If carslberg did bass fishing sessions

 You've guessed it the Lleyn 02/05/2012

I'm writing this report now, at 5am in the morning because I just cannot sleep after what is probably the best bass session I've ever had....... to date. I'm a great lover of night lure fishing for bass and think it is a very under-practised form of the sport and lethal as well, as this report proves. After a fruitless few weeks though on the plugs at night, I was getting a little disheartened and was desperately in need of a fish, or even just a take to wet my appetite. I left Bangor just before midnight to catch low water, which from previous trips to this mark have proved more successful than any other state of tide. I arrived at roughly 1am and started making my way down the steep climb to the mark, travelling light on this occasion with just the one lurebox due to difficulies getting up last time. I could hear the odd splash coming from down below me which made me quicken my pace somewhat until after 15 minutes I was ready to go. There was no point me using hard plastics as I don't like to risk my more expensive ones on what is essentially blind casting, so my lure selection consisted of a number of savage gear sandeels, a selection of sluggos and a pack of x-layers in original ayu.  I had to wait

a good 40 minutes for my first bit of action and it was my favourite savage gear eel (12.5cm variety in sandeel) that did the business tempting a schoolie of around 1&3/4lb (top right) Another 20minutes flew by and then another hit, this time a fish of a bit better stamp at 3lb 3oz (right). I was so chuffed I can't describe and I wasn't even started. I switched to a large green red-gill to see if I could get a bigger one, but after half an hour and just one knock it had to go back in the box and back on went the savage gear eel. I'd only had around 5 more casts when the lure got smashed and the drag started making that sweet sound that all fisherman long for. A spirited 3 minute tug of war ensued,

but there was only ever gonna be one winner and unfortunately for Mrs Bass it was me that prevailed. I

landed the fish on the shale patch around 20 yards from me and hauled

her up to be pictured and weighed. You can see from the picture she wanted that savage gear sandeel bad, unfortunately so badly the hook had gone into its stomach so I had to make a decision. She was bleeding badly so I decided it was best to keep her for tea, after all out of the 58 bass I've had this year so far, I've only kept 5. She was a good fish though and even after losing a good few ounces worth of blood, she weighed in at 4lb 10oz and went 62cm on the TLF ruler. I then had 3 more schoolies of around 1lb 8oz before on a rediculously slow retrieve I had another storming run. This fish was going mental,  splashing on the surface trying to throw the lure at every opportunity. Fortunately she did not succeed and after what is arguably the best fight I've had from any fish this year, she was flapping around on the shingle at my feet. I could see straight away it was bigger than the one earlier in the session so without any messing around I quickly unhooked her and put her on the scales......5lb 13oz..... my best bass of the season so far. Next job was to quickly measure her and as expected she was bigger

than my fish of a month ago, a whole 5cm bigger at 67cm. Now in a complete dreamworld, I couldn't bring myself to keep fishing so after releasing her to grow big for next time, I had a little wander along the coast looking for new ground. It was getting on for 3am at this point so I didn't want to go to far. I probably went along for 10 minuted before I decided I was back to normal and had a few more chucks. Now that my savage eels had been well and truly fu***d, I had no alternate option other than to stick on one of my x-layers. Being a tool I had forgotten any suitable jugheads so I just had to use them as they were with a weedless hook. I couldn't have been casting any further than 25 yards and on the retrieve I could feel the lure bumping over the boulders that are in numbers in this particular area. To my great surprise though after 20 mins of nothing, I had yet another thumping take. I had expected the fish to take me into the boulders and snag me up but the kind fella swam straight at me. All I had to do was reel in the slack until 5 yards out the fish realised what a fool it'd just been and threw all its weight into on final run. I honestly was just so overwhelmed at what had been happening that I didn't realise the size of the fish I had just landed until it went on the scales. It wasn't quite as big as the previous one but went 5lb 6oz on the scales and measured 64cm. With only a few lures left suitable for fishing with I decided to call it a night and made the long upward climb back to the car.

So the session ended for me at 3.45am having landed a total of 10 bass, 5 of them being between 1&2lb, two between 3&4lb, one at 4lb 10oz and two fish over 5lb. What can I say other than, holy sh*t, has that just happened lol. I don't think I'll sleep until tomorrow night now and with fishing like that I may have to go for a return visit. Maybe I can get that double I've been searching for.

Hope you enjoyed the read,

Tight Lines,

Ross