A few bass coming in, a few bass lost, broken rods, broken reels, bloody knees, lost lures, what’s not to love about fishing in Portugal?

The bass fishing here in SW Portugal is merciless when it comes to ego and fishing tackle. In four days I have seen a broken lure rod, a broken spinning reel, a good few lost lures, a bloody pair of knees for one of our lads as he was landing a good bass, and some lost bass because landing them in hectic seas down here is bloody hard. There have also been a good few miles walked, some decent elevation changes, a lot of laughs, and some really good food for not very much money at all. Of course I love my fishing, but in reality I just love being here and away from a UK winter for a few days………………….

We’ve got a couple of days left and we may well not see the bass of a lifetime on this trip - but there’s always that chance. That next hit from a bass down here could be the sort of (sea) bass we are literally never going to hook back home, and although bass as a species of fish do not obsess me when it comes to their (relative lack of) size, I sure would love to see what a bass actually looks like when it gets close to say the 20lb mark.

Yes, I asked Henry here to put this fine bass right into my 20mm lens. I know it’s not true to life. It’s called photography.

We were fishing a spot on Wednesday when to be honest the actual sea was way too rough for the ground if that makes sense, but every single thing just screamed the potential for a serious fish. How I’d have actually landed a fish like that around a hell of a lot of exposed rocks and crashing waves is another matter though. It’s exciting stuff and I love that it’s all this amazing thing we call lure fishing for bass. You all have a good weekend and I will catch up when I am back home next week. I turn 52 today and I am really rather glad to still be here to enjoy getting older……………