Duration: 9.30 pm - 3.00 am
Tide: LW at 2.30 am
Weather: Southeasterly wind, dry at first then rain, becoming heavier later
Bait: Lug
Rigs: 4/0 pennel pulley, 3/0 pennel pulley, 2/0 two hook flapper
Results: 2 bass
Report: I first checked out the mark where I got 5 bass last week but it was unfishable due to a mass of weed. I didn't even bother to try a cast. So I headed on to another beach which I hoped would be clear. When I got there there was a lot of weed in the area where I usually fish - but it seemed cleaner further down. I set up two rods with 3/0 and 4/0 pennel pulleys. There was a good surf rolling in but unfortunately there was still a lot of weed. After about 10 or 15 minutes I would have to retrieve and clean off the bait.
By 11.30 pm without a bite I was beginning to think of packing up, but as this beach seems to fish best during the last 2 or 3 hours of the ebb I decided to stick it out a bit longer. Then at about midnight the weed cleared. I moved back down to my usual mark. I switched one of the pennel rigs for a two hook flapper. About half an hour later got the first bite, a small knock and I thought it might just be a dogfish as it wasn't putting up too strong a fight. But it turned out to be an undersized bass of 37 cm
That encouraged me - at least now I knew there were bass out there. However, the rod tips remained motionless. At one stage after moving the gear down the beach I got back to the rod stand and saw that the line on one of the rods had gone slack - I reeled in a lot of line but there was nothing on the end. It must have been a bass that I missed while I was moving the gear
After that I paid much more attention to the rods. Then at about 2.00 am there was a small knock on the rod with the 4/0 pennel. I grabbed the rod but the line had gone slack again - I reeled in like the clappers, the bass must have gone charging in towards the beach. There was a huge amount of slack line - I was thinking that I had lost the fish. Eventually I felt some resistant and struck, but not very well - the line went slack again - this time I thought I had definitely lost the fish, but kept reeling in and then I felt a fish on the end. It was almost on the shore line at this stage - I hauled it in the last few meters and there was a 50 cm bass
I was lucky to get it all as the fish was barely hooked, and it managed to shake off the hook while I was getting the camera out.I stayed on for about another hour, but there were no more bites. I packed up at about 3.00 am as the rain was becoming heavier and the wind picking up. I was happy with that session, earlier on with all the weed I had not been too optimistic but I was glad I stuck it out.
