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My first proper bass session this morning - beautiful morning at a mark just south of Rosslare - (sorry no photos - my camera fell into Lake Bohinj on holiday - that is my holiday not the camera's!)). Its been a long time coming - the fish were properly on. As I arrived just after 5am (having recced the spot and chatted with a local fishing last night) I saw the 2 lads who were there already were catching fish. I had one of those internal consultations with myself - you know the ones that go 'how close do I fish to the 2 lads / it's been a long fishless year / I'm sure they'll understand / he's smaller than me / just do it'.
As is often the case, the strike zone was small, maybe 10m by 5m and moving as the tide went out and the window of opportunity short. It went something like this: Clip on white Z-Claw - first cast - schoolie (2ish lbs), 3rd cast schoolie, 4th cast missed one, 5th cast schoolie, 6 th cast on-off, 7th cast chase, 8th cast big fish (7-8lbs), then another schoolie then on/off - same cast tweak tweak good fish (4-5lb) then all over - time elapsed 20 minutes. (PS on-off is a South African term for hooking and losing a fish).
Now here is the philosophical bit - the other lads were local I think and knew the spot well. They were using spoon and a swimming plug. After my second fish one of the lads put on a patchinko. I noticed a couple of things:
(1) the Z-Claw accounted for the 2 big fish of the session - no takes on the patchinko
(2) the Z-Claw definitely caught more fish
I was wondering why this should be? My initial conclusion was that both spoon, plug and patchinko were all being retrieved pretty quickly without pauses whilst I was doing the Jim-Hendrick signature retrieve with the Z-Claw - slow sweeps and stops. (I remember he kept telling me to slow my retrieve down and use pauses). The big fish made hardly any splash - she grabbed the lure while it had it's nose under the water - which the Z-Claw does if you are retrieving rod tip down.
What does the brains trust think?
As is often the case, the strike zone was small, maybe 10m by 5m and moving as the tide went out and the window of opportunity short. It went something like this: Clip on white Z-Claw - first cast - schoolie (2ish lbs), 3rd cast schoolie, 4th cast missed one, 5th cast schoolie, 6 th cast on-off, 7th cast chase, 8th cast big fish (7-8lbs), then another schoolie then on/off - same cast tweak tweak good fish (4-5lb) then all over - time elapsed 20 minutes. (PS on-off is a South African term for hooking and losing a fish).
Now here is the philosophical bit - the other lads were local I think and knew the spot well. They were using spoon and a swimming plug. After my second fish one of the lads put on a patchinko. I noticed a couple of things:
(1) the Z-Claw accounted for the 2 big fish of the session - no takes on the patchinko
(2) the Z-Claw definitely caught more fish
I was wondering why this should be? My initial conclusion was that both spoon, plug and patchinko were all being retrieved pretty quickly without pauses whilst I was doing the Jim-Hendrick signature retrieve with the Z-Claw - slow sweeps and stops. (I remember he kept telling me to slow my retrieve down and use pauses). The big fish made hardly any splash - she grabbed the lure while it had it's nose under the water - which the Z-Claw does if you are retrieving rod tip down.
What does the brains trust think?
i was pondering on either getting a z-clae or a patchinko....i think you have made up my mind, what colour do you guys go for??
