Bass in the Surf - 13th April 2011

After the windy weather of Tuesday I reckoned there should be a good surf up. I didn't have time to dig lug so some razor out of the freezer would have to do. I got to the beach just as the tide was beginning to push in. There was a nice surf alright, not too big, the wind had died down and it was relatively weed free. So despite the slack tides I thought there was a good chance of a bass or two.

I set up two rods, one with a 4/0 running ledger, the other with a 4/0 pennel pulley. It was very quite for the first couple of hours. Then at about 11 pm I had the first bite, a fairly subtle knock on the rod with the pennel pulley. The line had gone slack - it had to be a bass running a slackliner. I grabbed the rod and rapidly reeled in the slack, then connected with the fish. It felt to be a good one and was fighting strongly. After a few minutes I hauled a well conditioned 57 cm bass out of the surf. It weighted just under 4.5 lb.

About 25 minutes later I noticed that the line on the second rod was limp, I started to retrieve, there was a lot of slack and I was sure the fish was gone, then suddenly I felt some resistance, I struck and connected with the fish. It was putting up a reasonable struggle so it had to be another bass. It was in very close at this stage so it didn't take long to land the fish. It was 44 cm, the smallest bass of the night.

Not long afterwards there was a small tug on the rod with the pennel pulley. I grabbed it and struck, this felt to be a stronger fish and was putting up a better fight. It was a 50 cm bass.

About 15-20 minutes later there was a subtle twitch on the same rod and the line went slack. I lifted the rod and started to retrieve, there was a lot of slack line. I thought the bass had dropped the bait, but then briefly connected with the fish before it surged in towards the shore again. The bass was in close by the time I caught up with it. It then began to fight strongly but after a couple of minutes of a good stuggle in the shallow foamy surf I beached it. It was a 52 cm bass and was just under 3.5 lb.

I continued fishing for an hour or so more but the bass had moved on. All I had after that was a very small coalfish. So it was a good result considering the slack tides. It was also good to see that the bass are taking razor again. Last month all they seemed interested in was lug.