Q&A LURE FISHING

Q Do you think that conditions can ever be too rough for bass to feed in?

JULES MASON, BOURNEMOUTH

HG says: This is really interesting, and partly because I look at this a bit differently to your question. I have been amazed at how effortlessly bass can move around and feed in some really hectic conditions, and some of the tides and seas which I see the Brittany-based French commercial bass fishermen fish in their smaller boats are verging on mad in my opinion. They catch bass though!

I am assuming that there have to be conditions so bad that bass cannot or will not feed in them, but I wonder if this is down to other less obvious factors such as masses of broken up weed or sand and silt washing around and making life difficult their gills to work. My feeling is that bass are not coming inshore for a bit of a laugh. so, if the food isn’t there then why would they be? Can their various food sources which they might find inshore in different areas cope with really rough conditions?

I choose to come at this more from the conditions that we can effectively and safely fish. If we bear in mind that lots of areas in the UK and Ireland can and do fish well for bass when it’s calm (I generally like calm weather for night fishing), then it’s most likely there are not actually as many areas which can respond well to rougher conditions as we might think. I live and do a lot of my bass fishing in Cornwall, and in many parts of Cornwall we can get some good bass fishing when conditions get rougher. But there’s rough and then there’s out of control and dangerous. It’s up to us to make a judgement call and not put ourselves in danger.

Along the south coast of Cornwall I can go surf fishing in what I would call pretty bouncy conditions, but it’s never remotely dangerous when I am fishing off the beach. When the conditions get seriously hectic the water tends to badly colour up and fill up with weed so I can’t fish it even if I wanted to. Out on the rocks I will often fish in rougher conditions if the location tends to work like this, but again, I need good water. I would urge any angler who is out on the rocks in any kind of bouncy conditions to please wear an auto-inflate lifejacket at the very least.

If I was to head up to north Cornwall then straight away the whole issue of swell becomes another factor to consider. I can generally fish rougher conditions from the beach without the water colouring up, but again, if I can’t effectively present lures to potential fish then what’s the point of fishing it? I will never fish rough conditions at night when I can’t see what is coming at me as well, and I will generally not push rougher conditions out on the rocks on the north coast because of the risks presented by swell. Lure fishing tends to force us to fish far closer to sea level than we might need to with heavier bait gear, and this is an important factor which is often overlooked.

Q What do you think about using something like Google Earth to look for bass marks? RALPH MCCONNELL, KENT

HG says: I think back to my early days at Plymouth University when I first came to live in the South West and I remember those miles and miles of tramping around the coastline with not much but an OS Map for company, on the hunt for potential fishing spots. What I would have done for resources such as Google Earth back then! I would have saved myself plenty of fruitless hikes and scrambles up and down a few cliffs.

So yes, I think an online resource like Google Earth is amazing, but I still think that nothing beats actually getting out there for a proper look around. When I am looking for fishing spots, or trying to evaluate a new area, I will do a deep-dive on Google Earth to try and get a decent idea of the ground, and then I know what my access points might be, where I can park, what paths I need to walk, and so on. I might have a look on Google for photos of various beaches and headlands, plus there are numerous websites dedicated to providing details of specific beaches and where to access them from.

But that online stuff only takes me so far. If a specific area or potential mark looks interesting I will usually grab the dog, jump in my car, and head out there for a walk around. I would usually try and time this with low water to get a better idea of the ground, plus where I might get cut off if I was to fish the flood tide and access was unpredictable.