More often than not I like to have a back up plan when I go fishing. I’ll rephrase that more of another option if things don’t pan out… Sometimes I just get that feeling that this isn’t going to happen or you take a gamble on the conditions and are met with dirty water and floating weed. I like to have another chance at saving the session and possibly getting into a fish or two. Sometimes the back up plans are better than the first idea… But you have to gamble and try these new ideas in order to learn…

I was out during the week and blanked if only for some bad angling but I had seen a lot of life and some very promising signs that things are really picking up.

I took a gamble and fancied trying a mark I’ve never really had much luck from but I thought it made sense to try… Kory phoned me late that evening and said that he was keen to get out in the morning. We got fishing for first light and the place was like a mill pond. It was going to be a topwater morning for sure. Visions of one monster fish sucking that lure under where running through my head. For some reason though after a while it just didn’t seem right. We had spent a couple hours flogging away and I decided it was time for a back up plan.

The sun was high in the sky by now and the temperature had risen, we made our way down the cliff but it wasn’t easy… We have had a proper spring so far with hot and wet weather. The bushes where massively overgrown. We couldn’t even see the path down we just knew it was there…

After an interesting climb we made it down and onto the rocks and started fishing. The water had a slight tinge to it but this was hopefully a good sign and possibly would give any fish confidence to hit our lures in the bright sunlight. I really wanted to save the mornings session after the blank in the week too and put on the Savage gear to see if there was any fish about. I really am getting desperate to take on of the top but I wanted to know if there was any fish in the area and this normally doesn’t fail.

There was a lot of the floating green weed in the water and it didn’t make fishing easy but I worked my way round to my favourite spot and luckily for me it was more clear than everywhere else. The fish seem to run along the boulders here between the shore and an island and into an opening. I was mixing the retrieve up with a straight retrieve and fishing it sink and draw. It only took about 15 minutes before a nice Bass followed my lure right under my feet, engulfed it turn and shot off! What a buzz! I really love seeing the fish take the lure! Fricking awesome! I tamed it pretty swiftly and slid it between the rocks where I could jump down and lift it out.

A nice 56cm fish in healthy condition and I’m guessing pre spawn…

Going back…

Kory took a few snaps for me. I was happy to save a blank and it was another good sign of things picking up… Our confidence was lifted and I tried to get one off the top to no success. Kory continued with the Savage gear and I mixed it up but we couldn’t find another fish.

 

I really love fishing around boulders…

Boulders for some reason  have always been a really attractive feature for me. My first experience of seeing a Bass take a surface lure was on a mark littered with boulders and mixed ground. Sand and weed leading onto boulders… Perfect habitat for all Bass food… Fishing with some cheap old popper’s that I bought off Kory I watched as a nice 3lb Bass came from under the boulders and nailed Sam’s lure. He was buzzing and so was I, and an experience I don’t think neither of us will forget.

It was good to see a nice fish on this mark. Hopefully it will keep fishing as it did last year but I have my doubts… time will tell… and I’ll explain later in the year if what I think is going to happen, happens…