blowing out of the north west and feeling much colder, and it’s happened so many times you’d be blind not to notice. Is it that colder air and changeable weather which affects what the baitfish or various food sources are doing, and therefore where the bass are looking for food? Whatever the case may actually be, something doesn’t feel quite right out there at the moment and I am not covering myself in regular glory at all! Come on the warmer weather, pretty please……………