After a long lay off and the annual bout of cabin fever my fishing urge finally got the better of me yesterday and it was off to the coast for my first session of the season. To be honest with the March cold snap, relatively low water temperatures and only a few catch reports my hopes of a bass weren’t high but my head told me ‘you got to be in it to win it’ so I dragged myself out of bed at some ungodly hour to give me a good couple of hours before the published high water.
Arrived and the water was already much higher than I expected and I thought I must have mis-read the tables so I tackled up and hurriedly got going. It was still dark when I started but you could see there was a nice little chop to the water. Nothing at the first couple of spots so I gradually made my way west along the shoreline switching lures in the process and it was after one of these changes to the smaller Tackle House Feed Shallow 105 that just as the light was up I got hit… for all the world I thought I’d got lucky with an early season bass but was beyond surprised when I saw it was a mullet!
After that brief excitement nothing more was happening at that spot so I was on the move again but a significant landslip right to the waters edge stopped me in my tracks and there was no alternative but to turn back. The slip was slicking into the bay making it horribly coloured… it will certainly need a storm or two to break it up otherwise, unfortunately, this spot will likely be unfishable for a while.
Fished my way back but nothing further to report though there were a few mullet there in the shallows. Did meet up with some familiar faces on the walk back and in discussion we’d all faired much the same on the bass front. Last year I had my first bass at the end of March, this season seems a good few weeks behind probably as a result of the colder Winter with water temperatures definitely down.
So, the mullet was a blank saver, it was good to be back out after a long lay-off plus good to catch up with some familiar faces but in all honesty I think it’s probably a few more weeks of cabin fever before I try again!
Until next time…
Hooks, Lines & Sinkers 