CRITICAL TACTICS

Wherever you fish and whatever the circumstances it’s clear that tackle and tactics can be critical if you want to catch large bass.

Factors such as loose drifting weed or hordes of greedy crabs may render particular approaches useless, so you need to think about the best method for your venue.

Bear in mind that all the anglers I’ve mentioned tend to use hooks of size 4/0 to 8/0, sometimes in pairs, so their baits must be large. In other words, don’t skimp on bait and make sure that there’s lots of exposed hook point (the bass don’t seem to mind seeing a bit of bare metal).

Lastly, if you are to succeed with bait fishing you will need patience. If you are confident that big bass are present on the stretch of coast that you fish, pick one or two likely places and give them a good try.

It’s best not to fish really long sessions, but far better to cover a range of tidal conditions and times of day during plenty of short sorties – then hang on to your rod.