mrfishjersey: A nice day out

I had a phone call during the week from a chap called Nick Hewitt, he was wondering if there were any bass guides on boats in Jersey. I told him that there wasn't and said he is free to join Bob and me for a days plugging if we go. So, Saturday comes, we meet Nick at the shop and head down the harbour to launch the boat. The conditions were lovely, slightly overcast and there was a chance of a bit of rain or thunder, just how I like it to be honest.

I phoned Nelson to see where the boys were, they were down the east and had had 6 bass already, not bad, and it made me want to shoot straight down there. But, knowing the best of the dropping tide had gone I knew of a couple of spots on the way that fish quite well over the low tide so decided to try there first.

Nick then informs me he had never caught a bass before! So the pressure was on to catch him his first. About one minute later he only goes and hooks into a screamer of a bass, it ran and dived and head shook all it could. After a fairly long scrap it rose to the net, and bleeding alot from the gill area I was afraid it would not survive, but luckily it did.

We unhooked it, took some pictures and had a quick debate on whether we thought it would survive or not. I washed it in the sea for the photos and it seemed to stop bleeding straight away, so the decission was made to return this beautiful fish as quickly as possible. Fair play to Nick, he totally wanted to bass to go back too and was happy to see this fine specimen returned.

We guessed the fish to be 7lb and quickly returned it, there is no feeling like watching a beautiful bass swimming back.

We moved on and Nick manages his second bass! This is becoming the normal for Bob and me, we take guys out and they show us how to do it. A little while after that I managed my first one of the trip and shortly after that we met up with Nelson and Neil and we all crept about the shallow waters searching for some more silver bars. The water was gin clear,we could see the bottom very clearly even in 20ft of water. This does make finding the fish harder, especially over the slack water period. A few drifts down some gullies and I wasnt happy, the ground was perfect if the water had been a little deeper, a little faster and a little less clear.

So with a feeling that it wasnt going to get much better and the risk of a huge down pour of rain I decided to start heading back to the harbour and try a few places on the way back. First area I saw looked much better, the tide was a bit stronger and there was weed over rocks below us in about 10 to 15 ft of water, and the tide was flowing towards a band of rocks that were breaking up the flow.

First cast and Bob hooks a fish and as I was filming it Nick hooks one too. At last, a shoal of fish, and Neil and Nelson were just behind us, they straight away started hooking fish too. Here is Bobs first of the day, and his first on the Tackle House Feed Shallow 105, a great little lure that casts like a bullet and is very easy to work as all you need is a steady retrieve.

Here are a couple of Neils, a very proud man with his new Megabass rod, and of course his beloved Megabass Vision 110's, he really is a walking Megabass catalogue!

I think Neil ended up with four or five bass for the day, which is great really for the water we were fishing, really shallow and really clear.