CATCH A BASS NOW!
Tactics to bag early bass on lures.
If you’re an ardent bass lure angler, winter brings that agonising period when it’s unlikely you are going to succeed, especially from the shore. Cabin fever prevails, and you find yourself almost dreaming for the blossom to appear and the seawater to clear.
As cold weather gives way to spring, we consider when and where might be worth a try early in the season. Importantly, how can you increase your chances of success?
Admittedly, if you live in, say, Yorkshire or south-west Scotland, you may need to wait until May, or later, until the bass arrive back inshore. Further south and west, though, they return from their over-wintering grounds in March and April to their regular summer haunts as the sea temperature increases and the days lengthen.
My own records (and that of many others) suggest that once the inshore sea temperature creeps above 10oC, the bass won’t be far behind.
Moreover, tagging studies have indicated that bass may return year after year to the stretch of coast where they reached maturity. In theory you could encounter the same fish or shoal within a particular bay or reef every season - which, if you keep detailed notes (of your blanks and catches) can greatly assist you to land that well-earned, first bass of the year.
IT CAN HAPPEN
The first decent bass of my guiding season in 2017 was landed on the March 28, from an inlet in 2ft of water, during the final 30 minutes of the flood. The wind and weather had created those quintessential bass fishing conditions – dull and drizzly, a freshening onshore breeze following a settled spell of warm weather. There was around 18 inches of water clarity despite the two or three feet of increasing swell.
The successful lure was a dark brown, orange-bellied Tacklehouse Feedshallow 128 in the Ochiayu pattern/colour that the bass nailed on the very first cast, following a cast into a spot measuring about three square metres that had yielded fish in previous seasons.
After migration and spawning, bass are hungry and looking to locate themselves within familiar surroundings. Furthermore, because the water is cold, they will be somewhat lethargic, so they will also be looking to conserve energy.
What this habitual behaviour means to the bass angler is three things…
■ Bass are most likely to be switched on to the easiest available food source.
■ They won’t be particularly mobile, in comparison to the warmer months.
■ Generally speaking, the bass will be in very localised pockets early in the season.
This all points towards the notion that, if you can find where they are holding up, or feeding on a particular tide, then you have an excellent chance of experiencing that unmistakable smack on the lure rod.
TACTICS TO EMPLOY
■ Food items: What are the bass likely to be eating? In April, there won’t be any sandeels around, and although the crab moult may well be imminent, it will be slightly later (depending on location) when the bass are preoccupied with peelers. That leaves the shrimps, hardback crabs, worms and small fish that are found all-year-round.
Five types of small fish extremely common to shallow, weedy, rocky intertidal zones that bass will definitely seek out with enthusiasm are small pollack and wrasse, in addition to rockling, blennies and gobies.
■ Lure selection: Don’t discount surface lures, but the slower and more naturally a lure moves and behaves, the more likely a bass will investigate it. The water is cold and, rather than swimming in mid-water chasing fry, mackerel or sandeels, a post-spawning bass is more likely to be feeding close to the seabed.
For this reason, I believe weedless, weightless soft plastics, medium-size very shallow diving hard lures, and small articulated paddletails are the way ahead. When it comes to colours, early in the season (or at least until I start to see silvery sandeels and fry in the rock pools) I will fish with green, brown, sandy-backed lures with orange, cream or white bellies mimicking the prey items.
The lures (and the colours) that have been successful, or that I’ll be using this spring are: Fish Arrow Flash J 5in (wagazaki), OSP DoLive Stick and Shad (any dark colours and in the 41/2in or 6in size), Albie Snax (amber and smoke fleck), Rapala J11/J13 (silver/black), Rapala X Rap 10cm (gold), Tacklehouse Feedshallow 128 (ochiayu), IMA Komomo 125F(ayu) Fiiish Black Minnow 90mm (brown glitter) and DAM Effzett Kick S Minnow 90mm (Arkansas Shiner).
TYPES OF MARK TO TARGET
The ideal place to start is those really remote, hard to reach, quiet, weedy, rocky bays. Another great option is the extremities of beaches, where crustaceans and other prey items feel safest in among the rocks.
Finally, what I would describe as an inlet can be an excellent mark. In essence, this is a gully that runs in from the open sea surrounded by
walls of rocks – pretty much a dead end.
I avoid large expanses of beach and the headlands in early April as the bass will be thin on the ground. Alternatively, look to target specific features such as large underwater rock pools, scours in the seabed carved into flat (ish) reef systems, patches of sand among rocks and gullies between large rocky outcrops. Study your fishing notes looking for clues, and importantly, stick to marks where you have caught bass previously.
WHEN AND HOW
Whether you know your patch intimately, or are just starting out, you may well find places encompassed within a stretch of coastline where you can fish all three types of the marks mentioned in the course of a flooding tide.
Weather and sea conditions permitting, I recommend starting the session over the first two hours of the flood within the quiet, sheltered bay, before moving to fish the mid-tide period from the rocky extremity, adjacent to a beach, or even an estuary. You’ll have an increased chance of locating a bass here that is moving with the tide and using the rougher ground to navigate the coastline.
If you’re fortunate enough to fish an area that possesses the inlets or gullies I described, then this could offer the best opportunity.
I am convinced that, over high tide, bass will move out of the main current to investigate these areas. Imagine you’re a crab, goby or small pollack when a marauding shoal of hungry bass appears. With nowhere to hide, they are herded up and attacked – only close to the seabed, rather than on the surface.
If you are interested in booking a guided bass fishing session with South Devon Bass Guide Marc Cowling, visit: https:// southdevonbassguide.com