Can’t beat a backup plan that works so well, but it was nothing to do with me!

Like middle aged gazelles we strode out across the fields yesterday morning, rods in hand, rucksacks on backs, Storm chasing ahead, and a freshening southerly breeze which promised some rather lovely conditions. Which they were, but when we looked over the cliffs we saw a lovely bouncy sea which was full of bloody weed. We could have said sod it and walked all the way down to our (my!) chosen spot to give it a go, but from previous experience earlier in the week I knew that if we were seeing that much weed from the top of the cliffs then the water would be unfishable. I liked the tides, I loved the sea state, and I had made the call - ‘twas a bad one though……………

Three Einsteins then put their heads together to try and come up with another plan, but in truth I was ranting and raving that so many of the places I like to fish remain essentially unfishable with there being so much weed about. Mark then suggested somewhere which could work on the tides and he thought it was worth a look to see if we could get away from the weed. What did we have to lose? We strode across the fields back to my Epic Berlingo, on the racks went the rods, and off we went to see if Mark’s call was a good one.

We knew we would find stunning sea conditions, but what would the weed situation be like? From above things looked far better than the previous spot, so we decided to trek down and give it a go. I was first down so I quickly clipped on a Patchinko because I’ve done well on that lure there before (come on, doesn’t that so often influence what lure you first put on?), and before Mark and Andy were ready to fish I had an almighty hit on my lure and I was into a bass which you can see above. My apologies that it’s me holding a bass, but I have sort of been “encouraged” to try and get the odd shot of me with a fish. I avoid it as much as possible and I might or might not claim a few blanks to avoid photos of me plus fish, but I asked Andy to shoot a couple of phone snaps of Bedraggled of Cornwall and he kindly obliged (it was properly chucking it down for most of yesterday!).

We smashed ‘em, indeed at one point during the session I hooked a bass, then Andy hooked up, and then Mark hooked up. Who would ever turn down a threesome when the fish are on? There are no photos of the lads fishing because the rain only eased off for a couple of minutes and I quickly snapped a few grip and grins of Andy with one of the bass, but we had a blast. Nobody else around, thanks to a great call from Mark we finally found some decent water, the fish were on, and most of the bass we caught came off the top on the Patchinko II because I still don’t know of a better surface lure which covers so much water, copes with bouncy conditions, and cuts through a good bit of wind. It also helps that the Patchinko obviously does something when you work it that bass often find to their liking.

You know me though. It was obvious pretty quickly that there were a few fish around yesterday, so I did have a bit of a play with some different lures. I was so pleased to catch a bass on a surface lure which I can’t talk about yet, and I also nailed a couple at serious range on my beloved Savage Gear Sandeel Pencil 150 in the Cotton Candy colour. Every time I put that lure out there it makes me giggle with how well it casts, then a few turns of the handle on a simple straight retrieve yesterday, and bang, bass on. For all the lures which do so much wobbling and rolling and so on, it continues to amaze me how these Sandeel Pencils and their subtle actions catch bass in so many different situations. To be entirely fair though, yesterday’s session was mostly about the mighty Patchinko yet again, indeed I need to buy another one because I only have one here which is in good condition after I had to throw a couple of old ones away which have completely seized up inside.

What will live longest in my memory about yesterday though is not the fish I caught because a mate made such a good call. Nope, it was the bass that rolled and splashed over Andy’s Patchinko about three times right in front of us. I know the biggest fish are always the ones that get away, but this one never even hooked up or pricked the lure. Holy frigging cow it was a proper, proper bass though. Andy and I saw it plain as day, and both of us were spewing forth some choice language when the fish was smashing at the lure but just would not commit. Andy basically ran out of water because there was a big patch of weed in front of him and the lure. Mark also had a serious fish go for his Patchinko a few times but again it would not commit. Does it get much better than fishing? What could have been a complete bust with my duff call ended up being one of those sessions that you enjoy so much because you’re catching a few fish with your mates in the pissing rain, and wondering as always why everybody doesn’t go fishing because it’s so much fun……………..

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