How to Catch Bass

mrix · Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2005 4:46 pm Post subject: How to Catch Bass

Please post your Tactics / Tips on how to catch Bass in your local area here. Please remember in this part of the forum to click the reply button to post and Not the "New Post" button Also one main point to remember is that these new forums are intended to help totally new sea anglers to the sport so please post in great detail type of rods/reels used, explain about traces/rigs used, depth to fish and so on or anything else I have missed that you feel will help the novice sea angler.

eccles · Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2005 7:37 pm Post subject: Bass Fishing, Devon - Exmouth

1.Go to the Exmouth slipway and get yerself on the little beach around 2 hrs b4 low water.
2. Take a bass rod or light uptider (there is not a lot of room) and a few rubber eel or shad lures with a 10 to 25 gram weight to sink them. I suggest a trace of around 60 cms from the small weight to the hook/lure.
3. It is not a good idea to do this when there are loads of kids/grockles around because sooner or later you will hook one of them. I used to do it late in the afternoon/early evening when most of them had buzzed off.
4. Cast straight across the tide flow as far as you can, usually around 100 metres in my case. Then reel in steadily but with the usual up and down rod motion to make the lure 'swim' erratically.
5. Dont forget to put the juveniles back, and dont take more than you need. Every other bite will be a small pollack, I used to put them back too.
6. You will lose a lure occasionally from snagging, hard luck, thats life! :lol:

hastings · Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2005 3:35 pm Post subject: Hastings Pier - Bass Fishing

Been getting them on float with frozen sandeel off Hastings pier this year,
When I use the float it is a cheap sea float that came with the correct weights and even a hook and swivel.
I usually set the hook depth to between 4 and 10 ft with the weight close to the float just to keep it upright and a swivel just below the weight leading to the hook which is normaly a size 1/0 or 2/0. I put the hook up through the lower jaw of the sandeel and out through the 'nose', about half way between the eyes and mouth, this works well if you don't have to cast it far but if you need to then I do the same but lay the sandeel back up the hook and use just a couple of turns of elastic which will come off soon after casting.

If the place you are fishing is snaggy or the float is for the kids then i would use 20 or 30 lb line from the top of the float rig to the swivel below the weight and only 8 or 10 lb line from the bottom swivel to the hook, if you get snagged you should only lose the hook, not the weight and the float.

geejay

Almost invariably the best bass that i've caught have been in the early hours of the morning between midnight and about an hour after sun up
from, various south coast beaches between lyme regis and selsey
useing fish baits or whole squid at fairly short range , 30- 60yds mostly on the ebb some times in only about 4ft of water .

the important thing being the beach was quiet i was either fishing alone or
all others had (sensiblily) gone to sleep.

i might be wrong but i find that bass seem to stick together in age groups, the lil' uns being shoal fish upto about 3lb if u catch one you'll catch more.
and the better ones of 4-5lb upwards tend to show in 1s or 2s ,( prehaps their shoal has been reduced to this by predation)

i've never caught a big one from amongst a shoal of chequers or schoolies and tend to move venues or change tactics if the lil' uns
get suicidal though it ud b fun ana fly rod.

general method, bottom fishing with various rigs , pulley rigs/ flowing traces/ paternosters etc with snood lengths between 12 and 30 odd inches
leads being just heavy enough to cast to the distance required and hold the baits still on the bottom . i feel that at night the fish are hunting mainly by scent. plain leads seem to return more fish than grippers but i'll use grips if the tide demands it.
hook sizes should match the size of the bait used so as not to mask the point of a small hook with a big bait or destroy presentation by craming a small bait on too large a hook.
useualy size 2, 1, or 1/0 for sml slivers of fish/ sandeel/squid.
1/0- 2/0 for larger pieces.
and 4/0 or bigger ( i dont use above 6/0 very often). for whole squid, and large fishbaits.

small hooks will catch more fish , and keep things interesting whereas large hooks+bait tends to limmit you to waiting for somethink decent(if yer lucky).

you could also use a 'pennel' ( 2 hooks tied in tandem 1 above the other on the same snood) to support large baits on smaller hooks and increase the chance of a hook up.

rods , i usualy use one of my beach casters between 11 and 13 ft rated
4-8oz
but as long as youre rod can cast enough weight to hold bottom and the bait 30-40 odd yds youre in with a chance
( i've been hopeing to get a biggie on my 2 and a quarter lb carp rod,its a 11footer and happy casting up to 3oz, for some time withno success ).

reels, for my beach casters either shimano aerlex 8000s fixed spools or diawa 7ht / shakespeare presedent sized multipliers loaded with 15-20 lb monofiliment +suitable shock leader or 35lb straight through if fishing weedy conditions AWAY FROM OTHERS, RE SAFETY.
on the carp rod either 7ht sized multi or medium fixed fixed spool spinning reel , mine are lineaeffe 'rapid' gt 60's coz they were not too expensive but seem to be sturdy enough. loaded with 15lb line +35lb shockleader.

reels models listed to give you some idea of size/type.

note, i fish clean fairly snag free beaches some times with strong lateral tides. different tactics may be needed for other types of venue

geejayy.

bigguy · Occasional Joined: Dec 02, 2005 Posts: 144

live bait lobbed to the 3rd breaker ish is always a great way of catching bass. a bass rod is ideal for this but you can use a carp rod or standard beach caster.

this tactic works better on shallow beaches or over rocks.

best baits- pin/ small whiting, small pout, live sandeel and joey mackerel (if you can get them), blenny/ goby (better over rocks).

you can also use the same tactic but with yellows and/ or rag (on sandy beaches), crab (on rocks). this will attract the smaller fish though.

solehunter · Guest

i will agree, you really have to be quiet when bass fishing.
No tilley lamps! No shining headlamps on the water! pretend you are not there.......stealth!!!! they love swimming up and down the beach in peace all night feeding......imagine when they see lights/hear voices......they will scarper!!!! since i have kept quiet i have caught a shed load more bass!
The best advice i can give bass fishing is cast about 10ft out!!!!!! try it! 8)

phildalt · Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 6:50 pm Post subject:

can you catch bass at this time of year?

solehunter · Guest

yes mate you will get bass! I had one last weekend 3lb6oz here on the iow.
Should be around in more mumbers around april/may.

phildalt · Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2006 4:03 pm Post subject:

ok is there anyone who knows where to target bass at this time of year on hastings beach? and what bait? ps i havnt heard of any bass being caught in my area help plz

solehunter · Guest

I would use squid in the winter months for most fish including bass!
Use whole, and cast in close! Dont know about your area but if they are there use these methods and you shuold find them!

petersclan · Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 7:38 pm Post subject:

is chesil good for bass?

MattyD · Member Joined: Oct 13, 2006 Posts: 19

Just a quick note to remind everyone that the new minimum landing size of bass is 40cm.

This is in aid of helping stocks recover in UK waters so please do your part.

micktheell · Member Joined: Aug 21, 2007 Posts: 9 Location: east sussex

:idea: Easiest way is live Prawn , mackerel flapper or Lug on a long trace but it varies from tide to tide . go around low water two hours either side into the flood, they work their way along the coastal strip and hang around the peir . try goats ledge, walkdown to the western edge of the rocks and cast ninety yards south (theres a gentle tide run there into deeper water) and fish it back ull get something ,u often see the dingy anglers around there drifting trying to catch the same thing.belive it or not it actually works, apart from that u have New Church 300 yards on, which is every ones fave place, or the slighty more productive Stamco , better than that try spinning from the rocks in the old town over or just before HW-if the water ever clears up,ive had a good 3lb er there, but the guys who showed me did much,much better than that.ur wasting your time if the waters as silty as it has been
i think the problem with Hastings is its so shallow and the netting that goes on ,once the fishermen get wind of the Bass or anything else.Bop up go the nets and they net the whole area off.its been a bit better this year , trouble is they are only 200 yards off the beach and u cant cast in to deeper water at low tide.spose every one has to make a living though.
good luck

rabbi2 · Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 8:21 pm Post subject:

Is a baitrunner reel ideal for the job? With 15lb line?

eccles · Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:35 pm Post subject:

Yeah that will be fine rabbi2 but I agree with Solehunter - don't even think of taking one of those effin Coleman lanterns. When my mate and I go night fishing for bass, we just use LED headlamps these days and make sure you don't shine them on the water.