31/8/11 Cuttled Bass

Things have not been easy recently ,in fact, i needed to catch a fish.I'd had a short session mulleting at Tesco's with Dave where I blanked (Dave scored a nice three pounder) and yesterday, in strong winds, I had probably my only trip of the year to the mud flats where again, i failed miserably with the mullet.
The mud flats, and mulleting used to be a big part of my fishing....how times have changed. I doubt very much if I'll reach double figures with mullet this year something that hasn't happened for over ten years.
Today, I grabbed an opportunity to get out in the boat although the weather conditions weren't particularly good. A strong Northerly made things quite uncomfortable out there and Mick (Pinchers), who had joined me for the run out,decided to call it a day shortly after we'd arrived.
Mackerel were very scarce indeed .I only managed to pick one up before deciding not to waste any more time and settle at anchor but, after Alan's success last time out,I'd brought along some frozen cuttle.
Mark#6 seemed barren apart from a plump pout, although something very small was constantly picking away at my big baits(4inch cuttle strips on a 6/0 circle) intended for the 'spikey ones'. Over on Kingmere Dick and Neil reported sport with reasonable bream to a pound and a half and I did consider motoring over to them but, time was limited so I decided instead to relocate to the general vicinity of Alex's mark.
Surveying the area on the sounder showed me a raised section of reef about ten feet shallower than the surrounding sea bed so I methodically laid the pick down so that my baits fished right on the spot and in very rough terrain.
Again the tiddlers showed and despite turning one rod over to bream gear, I never did find out what they were.I suspect bar-be -cue bream.Soon a  proper run materialised , i immediately recognised the culprit from the fight, and up came this rather nice plump bass(4-5lb) to save the day.......
I had considered staying out over low, but the bumpy conditions had taken their toll on me and satisfied that I'd achieved my target on a difficult day, I decided to 'call it'.
The cuttle bait had worked well,being tough enough to withstand the attention from small stuff yet still be attractive to the bass. Must get some more.
6.0m tide
Fishing time 4 1/2 hours