After the recent strong onshore winds I was quite surprised to find some good looking water on Monday afternoon, and especially at a spot which I do rather like on small tides. The longer the water “holds”, the better I find it tends to fish, and with the very fishable onshore conditions I found I was soon literally skipping down the cliffs with Storm…………..

So the sea was a bit too big to properly fish the first very specific part of the mark I wanted to, but I managed to put myself into a relatively safe position and just about get a few lures into the exact bit of water I wanted to. I was fishing with a sample 10’ lure rod because I needed to report back to the grownups with some thoughts on rod action and handle position etc., and as much as I tend to like fishing with 9’6’’ and shorter rods, I couldn’t get away from how well this particular sample rod was banging out the J-hook 14cm/33g Savage Gear Sandeel V2. I could hold the lure above the rocks easily enough, but I just couldn’t get a clean cast. Anybody else literally cry tears of frustration when you can’t fish amazing looking water because there is so much weed around?

I changed over to the weedless version, the 13cm/33g Sandeel V2 Weedless, but it was very apparent that there was a hell of a lot of weed in the water from the previous blow. So I moved to try and find some clearer water. I don’t know how many of you suffer with weed issues from time to time, but damn it does me in when you’ve got incredible looking water but you can literally not get a lure through it. I do like bouncy conditions for surface lures but the sea I was dealing with on Monday afternoon was rolling in too much for anything surface related I was carrying with me.

I almost sat down and cried when I moved and moved again on my hunt for fishable water and couldn’t find it. Storm was loving it because it was more running around for her, and I guess my heart was loving the extra exercise although I was getting emotional at such good looking water being so unfishable. I was interested to see if I could almost get beyond the weed with a lot more distance, so I clipped on a 35g Surf Seeker which literally went out of sight on the 10’ rod. Same story though. Weed, and lots of it, and even further to wind it all in!

So I clipped on one of my go-to lures for working around converging currents which bounce around the rocks, the larger white Gravity Stick Paddletail rigged on one of these bigger belly-weight Berkley weedless hooks. I was really pleased at how the sample rod was casting and fishing the lure, but for all the rod based analysis going on in my head, it still didn’t stop me literally not getting any clean casts. I kept at it for a good while because the weather was glorious and there was nobody else around other than me and Storm, but I knew it was a futile gesture. I was hoping that a few nice bass might join us as well, but once again the weed stuffed me good and proper. Was it a bad call on my part because I should have known there would be a lot of weed in the water? I knew there was a chance, but I also know that there was a chance I could find fishable water. I’d rather go than not go and to be honest I just love being out there………………

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How often does weed completely ruin your fishing?

© Henry Gilbey 2023