[Dom Sheppard]

Well, after some great advice last night(thanks lads), i had a night i will prob remember for the rest of my life.

where to start....ok, i left my house at 21.00hrs and deceided i was gonna go to St.Brides and give it a chance, however looking at the fuel gadge, it told me that i did not have enough fuel, so scrapped that and deceided to give a jetty ago, plus alot safer when you are fishing on your own(Billy no mates).

when i arrived at the location, the water was like a lake, it was so calm. I put a orange feed shallow on and gave that a cast or 2 but that was just a mess about until it went dark.

The advice i was given earlier was to give the SPs ago, so that is what i did. I put an x-layer on with a 6g football jig head.
The way i used the x-layer was casting up the current and waiting for the jig to hit the bottom then i lifted the rod and waited for it to start moving on its own, feeling for any snags and then just shaking my rod ever so slightly so it would come free, well that was all i needed to do because it was on my fisrt try i had my rod almost pulled out of my hands!

well this was a great start as i landed a beautiful bass just under the 2lb mark:-D.
I took a pic and popped him back in the water.The next thing did was a have a ciggarete and think about what just happend.

I smoked half the ciggarete and just had to get my rod in the water again;-).
well it was not a flook cuz it happened again and again.
I hade nine i a space of an hour, they were all between 1lb and 2lb, but every one of them gave me hell of a fight.

Then after a phone call to paul (he joined his site the oher day) telling him what was happening, he told me to get my rod back in the water cuz i could get a bigger fish.

Thats what i did, and god dammit he was right......As soon as my jig hit the bottom and gave its seductive dance, my reel started to scream like a banshee on speed! The fight was unreal and my heart was beating like mad, i knew it was bigger than the rest and i was just hoping i would not lose the fish,it let me bing to the suraface at 1st after a 2 minute fight, but as soon as it did it must not of liked what he saw, cuz he just dived back down almost wrentching my arm down with him.
Two more minutes and i had tired him out and was out of the water looking at me from my feet.
I lost another big one about ten mins later, but i was too happy to care.
packed up went home weighed him and he was just under the 4lb mark, cleaned him and now he is in the fridge ready for the fam to eat tonight.

I love the x-layers now, and i thinks another night out tonight is in order;-)

 

[Andy Marquis]

Excellent. Top work and welcome to the SP appreciation club!!

 

[Tim Griffin]

Super work, Dom! Nice fat fish....

 

[Dom Sheppard]

Thanks, i am still over the moon now lol

 

[Simon L]

Brilliant work Dom :clap: Excellent !!!!

 

[Rob F]

Corking report that! Well done! :mrgreen:

 

[Tom H 2]

Result! nice one (cant wait for my week in July down your way )

 

[Dom Sheppard]

messed up with the date on my camera, every time i put new batts in i have to re-enter the date, i just could'nt be bothered last night lol

 

[trev richardson]

Well done Dom...cracking nights fishing mate......

 

[Steve Lewis]

Well done Dom, great session :-D

 

[billy]

nice one dom,a superb nights fishing! ive yet to give my xlayers a try,i can see a night sesh coming up:grin:
which link do you use with the xlayers & do you use a leader o`r braid straight through?

 

[Paul Houghland]

Well done Dom all that persistence has paid off, I don't think we'll be seeing you on the river much this year. Gutted I couldn't make it last night, but the phone calls were exciting.

 

[Dom Sheppard]

Thanks Billy i just used braid right through, and a normal lure clip

 

[Marc D...]

Cracking report Dom', hope your family enjoyed their supper...

 

[Keith White]

Cracking report.
Welcome to the night shift.

It's all a big confidence thing isn't it.

Well done.

 

[trev]

super stuff Dom, what kind of depth were you fishing in and whats the terrain like on the bottom there ? just trying to decide the best kind of mark to have a go myself..............

 

[Dom Sheppard]

Cracking report.
Welcome to the night shift.

It's all a big confidence thing isn't it.

Well done.

Thanks Keith, i now understand why you do this!
It was such a buzz, they hammered the x-layer, had a problem a few times wih them stripping the xlayer off the jig, can u recommend something to use to stop this?

 

[Dom Sheppard]

super stuff Dom, what kind of depth were you fishing in and whats the terrain like on the bottom there ? just trying to decide the best kind of mark to have a go myself..............

Hi trevor,
well the jetty is over a mouth of a estuary, the water gets very deep their and when tide starts moving, i found that was the best time for the bites, i pretty much did nothing and let the tide do the work for me.
What i did find frustrating was that the fish were on the surface too, but did not respond to any surface lures.
would like to know how to get them too lol

 

[Keith White]

Thanks Keith, i now understand why you do this!
It was such a buzz, they hammered the x-layer, had a problem a few times wih them stripping the xlayer off the jig, can u recommend something to use to stop this?

I used to glue the xlayer to the shank.
However...
Paul B showed that gluing to the jighead itself is better.

If you are using a carolina rig, we put a peg of wood or stiff mono through the lure and the hook eye after mounting.
If fishing wacky, use an 'O' ring or a split ring and run the hook under that. It stops you ripping through the lure on the strike.

 

[Dom Sheppard]

I used to glue the xlayer to the shank.
However...
Paul B showed that gluing to the jighead itself is better.

If you are using a carolina rig, we put a peg of wood or stiff mono through the lure and the hook eye after mounting.
If fishing wacky, use an 'O' ring or a split ring and run the hook under that. It stops you ripping through the lure on the strike.

Thanks Keith, i am gonna give the gluing the jighead ago, plus i think i may give the gary yamamoto's ago too, was alot of bass on the surface last night.