On Monday some stuff arrived from Savage Gear which I needed to get some photos of and also start playing around with, but instead of taking the dog for a walk and setting some shots up, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and do a bit of fishing at the same time. Okay, so I kinda had to have a go on the forecast and the tides, and although we blanked over the weekend I refuse to believe the few bass which might be hanging around have suddenly gone and disappeared since Mark had his end of January fish the other day………….

So it was a sort of work and play trip combined into one, and when I parked up and saw the state of the sea and the lovely green tinge on it, then yep, you got it, Storm and I were running down to get at it. I know it’s February and I really should be more sensible and put the gear away, but it just doesn’t feel anything like February out there on the coast at all. I know this optimism could well be the kiss of death and we will most likely spend the next couple of months buried under a few inches of snow, but for the time being it feels about as mild a winter as I can remember and if you don’t go out fishing then you sure as hell will never know.

I’ve got a number of different lures and rods and so on here which we are currently working on, but around Xmas I saw a Savage Gear promo video about their new Slender Scoop Shad soft plastics. I was nothing to do with these lures and they are targeted at the freshwater market, but damn they looked nice so I put a request in to get hold of a few and see what they might be like for bass. Well they finally turned up yesterday and they looked so interesting I thought why the hell not and I rigged a couple of the 13cm versions up on those 6/0 belly-weight hooks we do for the Gravity Stick lures. A 6/0 weedless hook fits the 13cm Slender Scoop Shad okay although I think a 5/0 might be a slightly better, but I couldn’t find any so a 6/0 it was to be. The colour I took out fishing and to be photographed was the Green Silver which looks just like what we would know as AYU in the saltwater world (these lures are only just starting to trickle onto the UK market hence the lack of links to them at the moment).

So I got down there and started fishing with a Gravity Stick Paddletail but nothing was doing. I obviously can’t expect a bass to jump on the end of line in February, but damn the conditions did look good and I remain eternally hopeful. I wandered along the rocks until I came to a spot where I could dump my rucksack down and take a few photos of the rigged 13cm Slender Scoop Shad - and I thought why the hell not give it a real go instead of just taking photos of it. I packed the camera gear away, clipped the lure on, and carried on fishing. What I liked straight away was how different the Slender Scoop Shad feels to my Gravity Stick Paddletail when you swim it, but before I could start really getting to grips with the lure, on about my fifth or so cast with it I hit a bloody snag.

Only it wasn’t a snag because it hit back. I guess I hooked the bass within five or six yards of my rod tip and I held the fish on a tight line and I could slightly nervously feel my leader seesawing back and forth against the rocks (I continue to be seriously impressed by the newish Semi-Soft Fluorocarbon leader which I have used a hell of a lot now, especially in the 0.39mm diameter). I refuse to give a fish hooked this close in any line because I can’t see the point, and in no time at all a plump, well-conditioned bass around 4 to 5lbs was at my feet and I was able to grab it and put it in a handy rockpool. The barbless hook was still in the fish’s mouth so I rested my rod against a rock and danced a bit of a jig while Storm looked at me and no doubt wondered what the hell I was doing………….

I had only gone and done it! My first ever lure-caught February bass from UK waters and I even managed to shoot a short video clip of me holding the fish so I could extract some (not very good quality) still images from it. If I hadn’t been on my own I would have asked a mate to hold the bass for me, but I wanted to see if the video/photo thing could work, the rockpool made it possible, plus I was over the frigging moon to have landed the fish. The bass went back really well and I carried on fishing but saw no more sign of fish. My apologies if you think that I am banging on about Savage Gear fishing tackle again, but the simple fact is that we and they are making more and more gear which I actively want to use. I need a lot more time with these interesting looking Slender Scoop Shads, but at least I know that bass like them! I’ve only gone and done it - February bass, so how about March then? I shall be giving it a go……….

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Yesterday I caught my first ever bass on a lure in the UK in February - can I still jump for joy at 49 years old?

© Henry Gilbey 2023