'Bass on'

Getting a 'bass on' is a lovely feeling. That first micro second when the take comes and you realise that you have a 'bass on' is a heart stopping moment. It is why we fishermen and women fish. I had this discussion with a very famous (now retired to somewhere a hell of a lot warmer) TV angler once. What was the single most exciting part of fishing and he concluded after much thought that it was the take. And I agree with him totally.

It matters not whether you are a quiver tip man on a bream filled gravel pit, or a tench man studiously watching a float as it sits motionless next to a lily pad, or the pike guy riveted to the sight of his bung swimming gently to the tune of a live roach, or the beach guys studying a rod tip 13 ft in the air for the vibrations caused by a six inch dab. No its the bite or take that is the drug. Its the point at which the fish takes, the quiver quivers, the float dips and the bite comes that our hearts bang, our adrenalin surges and our dreams come true.

When bass lure casting the ultimate thrill is to bring a wild and wily bass to the surface to Muller our top water bait. That way we get to see, hear and feel the take. When fishing the shallow runner its all about the slam, the hit, the rod wrenching hit when you know its on - next question how big is it? Is it the 10? So shallow runners are about feeling the thud of the take, soft plastics are about feel as well but the feeling is totally different. A take to a soft plastic is subtler, cleverer even and perhaps more thrilling because of it. What generally happens, although this is fishing and therefore there are always exceptions, is that the line goes gently tight almost as if you have pulled into a snag. Most of the time though its a fish swimming away with your softy. This has the massive advantage of making the actual pulling into a snag fun and exciting as it could be a bass!

But its on the top surface lure fishing where the real fun lies. Simple really because when fishing below you can only feel the take. Up top you see, hear and feel the take and that makes the whole experience triply more exciting!