Bass (East Prawle)

ninjamonkey · #1 10-27-2008, 07:58 AM

Bit of a long one sorry. And it’s taken me ages to find the time and energy to write it so it’s pretty out of date.

So at the beginning of august, me and my mate Tom got a lift down to East Prawle, quickly set up a tent, and then got dropped off at start point. After scrambling over a few gates and down the cliff to the rocks, we started fishing at around 7.00pm (hoping for our first bass). We did a couple hours of spinning, catching the odd mackerel, and kept one for bait. It then started to rain a bit, and we decided to head home (9.00pm). We climbed back up the cliff and as soon as we poked our head over the headland we were hit by really strong winds and heavy rain, we took a few steps back to get out of the wind got ourselves sorted out and began the 4 mile trek. After about 20mins we got round to Matiscombe, it was getting pretty dark now and the waves were huge. After another 30mins we got to Lanacombe. It was fully dark now and again we stoped to admire the waves, before carrying on. Finally after another hour or so we reached the campsite dripping wet and completely knackered, we ditched our soggy clothes and hit the sac. The next morning we got up at 6.00am and headed down to Maelcome beach, we went across the rocks to a nice spot we found. We prepared the strips and started fishing. After 2 or 3 hours we gave up, having had no success and spent the rest of the day lazing about in the intermittent sun, we also went up to East Prawle and bought some sand eels for the following day. The next morning we got up at 5.00am and headed down the beach, and along the rocks. Again, we had no luck what’s so ever and decided to head back to camp after a few hours. By now we were getting pretty annoyed, having twice got up painfully early and not be rewarded at all. We again spent the rest of the day milling about collecting prawns and peeler crabs from the rockpools. On the way back home decided to have one more bash at start point. But again we were un-rewarded, and after another 2 or 3 hours session we went home feeling tired and dispirited.

Then a week or two later we decided to have another try. We arrived at Maelcome at around 3.00pm, quickly set up camp and headed down to the beach. We fished for another 3 hours with no success, then walked back to camp in the rain felling thoroughly demoralized. The next morning we got up at 5.00am feeling really stupid and wondering why were still trying. As we were fumbling around with our tackle in the dark the sun broke trough and we were treated to this beautiful sunrise:

But the good moods didn’t last long and after an hour or so of fishing in the rain we still had no bites. We were just discussing how shit it was, went I saw that my line was becoming very slack, I thought that maybe the fish was swimming towards me so I struck it and was rewarded. We were so happy to get a bite at last, and we couldn't contain our excitement when it broke the surface and we saw it was a BASS! My FIRST BASS! It was a beautiful 2 pounder (40cm):

After bathing in the glory for a while we went home and cooked it up, and I can honestly say I have NEVER tasted a fish that good in my life, it was so tasty. I just couldn't fault it, it was such a fantastic flavour. The Hours of rainy un-successful fishing suddenly were all worth it.

Saul