02/08/2026 - Metal magic

A combined birthday and anniversary celebration involving several pints of Wye Valley Brewey’s excellent "Butty Bach" put paid to any ideas of a morning session yesterday. I was a knackered after the previous two early mornings anyway, so enjoyed the lie in instead. 

The plan had been to go wrasse fishing up at Fishguard and I very nearly headed there this morning, but having woken up shortly before 0500 hrs for some reason and not able to go back to sleep I decided to head to the estuary at Lawrenny for a bass session. Got there just after first light, the sun just starting to illuminate the mudflats, and drove down to the quay. The tide was already a couple of hours into the flood and I had therefore intended to bump soft plastics in the flow in mouth of the side channel. 

However, as I got togged up I could see a lot of bird activity out in the main estuary, so walked up to the breakwater for a look. A flock of gulls were diving on a shoal of bait fish and there was also the occasional strike from beneath.  Whilst all of this was happening some distance out of casting range I thought it would be worth a punt, so clipped on a 17g chrome Slingshot “surface iron” that I had recently purchased from Lures Edge. Whacked it out as far as I could and started retrieving it close to the surface. Within a few turns of the reel handle it got whacked by a small bass that punched well above it’s weight in the current. From that point onwards it was constant action with the lure getting smashed as soon as it hit the water. 

By the time that the birds and presumably the baitfish had finally drifted away an hour and a half later I’d had 27 schoolies, all like peas in a pod. Whilst it had been great sport, with about an hour left to high I upped sticks and went to a spot higher up the side channel to try and find a bigger fish. Worked a Savage Gear slender scoop shad around the clumps of bladder wrack in the hope that a big mama would come nosing in after an easy meal. However, it wasn’t to be and I was eventually pushed up against the wall by the incoming tide. I couldn’t really complain having just had my most prolific bass session so far. It had certainly been a case of being in the right place at the right time. 

I just wondered if a heavier lure would have given me enough distance to get right amongst the action and possibly the bigger fish. Oooh look, they do a 26g version. Where's the credit card......