Blank-22.

I don't normally post reports when I blank, I don't really see the point. However I would say that whilst I don't like blanking most of the time I fish in nice places, it's a pleasure to do so and really at times catching fish is a bonus. To show that I do blank occasionally I did add a blank count to the blog this year on the left hand side below my catch record. Given the obscene amount of fishing I do the blanks I draw are relatively few and far between but I blanked last week and on this occasion I will make an exception and post about it mainly because I want to thank my mate Martin Allison for taking me out bassing down on the south west coast of Scotland last Thursday night.

Martin with an after dark bass. One he caught earlier this year. When I wasn't around.

After driving down and picking Martin up we arrived to find the conditions were, for a change, as forecast. It was pretty grim with a lot of cloud cover and fairly persistent rain, but we gave it a bash anyway. We tried a few areas along the shore and Martin's early confidence that despite the weather we would still catch a few fish, soon faded as it became apparent that there were few if any fish around. Despite the lack of action, throughout the night it became quite clear that Martin really has put a huge amount of time and effort into understanding how each area fishes and it was very generous of him to share some of his insights with me. We worked our way along the shore trying a few different tactics at different spots but all to no avail. Regardless it was good to fish with Martin again and catch up with him and it was also interesting to get an insight into lure fishing in the dark which is not something I do very often. To be honest I found the lack of visibility quite difficult. Not really being able to see what you are doing, exactly where you're casting to etc is quite disconcerting. I did start to get used to it after a while but it is clearly a skill that I'll have to practice if I want to fish in darkness again and improve my chances of catching. Wading over mixed ground too is another art form that proved quite tricky although I managed not to fall over during the session which was good, mostly due to the use of a wading stick that Martin lent me. So, after four fishless hours we walked back to the car and drove back to Martin's house in Ayrshire where I was staying the night.

That's the second time this year I have been out to target bass with another angler on their bass marks and we have both blanked. Perhaps I am a jinx! Maybe 2013 will be a bassless year for me?  Having equalled last years species tally already, my focus for the remainder of the year is new saltwater species and catching another five species of shark so I may not even try for bass again but who knows, one might turn up when I'm not even targeting them!

Whilst Martin dedicates most of his angling time these days to bass and sea trout on lures he was once the species hunting champion in his angling club with an impressive forty seven saltwater species from Scottish waters only and has in the past given me advice to aid my own species hunting antics. On Thursday he told me he fancies getting his bait gear out and I'm hoping that maybe we can go fishing again and do some species hunting together before the end of the year.

If you haven't already, check out Martin's blog, he's a great angler and a great bloke too.

Tight lines (or wet at least), Scott.