Dreams can come true.

After fishing some rocky areas around the local area and having no such luck only catching dogfish, i decided to try somewhere a little in shore and closer to the Conwy Estuary. After checking out the colour of the estuary water and realising that we had not had much rain in the last week i decided to give the estuary a go.
Bass seem to love the wide variety and high concentrate of food provided by estuaries and the good tide ride is highly in there favour.
I had a mark in mind where the current comes very close to the shore and is very easy to get to. the general ground is a mix of mud, sand, rock and weed.

Day1

I set my bass rod up with a running ledger rig. This comprised of a 4ft 20 pound hook length. I then used 1 peeler crab which was cut nearly in half and then bound onto some Tronixpro 2/0 hooks pennel rigged (2 hooks in tandem). The reason i was using 2/0 sized hooks was because i wouldnt of minded hooking a good flounder (fishing had been slow) if there was not any bass about. I was mainly fishing the start of the flood so a simple spark plug would be used to hold the rig on the bottom.

few hours past....
Without a bite and the bait had hardly moved due to hardly any tide run.

As the tide picked up some i then baited fresh peeler crab and used a 4oz ball lead to hold bottom. the rig was now settled in a gully down tide. but by now holding my light bass rod was starting to take it course. I held out and felt like the wildlife was starting to come alive. all of a sudden i heard a great splash way downtide. I had a chuckle and thought sea trout upto there usual trick. i heard the splash 4 times in all but it then dawned on my that the spalshing fish was nearly over my bait?
I then gripped my rod and my line with my fingers even firmer. the concentration intensified and i become quite on edge. Before i had time to wipe my sweaty palms the line went totally slack. I remembered from watching the Henry Gilbey dvd to take it gently on not to strike.I reeled in the slack gently the line suddenly tightened heavily and my intinct was to strike which is just what i did. FISH ON? it took a few turns of the reel to realise that i had a fish wooh. I few more turns and i realised it was something of size, i did not panic i kept my cool and gently played the fish. as it got closer to the shore it was thumbing on the rod tip. i lifted the rod and walked backward up the beach. I could not believe my eyes. it was a bass and by far my best one. the fish must of weighed around 7-9lb mark.

He was a feisty one and he needed a minute to calm down. I patched up the crab bait and set it back out into the tide. I let the bait settle in the good tide run and placed the rod in the rod rest. A quick picture of this beauty and then i sent the bass off its way. There were no more bites after that and i went home with a smile on my face.

After arriving back home and not being able to sleep i had time to reflect on the nights fishing. I was a little disappointed with myself for not making the most of the time with the bigger than average predator. I was also disappointed that i didn't know the weight of such a great fish. The speculation was that it was between 6-10 pounds. Also the picture of the fish was pretty poor with the fish being covered in mud was a bit of a bummer.

Day 2

After hearing some of the comments made on the picture of the bass it concluded to me that i should take the following steps.

• Went to the tackle shop and invested in some scales and some bits of tackle including some bigger hooks.

• Decided i would go back and fish the same place tonight hoping of the chance i might see that extraordinary fish again.

• I would take a spare towel to clean sticky mud off the fish.

• i would fish only for bass tonight, using a bigger crab bait, 2-3 crabs and 4/0 pennel hooks.

I made my way down to the same mark this time it was around 3 hours later to the previous day. When i got to the mark it was dark and the tide had just started to flood ~ perfect. 

I then placed 2 crab baits onto the bottom hook of the pennel rig. I applied bait elastic to the 2 crabs to secure them firmly to the hook. the top hook was then twisted around the line 4 time and put through the top of the bait. 

Using the same rig as the day before even using 20 pound hook length, i casted out the spark plug weighted double crab bait into the channel. Tonight seemed a little bit more quiet and the tides were smaller so the tide flow of the water was less. Half an hour later the bait was now sitting nicely in the tide still held down by the humble spark plug.  

I was holding my rod as i always do when the rod tip just buckled over. I leant back but didnt strike. The bait had been taken no questions asked and the fish had hooked itself. FISH-ON. I palyed the fish the same, being very gentle and cautious not to cause any harm to the fish or loose any tackle.

The fish was weighed and sneaked above 10pounds approx 10lb 4oz.

I could believe it. I got the fish back the waters edge where i gave him a dunk and then cleaned him off. I then snapped off the picture and placed him back in the water. he then made his way back into the dark water flipping over the shallows pieces of land. 

Looking back at the 2 picture im not sure weather it was the same fish. I would probably say that it was not the same fish. I think day 2 was a little bigger than Day 1 and i very much doubt that a fish could gain that weight in one day. after catching that bass i headed home with a big smile on my face.

what a brilliant 2 nights it had been. slept about 6 hours in 2 days but who cares, when there was monster bass roaming around the river, i wouldnt want to be anywhere else :-) 

Please leave a comment on how you found my first blog. All feedback is greately appreciated..

Thanks for reading


Best wishes
Justin jnr Roberts