Silver Surfer.

On Monday, as we had an afternoon to spare, Scott and I headed down the coast to our favourite bass mark. We arrived a couple of hours after low tide and although the sea was not as rough as Saturday, there was still a bit of a swell running. We started by exploring the southern side of the reef, fishing the flooding margins with our LRF tackle. The aim was to see what other species besides blennies were in residence on this side of the reef. It wasn't long before we were both into blennies and long spined sea scorpions!

A long spined sea scorpion. One of a few mini species we caught.

Scott also spotted a long slender fish that swam quickly under a large flat rock. At first he thought it was a butterfish but upon lifting the rock to see what it was it swam out and took refuge under his boot. I wrestled the small beast from underneath and we discovered it was a small conger eel!

Where are your parents hiding?

We kept fishing, waiting for the tide to flood over the reef as this would offer our best hope of bass. As we worked our way across the reef we bumped into another angler. We quickly struck up a conversation and to our surprise he knew what we were doing! As we talked about light rock fishing he began to show us pictures of various species of fish he had caught locally and it was not long before we had exchanged numbers with the promise of fishing together in the future.

By this time the tide was about right to have a crack at the bass. I rigged up my bass rod with a 8.5g Berkley Powerbait Sandeel in white and carefully made my way onto the reef. The sea was quite rough and meant I wouldn't have long before it became unfishable.

I had to keep my wits about me!

After about 5 minutes of wave dodging and working the eel a fish nailed the lure in the surf. It proceeded to give a spirited fight and tried to use the receding waves to it's advantage to escape. So much so I was surprised at how small he was when I landed him. Only around a pound but very welcome all the same.

Small but certainly gave a good account of itself in the surf.

After I released the fish I headed back into the surf and a couple of minutes later got hit by another small bass! The fish was quickly landed and a couple of snaps were taken before she was released back to the surf.

My second bass. Hooked in the scissors. About the same size as the first.

Scott spotted these lures and they've now taken 4 fish in two sessions. Nice weight for casting on light gear too.

Bass caught on white eel lure shocker!

Meanwhile Scott had worked the beach side of the reef to no avail and had made his way onto the rocks across from me. Not having brought his chest waders made it very hard to fish the mark in its rough state and although he tried we quickly ran out of time and had to leave.

All in all a very productive couple of hours and it has increased our knowledge of the reef and its residents. A night session may be required to try and tempt some slightly larger conger eels out from their hiding places!

Tight Lines, Schogsky.