Each year Nick Bennett from the Lure Forum puts on a South Devon Bumble, whether the fishing is good or not at the time it’s all about meeting new people, chatting about fishing and having a proper laugh! A brilliant weekend away from all the boring day to day crap we all go through and a good time to get some proper time on the water… fishing!

Friday evening I left work late and was supposed to be meeting Rod to head out for an evening/night session. I made it eventually and we headed off into the darkness with a gang of eager fishermen from all over the country.

This mark was a longer walk than usual and we had to convince them it could be worth it… It was gamble as neither of us had fished it in a while but it was worth a shot and a good warm up for the weekend ahead. We all drew a blank, me and Adrian had a couple of takes towards the end but probably from Pollock and not the target BASS…

We where forecast Easterly winds all weekend but Saturday saw a decent SW swell come in from a low pressure offshore. This came to my surprise and as we headed off on Sat morning to a mark we where greeted with some good looking conditions… Dave even headed back to get his coat and could foresee a soaking!

As Always the photo doesn’t show the real swell but as you can see conditions looked so good!

5 of us fished hard for a few hours with only a couple of surface hits, there where fish there, we just couldn’t tempt them… There was a lot of weed in the water and it made life difficult to say the least. Fishing on the surface was the best plan of attack but my surface fishing skills in rough weather need some practice and it isn’t an area I feel confident in.

Lee Sampson really makes that Daiwa Morethan Demon Blood bend!

Finding it difficult we decided to move and Dave lead us along the coastal path to a mark we might have a chance of Bass as well as Wrasse… We fished hard again but the tide wasn’t quite right and the fishing was tricky in the big swell. We stomped the long walk back to the cars and headed for the Saturday evening BBQ put on by Nick and his family.

There wasn’t much talk of any Bass but Nick and his sons, Aaron and Charlie had managed to find some but unfortunately Nick was the only one to land one! I think he knows them too well round here!! 🙂 First Bass on the board for the pool though and Nick was smiling. Talks of heading out again on another night session where passing around the tables but just as much as the beer! We reached the decision time and the beer won! We soon found out that more Bass had been caught, Matt and Shaun had nailed some too! With renewed confidence and some down time from the fishing, plans where hatched for Sunday morning. It was the last day, there was Bass around and t was all to play for!

I had arranged to meet Dave in the morning at my 4th mark of the weekend, I didn’t get up for first light as I could still feel the beer from the night before but  headed out around 8-9am. I met up with some of the other guys in the car park and explained where I was heading. It was more long walks and everyone was feeling it from the previous days so I was off just to meet Dave and Damen. I got signal and said I would meet Dave down there at the chosen mark later. Being on my own I had another Idea I fancied trying somewhere on the way.

Conditions here looked stunning, overcast, plenty of swell, bit of chop, oxygenated water and lots of features. I haven’t actually caught a Bass at this mark yet but I’m sure it will produce it’s just getting the timing right. Today wasn’t the day unfortunately and I gave in and had a chuck for Wrasse, My lure of choice was the Seaspin Bikoa in Deep Junebug Texas Rigged with a 10gm cone weight, Instantly I was getting hits but no hook ups. I eventually landed a couple tiny Wrasse and a different Pollock all on the Bikoa just fished on a slow sink and draw along the bottom with pauses… I tried one more time for a Bass, working a shallow diver over some really shallow reef and gullies but nothing doing. Though not wearing waders was making life rather tricky and at this point I should have accepted I was going to get soaked one way or another…

I gave in eventually and left just a little bit wet… I ran down to the next mark to meet up with Dave and Damon. Conditions once again looked stunning and the anticipation of getting into some Bass was just too much! It was the middle of the day but with conditions like this there must be Bass and I had a feeling it would be surface lures all the way.

I arrive and Dave has already had two Bass to 46cm over the reef. I join him but I can’t work my lure the way I want and I start to get annoyed… I’m just going to have to get wet… So I did, taking waves around the legs. I was so keen, it looked so good and THERE was Bass here…

Dave soon pulled in another fish OTT, they where really liking Daves Gunfish being worked as a popper rather than a walk the dog action. Something I never really tried and for what reason I don’t really know… It makes perfect sense and goes with things I have witnessed in the past… I still couldn’t tempt them up though and my Patch was not doing the job well enough!

I finally gave in and headed off to a favourite corner of mine for Wrassing, I bumped a Fiiish minnow around for a bit as a cross over lure for Wrasse and Bass without a sniff. Finally I changed to the Seaspin Bikoa again and still nothing. I decided to scramble my way to some new rocks that looked like It gave me a better position. First cast was along the edge of the rock and looking for any rock pigs that may be holding in tight. There was a nice bit of swell breaking over the rock and creating a fair bit of turbulence below. I started retrieving, Lift… Drop… Lift… Drop… Weed… Damm it! I start to crank the lure up when it get’s smashed right in the turbulent water… I see a flash of silver below before it powers off. This fish was strong, very strong and put up a really good fight. I was surprised it was the size it was, holding really deep in the water and unable to move it, small powerful runs it seemed like a much larger fish!

 

As you can see the fish really nailed the Bikoa!

A healthy 55cm Bass

Still a very welcome sight and it couldn’t have come at a better time. I got my Bass for the weekend, my job was complete, I was satisfied even if I did fluke it while Wrassing. Still I learnt new things, a lot of things and now it’s time to see if I can put them to good use and have some success in the future.

Dave and Damen couldn’t believe I had spawned one up from the deep and Dave mentioned the Pool!!!! The pool!! I forgot about the quids in… Hopefully this fish would put me in front and luckily for me it did and was the best Bass of the weekend.

We finished the weekend with a couple more beers a raffle and a fine buffet! Massive thanks to Nick his family and friends, Rod for inviting me to stay and setting up the pool, Clarkey for his humour and everyone I met along the way. I had a great weekend and hope to see everyone again next year. lets hope it’s really firing next time. We are due a fish fest soon!