I’ve been out of action for a little while with the back absolutely screaming but looking at yesterdays forecast and seeing some nice South Westerlies breaking up the recent calm, I just couldn’t resist a visit to my old favourite hunting ground. So dosed up on painkillers and with my trusty beach chair, I set off for Seaford beach.

With a low tide predicted for about 9.45pm, I arrived at 8.30 to a blustery beach, opposite West View. It was blowing a good ‘un, with a big surf running and I suddenly had a feeling off déjà vu – surely it wasn’t going to be another nightmare! Always game for a laugh, I set up anyway, using only one bass rod rigged with a long link running ledger and 6/0 pennel to be baited with whole squid.

First couple of casts resulted in line getting clogged with weed and being dragged along the beach – this was going to be fun! I persevered all the way through low water and the first couple of hours of the flood, when it seemed to improve, with the weed lessening and the water losing some of its energy as the wind started to drop. Still no fish but at least I got to spend some quality time in my chair.

At about 1am, I had a huge pull down of a bite and was briefly connected to what felt like a reasonable bass before it spat the bait – at least I knew there were fish in the vicinity. 1.30am, I had another pull down and this time the fish stayed on and was soon beached, a plump little 42cm, two pounder. Couldn’t get a picture, as the camera came up with some cryptic warning of a ‘card error’, which later turned out be that the card wasn’t seated properly and easily remedied.

It wasn’t long after this that I had a chat with a guy that was fishing just along from me and who I’d seen earlier while he was walking his dog and had stopped to ask what the conditions were like. Anyway, he tells me he reads these pages often, so I thought I’d mention him – although embarrassingly, I didn’t catch your name (sorry).

It was coming up to 2.30 when I seriously thought about calling it a night – but as always, I decided to carry on until the bait ran out, besides I was quite enjoying myself in my little chair watching the quite numerous meteorites.

At 2.30ish, I had a cracking take, which had the rod whipping round as a fish picked up the squid bait, turned and shot back out through the waves at a rate of knots. This felt like a better fish and after a short but spirited fight, my shining prize was on the beach a lovely 54cm four pound bass.

I re-baited with a larger squid and lobbed it out to roughly where I’d had it before, about twenty yards out in the turbulent and now thankfully, weed free water. I let the bait settle, before turning to have a sit down and a coffee. It was a long sit, as it all went a bit quiet, with just the rhythmic nodding of the rod tip, as the waves broke over the line. 3.20 and time for a fresh bait, so I retrieved, selected a particularly fat and juicy squid, mounted it on the hooks and lobbed it back out.

I had just put the rod in the rest, so I could dig out a spare tip light, when the rod tip slammed down and the butt slipped out of the cup and shot skyward. I made a grab for it and could feel a hard fighting bass on t’ other end, I felt sure that this going to be a cracker! I gently but firmly steered the fish through the breakers, letting take line when it wanted – I did not want lose this one! I go the timing just right and I let the next big wave carry it up the shingle, where I was surprised to see it was smaller than I expected; nevertheless, it was still a reasonable bass of 60cm and 5lbs 1oz.

By now, I was down to my last couple of squid, so stuck the larger of the two on the hooks and cast it back out and waited. Twenty minutes later, there was a plucking on the rod tip that was out of sync with the waves, so I felt the line and there it was again – tap, tap and then wallop! Tip down, fish on and shortly after, it was fish on the beach – another 42cm, two pounder. The last squid was hooked and cast out and then I set about clearing up around in preparation for moving off. I then sat and finished the last of my coffee before deciding that I’d had enough for the night and desperately needed my bed.

So, it was another successful session at my favourite spot with some nice fish – I know that my elusive double is there and waiting and that this is all training for that night – fingers crossed.

2 Responses to “Breezy Seaford Bass”

1. dean says:

   6 August, 2011 at 03:45

   hi vic im the guy you meet on the beach? my name is dean.
   any was down there tonight and i finaly got one.i used 5.0 hook as you sugested?thanks for the tip:)

2. Vic says:

   6 August, 2011 at 08:35

   Hi Dean, it was good to chat to you. Great to hear you bagged one and glad the advice helped. May see you down there again at some stage.