To all those caught by the fly...
Early Season 2015
Although a little late in coming I thought I’d summarise the season so far. April was BBQ weather and although the ambient temperatures were better than average the water temperatures struggled to get above the magical 13 degree level. We did contact a few Bass on the fly but most were taken on soft baits http://www.bass-fishing.co.uk/en/herringsoftbait10perpack-p-9022.html and live sand eels on the offshore marks on the East side of the coast. Some of these fish were good specimens with the largest pushing 6.5 kgs or around 13 lbs – these were in mint condition and were caught tight on the bottom whilst drifting. Even the biggest grain lines would probably struggle to get down on the big spring tides but we will be trying to get into this zone using Depth Finder lines in the autumn (http://www.bass-fishing.co.uk/en/airflobiggamedepthfinder700grain14wt-p-9021.html) on the Neaps when the flow is a little more friendly.
Ian Griffiths enjoying early May fly
May yielded just under 600 School Bass coming to the fly with quite a few up there at the 3 ½ - 4lb mark and interestingly these fish were taken pretty locally near the Chichester harbour entrance and just East into Bracklesham bay. June so far has been one big fight with the wind and not just the prevailing wind from the S/West but NE winds giving a better than average sea state but delivering a definite chill to the air – on the few occasions when the wind has dropped and the high pressure pushed in, the evening sessions were greeted with literally thousands of School Bass keyed into very small food sources. It has been extremely frustrating to present shoals of Bass to clients that just won’t take a fly – this I’m sure is the result of an “Algae Bloom on the inshore fishery” as the water has a definite green tinge on it – When the conditions are exactly right and it’s dead still, there is a concentration of minute food which the Bass are keying into – the occasional fish is taken almost by default I’m afraid to say and we just have to sit it out until it dissipates.
On the kit front, Fly rod sales are doing very well and as we write this I am testing the new “Seawolf” IM12 4 piece blank – These will be available in AFTM 8wt the late Autumn all going well. As well as fly rods I am looking to get a range of “Drop shot” rods into the shop (10-20 & 20-40 grm load) which will complement the soft bait herring patterns we developed last year for the Autumn run of bait>
New 4 piece “Seawolf” Drop shot rods
5” Soft bait Herring
I am keeping almost daily accounts of conditions and catches via my FACEBOOK link which I’m finding very useful when trying to fill a late cancelled slot or for answering specific questions. If you want to join me on this page please see the link below – I hope you find it useful as I post my results whether they are good, bad or indifferent which I feel is more helpful to everyone who is out there on the sea.
(Facebook logo - https://www.facebook.com/pages/bass-fishingcouk/587651444611650 )
Tip down and don’t strike! – best of luck out there.
Justin Anwyl
IGFA Guide
Logo