Sometimes the conditions seem to be so perfect that I am left completely confused when I blank!

I went out fishing on Friday because things looked pretty good via the weather forecast and Surfline etc., but when I got to my chosen spot I literally got a dose of the shakes because literally every single conditions based factor I could think of was looking perfect to me. I grant you that it’s the middle of January and of course the conditions which I think are perfect are based upon my fishing experience as a human being and not a fish, but wow it was stunning. I have been at this lure fishing for bass for long enough to know when so much is in my favour………….

So it might well be the middle of January and my expectations are somewhat tempered, but I was still pretty amazed when I walked away after a few hours of fishing without a fish landed or even a hint of a fish in the bank. If it had been say October with those conditions I’d have gone back home and sold all my gear after giving myself a damn good thrashing, but even so I’d have fancied seeing at least A bass in water that good in the middle of January.

I liked the size of the tide for starters - not too big, not too small. I liked the state of the tide and where the water would be sitting on the beach before it started moving in. I hoped to find decent water clarity with no weed and I did. The wind was onshore with enough strength to be positively impacting upon the shape of the lovely sized waves rolling in - nice, short swell period - but not too strong so that I lost a lot of the peaks and troughs which help to create so many different bits of current. And talking about current, wow, there was an east to west running rip current that was as strong as I have ever seen it where I was fishing.

To the point that I’d have been seriously worried about ending up in the water with a rip current that powerful. I understand how rip currents are created and I use them to my bass fishing advantage whenever possible, but I don’t quite know why certain combinations of conditions can create such a particularly powerful rip. I have had plenty of bass from this spot in the past when I have literally been able to almost dead-drift something like a DoLive Stick in the current, or slowly swim the Gravity Stick Paddletail out and across when it’s rigged on the 6/0 3g belly-weight weedless hook. I obviously tried both these methods into this incredible rip current I found, but still no bass!

For much of the time I was searching as much water as possible with different weights of Savage Gear Seekers and Surf Seekers. To get as far out into the back of the waves I would clip on the 30g or 35g Surf Seeker and blast it, then at times I would use that rip current to slowly swim the 23g regular Seeker across it. I picked up literally three or four bits of weed the whole time I was fishing, and with every single cast I felt confident. I was on my own, I never saw a hint of another soul, and the weather was even pretty warm for the time of year. Happy as the proverbial to be out fishing, but confused as hell when I came away that I had not managed to bother the scorer! I did manage to also put more time into what I reckon might well be THE fastest, sharpest and steeliest 9’ 35g lure rod I have ever fished with. Talk about literally a weapon of extreme precision that makes me grin when I wind it up and let it go. The obsession still rages on…………

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