Don’t let my wife read this, but I am admitting to having some faults - I need to push shallower water more and stop walking away from it

We all talk about fishing shallow water in bass fishing, but I would argue that there is shallow, and then there’s really shallow. I accept that if there’s no water at all then as awesome as bass are, they can’t exactly feed on dry land, but perhaps the single biggest factor within this whole lighter style estuary fishing that has banged home to me is just how incredibly shallow or skinny the water can be and bass might well be still mooching around on the hunt for food…………..

And I am pretty much convinced that as human beings who think human beings' thoughts, we are almost pre-conditioned to feel way less confident when the water gets really, really shallow. It just doesn’t look quite right when there is so little water for predatory fish to move around in, but even the other day when it’s hardly the most epic time of year to try for bass within a rain-soaked estuary system, we didn’t get a sniff of a bass until the water had stripped almost right out. I have always believed that bass know full well about how their potential food sources quite literally have to get out of dodge if it’s literally going to dry out towards the bottom of the tide - and they use this to their advantage of course.

But what about the early flood tide, a time in the (estuary based) tide cycle that I know I don’t utilise enough. I fish way more ebb tides than I do flood tides, but I have a nagging feeling that when I am fishing marks that I know tend to fish well on the last of the ebb, I should be standing back over the low water and waiting for the first signs of the new flood tide. For sure it depends on the makeup of the mark and if the ground dries out and/or the size of the tide etc., but you get my drift. I have such a strong memory of chasing a good bass in virtually no water last year - check here - and I wonder how much more I should be doing stuff like this. At the start of each year I always wonder if there can really be much more to this whole lure fishing for bass thing to bounce about, but there always is. It’s an amazing way to go about your fishing. I have got so much more stuff to experiment with this year.

You all have a good weekend, hope you enjoyed that epic Thursday evening start to the Six Nations if rugby is your thing. Even if France did go off the boil a bit in the second half, bloody hell they were ominously good for much of it. I do love Irish rugby, but I reckon France were so dominant that the eventual scoreline flattered Ireland a bit. I cannot help but be very excited to see how England go, but I tend to get my homes up most years and then suffer the pain of various defeats! I turn 53 on Saturday and I will be watching England v Wales and dreaming of a potential Grand Slam decider in France on the last weekend of the Six Nations……………