Oh yes, I caught my first ever UK open-coast bass in March!

It might have gone all of 2lbs I reckon, but on Wednesday of this week I reckon I was the happiest and most elated angler in the UK! I did manage to land my first ever lure caught bass in March last year, but that was from an estuary and I really wanted to be able to say to myself that I have caught at least a UK bass on a lure from the open coast in every month of the year. I don’t know if the fact that the average water temps are higher than this time last year made a difference, but something had to have been a bit different this time around…………..

Because I have tried to catch bass on a lure from the shore in March plenty of times before - and failed. It’s usually that first hint of spring warmth in March that gets me out there, full of hope, only for those hopes to be dashed upon the rocks like your favourite lure rod when you slip. To be fair it did look bloody good when Mark and I rocked up at our chosen spot the other day, indeed there was more sea running than I expected to find. I do tend to like how the water holds for so much longer on the smaller tides on some of the spots I might fish. Nope, I don’t obsess about spring tides for a lot of my bass fishing. My one regret now is that I didn’t head out for a go the day before, but I had too much work on and I was being good.

I was wearing BCWs but Mark had chosen to wear wellie boots, so I was easily able to access a specific part of this mark which often holds a fish or two when there’s enough water in there. It all felt really good but of course it’s March, so when I did actually get that wonderfully familiar tap/bang on my rod tip only a few minutes into the session and hit into a bass, I think my smile would have been visible from space! I yelled to Mark that I was into a fish, and to be perfectly honest I couldn’t have cared how big or small it was. I had made a call on where to fish and it threw up my second ever bass in March in the UK, and my first on the open coast. I think I had one more hit later on but we didn’t catch any more bass. One very modest bass, but one bass which genuinely got my heart racing so fast I pulled back from fishing for a few minutes to calm myself back down! There are no photos of the fish because I had waded out to a rock and things weren’t remotely conducive to any sort of photography.

I would love to tell you that I carefully analysed such factors as water clarity, depth and light levels, but in truth I had clipped on a lure which has worked well for me before in exactly the same spot. Let’s be honest here, how much is our choice of lure and colour influenced by what we have caught on before? My first open-coast March bass came on the lethal 13cm Savage Gear Slender Scoop Shad, rigged on a 10g cheb weight and one of those 6/0 weedless hooks we made for the original size Savage Gear Gravity Sticks. The exact same setup as per the photo above in fact, including the colour of the actual lure. I don’t know if that one bass signals a big fat go with my local bass fishing season, but one thing I refuse to believe is that I on Wednesday I caught the only and/or first bass which has moved inshore to feed around here. You all have a good weekend while I try wiping this silly grin off my face…………….

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