Where do I start? First off, in the last couple of years I’ve been rather tardy with updating the blog but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been out chasing those bars of silver both here in the UK and further afield. Let’s just say I’ve been galvanised… all will become clear in my blog posts to follow, I promise!
Obviously, I’ve fished at relatively local marks during this time combined with multiple trips to Cornwall and Ireland again, plus last year south-west Portugal for the first time. Fair to say a mixed bag of results in terms of numbers of bass caught and the average size… a couple of 60cm fish was probably my best across these past two years and all caught local-ish to me.
More on Portugal….It’s fairly well documented that big bass can be caught there so the inaugural trip there in 2023 was eagerly awaited but we found it to be an unseasonably cold one and the group of us who went all struggled for fish of any size at all – best between us all week going to around 7lb. Think I managed a paltry two fish – it wasn’t easy! However, it wetted our appetite enough with the stunning ground and conditions on offer that some of us signed up once again for a return trip in January 2024.
So, here’s the first part of how events unfolded this year. Friends Henry and John had already been out there for over a week by the time my old mate Nobby and myself rocked up. Luckily we got out on our flight just in the nick of time before Storm Isha hit the UK shores. Sadly, the same storm put pay to our other pal Henry being able to join us – the weather Gods were really not smiling on him at all – he had very little choice but to cut his losses. A real shame all round.
What was cheering when we arrived was the conditions being noticeably warmer than the previous year, plus Henry and John already having had some nice fish including a lovely double figure bass for John. Things appeared encouraging.
But guess what?…It then got tough. The west coast where we were hoping to fish blew up and was tricky even when you could find semi-fishable conditions… the surges of water are way beyond anything I think you get in the UK, coupled with huge waves and surf it is extremely hard to fish even with the heavier lures in the 50-70g bracket. You have to be sensible and know when to walk away – anything over a 2 metre swell makes things extremely tough on that west coast.
However, that said we still picked up the odd fish here and there, just nothing significant for all our considerable efforts climbing and scrambling down cliff passes and gullies. It’s not for the faint-hearted that’s for sure with the step count and floors climbed by the end of the week looking pretty impressive!
With the west coast blown out for a majority of the time we had to adapt our plans to keep ourselves fishing and so attentions turned to options on the south coast – yes it was less challenging conditions we were faced with but there was a lot of weed inshore so you had to pick your spots carefully to fish smartly. The big difference was there were more recognisable signs of life with plenty of bait in the water, crabs on the shore and birds working the inshore waters. The other big plus was our lures were definitely spending more fishable time in the water rather than tumbling through surf as we’d found out west. That ultimately changed our fortunes with more fish showing albeit no monsters…. This one was about 5lb taken on a Savage Gear Sandeel – lovely dark and bronze fish.
And that was pretty much the story of the first four days Nobby and myself had after joining John and Henry, and it’s there I’ll leave it for now – it had all be relatively calm – the storm awaits, trust me.
Until next time….
Hooks, Lines & Sinkers 