Last trip of the year . . . Maybe!

With reports of good fishing, improving conditions and good tides we set off with high hopes for the Copper Coast. The conditions looked great - blue sky, stir in the water and an on- shore wind, the excitement was building. We hit the first few marks hard and  both witnessed, for the first time, Mackerel being pushed to the surface by feeding Bass. Although the Mackerel kept us entertained on both surface and sub surface lures we failed to land any Bass the first day, although I did manage to connect with one briefly on a Lucky Craft Gun Fish.

The conditions were getting better by the hour and the next morning the coast was looking epic. We were not long at the first mark when Jonny smashed into a nice fish on the Feed Shallow Plus. After a strong fight he had the fish in at his feet. I scrambled over to give him a hand landing it and the following events can only be described as 'poor angling'. We have all witnessed it - a faff about when the fish was at our feet and the leader pinged on the rock - both fish and lure gone. It was heartbreaking to have it so close and then to loose it at the final stage. It was a nice fish of around 5lb. Some might say with the fish touched and the leader held then it was 'landed' but we couldn't help but feel disappointed when it slipped through our grasp. We stood in silence for a while - no words would have made a blind bit of difference. The walk back to the car was gutting as we talked about the usual 'what ifs'! I couldn't help but feel it was my fault that it got off and it stayed in my head the whole trip but I guess it is going to happen sooner or later to us all - it just so happened to be a good Bass.

We didn't let this hold us back - moving on we hit the next mark as the tide was pushing on. As usual we hit more Mackerel and then the first Bass of the trip was landed. I got smashed on a Maria Chase BW about 30yards out.

A quick picture and it was time to set it back to sea.

Then it was Jonny's turn to connect. This time on the IMA Hound Glide.

It was great to get some fish to try and rectify the morning's horrific landing experience and the spirits were lifted with a few more Bass.

And another one ....

Sadly for us the next day presented worsening conditions and the prospect of a fish was looking grim. We made a last minute call to head East and go try some of the old faithful marks which I knew a lot better.

We didn't waste anytime on arriving, we parked up and headed straight out. We got smashed up and then I got this nice little 3lb fish.

Had we made the right move? Would there be more fish on our last day?

We got up first thing in the morning and fished hard with Jonny producing this nice little Pollack.

Although not the Bass we had hoped for it was nice to at least get a bend on the rod.

We moved mark and fished fished for about half an hour with Jonny getting smashed up and then loosing a running fish. I was lucky when about 20 minutes later I landed another solid fish.

With time closing in on us I made the call to move to one last mark before we decided to call it a day. We arrived and the water was filthy, brown and coloured. I stuck on a White Senko style lure and began to slowly bounce it down the current. I hadn't been fishing 10 minutes when the three huge pounding head shakes on the rod. I struck and the fish took off. At first I wasn't sure how big the fish was with the current but as I tightened the drag and it kept running I soon knew it wasn't a puppy. The head shakes continued until it turned and ran straight at me. I reeled up the slack rapidly hoping it wouldn't get off, as it got closer and closer we still couldn't see the fish. Eventually it cruised up out of the murky water to reveal itself to us.

We stood in awe. It was easily my biggest Bass, I knew this before I had even weighed it. We got the Boga in it and the camera out.

This beauty tipped the scales at 7.3lb - my personal best.

I was shaking with a mixture of amazement and nerves. It had given me one hell of a fight and after getting it weighed it was slipped back in to the water for it to recover.

It was incredible to see such a fish in the flesh - an event which I am sure Jonny nor I will ever forget. It was the icing on the cake, a perfect way to end what was a fantastic trip.

We had our ups and downs between loosing fish and plagues of Mackerel but this blew all that into a distant memory. Who knows when I will see a fish as stunning again but I know it won't stop me trying.

Tight Lines.