Why can't I catch some fish?

What is more disappointing than catching a stone? Well catching nothing! And truth be told this is not exactly a stone, as its a stone with sea anemone attached and it is the creature of the deep that got caught. He (or she) just decided to bring its stone home up with him (or her).

It is however a picture that better describes the fishing at the moment than I can do with words. In short the fishing is hard (and not just because of stones). We are at the seasonal change point; the time that the winter species head off to new pastures and the summer species arrive. So what is going on and what if anything can we learn from it?

All fish migrate to a greater or lesser extent but lets concentrate on bass for a moment (after all they are the things that most 'float my boat'). We all know that bass move steadily up the coast of the UK as the summer progresses - moving from their winter spawning grounds in the southern channel. Both lengthening days and warming water encourage the fish to move northwards. They are a warm water species and though comfortable tolerating cold water they prefer warmer water. Indeed they will bask in it. It is classic to suggest that bass will work up the foreshore as the tide floods hunting food items that have been stranded and possibly died, as they were beached by the previous ebb. What is little understood is the fact that they will do this deliberately to seek warmer water. A hot sunny day here on the west coast of Wales (yes it does happen and with global warming it happens more frequently than ever now) is a trigger to hunt fish in the warm margins. If the tidal sequence produces a big spring LW tide during a warm day and then gently floods into the evening - I'm interested. Target the newly flooded warm shallows! These pockets of warm water can be small and isolated - it is worth the hunt. Remember swimming in the sea as a child? We used to joke that someone had pee'd because suddenly the water felt degrees warmer. That is actually a warm pocket of water and their you can find bass.

Back to that seasonal change. I can read it happening right now by the fishing and the wildlife. In fishing terms the sea is devoid of mackerel, the whiting are getting smaller, the spurs have vanished and I'm still sitting on my hands where bass are concerned. They are not worth the effort - yet! In wildlife terms I've hardly seen a gannet and as exclusive hunters of pelagic fish (mackerel, launce, herring) they are a bloody good indicator that the warm water fish are here. Here in New Quay we get Dolphin sightings daily now. There are here to entertain tourists (I'm convinced that they do deliberately do just that, putting on evening displays close to the pier) but they are also here to feed. They arrived with regularity about three weeks ago and this I believe is because they too are awaiting the summer migration.

Cardigan bay is a flat shallow sea. Its nutrient rich as any wave action and all tidal action constantly churns the sea bed and releases nutrients. Nutrients = algae, algae = plankton and the food chain explodes upwards ending in Dolphins (nice but not very interesting) and Sshhhaaaarks (bloody interesting).

So when is it going to happen? When will it all start and the summer fishing take off. My records indicate 10th June. What do yours say?