3 hours plugging, an achy shoulder but I got my reward!

A trip down the Lleyn  29/02/2012

It has been too long since I ventured down the Lleyn in the search of bass and even though it's far from ideal weather at the moment, it was time to try my luck at one of my more secretive spots. With my lure rod and reel in hand I set off from Bangor 2.5 hours before low water with the intention of fishing the tide up a few hours. Hopeful but not expectant, I reached the mark spot on low water. I decided to start off using soft plastics, everything from x-layers and sluggos through to delalande sandras, but with no sign of a take after an hour, it was time for a change. I opted firstly for some 2-3 metre deep ranged lures. In particularly the Megabass Zonk. I love these lures as with braid you can see every movement of the lure through the rod tip. I tried various types of retrieve again with no avail so had a further change. Shallow divers this time. My first bit of action came using the Duo tide minnow 125. I had been twitching it on a fast retrieve when I had a decent knock, twitched it a few more times but nothing happened. I continued the retrieve almost all the way to the rocks when from nowhere a fish spooked after what I can only guess was a follow. This got me excited as any lure angler will appreciate and kept me going for another 40 minutes without sign of anything. My last ditch tactic was to whack on the trusty Feed Shallow UB15. Again nothing for a further half an hour until finally, after over 3 hours of plugging, a proper smash and grab hit. I had set the drag reasonably loose so I could have a bit of fun and after a short tug of war the fish came to the surface a few yards out. Safely netted, I took it up to where I had set up my camera and pictured and weighed it before releasing it back into the shallows. It was no beast at 2lb 5oz but gave a cracking fight and brightened up my night considerably. Shoulder now aching a tad it was time to call it quits but at least I could go home fully satisfied. Goes to show that even at this early stage of the year, if you put in the time and effort you will get rewards.

Thanks for reading,

Tight Lines,

Ross