Some days are better than others

Another hot, sunny day but let’s not complain because winter is long enough.  That said in this part of Suffolk we’ve only had one day of significant rain since the beginning of June.  Driving on familiar country roads the fields I sliced through were parched and harvest was in full swing, the sky hazy with dust.  I couldn’t decide where to go; I keep thinking about the tricky beach, an outer estuary spot I fished last year which was either shit or bust, a waste of time or brilliant.  The trouble here is it is a bugger to hold when the tide ebbs, as it will later tonight.  If I can’t fish effectively then I’ll be wasting the first couple of hours of darkness, the key time.  High tide is due a little after eight tonight so if I fished Radar again I’d be in business all the way…

In the end I played safe and went to Radar which is usually the least busy of my preferred places, tonight I was lucky and pulled into the last available space in the car park, this after making off with the last ragworm in the shop earlier.  The beach beside the car park was busy with sun seekers, they had all they needed here, no need to go wandering, if they did they’d find another world around the corner.  I pushed through the gorse and found the wind blowing into my chops and a good bit stronger than the one I’d left at home.  The sea was bouncing too, big waves pounding the beach, some tell me these are good conditions for Bass but I’m not convinced.  I started setting up, for a second I considered turning round and heading back to the tricky beach but thought ‘fuck it I’m here now’.

I was soon tackled up with a whole squid bound and pennelled launched on a pulley rig then a small strip of squid fished on a running leger on the light rod.  I started with two tough baits while I got everything organised and made a brew.  I didn’t expect anything to begin with but once I put ragworm on things might get busy.  As I sipped my brew it looked like something was tapping away on the light rod and sure enough I wound in a tiny Eel which was unhooked easily.  Now time for the live bait, Bass love ragworm and that was what I was mostly hoping for tonight.  It didn’t take long, the first cast brought a decent bite and a nice little Bass wriggled up the beach.

The heavy rod hadn’t moved but I wound in to check the bait and found it was hardly touched.  This suited me tonight, I wanted to leave a big bait out there hoping for a Ray or a Hound while I hauled in the Bass.  Next cast on the light rod brought another bite and another small Bass, everything seemed to be going to plan for a change, this was easy.

But it didn’t work out like that.  The tide rose and the sun dipped but despite everything seeming right nothing much happened.  The expected action at high tide came in the form of just one more small Bass and with the coming of darkness I had another slimy rig mangler.  What bites I had came on the light rod fished about thirty yards out while the heavy rod didn’t show a single bite.  I gave it till 2230, fully dark with the tide retreating fast then called it a day, things had not at all gone to plan.

One week later...

Everyone tells me that the best places for Bass in summer are the salt water rivers but I don’t fish them much.  Where there is access there are always people and I don’t like people.  I like fishing the beaches because they are wild places and there’s always the chance of something big like a Ray or a Hound, it’s these species that motivate me most.  But it’s been slow on the beaches recently and with high tide due at 1355 there was only one sensible thing to do and that was fish a river and go all out for Bass.  Luckily I know a spot, a fairly obvious one really but it’s off the beaten track and a bloody long walk, enough to put most people off.  I paid just one visit last year and was rewarded with a few fish but that walk!  Could I really be arsed?  I shelled out for some ragworm, essential for Bass and expensive enough to make sure I got off my backside and used it.

Because of the early tide I left home in the late morning after a big breakfast.  The first part of the drive was easy, travelling on big roads that were busy, singing along to Tom Petty then the roads got narrower and I finished on a couple of miles of gravel and dust.  Once parked I then had a mile hike to a spot with man-made structure and deep water close in, it takes effort to get there and by the time I dropped my gear I was blowing a bit.  My reward was a swim that would be cramped and uncomfortable until the tide dropped a bit but a nice view was guaranteed, would there be any fish about?  They were this time last year…  The flood bank sheltered me from a decent westerly wind but if the sun broke through the thin cloud there’d be no hiding place.

I started just after noon and fished how I always do; a big bait on the heavy rod, on this occasion squid, and ragworm on the light rod.  I expected action on the rag from the word go but whenever I’m this confident it never happens.  The heavy rod was on the move, loads of weed was being shifted by the tide and dragging the line with it.  I had to fish both rods close in while all this was going on.  For an hour nothing happened and I started to have doubts, would the long walk be for nothing?  Sighting a Seal did nothing for my confidence either.  But at 1330 the tip rattled and my first Bass of the day was steered through clumps of weed.  It wasn’t a bad size either, bigger than most of the handful I’ve had off the beaches this year.  

This was the start of a feeding spell in the run up to high tide, I had regular rattles on the ragworm and landed two more Bass but nothing at all happened on the heavy rod.  I’d brought a lure rod too and was casting a kwikfish with enthusiasm but nothing intercepted it.  After high tide came a lull but I still had the odd bite here and there, by 1530 I’d landed three more decent Bass all on Rag.  Then it went quiet, the tips remained motionless and it looked like the shoal had moved on.

I walked up to the structure and liked the way the water boiled and swirled.  Its snaggy here, risky for a leger rig but I fancied running a lure through the area.  The kwikfish was just being swept downstream so I put a rubber sandeel type thingy onto a jig head and started casting.  I couldn’t believe my eyes when a Bass swirled in front of me and a couple of casts later I hooked one.  It fought like hell on the light lure rod, much more fun than the casting sticks to be honest and eventually I lifted the fish ashore, my best of the day so far, not quite legal size.  A couple of casts later I was in again, another decent fish tried hard to get in the snags but somehow the light gear kept it out, this was a little bigger than the first, definitely a keeper.  I bumped a fish then hooked up again and had another repeat battle and for the third time in a row upped my lure caught PB.  I had one more on the rubber lure making it four in half an hour before the fish moved off; I tried again at intervals but didn’t get another touch on lures.

So it was back to the ragworm and by now I was fishing it on both rods.  The tide was well on the way down now but I still had bites in fits and starts, mostly on the light rod but bigger worm baits fished a little further on the heavy rod brought me two bigger fish, both of which were legal size.  The last fish got itself weeded, making me think I might have something special but when it appeared it was one of the smallest of the day.  By 1830 I was knackered and still had a mile hike back to the car ahead of me but I’d had my best ever days Bass fishing; I caught fifteen, four of which would have been legal ‘keepers’ and for the first time since I’ve started this sea fishing malarkey I bonked one on the head and put it in the cool bag.  We ate it tonight fried and laid on a bed of rice and veg and it was bloody good but I don’t think I’ll make a habit of it.

Gone Fishing by Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse.

I’m a lifelong addicted angler, I like the two comedians cum authors and I really enjoy their TV show.  I don’t watch much fishing on screen, in general I prefer to read about it but “Mortimer and Whitehouse go fishing” for the same reasons I do and they manage to capture this on film.  It’s one of the very few TV programs that fasten my arse to the chair and when I watch I find myself smiling constantly for the whole half hour.  Yes it is about catching fish, preferably big ones but mostly it’s just about being there, in a beautiful place having a laugh with your mates.  I expect it annoys the hell out of people who like to watch carp anglers holding something the size of a water buffalo whilst screaming at the camera. 

But this is about the book which is a predictable money grabber on the back of the series BUT it is an amusing read, it had me laughing and is certainly good for anyone who looks at fishing and think ‘You know, I’d like to try that’ which is what the authors wanted. I can’t remember if its three or four TV series now but I hope they keep going fishing.