Looking for new fishing spots!
Whether you're a fisherman, but even more so when you're a fishing guide, it's always a good idea to check out new spots that you've already found by consulting nautical charts or google maps. It's great fun to change scenery, to get out of your comfort zone and confront a place you've never fished before.
Once you're there, you may sometimes be disappointed not to find what you're looking for, but with a bit of practice, you can often find a few interesting spots on the maps that are confirmed once you're on the water.
Next, you need to observe and try to understand this new playground, because for sea bass fishing, tide times and water heights are crucial! Their behavior can also vary from one area to another, often depending on fishing pressure, food source or biotope.
It's often necessary to return several times for a corner to validate the best moments with the times of passage of the bars for each type of position. Personally, I love this research and analysis phase.
Active bars right from the start
No sooner had I arrived at this new spot than a bass was on the prowl and very active. My crab is mounted on my rod and ready to be cast. After a first unsuccessful approach, he returns to the edge again and the second attempt is the right one. The sea bass approaches eagerly and gobbles up my crab on a clump of seaweed. He must be around 50 cm long and gives me a good fight. A quick photo break and he's off again between the seaweed, then away again.
A second small sea bass comes to munch my crab between two waters between floating seaweed due to the high tide. The younger ones are sometimes much more aggressive, and it's a pleasure to find two sea bass just as soon as you arrive!
Then, as I move along the island with water up to mid-thigh, I find several sea bass moving around below the surface, inspecting every clump. They're looking for prey of all kinds, but at the moment mostly small fry, but also crabs and shrimps. Some go by a bit fast, and especially very close to me. I have no choice but to walk along a low wall, so the fish are less than 2 meters from me, sometimes less.
The cast to use in this case is a so-called "crossbow" cast, which consists of loading the rod by bending it like a bow (or crossbow) to propel the fly. It doesn't allow you to cast far, but it's very precise and above all avoids lifting the rod in front of very close fish. I also use it when casting into very small casting windows.
A pretty sea bass among the seaweed
The next sea bass arrives like a rocket and takes up position under the seaweed floating 1 m above the bottom. I place the crab nearby. He comes right out and picks it up as confidently as if he'd never seen an imitation crab before! These are really enjoyable actions, almost pleasurable when everything goes according to plan!
He's immediately hooked, and then you have to bridle him to get him out of the way. This kind of combat is always fun and intense.
Then the water level drops and the sand and silt become more present, with numerous clumps of seaweed that now only float 20 or 30 cm above the bottom and gradually settle there.
Sea bass love these posts because they feel safe and can dislodge any prey hiding in these veritable larders!
It's never easy to get them out of there, but it's a lot of fun fishing.
Just for fun, I try a surface fly. It's so beautiful to see it rise and the hits are explosive! I put on a floating shrimp imitation that makes little jets of water, imitating a shrimp on the run. No swirls and no follow-through, although I insisted a little and really believed it.
I return to sight, and continue to prospect the island, moving quickly to discover it, and waiting to see a sea bass slip through the seaweed to cast.
The only ones I see pass quickly and disappear. Impossible to cast in this dense aquatic vegetation!
I decide to cast into the holes to try and dislodge a sea bass hiding in this tangle of tufts. After a few attempts, a superb dark sea bass comes out and grabs my shrimp! Once he's hooked, he takes off and pulls several meters of line out of my reel! He's not happy at all and tries to save his skin! I'm forced to put my rod down to pull out a few tufts so I can fight the fish normally. He's very combative and the outcome is uncertain!
After several minutes, I finally managed to get him to the surface and out, then back to the edge and catch him by the mouth. He's a beauty, just under 60 cm long. Well fed and in great shape!
One photo and then it's time to release him, perhaps to take him back next time.
The tide is already quite low and most of the spots are becoming less interesting. I'll have to come back.
It's time to go home and analyze this beautiful session to better understand this area for future outings.
