I never had any doubts
As I was lying in bed at around midnight, looking at tide times and planning out future excursions I noticed a high tide at about 6.40 the next morning. Inspired by the antics in the video “Edge of England – Fly Fishing For Bass” I decided I would forgo any chance at rem sleep with the aim of catching a bass. With this in mind I set my alarm for 3.30am.
“Edge of England – Fly Fishing For Bass”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKmzfHYEe6c
After waking up from what can only be called a nap I did my best to drag myself out of bed. In fishing I always feel like the harder it is to get out of bed, the better the fishing. I got ready in a rush, donned my still wet waders and got in the car. When I arrived at the mark I was greeted with a slight breeze from the left of the shore and a calm sea. My optimism grew when I saw the water clarity, it was much better than on previous sessions.
Conditions:
- Wind very manageable ~13km/h coming from the left of shore
- Water clarity was the best its been as soon as you were around 5m from shore, none of the usual clouds of silt being washed through
- Moon phase: Waxing Gibbous
Flies:
Same as last time, I’m sticking with what I like – EP baitfish in 1/0 Gamagatsu SC15 in Chartreuse and Minnow
Today was my lucky day, my efforts were rewarded with a stunning seabass of 50cm, my best to date.
When I lifted my rod and felt the head shakes I couldn’t believe it, I was absolutely ecstatic, its probably been close to two years since I last caught a bass and none of them fought anywhere close to as hard as this one. This fish went on runs, it didn’t give up, was hard to net and has completely shattered my expectation of how sea bass fight.
What did this fish cost me?
To my mind, the most important thing in fly fishing is the process leading up to catching a fish: the blanks, tying the flies, walking and thinking about it. If catching fish was easy I wouldn’t do it, what makes fly fishing so worthwhile for most of us is the process. We are after all making things pretty difficult for ourselves by using a fly rod in the first place.
With this in mind, here are a few things I managed to lose / break in the pursuit of this fish
- A rod
- the lens of my phone camera
- a net
- a fair few flies
After I landed that fish my luck ran out, I managed to put a hook through my hand, lose my net and the magic fly.
All in all this fish was completely worth the wait and I’m going to continue chasing bass for the rest of my life.
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