I just about managed to resist casting at a couple of cracking bass because I am a mature, responsible adult!

I reckon it’s at least twenty five years since I wandered the particular stretch of estuary water I was fishing the other day, and back then I’d have been targeting mullet. A particularly beautiful estuary which I don’t know well enough but I do remember seeing the biggest mullet I have ever seen in south west waters. I didn’t manage to catch any of them I might add, but those few fish have remained long in the memory…………….

And there were stacks of mullet mooching around when I ventured back up there the other day. It was warm and still and the mullet were either mooching around or sunbathing in the crystal clear water. My mate Mark watched a few bass chasing his Nikko Craw creature bait pretty early on in the session, but they wouldn’t pick it up. We were well hidden in the trees so I don’t think the fish saw us, but with the water being that clear and still I do wonder if the fish were extra wary of our soft plastics being gently trundled along the bottom.

I was moving around a lot on the hunt for bass which I was hoping to see, and also because I was refamiliarising myself with the area and the ground. I put a bit of time into a little bay but with the angle of the sun and some scum nudging in on the surface I couldn’t see very well into the water. I clambered out of the bay and started to wander along the banks of the estuary from up on high and in amongst the trees. There was no way down to the water’s edge that I could see and I was at least 10’ above the actual estuary, but there were some great vantage points for potentially spotting fish.

Mullet everywhere with seemingly not a care in the world. They couldn’t see me and I was also being as quiet as possible. These Cocoons fit-over polarised sunnies are very quickly proving their worth and I am amazed at how good the actual polarised lenses are on them (thank you to some kind people on here for alerting me to these things). Plenty more to come about these sunnies, but for the time being they really have become the solution to a few sunnies related issues I was having.

Anyway, at one particular vantage point I was watching a couple of good sized mullet sunbathing away, then out of the blue and almost right below me a couple of decent bass came in through some bladderwrack channels. Sometimes when you haven’t quite got the right angle to see fish very clearly you can be left wondering if you are seeing mullet or bass, but I was right on top of these two fish and they were unmistakably chunky bass. One of them flipped over on its side and rooted around in the mud and all the while my heart was doing palpitations which I am not sure are that good for it! I am not talking about double figure bass here, but the bigger fish especially was a good size and they looked interested…………

But how the hell am I going to land one if I hook up? I’m rigged up with that stunning little Nikko Craw creature bait in the smaller 2.5’’ size on the 1/0 5g Seadra weedless jig head, but firstly I can’t quite work out where to try and cast from in amongst the trees, and secondly I genuinely held back because I could see myself hooking up and instantly feeling like an idiot due to no chance of landing the fish. My brain was working overtime as I tried to problem-solve the situation and I held back.

Whilst I might add, the little shit on my shoulder was imploring me to sod it and at least have a cast. The mature adult in me (??) held back and watched the bass mooch around, but the little shit was very close to winning. I unhooked the Nikko Craw from the rod guide and got ready to cast. Quite where and how I was going to cast hadn’t been figured out here, but I’d cross that bridge if the little shit did win. I put my rucksack down whilst I continued to wrestle with the correct judgement, but then both bass suddenly darted off left and scooted under a big raft of bladderwrack and I lost them. I congratulated myself on being so grownup, but I think you could call it saved by the bell more than anything else. It’s such a buzz to see bass close up.

Disclosure - if you buy anything using links found in this blog post or around my website, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you any more to buy via these affiliate links - and please feel entirely free not to do so of course - but it will help me to continue producing content. Thank you.