The Bassing has been fun but after quite a few trips to the same spot I fancied a change of scenery and routine. I wanted to get back onto an open beach as opposed to an estuarine spot but which one? I spent the morning mooching about the house and garden, getting bits ready and trying to decide where to go. The day was clear and bright with barely a cloud and just a light north easterly breeze waving the leaves. I shouldn’t need the shelter but for some reason something made me put it in the car. By 1430 I was hiking through a different salt marsh with a fierce wind trying to push me backwards and I was bloody glad to have the shelter, my destination was the ‘Cauldron’ which could be heaven or hell. I’ve had some excellent nights fishing here but some dodgy ones too as the currents can make it unfishable. Whatever happened here I didn’t expect it to be all about ragworm after dark and although I knew I had a damn good chance of Bass here, other interesting species may turn up too. Whatever, this is one of my favourite places to sit and I was confident of catching something at least.
By 1450 I had two running legers fishing squid out into the
boiling waters. The old carp rod has
been retired yet again, back came the vintage beachcaster. I started off with the light rod at close
range and the heavy rod about forty yards in an area of uneven depth and all
kinds of obstructions. I’d arrived two
and a half hours before high tide and planned to fish it up and as far down as
reserves of bait, energy and enthusiasm allowed. Despite the wind the tips weren’t too wobbly
although I’d struggle to see some of the more subtle bites we’d had
lately. The sea had a bit more colour
too it than of late, a greeny grey instead of the exotic blue of when I’d last
visited an open beach. The waves were
fairly small but loud as they dragged shingle down the slope beside me. I was sitting comfortably in the front of my
shelter but move a yard in any direction and the wind reminded me it wasn’t a
balmy spring day, not here at least. Not
just a different day, a different season.
After an uneventful forty five minutes I switched the light
rod over to ragworm, the first one I pulled out was ropey and dead but I
threaded it on anyway and thought I’d give it a go. The lumps of squid I’d been soaking had come
back relatively untouched and I noticed there wasn’t too much snotty weed
clinging to the line so far. At 1545 I
had my first proper bite of the night which I had no trouble seeing, a Bass –
small, silver and beautiful had snaffled the dead worm, I don’t know why that
surprises me but it does. Interesting.
On the next couple of casts I thought I might have seen the odd erratic
movement on the tip but couldn’t be sure and it wasn’t enough to get me out of
the chair. I tried holding the rod and
felt definite plucks but with my reactions I’ll never hook those! Meanwhile lumps of squid fished on the heavy
rod were coming back looking as good as new so maybe I could leave them a
while?
At 1700, with the tide nearly at the top of the slope I
hoped the sea might be slack enough for me to launch a squid on a pulley rig,
far out into the heaving mass. The
rhythmic tip movements indicated it was moving but not much. Through the high tide period I seemed to be
getting attention on the ragworm on every cast but frustratingly no proper
bites. There were distractions around
me; a Herring Gull was edging close hoping to steal some food but I wasn’t in
the mood for charity today. A pair of
Plovers zipped passed and above me were Sand Martins and Skylarks. Then bang!
The light rod was bouncing and I had my second Bass of the night. I’d barely recast when it banged again but I
missed it this time. With all this going
on I spent plenty of time outside the sanctuary of the shelter but by now, with
the turn of the tide, the wind had started to ease.
By 1800 the bites had stopped and all baits were coming back
intact and I had an hour of watching motionless tips, had the fish moved
off? I remembered bites coming in spells
here in years gone by so hoped this would be the case tonight. I’d been fishing the heavy rod at range but
the ebb tide was beginning to gather pace, the bend in the old rod increasing,
the leads would start rolling soon so it would be time to switch back to fishing
in the gullies. I rigged up a peeler
crab on a long trace in preparation but next time I wound in the light rod I
snagged, so ended up clipping the crab onto that rod. I swung it out into the cauldron at about
1900, it’s a highly rated bait for many species crab, but I’ve not done a great
deal of good on it.
At 1910 the light rod banged over and I almost fell out of the seat. I’d hooked a decent fish at close range that was pulling back a bit but what was it? I didn’t have to wait long for my answer as the sun picked out a silver bar running parallel to the shore against the tide. I soon had it on a short line and used an incoming wave to help me drag it on to the beach. It looked a good un and was too big for the measure so out came the scales, my second best so far, happy days. I stuck a ragworm back out on that rod then rigged up another crab which I stuck on the heavy road now fished a bit closer. Half an hour passed before I had two quick bites on the worms and two more small Bass were quickly unhooked and returned. Over the next half an hour I had plenty of plucks and rattles but only managed to hook one more Bass. In between dealing with that rod I’d switched the other one to squid and it was this that produced the next bite at 2020. Even with the heavier rod I could feel a bit of weight that wasn’t doing a lot so I wondered if it was a Ray but no a big Dogfish wriggled up the beach. A spell of calm followed then out of the blue at 2045 I had bangs on both tips, only one bite developed though and I wound in a seventh Bass on rag and it wasn’t even dark!
That was my last proper bite for a while although I still
had the occasional nibble on ragworm.
The sea retreated but the light began to fade so I decided to stay on
into darkness until the worms run out.
2130, forty five minutes had passed without a fish. Now was the time I’d be starting to feel
confident when fishing the other spot, surely darkness would bring some more
fish? The answer was yes, over the next
half hour another flurry of decent bites brought me three more smallish Bass
and I’d reached double figures. I hoped
for just one more but the bites stopped a couple of casts before the bait was
all gone.
I didn’t know what to expect when I crossed the marsh
earlier, I wondered if I’d see a Ray or maybe an early Hound. I hadn’t seen either but ten Bass and a big
Doggy is a result in my book. Walking
back on a now still night I soon got a sweat on, which wouldn’t have seemed
likely a few hours earlier. It’s
tempting to come back here at the earliest opportunity but I’ll have to study
the tides and I have to remind myself that it’s different here every time.
My next trip to the beach was in a period of big tides but my plans had to be changed as ragworm was scarce and the weather wet and horrible. The following day saw calmer winds with scattered showers and fishing should be a lot more comfortable if I could decide where to go. Trying to target Bass without Ragworm is beyond me so it would have to be a beach where I have a chance of a variety of species. I could head south and fish for Rays but the swell would be unpredictable and besides, I want to catch more Smoothounds and they don’t turn up very regularly at all down there. Maybe I should head north to one of the renowned beaches but if I’m going to make that effort ideally I’d want ragworm in the bag! There are a few spots closer to home that do produce Hounds irregularly, I’ve even caught a couple myself. One is a bloody long walk and the other is a beach I’d avoid at the weekend but on a weekday morning it should be pretty quiet? It’s a place I often end up when I can’t decide where to go.
Half term roads were a bit calmer and the county show would
be sucking a lot of traffic in that direction.
For a lot of the vehicles heading that way the cargo is more civilised
than the driver. By 0915 I had my
shelter up and was sitting behind the two regular rods feeling strangely
confident? Last time I’d fished here I
hadn’t had a bite! I fished a running
leger with a long hooklength at close to medium range, bait either small squid
or crab on a 1/0 hook. The other was the
usual pulley rig baited with squid which I launched as far as I could into the
grey mass. I’ll never break any records
but there is something enjoyable about launching a rig as far as possible into
the briny and after the fast flowing places I’ve been fishing it was nice to
have the opportunity to do so. The wind
was from the west blowing over my shoulder but the sea was pretty flat with
just small waves, bang on for a Ray maybe?
I sat back on my chair which was well back in the shelter
today as the sun was above me and showers were forecast later. To begin with I gave the baits a decent soak
but still they came back in one piece.
After two hours I’d seen a couple of bumps on the tip but nothing I
could strike at and I wondered why the hell I’d come here again? If I was honest it was because I couldn’t be
arsed with a long walk so this would be my punishment. I battled the normal onset of paranoia and
won, for some reason I had a feeling I’d catch something today. Just over an hour before high tide I had a
decent rattle on the light rod but this didn’t develop, hopefully things would
pick up through the peak?
Twenty minutes later I had a good pull down bite on the heavy rod but wound down into something solid. I held the bend in the rod hoping to shift something but it seemed like I’d snagged. I wound down again but the line gave way, bugger! It hadn’t gone at the leader knot as expected but somewhere along the way, I stripped off a couple of yards of line that was rough to the touch and tackled up again. Every tide shifts and scours, snags appear where they never were before and in time vanish again. A few minutes later the light rod banged properly then went slack. I wound down quickly and made contact with something giving a decent resistance. I expected a Dogfish but as I pumped it close to the shore it decided it didn’t want to be there and powered off which was unexpected and had me striding down the slope to follow it, probably a decent Bass? I used the next wave to help bring the fish onto the beach and bugger me it was a Smoothound a couple of feet long and gorgeous!
I had to snap a quick picture of this rare visitor before getting it back into the sea, that was what I really wanted to catch, albeit a bit bigger but even this small one had made my day. By now we were minutes away from high tide and things were happening. The heavy rod started rattling then bent over and I wound in a good sized Dogfish without any problem then launched another squid eastward. Twenty minutes later the same rod bent over again and I wound into a decent weight that was moving and felt like a good Ray. I was only just beginning to contemplate this when the rod sprung back, the line had gone again, this time at the bloody reel! After a bit of head scratching and examination I actually reached for the glasses and located a groove worn into the roller. With no tools with which to adjust the reel I was now down to one rod.
I decided to switch the light rod to a pulley rig which I
could propel a bit further as most bites were coming at distance but I figured
I’d missed my chance due to faulty tackle or more to the point, failure to
check. Things had certainly slowed down
but there were still the odd fishy vibrations on the tip then at 1350 a decent
bite and a fish with a bit of substance.
I slowly dragged the fish to shore and a Ray of three pounds or so
appeared on a wave, this lessened the blow a bit. Another forty five minutes passed before I
had another strikable bite from which I managed to land another doggie. By now it was approaching 1500 so I had one
more cast after which I got away well ahead of rush hour. Mixed feelings today, I’d caught a couple of
pleasing fish but it should have been more now where’s me screwdriver?