In The Groove Again

The tides were crap last week. Next to no fish seen on my walks and I didn't even bother to fish.

Yesterday, I nipped out for a very quick afternoon session for maybe an hour and a bit. It was calm and sunny and looked....well, not very fishy.

First cast on the surface lure was hit by a bass and before I knew it I'd had three fish, decent size too. What do I know ?

I kept looking at a group of mullet that were showing close in around a very specific area. Fins and tails out, they looked as if they were feeding.

I rummaged around in my pockets and cobbled together eighteen inches of horrible,crinkly line with two flies and an orange indicator, which I clipped on to my bass trace. It looked horrendous, but speed was of the essence. 

Making my way to where the fish were showing, the mud got deeper and deeper,until it was an inch or two from the top of my wellies.

A decent cast to where the fish were and I left the flies static. More and more fish appeared and after fifteen minutes or so the indicator slid away and I was in.

In to a fish and in to even deeper mud that went up to my thighs and filled my wellies with stinking, sloppy goodness. The fish fought long and hard but was eventually netted.

I was well chuffed ( yes, that old expression again ) and truly covered in mud. Worth it though. First one I've had on the fly for a while.

Three bass and a nice mullet on a sunny afternoon in double quick time, doesn't get better than that.

This morning I was on the river at 04.00. Beautifully calm, warm and the surface was alive with mullet. Mullet that would not take my baited ( Isome plastic worm )  spinner, unlike the bass, which hammered it cast after cast.

I had about fifteen before I moved a mile down river. The first pool produced a sizeable fish on the popper and then I moved to a spot shaded from the early morning sun.

The popper was cast out and worked back over some bridge pilings when I noticed several fish that looked like bass mooching about , totally ignoring the lure.

A change to a shallow diver resulted in an immediate take and yet another decent sized bass was on and fighting like fury. Unfortunately, it was bleeding badly, so was taken home for the pot, along with samphire, blackberries and cherry plumbs. The fat of the land.

There are suddenly plenty of fish in the river again and "I know where they live", so this week I'm going to make hay big styleeeee.