I had been chatting to a guy using the nickname of Stuartdv on the fishing forums at Seafishing.org on a fairly regular basis and had promised to take him fishing at an upriver mark on the Colne after the Schoolies that regularly inhabit the area. After a number of early season attempts at the Bass had ended in me failing to find any fish I was a bit doubtful that we would have any success but I agreed to meet Stuart for a session on a favourite spot.This spot is a good walk from the nearest road and can be a bit dangerous to the uninitiated in the dark, particularly on a big tide, so we opted for a daytime (2.30pm) tide, hoping that it would
give enough tide run to get the fish feeding without enough height to leave us paddling. It wasn't particularly a serious session, more an afternoon out and an opportunity to meet Stuart and introduce him to the joys of estuary fishing, something he said he had fancied trying for some time; luckily the river didn't disappoint. There was a gentle southerly breeze but it was nothing to cause any discomfort and we spent a pleasant few hours enjoying the peace and quiet and chatting about fishing in general. Although neither of us saw anything like a sizable fish we managed four small Schoolies between us, with a very pleased Stuart landing three of them. The bulk of the fish came on the flood with all of them falling to Ragworm fished about 80 yards out; Lugworm, Squid and Peeler baits did not even attract a bite.
Later that week I fished the same spot on an evening tide hoping that maybe a sizable Bass would show up. Although I didn't manage a sizable one, I did manage a few more smaller fish up to about 1lb which all took Ragworm fished at medium range.
