18/08/2022 - A purple toe and some baby bass

Headed down to Amroth with the wife after returning form Milford. Taking advantage of the low tide we walked the length of the beach and around the headland in the direction of Marros. 

However, whilst trying to keep track of a seal bobbing around just offshore I smacked my bare, right foot into a rock sticking out the sand. Hobbled back to the car and by the time we got back to the house the top joint of my middle toe was completely numb and resembled a red grape! The next morning it was still swollen and had become a deep, port wine colour. As there was little or no pain I could only assume that it was just badly bruised rather than broken. It certainly wasn't painful enough to stop me going fishing. 

I therefore set off to Lawrenny at first light with the bait rods to fish the flood. Arrived just as it was brightening up and, apart from a few plaintive cries from the juvenile gulls wanting breakfast, it was completely silent. Plan was to fish with a two hook flapper baited with rag on one rod and a running leger baited with crab on the other. However, when I unwrapped the latter I found that the soft backs that the tackle shop had given me had obviously started to harden up before they had been frozen. Made mounting them on the pennel rig a bit more difficult but with use of the scissors and plenty of elastic I eventually had a bait that I was happy with (and hopefully the bass as well). Popped both rods out into one of the gullies running down the beach, dropping the baits onto the crease formed by the incoming tide, and sat down to wait. 

About an hour in I had a big pull down and immediate drop back on the crab. Picked up the rod and wound down into a fish that was already steaming off upstream towards Creswell Quay. However, after a few seconds everything went solid as it presumably went through a clump of weed. After a bit of alternate slackening off and pulling the rig came free minus fish. Despite the disappointment (and a few expletives) I saw that as a good sign that there fish about. 

However, that turned out to be my one and only chance as I fished the next 3 hours all the way up to high tide without another bite! The only other excitement was when a peregrine came ghosting in low over the water, causing a flock of seagulls to scatter in noisy alarm. 

Not to be outdone I returned this morning, this time with the lure rod. Arrived a couple of hours after low to find it was dull and overcast and the wind had switched round, blowing straight up the inlet from the main estuary. Found a bit of shelter in the lee of the sea wall and started off by "walking the dog" with a topwater over the shallows, but bits of weed coming in the with the tide kept fouling the hooks and killing the action of the lure. Therefore switched to my favourite X-130 in sardine. Waded slowly along the beach towards the point and was eventually rewarded by a thump on the rod tip, resulting in a schoolie bass not much bigger than the lure! Carried on, chopping and changing lures as the water clarity changed, and had another schoolie on an X-130 in candy. 

On the point itself I changed again to a Savage Gear sandeel, the extra weight required to get the lure down in the current, which was now ripping past the old wall. Allowed the lure to swing round, bumping bottom, before retrieving it back along the crease. A few casts later another thump on the rod tip resulted in one more schoolie, although it felt a lot bigger in the flow. The weather had turned pants by now, black and overcast and gusty. I'd also got fed up of being hit in the crotch by the wind-blown chop, so headed back home for a coffee and a bacon sarnie. Might have a rest day tomorrow - can't cope with two early mornings in a row at my age! I've also had a tip-off about trigger fish that I might follow up on the right tide (thanks Dave!).

1 comment:

  1. A knowledgeable local confirmed that it wasn't a fluke sighting. Happy hunting.

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