Every season teaches you something different, and this one’s lesson was about timing rather than location or lure choice.
I fish the same handful of Pembrokeshire rock marks most seasons, and going in I expected the usual pattern – dawn and dusk producing the majority of fish, daytime being slow. That held true for the first half of summer. Then, through a stretch of unusually settled, overcast weather in August, some of my best fishing came in the middle of the day – overcast conditions seemingly removing the usual reason bass avoid bright daylight on shallow rock marks.
The other thing that stood out was how much a few degrees of water temperature mattered more than I’d given it credit for. A run of cooler nights in early September, dropping inshore water temperature by what felt like a small amount, coincided almost exactly with bass moving off the shallow marks I’d been fishing and onto deeper structure I usually associate with October fishing. Chasing that shift rather than sticking to my usual late-summer marks kept the fish coming when they’d otherwise have gone quiet.
Lure-wise, surface fishing produced through the calmer stretches, but soft plastics fished slower and deeper took over as the water cooled – not a surprising pattern in principle, but one that arrived a good three weeks earlier than I’d have expected based on previous seasons.
The takeaway, if there is one: watch conditions more than the calendar. This season’s pattern shifted earlier and in different conditions than my usual expectations, and the anglers who adjusted caught more fish than those who stuck to habit.
Gear that fits this
Gear that suits what this covers, by type.
Rigs: Dennett Pro Series Bass and Cod Rig #2/0, Shakespeare Gummi Makk Rig 5/0 Green and Jarvis Walker Tsunami Pro Sabiki Rigs Hage Green Size 6- Red Hook.
For hooks and terminal gear, Rooney's Fishing Supplies Rooneys Twists 4/0, Owner SSW Circle Hooks 4/0 7 per Pack and Owner Unweighted Beast Twistlock (5130) Hooks 4/0 are all worth a look.
Reels worth adding: Ultegra Reel 3500 XSEC, TLD II A Reel 50lb 2-Speed Right Hand and 25RZ Reel-2500.
On the rods side, Regiment Iv Pro Boat 702 Rod 2pc-20-30lb, Saltist Boat Rod-8ft 6in 15-30lb and Labrax Bass Lure Rods-8’8”-3-19g.
Mike Talbot grew up in Cornwall and had a rod in his hand before he was tall enough to reach the rod rest properly. His early fishing was mackerel from the harbour wall and plaice on the beaches at low tide, but bass took over in his late teens and have never really let go.
He moved to Pembrokeshire in his thirties for the coastline as much as anything else, and now fishes a mix of rock marks, estuaries, and boat trips across West Wales and the Bristol Channel. He targets bass on surface lures through summer, drops down to soft plastics and HMDs through autumn, and fills the winter with wrasse fishing on the rock marks when conditions allow. Personal best bass: 8lb 4oz, caught on a floating stickbait at first light on a calm August morning.
At The River Bend, Mike writes the sea fish species guides, sea fishing technique articles, and the coastal access and regulation content.
Covers: Bass, wrasse, mackerel, sea bream, pollock, sea fishing techniques, shore fishing, boat fishing, tidal and coastal access rules