Devon Part 2: Persistence pays off!

04/04/2012

This morning was a tale of 2 lure nuts (nutters) and 2 PB's, although miles apart in every way.

After helping the grandad with some gardening we set out for round 2. Arriving an hour before low water it was encouraging to see that there was a nice swell sweeping the rocks, just the thing we had been waiting for. We had chosen very different tactics, myself opting for mini bashing in the rockpools whilst my brother continued in his die-hard attempt for a bass with the SP's. The mini-bashing started well with a number of blennies and scorpion fish going crazy for the power isome. After I'd had around 10 fish I moved a bit further round and noticed a good sized blenny perched on top of some weed. Dropping the isome down it wasn't long before its irresistable wavy motion had the blenny chasing it all over the place. A quick jig upwards and it nailed me. After giving a little tussle it was on the bank and it was a good little fish. Measured 16cm beating my PB by 2cm and had a belly on it to match.

I had another move but before I had chance to drop the lure in I heard a shout. Sure enough it was the brother and he obviously wanted me over in a hurry. I dropped the gear and hastily made my way to where he'd been fishing. Walking round the corner I could see him struggling and his rod had a very nice bend in it. 'I'm in!' he shouted and it was no less than he deserved after 4 days worth of effort. He had made his way onto a ledge that was now underwater so I stood in anticipation, camera at the ready waiting for him to get it in. He was obviously getting a bit of stick from the fish but after a few minutes it was near the edge and he was crouched down to gill it. 'It's a gooden' he said and when he pulled it up from the swell I looked on in jelousy, it certainly was a gooden. Nervously making his way back he mis-judged his steps and took a little swim in a deep gully in the process but he managed to get himself back on his feet with the fish still firmly in his grasp thankfully. Sams face was a picture and he was shaking like a leaf whilst I was taking some mug shots for him, partly from the shock of the freezing water but I think mainly from his fish lol. On the scales it went though and at 5lb 1oz it was his new PB by 11oz. It measured 66cm! Cracking fish for early in the year but had it not have been so lean it would definitely have been a good pound heavier; if only he'd registered for the Team Bass competition like I'd told him to a month ago lol. You can also see the size of that paddle on the photo below, no wonder it gave him such a good fight.
After this I had no option but to change to similar tactics but after an hour of lure chucking the tide had pushed us too far back to fish the spots we wanted to. I gave the LRF a final 20 mins before we called it a day and went home so that Sam could warm up a bit after his swim. It's a shame the conditions had limited our success this week but we'll be back soon for another go without a doubt and I think for this time of year we gave it a good go and did fairly well.

On a last note, I'd like to say thanks to all that gave us any advice for our trip and if your ever in North Wales and need some guidance, I'll do my best to return the favour.

Cheers and Tight Lines,
Ross