Some of the dirtiest water I reckon I’ve tried to catch bass from, let’s call it desperation fishing!

If you managed to get out and find bass with that weather last week then I seriously take my hat off to you. My local estuary has taken on the sort of intense brown look where I expect to see whole trees and dead cows drifting by, and when I went for a look at the coastline on Saturday I nearly cried. I know it’s November but I do love this time of year when the conditions behave - which they categorically are not at the moment…………….

So by yesterday I had a very serious case of fish fever. I was going fishing regardless, so we came up with a plan where I fancied we would find pretty tasty conditions but we just didn’t know what the clarity would be like. There was a good chance of finding fishable water with how this bit of coastline faces, but when we pulled up in my Epic Berlingo the colour of the water was awful. Storm wanted a walk though and I wanted to at least chuck a few lures because I guess you’re always in with at least a tiny bit of a chance. If there was no weed we’d be able to fish it, but could a bass find a lure in that murk?

So we did fish it for a while, and rather surprisingly there was very little weed. In amongst some really big sets rolling in you could fish a few different ways, say in around the rocks and literally hold something in a river of current when a wave receded, or else I was out the back with a noisy, splashy surface lure, trying in vain it turned out to catch a bass. My mate Mark is really good at fishing close in and holding lures in and around the rocks and gullies, but even he came up fishless yesterday morning. I went up to a 14g tungsten cheb weight to a 6/0 hook and the largest 15cm white Savage Gear Slender Scoop Shad, and this combination covers a lot of water and holds really well in really bouncy conditions. Even with a 14g cheb weight on the rivers of current from the receding waves were so strong that the lure never touched the bottom when I held it in place.

This is how I was fishing the 15cm white Slender Scoop Shad yesterday, but the cheb weight was 14g

I also put the awesome Patchinko II right out the back and worked it like I might work a pencil popper for striped bass - rod between the legs, slow retrieve, really splashing it - but to no avail. To cover even more water I also tried the obscenely long-range Savage Gear Surf Walker 2.0 15.5cm S26.5g (sinking) and worked this surface lure the same way. I hooked a nice bass in heavy surf the other day fishing this exact surface lure in this exact way, but the bloody thing came off. There was so much water crashing around that when I tried bumping the bottom with a jig head rigged paddletail I simply couldn’t control it, so I kept fishing with the setups I have just described and hoped against hope. I couldn’t turn to my beloved Hound Glide or even my new BlueBlue Scarnash 120F because there are so many rocks sticking out and half-submerged that I would end up snagging them all the time.

If the water had been green I’d have seriously fancied it with such bouncy conditions, but in fact my greatest pleasure from yesterday morning was the fact that my mate Andy was okay after a really big wave crashed in and nearly knocked him off the rock he was standing on. I happened to be shooting some photos of him when this happened, and without really thinking about it I kept firing away and then straight afterwards I took the camera away from my eye and was mightily relieved to see Andy still standing there and okay. I don’t care how experienced you are, the sea’s going to catch you out sometimes. I can’t think of a time when I have fished dirtier water, but with the lack of weed it had to be worth a go. Put it down to cabin fever and quite simply needing to wet a line I guess, but if you don’t go you will never know. I also got to fish a good bit with Andy’s new lure rod which I bloody wish I had never picked up……………….

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