Snatcher

Nice report Brett. No shame in being outfished by the women,you get used to it after a while !!!! John

Here you go Brett. A 20g Drennan controller float,a 9' 15lb mono trace and a 6" holographic sandeel mounted on a 2/0 baitholder hook. Keep varying the retrieve,have found that the Mull of Galloway bass seem to go for a slow twitched return. Hope this helps John

I have got the bass fishing bug again so I decided to have a short "dusk session" last night. Now for a while I had been promising myself to try somewhere different and tonight was the night. Like a lot of anglers I will quite often recce potential new marks on big tides and I thought that this one looked very "bassy" !!! I arrived at the mark just after 10pm after quite a yomp from where I parked up. When I got to the water there was quite a chop on so I decided against trying a popper and set up with a controller float and a 6" holographic sandeel threaded onto a 2/0 baitholder hook. First retrieve I had a few small plucks at the lure and suspected either small pollack or coalfish. A few casts later my suspicions were confirmed with this tiny fellah. During the session I was taking one about every third or fourth cast. After about half an hour my rod tip slammed over and I knew I had my first bass on. It put up a great scrap I was sure I had a big bass on. I was quite suprised when I got it in and it was only about the 3lb mark. I had decided to give it until midnight and then pack in. With only a few minutes to go I hooked into my second bass. This fish also fought hard for its size but must have only been about 2 lbs in weight. Well it had been a most enjoyable short session with all fish being returned to fight another day. It is proving to be a very good bass year for me so far,lets see if it lasts !!! John

Great shots Kevin Esconsed here in Drummore for most of the summer now so my Internet access is "patchy". Anyway here are a couple of shots from last night. This first one is of Mull Hill,Port Logan. I took this shot whilst waiting to see if a decent sunset was going to develop !!! For this second shot I walked along to Port Logan pier and with visibility being decent zoomed in on Ireland as best as my 200mm lens would allow me Will try and "pop in" as often as I can John

Looking forward to the reunion then Colin John

Well Malky had been in touch about having a try for some MOG wrasse so we met up yesterday morning at 06.00 for Malkies "wrasse bash" !!! After a short drive we arrived at the parking place for the mark I had in mind and set off through the fields. I told Malky it was about a 20 min walk but I think that was an underestimation. After carefully walking through a field with 2 bulls in and yomping along the cliff tops we arrived at the mark. We both set up with sliding floats on our spinning gear,I had lug and limpet for bait and Malky had lug and crab. The water was a fair depth so we were just fishing a couple of feet out. I was first in after about 10 mins with a small coalfish. I put it into a rock pool for a quick photo and while doing so the hook dropped out,well that was handy. Malkies wrasse expertise then started to shine through when he landed his first fish. It was not big but it was our target species. He managed to winkle out a couple of more wrasse at this spot before we decided to move further along the cliffs. I nearly came a cropper at this stage as the rocks were quite slippy,all I hurt was my pride though!!! We got settled in to this second mark and very shortly Malkie was working his wrasse magic again with a bigger stamp of fish and all I could manage was one wrasse. What did cause much amusement was the slight language barrier between the Geordie and Scottish accent. It had the pair of us giggling like a pair of kids. This was one of my wrasse We moved on again to our final mark and Malky got a couple of bigger wrasse on crab bait while I managed to lose a couple of decent fish when the hooks pulled out. I also tried spinning hoping for a pollack but never got a touch on the lures. We packed in just before noon and Malky had had a great session,getting into double figures on the wrasse. All I had managed was one coley and two wrasse!!!! That climb back up the cliff had me done in. By the time I got to the top Malkie was onto his second ciggy LOL. Malky then came back to our caravan in Drummore and we had a cup of coffee and a bit craic on the veranda. I gave Malkie a couple of Snatchers WMD's to try out at a later date. Photo courtesy of my good lady Dorothy. It had been a most enjoyable morning session and Malkie had got his wrasse and I was really pleased for him. All of our fish had swam safely away with no casualties which is always good. He set off from our place to go to Ardwell Marine to pick up some bait for his afternoon/evening session. Smoothies were his target,I just hope he got some. John

A few beers on the veranda again then Colin What dates you coming over? We plan to be here all summer apart from a couple of short trips back to Whitley Bay. John

Simple spinning outfit,I use 15lb mono. Controller float at the end,this one was 18g I think !!! 8/9' trace of 15lb mono and a 6" holographic sandeel impaled on a 2/0 baitholder hook. I use baitholder hook otherwise the eel will slide down to bend after so many casts. Started experimenting with bass rigs a while ago. If I want further distance will sometimes substitute the controller float for a larger/heavier bubble float. Normally fish this rig at dawn/dusk/darkness. Hope this helps John

Well it was my fifth day at the caravan and I had not got the rods out yet. Time to try for that first bass of the season I thought to myself !!!! Low water was around dusk so I jumped into the car about 22.00 and headed off to one of my favourite lw bass marks. To be honest I half expected to blank on my first bass attempt of the season as they can be a very fickle fish at this time of the year. Well I got to my mark and set up my normal spinning gear with a Drennan controller float and 6" holographic sandeel mounted on a 2/0 baitholder hook at the business end. On my very first retrieve I thought I felt a tentative take but was not totally convinced. Had a couple of more soft plucks at the sandeel before I eventually had a thumping bang and I had my first bass of the season on. It was only a schoolie of about 2lb but gave a spirited fight. Time for a quick photo and back in it went to fight another day. For the next half hour I had no more plucks/takes and was thinking about packing in as was nearly asleep on my feet. I had been up at 03.00 for a couple of mornings on the trot looking for some Drummore/Luce Bay sunrise shots. It does catch up with you eventually. Was it worth it though ??? What you reckon ??? Anyway I decided to go for the "last 3 casts" routine. On the last cast I hooked into another schoolie which was again photographed and safely returned to the water. After this went through the "last 3 casts" routine again and on my second cast was hit by a much bigger stamp of fish.. I had the fish on for about 2 minutes and in that time it made three strong runs. On the third run the hook pulled out. After much cursing and swearing decided to call it a day as I was totally "cream crackered" and it was a fair trudge back to the car. My first bass session of 2010 had not been a blank after all. The "bass bug" has bitten me again so I will be out again within a day or two looking for that big one !!! John

Half ten last night was told off my mate in Drummore. Just about to drive over now,try not to break anything while I am away !!! John ps will report back if anyone takes up the free lodgings offer

Will be ok in Drummore Colin. Its a small village,everyone knows everyone and they look after each other. Approx 12 caravans look directly over the beach where the pot will be going in and they will all know its mine. Thats a heck of a lot of lookouts !!!! John

I take it all you yakkers are aware of this event ??? see here under events Quite a lot of yakkers took part in last years event and the craic was really good Are any of you planning to have a go at this one? John

Well done on your first tope John

Just seeing if you would spot the deliberate mistake Newt John

Great report Bobj and nice fish. Just hoping I get to team up with you this year John

Good idea Chesters well this is our view over Luce Bay from the caravan so am ideally placed for this Will simply don chesties and walk down at lw and place it amongst the rocks. We can keep an eye on it from the caravan window !!!! Will let you know if anyone takes up residency !!! John

Aye Newt,love my grandbairns to bits and am really pleased when they are brought around (aged 6 and 7) Being so active and full of energy/always on the go they tend to tire me out after a full day of looking after them !!! The hugs/kisses/funny moments more than make up Great photos Newt and enjoy the summer. Give Jan a hug from me John ps trying to work out how long ago that boat charter from Amble was when we all met up ?? Was it 1996???

One bedroomed property free to a suitable tenant. Fresh food can be found within bedroom area. Only big,mature,juicey lobsters and crabs need apply. Immature shellfish will not be concidered for this property. No time wasters such as dogfish and conger eels please. Can be viewed without appointment as doors left open. John

Really enjoy looking at this thread Some more cracking photos as usual. With a bit of luck will be posting up a few shots from the Mull of Galloway shortly. We are heading over to our caravan on Thursday for a 3 week stint Have got a few sunrise shots over there in mind so that will be a 3am start then !!! John

What an adventure Bobj,wish I had been there Apart from the birdlife what other animals did you see ? Are there many camels in that part of oz? I here they can be a problem. I was always on the lookout for snakes when I was up north,seen two and I was not too keen Soft pommie eh !!! John

Morcambe Bay not an inspiring photo but worth putting on just to ask if anyone would like to own up to "nicking" the sea !!! Took this shot just to the east of Barrow in Furness. I bet the water floods in at a fair rate of knots. I know that some Chinese cocklers were drown here because of that This one is from the top of Hartside pass see here I have been here now on 4 or 5 occasions and am still waiting for a clear day to see it at its best John

Good on ya Blue John

Great pictures SW,Slodger and Bobj Bobj that desert sunset is awesome,well done :clap: John

Great moments Bobj Not sure if we are coming out this year now It all depends on our daughter /boyfriend gettimg their residency sorted !!!! Will keep you informed John

Thanks Fred Hope things are well with you in oz and where is Hellbelly these days?? Has he deserted us? Bobj some great shots there. You certainly have an amazing country. The red centre,Ayes Rock,The Olgas.Aboriginal paintings etc certainly pulled my string. The only "down" was the millions of flies Would love to see some more of your "walkabout" pictures Bobj John