Almost uncanny how often a lure change produces a bass
Don’t you love that period in the early morning when it’s still dark but there’s the merest hint of first light on the way? With the clocks changing yesterday morning I was on the rocks for that exact period to fish the last couple of hours of the ebb before heading home for a run (it’s an addiction now, end of) and then off up to Dartmoor for a much loved aunt-in-law’s 80th birthday lunch. Conditions looked pretty good but I couldn’t tell the clarity of the water after the fairly hectic onshore conditions of the previous day or two. Just me, nobody else around, plenty of ground to cover, the appeal is never, ever reduced……………
There was more swell rolling in than I expected, so to start with I chose to fish an area that gets me well above the sea, and because of the resulting angle of my line I chose to fish with a soft plastic/jig head combination. I wanted the kick of a paddletail, but I needed that weight at the front of the lure to keep me fishing right to my feet. I went with a 12cm/22g Savage Gear Sandeel V2 and got hit within a few casts but didn’t connect, and I also had an initial play with one of the rather good looking Major Craft Ceana Eely Shads in the 130mm 22.3g size, photo below. I have always liked how the Savage Gear Sandeel V2 lures cast, but what feels like a slightly stiffer body material on the Major Craft Ceana Eely Shad seriously puts it out there. I also like how they come in a 2-pack, as in 2 complete lures, body and jig head.
Major Craft Ceana Eely Shad in the 130mm 22.3g size
After a while I was beginning to think that first hit was going to be the curse for the morning, so as it began to get a bit lighter I moved away from where I had started fishing to some shallower ground with a lovely bit of wave rolling in. I wasn’t worried about the clarity because a fish had hit me, and what I do love at this time of year is that the water wasn’t full of weed after that blow. Go back a few months and it would have been unfishable, indeed on a few occasions I had had to walk away from the same location because it was so badly full of weed.
Shimano Stradic C5000XG spinning reel loaded up with the new Varivas Avani Sea Bass Max Power PEX9 braid
Pretty soon a bunch of lure rods are going to arrive here at home which might or might not be hitting the market next year, so I am getting in as much time as possible with that awesome APIA Foojin'RS Art Magic 90ML+ (UK Custom) 9' 5-36g lure rod before I meet up with Ben from the Art of Fishing and rather reluctantly hand it back (review here). I know that I am in a lucky position to be able to play around with a few different lure rods, and from time to time something which really stands out hits my radar. This specific APIA rod is one of them. I have deliberately with a fair few different spinning reels on it, from as light as possible to something “regular” like the Penn Slammer IV 2500 or Authority 2500, and somehow this rod seems to take them all really well. Yesterday I was fishing with the newer 2023 Shimano Stradic C5000XG spinning reel for the first time, loaded up with the brand new Varivas Avani Sea Bass Max Power PEX9 braid (always interesting when Varivas releases a new bass braid). Unless I am mistaken these new Stradics are even more impressive than their already very impressive older siblings, but time will tell of course.
Anyway, to target the shallower ground I was about to cover, I changed over to a khaki (darker colour) Gravity Stick on the 6/0 belly-weight hook. A good few times this year this specific colour of Gravity Stick has produced fish for me in that half-light period, but after a while I remained resolutely fishless yesterday morning. So I changed over to a different paddletail which I rigged onto the same weedless hook, the killer Savage Gear Slender Scoop Shad. I still have no idea what it quite is about this soft plastic paddletail, but I find them bloody lethal, and sure enough on about my second cast with the lure a chunky bass nailed it almost from behind a rock which was sticking out of the water. Job done.
I fished on for a while longer and covered a good bit more ground, but apart from a couple of tentative taps I didn’t bother the local bass population any further. Which was nice. I didn’t have a lot of time so I headed for home, grabbed the dog, and went for a run before we all headed off to Dartmoor and an epic local lamb lunch. I do love this time of year and as always I am crossing multiple fingers that we get as many fishable days and nights over the next few months as possible. Rods to thrash and test, some interesting soft and hard lures on their way to me from various parts of the world for testing, different braids which need decent water-time, how many more excuses do I need to get out there?
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