Having caught my first bass by sight fishing earlier this year, I can’t get enough of it! It’s opened up a whole new dimension to my fishing.
Of course, like any other branch of fishing, it doesn’t always produce results, and I’m eager to learn why this might be, and what makes for a successful session. Having said that, I’ve always been fascinated by watching fish of any kind in their natural environment, and should one happen to be a bass that’s reward enough for an afternoon spent on the estuary bank; at least you know that there are fish present, even if you haven’t managed to tempt one onto your line – and it might encourage you to keep going, or come back another day. On the other hand, not seeing fish might save you the apparently futile effort of casting to empty water – although fish aren’t always going to advertise their presence, sometimes hiding under ledges or in clumps of weed.
This video from a French angler (Breizhfishermen) has some great views of bass in estuaries. There are lots of really good videos about sight fishing for bass in estuaries in France – Brittany seems to be a ‘hotspot’ in this respect. I particularly like this one from Nicolo Fishing.
A fanciful distraction
What seemed like a fanciful distraction to my main fishing activities just months ago, is now becoming a favoured method – combining angling with natural history as it does. What’s the best stage of tide/ location/habitat/time of day and year, and of course weather to see bass? What’s the best lure to use when you do see one? What’s the best way to present this to a fish without spooking it? How far back from the water’s edge should you stand? Why should bass sometimes take a lure instantly, while at other times they studiously avoid it?
Take the other day for example. I was regularly seeing bass just in front of me, some of reasonable (3-4lb) size. Taking care to avoid spooking the fish by casting the Creature Bait so that it landed a few feet away, I was anticipating a take as I slowly worked the lure into the fish’s strike zone. No such luck – the fish seemed completely unimpressed! I’m informed by Keir Sims, who has a good deal of experience of sight fishing for bass, that this is not unusual at this time of year, but things should improve as the year progresses. I’m grateful to Keir for his insights, and for sending me the photo of two bass he saw which forms the featured image of this blog.
Fishery closures
I found this media release from Inland Fisheries Ireland about fisheries being closed to angling due to high water temperatures interesting – and slightly alarming. It seems that fish deaths linked to the stress of being caught increase dramatically at water temperatures above 20°C. I’m assuming that this applies to sea fish as well as freshwater fish, but how individual species respond in these circumstances is unclear. Most of the bass I catch are released, and it’s important to me that as many as possible survive the ordeal, so I think it’s best to take a precautionary approach, and assume that bass can also be affected by warmer water when caught by hook and line.
What might this mean for my (shore) fishing? Water temperatures on the coast (e.g. Falmouth) are unlikely to exceed 20°C (except possibly in very localised areas/situations), but in estuaries we have recorded water temperatures higher than this quite regularly (up to 25°C) on our juvenile bass surveys. It’s probably best to avoid fishing on very hot and sunny days, especially in shallow water which has been warmed by the sun as the tide floods over rocks and sand or mud. Where there is greater depth and flow this may not be so much of an issue. Getting the fish in as quickly as possible, minimising handling and time out of water, using single and barbless hooks to reduce fish injury and hook extraction time, all help to reduce the stress experienced by fish during capture, and allowing fish enough time to recover in the water before being released will aid survival.
Juvenile bass surveys
We’ve concluded part 1 of our juvenile bass survey programme for 2025. You’ll find a brief interim report about this here (posted 28th June). Results seem to support (at least for the Fal) our conclusion of ‘Good’ for the 2024 year class.
Part 2 of the programme, which runs during August and September, is always eagerly anticipated, as we wait to see what kind of year class 2025 will be. With the warm Spring this year the signs are good, but we don’t want to count any chickens!
That’s all for now folks. All the best,
