I had a plan for my next beach trip, get some rag and fish the cauldron for Bass but this unravelled when I couldn’t get the worms. After that I wasn’t sure, could I be bothered? It was tempting to sit down with the cricket for the last couple of hours but the high tide was around 2015 and I could fish the ebb into darkness so in the end I talked myself into an evening on the beach. But which beach? I’d have a good chance at the busy beach but on a warm Saturday it would definitely live up to its name. I decided to go to the cauldron where I could expect solitude and fish big baits for big fish which are always a possibility here, it’s not always just Bass.
I’d put the shelter in the car but wasn’t sure i would need
it? It would be frustrating to hike to
the beach and be cold knowing it the shelter was in the car so I carried it
across the marsh. The breeze was from
the east, straight into my chops but in the end the shelter remained rolled
up. I started off fishing baits fairly
close in as the ripping tide was moving rigs cast any further than about forty
yards. On the hooks I mostly used squid
of various sizes but also tried crab and a disgusting strip of mackerel that
has been defrosted so many times it was probably lethal. I never know what to
expect at this spot, it is different every time I fish here but I wasn’t
surprised that it started off slowly.
Two hours passed and high tide was upon me but the baits which I’d been
recasting regularly were coming back intact.
I tried a long cast but the tide was still raging and it didn’t last
five minutes but I kept an eye on any floating debris, it would go slack at
some point.
Half an hour after high tide things were calm enough for me
to launch a bait and the rig would stay in position for about twenty minutes
before starting to roll. Obviously I was
recasting regularly and the baits were coming back chewed but the tips are
always wobbling here and I hadn’t seen anything that got me out of the
chair. This changed around 2100 with a
definite fishy rattle just after the sun had dipped below the treeline horizon
behind me. This didn’t develop but
boosted the confidence and half an hour later I had a proper pull over bite on
squid and wound into a decent weight which I pumped steadily to shore. In close the fish plodded a bit but didn’t
run so I wasn’t surprised to see a Ray appear on a wave, a nice fish, my
biggest of the year so far.
I fished on for another hour, into darkness but didn’t see any more fishy movement on the tips but when I wound in the heavy rod for the last time there was a bit of weight, unfortunately this turned out to be a big lump of weed which was a bugger to strip off the line. I loaded up and head back to the car, a daunting hike ahead of me but one bite, one Ray. I’d have settled for that when I left home.
Another day off and another favourable tide peaking just after 2300 which meant I could go to the shallow beach fish it all the way up hoping for a Ray. I managed to acquire some ragworm which meant I’d have a decent chance of Bass too, plans set and I was confident. The tide was right but unfortunately the weather wasn’t, the curve of the coast meant the fresh westerly wind would make life difficult so I decided to head elsewhere and for some reason I talked myself into returning to the ‘cauldron’. The hike across the marsh was taxing but once I’d unshouldered my gear I was alone in one of the most beautiful spots in the county.
This beach is notoriously inconsistent, heaven or hell and
unfortunately it was the latter on this evening. A day before new moon meant it was a pretty
big tide which increases the currents and, on this occasion, made the sea a
boiling, raging, scary entity. Add to
that loads of clinging snotty weed being carried on the tide meant holding a
rig in position was impossible at times.
Seven ounces cast about thirty yards would start to shift after ten
minutes and I was not able to whack a bait out at any time. I managed a bite on each rod but neither
resulted in a hooked fish and I tramped back thinking I should have known
better, I got it wrong tonight.
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