Back to one of our favourite places and the previous home of the boat, Shell Island.
With no boat this time the fishing would have to be different so I started with a before-sunrise, early morning wander to the harbour as the low tide turned and water started to feed into the lagoon.
I used my favourite Bass lure, a Lucky Craft Gunfish, casted behind the breaking waves, much like the one you see in the picture above and started the week with this small Schoolie…
Later in the week Brad and myself took a trip on the charter boat running from the harbour, Western Flyer. Although it is primarily catering for holidy makers catching Mackerel & Bream I avoided the lure of plenty of fish on feathers, briefly transitioned to the dark side and contrary to all the ethics of this blog… I used bait…:(
Freelining a live mackerel onto the reef – which is almost lure fishing – I had this nice Bass which later starred as lunch on the BBQ…
My favourite fishing though was undoubtedly on the sandy beach that runs from Shell Island right through to Barmouth, a mark we never really used to put much effort into.
After some rough weather early in the week Friday turned out to be the best day weather wise – sunny skies and no wind – so an almost flat, calm and clear sea. Bass were just offshore and pushing tiny whitebait into the shallows – all given away by small gulls and Terns plunging into the water to feed on them.
Wading waist deep into the light surf, maybe just 20-30 yards out, I launched this small metal lure into and around some emerging bait balls and managed several more Bass, similar in size to the one caught on the boat. Was also a pretty exhilerating way of catching them…
As regards the Bass fishing it all ended up as… Lures 3:1 Bait
All in all, a great week and very likely to see a repeat visit next year
It Ate My Lure 