The glorious buzz that a bouncy open coast session can give you, yesterday morning was a blast

You will have gathered by now that I love all the different types of shore based lure fishing for bass which these amazing fish almost force us to get involved in if one has an open mind and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. I love how quiet and reflective and perhaps considered this lighter side of estuary based bass fishing so often is for example, but from time to time I do need the sort of bass fishing where your adrenaline is really up and you spend most of the time giggling because it’s such a blast…………

And yesterday morning was exactly that. I made a call and crossed my fingers that there wouldn’t be too much weed around, indeed I found out later that a friend of mine fished further along the coast from us and was completely weeded out. I met up with a couple of friends and we made our way down the cliffs and out onto the rocks, to be met with some stunning sea conditions. One of those times when the Surfline app was spot on, because the evening before the coast had been somewhat flat and I was worried the sea wasn’t going to get up like the app suggested. I trusted the forecast and it was correct! First few casts for the three of us and it looked like the weed was okay as well.

One of the lads was down from up country for a saltwater fishing weekend, and if there is one thing I want to see is somebody who doesn’t get the chance to go bass fishing all the time connect with at least a bass. It doesn’t matter if I don’t catch because I have got bass fishing on my doorstep and to be honest the light and conditions were that good yesterday I knew I wasn’t going to end up fishing a huge amount anyway. Same with Dave from Labrax Mafia who also loves his photography and who kindly shot some stuff of me fishing a bit yesterday morning. Fishing photography is as much of an addiction as fishing itself.

So when Chris yelped that unmistakeable “I’m into a bass” sort of yelp, in an instant my morning was made. I made my way over to snap a few grip and grins of Chris’s fish, and as cliche as it might sound, that beaming smile all over the face of a passionate angler (who is also the most incredible wildlife photographer, check his Instagram page out here, makes me feel like a bit of a fraud!) really is a glorious thing.

Chris landed a few more bass during the session, but eventually we did get weeded out and had to call it a bit before I wanted to be off the mark. I did consider bopping him on the head and running away with his stunning looking Shimano Exsence 2025 4000MXG spinning reel, but I will leave that until next time! Repeat after me Henry, you do not need a new spinning reel…………..

I did get to fish a bit when I could face putting my camera gear down. Remember how I mentioned the fact that I needed to experiment with that Savage Gear Collapser paddletail on a jig head? I have been rooting around at home and trying different jig heads out to see which one seemed to fit the best, and I came up with the 14cm Collapser rigged on a BKK Silent Chaser EWG Round Head 4/0 7g jig head, as per the photo above. I don’t think the UK crowd who now bring BKK gear into the UK import these specific (and awesome) weedless jig heads, so if it helps I bought mine here.

Thanks to Dave from Labrax Mafia for the use of this photo of me hooked into a bass yesterday

Initially I got smacked pretty hard by a bass which didn’t connect, but then a second or so later I got smacked again and the fish did connect. I ended up with a few more bass on this specific 14cm Collapser/BKK jig head combination, and as I said in this blog post here from last week, I really like how you can work these paddletails relatively slowly and they are still swimming so strongly. Being able to kinda “hold” the Collapser in a bit of backwash off some boulders caught me that first bass.

I was buzzing anyway because Chris had caught some bass, and together with the sea conditions, the light, the people I was fishing with AND the fact that I had caught bass myself on the Collapser with a jig head as I had promised myself to try and do? Not entirely sure the entire combination is that good for my heart! About as much fun as fishing gets in my opinion, then I got back home, did a quick turnaround, and headed off back down to the beach with my wife and youngest girl for a picnic lunch and a walk. We are so lost without a dog here at home……………

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