Whilst the cats away - Part Two

[BaggieRich]

This is the second part of my weekend report. The first can be found here.

************************************************** ********

Now before you read the next part of this report, I need to point out some of my fishing history so you fully understand what happened tonight and exactly what it means to me. I’ve been (mostly sea) fishing for coming up for four years now. In that time my PB fish was a 6lb 10oz Smut from Seaton last year and to date I’ve had numerous Bass in the 3lb range, my PB going 3lb 12oz. I love Bass , they’re easily my favorite fish and I’ve spent alot of time chasing them this year, mostly touch ledgering with crab and a spinning rod. The biggest Bass I’d ever seen to date was a 6lb fish taken in a comp last year at Beer.

Saturday – Evening session

I got back home from Duncan's with just enough time to sort myself out and grab something to eat, before calling Dave who picked me up around half seven. The plan was to continue our Thorny hunt on the North coast during the neap lows and after some umming and ahhing we decided the venue was to be Lilstock. I’d never fished here before but had been told it was snaggy ground and that’s certainly not bad info. Fortunately the tide meant that we could fish out on to the clean ground near the pipe with only a gentle lob. Baits were crab, squid, eel and bluey. Not long after we arrived two guys walked down the beach and set up next to us so I changed my baits and wondered over to say hello to the guy already talking to Dave. I hadn’t been there long when I thought I saw a knock on my near rod and rushed (over the boulders = slow motion rushing ) back to the rods only for them to remain stationary. Dave saw a couple of knocks come to nothing on crab, when I had one of those bites which leaves you scratching your head wondering how you haven’t got a fish on. A massive pull down, which saw the rod bend double before springing back straight, had left nothing but a mangled bait and a puzzled expression. How the hell did that avoid the hooks? Ah well. Such is fishing. I cut another section of bluey bound it on, lobbed it out and sat back on my pile of rocks, Speckled Hen in hand and hoped for another bite like the first.

I never got it.

What I did get was a couple of taps on the rod which peeked my interest. Then there was a more concerted pull down, still not massive, but big enough to bring me to my feet and make me put my beer down. I checked the line on the rod to find it was massively slack, so quickly wound down to a weight and struck hard. So began the most surreal 15 mins of my fishing career to date. What started of as merely a weight quickly became a big weight. No head shakes or anything, just a big, moving weight. I kept a firm pressure on it and it was steadily moving toward the shore when, for a moment or two, everything went horribly solid. A brief moment of panic followed before the weight started moving again, only this time there were a few nods and surges. The nods and surges increased in frequency and strength as the weight got closer, before at long last, I managed to get the leader knot on the reel and I got the first sight of what I’d caught. By this time, Dave had joined me at the edge of the water and proclaimed a conger was the likely candidate before a particularly large wave pushed the fish onto the beach and my jaw dropped. Dave grabbed the snood and pulled ashore the biggest Bass, indeed the biggest fish I’d ever seen on any beach. Ever. Full stop.

I was gob smacked. The fish was quite simply massive. It had a head like a bucket and its huge spiked dorsal fin was flared in utter defiance as the fish lay at our feet. Various comments were made, not many of which I remember, but I’m sure there was a lot of swearing. The two guys we met earlier had come to see what all the fuss was about and immediately made estimates of a double figure fish!!! I quickly unhooked her and Dave brought down his scales and a (fortunately large) carrier bag. We let the scales tare, loaded her on and waited for the readout to settle on……. 8lb 12oz??? In unison all four of us pretty much said "well that’s not f*cking right", so I ran back up the beach, grabbed my scales and tried again to reveal a much more realistic 10lb 4oz. Chuffed to bits doesn’t really cover it. The fish had smashed my previous PB by over 6 pounds! Just to ensure the accuracy of the weight, one of the other guys produced a set of scales which pretty much confirmed my scales as they went to 10lb 1oz.

Whatever the weight, I didn’t care. The fish was magnificent. Everything I’ve been aiming at for the last four years. A big, big Bass. The fish of a lifetime and there it was on the beach in front of me, I have to say that I was expecting the fight to be a little more dramatic, but again I didn’t really care and it certainly didn’t stop me grinning like an idiot for the rest of the night. A few quick photos and I put her back, producing a few nervous moments before she caught her breath and gaining me a pair of wet boots in the process. Eventually she regained her strength and just disappeared. There one moment, gone the next. A fantastic experience.

I didn’t really have the heart to fish from then on. I put out another bluey fillet, but more out of habit than a serious wish to catch anything else. I was still absolutely buzzing when we packed down not long after twelve and started to make our back home. Job done. Or so I thought.

I’ve got to say a massive thank you to the two guys we fished with on Saturday firstly for producing a set of scales to confirm my weight and secondly for your help in making sure she went back properly. I’m really sorry, but due to the state I was in at the time I’ve managed to forget your names but I’m extremely grateful none the less!

Session 3: First double figure fish, First specimen Bass, New PB Bass, biggest Bass I’ve seen in the flesh, not a blank.
Lesson learnt: This sport will smash you right between the eyes when you least expect it.

Sunday – Day time.

Sunday was a strange day. I had various texts of congratulations from members of the club and various texts from family members wanting to know why I hadn’t kept the fish (I even got called a f*king idiot a couple of times! Some people will never understand why I put her back. That’s their problem, not mine.) Eager to know exactly what the weight was, I contacted our “El Presidentay” (Our grand pooh bar and Mr ESAA on this very forum) who took the time out of his day to come round with his own certified scales. We added gravel and stones from my garden to a suitable container until the reading on my scales went 10lb 4oz (or 10.25lb). This same weight was then weighed on the certified scales which went 10.18lb. My scales were reading 0.07 of a pound over (On a weight of 10lb, not too bad actually!) and would have put the fish at 10lb 3oz.

Thanks must go to Mr Grand Pooh bah! Cheers for yer time oh ye olde exalted one, muchly appreciated.

Of course, I promptly fell asleep on the sofa around lunch time and missed everything I had planned for the afternoon, but did wake up in time for…..

Sunday – Evening session

Even having slept for a good part of the afternoon I was still knackered when I picked Dave up on the Sunday night. We’d initially had thoughts about Chesil, maybe even as local as Branscombe, but finally settled on Charmouth after a ray (Having so failed with the Thornies the night before). We arrived at around half eight and we walked the short distance to our chosen spot. Baits this time were the unused crab from last night, and some frozen squid, eel and bluey. I guess I was properly fishing by about quarter past nine having sodded around with my gear for a while. I had crab out on one rod and I’d just changed the sand eel on the other for a fillet of bluey. Not long after I had a little knock on the bluey, which I wound down into and discovered was a nice little Bass just in size. Thinking that I’d done my good deed for the species last night, and with the criticism still ringing in my ears from those that don’t understand, I decided that I deserved this one for the pot, so I re-cast the rod (complete with the still intact bluey) and went about sorting the fish out.

Whilst I was still doing this, Dave brought my attention to the same bluey rod, which when I looked, was currently bent over double, with the stand twisting and lurching sickeningly towards the sea. I dropped what I was doing, managed to grab the rod just before it hit the deck and lifted into the fish before all hell broke loose. The fish went absolutely nuts, with massive surges and lots of head shaking, so for a few moments I was just happy to hang on. Things started to calm down after bit, so I gradually started to gain some line back before it would go mental again. I'd never had a fight like this before (Even in the last 24 hours!) and it was great fun. Eventually, I gained enough line to walk backwards and beach the fish before Dave once again grabbed the snood and hauled it up the beach. Another good Bass!

I knew it was a good fish from the fight that it gave, but I didn't realise quite how good it was until now. It didn't look far off last night's fish at first glance, so I quickly got the hook out and we weighed her. Dave produced a weigh sling (I think he was hoping to take the piss after last night's fish. I sure he never thought we'd need it!) and my scales went round to 9lb 3oz, minus the sling which was 8oz gives a fish of 8lb 11oz. By now I'm going through the motions in a daze. What the hell was going on? Had I really just landed two near specimen Bass in a little under 24 hours? Either fish would have smashed my previous PB by 5lb! That's nuts! I snapped myself out of it and set about getting her back, gaining another pair of wet boots in the process. Ah well, they hadn't fully dried out from last night anyway! This one went back a lot better, holding for a while before disappearing with a big flick of the tail. Another great sight to see.

I abandoned fishing for a while and sat on the beach trying to make sense of what had happened. I was absolutely bouncing off the walls and really struggling to get my head round it. How can you catch fish like that two nights on the trot, when I've spent the previous 3 years not even getting close? It's nuts.

I did eventually return to the fishing and managed what I thought was another decent fish that turned out to be a foul hooked schoolie, but to be honest by then my mind wasn't really on the task in hand. We packed up about 00:30 and made our way back to the car. I was absolutely flipping knackered but with the biggest grin you've ever seen and it's stayed that way ever since.

Session 4: 2 schoolies and the 2nd biggest Bass I've ever seen in the flesh. Not a blank.
Lesson learnt: This sport had smashed me right between the eyes again, and I REALLY didn't expect it.

Monday - Evening session

After the weekends exploits we had arranged to go meet FishyPaul who's in Devon on holiday this week. We weren't after any serious fishing to be honest: tonight was about being social and having a couple of beers, so we took some spinning rods a floats over to Brixham breakwater and messed about for a couple of hours. I only need to catch something to avoid blanking in every single one of my weekend's sessions, but guess what.... Yep... BLANK. Not that I cared. Paul pulled out a micro Pollock and Dave had a Pout and a Poor Cod, but most of all it was good to just have a beer and kebab with me mates. A top night. Good to see you again Paul.

Session 5: BLANK - Arse.
Lesson learnt: Get ready to come back down to earth, it's gonna hurt!!

And that's it. The missus gets back tonight and fishing schedules return to normal (As will the catches I guess!). It's been a fantastic weekend, I caught a couple of Holy Grail fish for me and spent some good time with me mates. What more could I ask for?

Of course, I can't finish this report without saying a massive thanks to me fishing partner, the other half of team Speckled Hen. Mate, you're a legend. The whole thing is a team effort, from venue decisions to the taking of photo's, so quite frankly I couldn't have done it without ya. Your time will come my friend and when it does hopefully it'll be me grabbing the snood and taking the piccies. Top man. Thanks mate.

[Spahill]

Great report Rich - well worth the read.
Well done on the BIG fishies .
You will have to suggest that the missus goes off to visit the relatives more often .Well done again.

[Banana Steve]

Well Baggie, What a Fantasic Brace of Bass WELL DONE

[devonutopia]

Congrats! I need one of these fish in my life.

[KABBYCHRIS]

Well done

[philipn]

baggy that sure beats having your photo taken sitting on a bucket well done

[tommy a]

Baggie - what a great read and YOU ARE A TOP BLOKE putting them back for another day - that really stands you out from the bunch - very well done.

One day when I eventually persude my wife to move to Exmouth I may get the chance to join you - of course you can gaurantee double figure bass all the time cant you ?!!! ............

[tommy a]

Actually Ive just re - read the story and its made up my mind - Im re arranging our work load for Friday and Im dragging my old man out on the boat out of Exmouth - thanks mate because I aint been out since April ( except one charter ) so youve reignited my passion !!

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Great reads mate and what fantastic fish !!!!

[pingu]

Brilliant mate just brilliant

it really was an awsome weekend

ok I blanked but seeing those two fish on the beach was just something i will take along time to forget

WELL DONE PARTNER!!!

( it was lucky however that you blanked on the breakwater though or you would have been in the drink )




dave