That was a slightly different kind of follow!

I was fishing the last of the ebb yesterday morning at the mouth of an estuary, and I was bumping lures in relatively shallow water in a decent run of current. I was on my own in some glorious weather and the world felt pretty bloody good. Storm was with me, the water was about as clear as I can remember seeing it, and there were a few bass about. It’s times like these when I get to wondering why everybody doesn’t love fishing…………

There was no size to the few bass I caught, but I do love it when these fish slam into lures which are trundling down the current. I was fishing with the larger Savage Gear Savage Minnow Weedless (12.5cm, 28g) because I knew from previous experience that the total weight of this lure was a good match for the depth and speed of the current where I was. I also fancied the Cotton Candy colour of this lure because the water was clear, the sun was out, and yes, I have done well on this spot with the exact same combination before in similar conditions. Yesterday was my first session with the brand new and not remotely cheap pink coloured Gosen Answer Casting PE X16, a 16-strand braid which reminds me a good bit of the awesome Sufix 131. Neither of them feel like a more traditional braid consisting of multiple strands because they feel like one complete line if that makes any sense at all - and I really like this. So smooth! Very early days of course, but I do know when a particular braid comes off the reel rather nicely, and this new Gosen stuff does just what. I also snagged a Savage Minnow Weedless up at one point, and had to pull for a break - and my connection as such broke on the 20lb fluorocarbon leader knot to my lure clip which is what I would hope for in this situation.

Anyway, so I caught a few small bass and enjoyed the brief tussles in the current. When I was bringing one of the bass to hand for unhooking, I suddenly saw a somewhat bigger bass charging in behind the small (hooked) fish. I had my polarised sunnies on, but the easily 6lb+ bass came in so close that I’d have easily seen it without my sunnies and in fact the fish wasn’t far off hitting my leg. The bigger bass obviously saw me and suddenly veered away, but then it came back a second time, I guess somewhat intent on grabbing the lure out of the smaller bass’s mouth. Yep, I think I yelped! Yelping seems to be a part of my lure fishing, and I know it’s down to how exciting and involving this kind of fishing is. If I had really had my wits about me I wonder if I could have actually netted the bigger bass without having actually hooked it…………….

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