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Good conditions
Conditions are good, with perfect weather for fly-fishing for bass. Sunshine, not too much wind, low coefficients and good water temperature. As soon as we arrived, we spotted terns diving, a sign that the forage fish were there, and perhaps some sea bass on the prowl. We can't wait to cast our flies!
Active bars right from the start!
After two or three casts, I take the first hit, between two strips on a break, and pull out the first bass of the day. It's a mesh fish that's a pleasure to start the session with!
As for Pierre, he's on the surface as he's caught a few nice fish recently, including a 58 cm bass on a popper.
I'm using an intermediate line, as I often do, and I've rigged up a small streamer, barely 10 cm long in blue/green. The bass are present but seem to be moving around a lot as the terns bite here and there and don't stay put.
The wind made us drift perfectly and we combed the area. I'll catch several bass this way before Pierre puts his rod away and takes his intermediate line too, as the bass are shying away from the surface at the moment...
Beautiful hunts and bars
At times, small chases break out and it's a beautiful sight. It cheers us up and encourages us to stay in the area. Pierre soon catches his first sea bass of the day. It's great to touch fish and enjoy them together!
We then doubled up, this time with a bigger bass for me. It's close to the 50 cm mark and I'll take it as a plunging silk. It's always nice to do this kind of action and experience these moments. It happens sometimes when you come across small groups of bass on the hunt, but not that often!
Then we continue to catch fish. We made several drifts on the spot. We change sizes and colors of flies because the bites aren't so clean and the bass seem selective. On the chases, it's not easy to catch the fish as they move too fast, but we're on the right spot, and the catches keep coming! Pierre goes on to catch a lovely 55 cm bass, which we're both delighted with! We rarely fish together because of our respective schedules, and it's really nice to have a day like this.
After a lunch break, we return to the area. We both try again on the surface, but still nothing! However, there are a few hunts and a nice one breaks out in front of us. Pretty 50-60 cm bass in small squads are pushing the forage fish up and exploding them on the surface. We didn't manage to place our flies in front of the group of beautiful bass because the boat was at the wrong angle and they passed by very quickly while chasing several times before disappearing. What a missed opportunity! We're raging a bit.
A pretty fish to finish the day!
The activity seems to be calming down a bit and we decide to check out another area I like. We get a few sea bass moving, but they follow and don't take! Pierre gets a follow-up from a big sea bass that we'd really like to see up close...
Impossible to catch a fish in this area, whether intercepting or diving, where a large shoal of small fish is present and attracts bass, perhaps force-fed.
After a good hour without success, we return to the first zone. The bass are still there, and even more aggressive and active, as this time the flies are boxed, whereas this morning we'd missed several hits (between strips) and taken most of the bass by the lip.
After retrying on the surface, then catching a few bass on the streamer, this time on an olive back with a plunging line, I take a very nice tap and my rod is bent in two! This time it's nicer and the fish takes the drag. Always a good sign, and I know in advance that the fish is over 55 or even 60 cm.
After a super fight, all power, where I have to let the fish take some line from me so as not to get broken, I get the upper hand and manage to bridle it, then catch a glimpse of it. It's a magnificent dark rock bass. I'm delighted because once in the landing net we catch a glimpse of this beauty. A magnificent fish, nearly 63 cm long, in great shape and very stocky. What a superb morphology! A few photos and we're back in his element. What a great moment!
We caught a few more sea bass, but we had to get back to work. Unfortunately, we didn't catch an evening fish as the conditions were really perfect, but Pierre had family at home and we stopped at around 5:30 pm with a good twenty sea bass caught, including several fish of 50 cm or more and lots of gillnets.
A great session that made us really happy, especially as we're not likely to be able to do it again! But we're both looking forward to getting back out on the water with our flies and boats!
