Missed appointment
With my colleague from the high tides, we meet at daybreak on this little stretch of beach we know well, just an hour's sail from our yellow-lip spots. The weather is fine, with no fog as is often the case here. The water is calm and usually will be for the whole day (or even longer).
As soon as we got into the water, we saw a flush of small 40 cm bass tapping away on small jigs, so we didn't insist and headed off into the open sea. On the way, we have our trolling lures behind us and a few more bass, this time a little bigger, pay us a visit.
After 3/4 hour's sailing, we start prospecting. The sounder screen isn't very active, but we still move our lures through the various layers of water and record hits of old ones. We make several corners where we know the fish are usually, but nothing happens. After two hours, we decide to stop and head back towards the coast.
The coefficient is quite high (90) and we're going back against the current with a headwind - yes, it's risen stronger than expected. Normally, we fish these spots on coefficients between 50 and 70, preferring the last two hours down and the first two hours up. In this case, we were on the last hour of rising water with a high coefficient. For us, this was the reason why we missed the fish that day. In fact, it was the only factor that was not "as usual". We're reassuring ourselves as best we can...
After some hard, muscular sailing, we finally got close to the coastline. We still have an hour's fishing left on our forecast for the day, and the time we told our friends and family we'd be out of the water.
As an aside, it's a good idea to let a relative on land know when you plan to get out of the water, and don't hesitate to let them know if the time changes, or when you're actually out. The tidal current is quite strong, the onshore wind has strengthened and we need to fish as close to the shore as possible. There's less than a metre of water and I decide to take out a new 2025 from Yo Zuri, a Mag slim in 130 mm that swims just below the surface.
A nice combative bar
Arriving at a passage between two parks, I see a large area of sand with an emerging rock in the middle, surrounded by tufts of seaweed. I sense that this is an area to prospect. It doesn't fail, as the lure passes close to one of these clumps, I see a shadow running over it and grabbing the lure. The strike is violent and the lure goes straight into the weed beds. I'm badly positioned in relation to the fish, it's at my back and I'm forced to move away to prevent the steppe from hitting the flush pebbles. The fish, of course, has wedged itself into a clump of seaweed, but it's still there, and I can feel it banging its head from time to time. I finally manage to turn around and get the front end in the right direction. With a little tugging on the blank, I manage to get him out of the critical zone and can work him over the sand. After a few hard rushes, it finally gives in and ends up in the landing net. I can't stop stepping, the wind is still blowing hard, so I head for the shore to put my foot down and unhook my catch.
A very pretty sea bass with a big mouth measuring some sixty centimetres. This one will be Ikejimé in the aftermath and will make the joy of a good meal deserved considering the fight and the conditions in which it was carried out. An excellent fishing souvenir!
After that, we take a snack break and replay the scene... We made a few more casts on surface lures before heading home, and it was all small bass. In the end, despite this missed appointment with the yellow spot, we had a very good, physical day, with conditions more muscular than expected, and to finish, this very hot episode with a vicious fish that sold its skin dearly. But the day didn't end there. We arrived at almost low tide, with a high tidal range. We had to climb up 400 m of slightly sloping beach and 30 m of soft sand at the top of the beach. This is where you really appreciate having a low-pressure wheel dolly - I'd recommend it...
