Felt so good to get back out on the coast, how quickly has autumn arrived? Never seen this before though………….

There are a few reasons why some of this more finesse style estuary based bass fishing has taken such a hold on me this year. As much as I love trying new areas and techniques and ideas though, the simple fact is that we have had the most incredible summer and the open coast areas I fish the most for bass tend to fish much better if we get some life and bounce to the sea. Which up until the last few days when autumn seems to have hit in an instant, we have not really had around here for what feels like months on end…………….

I love a lovely bit of spring and summer weather here in the UK, but of course it forces the angler to do what is required to try and catch the fish they are after. What would be the point of me flogging what feels like a dead horse out on the (flat) coastline when I can turn to more viable alternatives? There are so many estuaries in the south west and I don’t know nearly enough about most of them for a start. Why estuaries you might ask? I don’t subscribe to fishing “rules” as such, but what I have noticed over a good few years is that estuary bass fishing is almost like another pastime when I compare it to my open coast bass fishing. The same fish but oh so different how the different types of water can fish in various conditions.

It did feel good to track the weather, check a few webcams, and then chuck a couple of the more regular washable lure boxes into this new Westin W4 Super Finesse lure bag that I am trying out to see if it’s anywhere close to a viable alternative to the HPA Chest Pack (which I can’t live without but which I have basically given up trying to find in stock). It’s very early days with this Westin bag, and I had to make a couple of simple modifications to get it to work for me, but it’s interesting so far. Anyway, out come the more regular hard and soft lures and off I head to pick up a friend and take a look at conditions around Whitsand here in south east Cornwall.

Now I was aware that it properly chucked it down during the night as we headed out first thing in the morning, but what we found out there was something else. The coastline around here can colour up pretty fast with hectic onshore conditions, indeed bass fishing the open coast here in south east Cornwall can be a real juggling act between what we had, what we currently have, and what is coming. Get it right and it can fish really well, but get it wrong and you’re left looking elsewhere. I had never seen quite what we found though, and I am still slightly kicking myself for not taking any photos to show you what the sea looked like.

What I guess went and happened is that there was so much intense rain in a short spell overnight that it literally picked up all the dust and debris that has been accumulating over such a prolonged dry spell, and this then ran down the cliffs and straight into the sea. No absorbing any rainwater into the soil because it’s been so dry, and what we found was the most intense and defined line of intense brown water I have ever seen out there in about fourteen years of living and fishing around here. When I checked later in the day there were numerous reports of local flooding. I don’t mind pushing coloured water when it feels worth it, but there was no way anybody in their right mind was going to fish lures in that kind of filth.

So we moved a good distance along the coast to a mark I had not fished for a couple of years but which looked a bit clearer. The water wasn’t ideal but we decided to give it a go, and pretty quickly Dave landed a small bass on the drop. Hopes had increased but that was it and nothing more was landed from a few hours of fishing increasingly coloured water in lovely bouncy sea conditions. Casting and swimming/bumping/sink and drawing with more regular lures such as my beloved Savage Gear Sandeel V2 Weedless on that ridiculously good Favorite Black Swan 852H 8'5'' 16-56g lure rod (review here) felt so different to creeping creature baits along the bottom on the somewhat lighter-feeling Favorite Black Swan 852M 8'5'' 6-24g (review here), but after a few minutes it felt so normal all over again. I love how lure fishing for bass is forcing me to keep learning and adapting, but I do love it when the sea splashes up around you and you can literally taste the fizz and excitement. Roll on autumn and winter and all the fishing this time of year can give us addicted nutters!

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