Duration: 4.30 - 7.00 pm
Tide: LW at 5.45 pm
Weather: Great - sunny, clear skys, light easterly breeze
Bait: Lures
Rigs: Xlayers, Asturie, Pachinko, Shallow Feed
Results: 2 bass, 1 pollock
Report: I am a bit late posting this report. I headed down to a rock mark mid afternoon on Saturday. I would be fishing it over the last of the ebb and beginning of the rising tide so it was far from ideal but unfortunately I needed to do some work in the morning.
Shortly after I arrived I saw a bass crusing around just a few feet from the shore. So I knew there was at least one fish around. I startled the bass and it darted off. I chucked out a range of different lures and had one follow on the Shallow Feed. After a while I returned to using an Xlayer and on about the second cast the lure had barely landed in the water when it was hit by a strong fighting bass. It put up a good struggle before I landed it. It was 57 cm well feed fish
After that it got quite. I moved a bit further along and could see some fish swirling about further out. Unfortunately I had to cast over a very shallow reef with kelp on the far side of it. I used the surface lures and after 15 miuntes or so I had a hook up on an Asturie. This was a smaller bass - 44 cm
I continued casting in the same direction, I had a few splashes just behind the lure and felt a few hits but no hook ups. When the tide turned and the water began to rise I switched to an Xlayer. After four or five casts I hooked a much bigger fish. I worked it in to the edge of the rocks and was holding the line as I stepped down to pick it up. As I did so it made a couple of violent head shakes and the line snapped
I jumped down, and had my hands on the fish but he slipped out and swam up a narrow shallow gulley, only about 8 or 9 inches deep. I thought I had it trapped but as it reached the back of the gulley it launched itself out of the water, jumping cross about a metre wide rock and into a deeper gulley and swam away with my Xlayer still hanging from its mouth I put on a new Xlayer and continued casting. Then I felt another hit but this fish was putting up a much weaker fight. It turned out to be a 40 cm pollock. It looked like the fish were beginning to come in with the rising tide. Then I heard a blood curdling shreak coming from the direction where I had left Melissa. I looked back but she seems OK but I thought I better head back in case something was wrong. I got back and was told the story. As the tide had begun to push forward she had started climbing back over the rocks. She heard shrill almost shreaking noises behind her, looked back and saw two giant rats, as "big as cats" bounding up the rocks after her and shreaking at her - so she gave out a scream and ran
I guess she must have been approaching their nest and they were warning her off. Not sure if she will ever accompany me to that mark again 
I would probably have got a few more fish if I had stayed and fished the rising tide but Melissa was not too keen to hang around after being chased off by two "giant" rats. But I was happy with that session as I hadn't expected too much since I was fishing the wrong stage of the tide.
