The past month has seen me casting here and there as the opportunity arises nothing serious, as I seem to have been busy at work and catching up on projects etc. The bigger bass have continued to elude me on the lure gear but have provided some sport on the LRF gear. A short session with my son James whilst visiting Dartmouth brought a hard fighting bass of a couple of pounds along with a couple of gobies.
A week staying at Noss Mayo near Plymouth saw Pauline and I enjoy a few short excursions with the rod. Prior to our visit I had dug out a copy of “Sea Fishing In South Devon” by Hugh Stoker. These informative angling guides first published in the late fifties are fascinating tomes that are still relevant even fifty years later. It is interesting to note how some species such as gilt head bream are not mentioned illustrating how climate change has perhaps impacted?
Hugh Stoker writes of the Upper Yealm; “ Grey Mullet abound, and there are plenty of quiet vantage points for shore fishing, such as old grass grown quays and slipways. Promontories at the mouths of creeks, etc. Tackle and baits: light quill float gear, size 10 or 12 hooks: bread flake. Peeled shrimps, peeler crab claws, very small ragworm”
Fifty odd years later I cast my line from an old quay. No longer grass grown, still peaceful with the cooing of wood pigeons echoing from the wooded slopes of the valley. Affluence is now apparent though with laughter drifting through the summer evening from the garden decking of those who live and holiday in this stunning location. I enjoy a brief encounter with a grey mullet that seizes my bread flake. I marvel at the vast numbers of fish that swirl and turn in the estuary creek.
A day trip to a beach thronged with sun-seekers sees me wading out into the clear waters with my LRF rod and a small twin tailed lure purchased at the “Art of Fishing” in Plymouth. School bass are in abundance and provide an exciting and action packed session with over twenty small bass of up to a 1lb seizing my offering. Wading in warm water and casting to shoals of fish is great fun and I observe two points that reinforce what I already new. First of all even a small piece of weed draped upon the lure renders it useless and that if light values change as cloud drifts over then the bass will feed with added aggression becoming less active as the sun lights up the water.
A short session from a pontoon in the river also brought me that staple species of the LRF angler my first ever scorpion fish.
