So interested to see what might happen this winter……….

I know it depends a lot on where you live and/or do the bulk of your bass fishing in the UK or indeed large parts of Europe and even north Africa, but I’ve been living down here in the south west for over thirty years now - and I love it a bit more every single day. When I ventured down the M4 and M5 to start at Plymouth university, I had no idea firstly that lure fishing for bass would end up consuming my life, and secondly that it was possible - with a good bit of effort and experimentation - to catch these fine fish virtually all year round……..

Give me the “right” conditions for the open coast especially and I’d fancy some decent lure fishing at least into January around here - with no one year being remotely the same as the next of course. I think back to New Year’s Eve last year when we had a fantastic session because the conditions were absolutely perfect and where we were fishing can often produce fish late (or early?), and then I think about right now and there being so many reports of birds continuing to feed on bait on the open coast AND in the estuaries.

And I wonder what might happen this winter as muggins here keeps going because he’s a stubborn tit who so enjoys trying different stuff to see what might happen. I have had a few bass now in February and March on the open coast, but it’s hardly been epic numbers and if you mixed time put in with rewards then I am not sure there is a huge amount of logic to it. But when was a logical life that much fun? I live not far from a lot of potential fishing, I work for myself so I can work different hours to a lot of people, and I enjoy the simple act of getting out there for a bit of a go. Time spent by the water is good time in my opinion.

You know what I am getting at here though - the estuary stuff and the depths of winter potential. I am miles away from being an expert at this creature bait/finesse style fishing in the quieter waterways of our glorious corner of the world, but I have done enough of it this year to at least feel confident that when I head out, I am not doing too much “wrong” as such. It might turn out that bumping the bottom with a crab imitation style of lure was not what the bass wanted on that particular day or night, but if I go down this route and fish how I now know how, I reckon I’m in with a shout. If there are fish around.

When I had my mate Del staying for a few days last week and we got beaten up with awful conditions, when we fished a few different estuaries it was noticeable to see small baitfish spraying out of the water on regular occasions. Quite often this would also happen when we lifted our lures from the water to cast again. Around here I tend to see a lot of bird activity into October in the estuaries, but I don’t remember seeing so much still going on at this later time of year. We might be in the middle of a brief cold snap, but I don’t worry much about it. Get me some half-decent estuary type conditions and I reckon on seeing a few bass around for a good while.

But what’s going to happen as we move into that somewhat miserable January to the end of March time of year? I managed a few bass in the estuaries earlier this year when I’d never have traditionally even bothered with these waterways, but I am hoping to mix up more knowledge and experience this time around to see what happens. I have fished a lot of places this year that I had never fished before, but there are still numerous marks on a mental list that I have not even got to yet. Is winter the time to try these places or do I leave them until way further into next year?

I tend to trust that if I see mullet there’s a good chance there will be bass around as well, but I don’t fancy seeing mullet mooching around in the depths of winter in most of the estuaries I might fish. What about a few big bass hunting heads-down for crunchy, juicy shore crabs amongst the bladderwrack? As always it’s going to be fascinating to keep on at it and see what happens. Many of the places I fish are a pretty good walk so even if I blank it’s still a bit of exercise. You all have a good weekend, awesome that the Ashes has started again, come on England and Ireland especially this weekend in the rugby………….