Veals Mail Order Online Fishing Shop

Bait Fishing

When it comes to catching bass on baits two important facts stand out. Firstly, what you learn by lure fishing or fly fishing is that bass are often closer to where you are standing than you think. The thing is that, in using this approach, you often see fish feeding or you see them take or you see them move to your artificial – so at least they are well within your range of vision.

The second thing to remember is that, although you can catch good fish on plugs, poppers and soft plastics, experience shows that on average larger bass (not necessarily more bass) take natural baits than take lures. Perhaps I should qualify this by saying that larger bass tend to take BIG natural baits because if you chuck out scraps of ragworm on small Aberdeen hooks you are only likely to attract small schoolies.

Putting these two facts together suggests that if you want to catch decent bass you should be fishing with big baits close in to the beach. What do I mean by close in? Well, if you read the old angling lore (still often repeated in modern magazines and books) you should cast beyond the third breaker. I say that this is BY NO MEANS a rule and in fact it is ALMOST NONSENSE! Of course you have to pick your times and places so that after dark or in dirty water bait fishing is more likely to be the method of choice as long as there are bass in the vicinity. Provided that these conditions are met the next fish to pull your string could be a biggie.

My approach to bait fishing often involves fishing as close in as is feasible. You don’t believe me! Let me quote one or two examples:-

I fish shingle beaches close to my home. At low water the bass often swim along the margins of these beaches looking for small fish, crabs or discarded baits. How do I know? I can see them! Years ago we used to fish such a spot (now inaccessible due to cliff falls) which we could only access at low water springs because the tide would cut us off (a rarity on the Purbeck coast). While sitting on the shingle we would see double figure fish swimming along, in the sunshine, within touching distance for the rod tip. Of course they were easily scared in the gin clear water so you had to sit well back up the gravel and lob a freelined sandeel or mackerel bait into the edge. The patrolling fish would swim past it time and again but occasionally one would pick it up and make off with it – amazing stuff!

On another shingle strand I sometimes fish at night with my pal Nigel. We use a minimum of weight (perhaps a couple of ounces at most) to stop the surf washing the bait – mackerel fillet or head and shoulders – back onto the beach. The bait is lobbed (not cast) out and we wait. The bass will signal their presence with a typical hard knock and a run – then it’s up to us.

There are lots of flat rocky ledges in this area. As the tide creeps in the fish may enter only a foot or two of water. In one such spot I cast my freelined squid about five yards onto the top of the ledge and the tide then swings the bait in until it’s more or less the same distance out as I am standing, in eighteen inches of water on the flat rock. If the bass are there (not always the case) there’ll be a sharp knock followed by a steady run. If I time it right the next action will be a bending rod and a buzzing clutch – wonderful!

In some areas there is deeper water close to the shore. If I can I catch myself a mackerel on a single hooked wedge or a fly. It’s lip hooked on a circle hook and lowered into the sea. The bait will swim off but, if I’m lucky, it won’t go too far before I feel the hard knock and a steady run that means a bass has taken it and is carrying it out to sea - magic!

So, how do we approach it, this bait fishing? At a pinch the normal spinning rod and fixed spool reel loaded with thirty pound braid will do the job. If you don’t like the idea of braid then nylon monofilament will do the job. The baits are often heavy (4-8 ounces,) so the spinning rod may ‘creak’ a bit and a slightly more robust, twelve foot 2.5-3.0 lbTC ‘bass’ rod is a more sensible choice. If lead is needed (this is not common) then the heavier rod is almost essential.

What’s the best rig for all this fishing? To be honest rig is too kind a word for what we do. Normally it’s sufficient to simply tie a hook on the end of the line and prog. a squid, a mackerel fillet, a head and shoulders of mackerel, a pouting, a wrasse, a big ball of peeler crab  or a live, lip-hooked, mackerel on to the bend. I now use 4/0-6/0 circle hooks for all my freelining and I never strike – I miss a few fish. Nigel sometimes does the same or he may use a pennel rig or a J hook of similar size, in which case striking is a must – he also misses a few. I think that you have to decide for yourself just how to arm your bait and when to strike (I always chicken out from advising when to strike or tighten but I know what works for me). Just bear in mind that the more complicated the end tackle the more snags and weed you are likely to catch.

Keep it simple, use a big bait and plonk the bait in closer than you ever though sensible, is probably the best maxim. Try it, it’s cheap, it’s easy, it can be breathtakingly exciting and it really does work. Not only that – it could produce your fish of a lifetime.