Author: Robin Bradley

I used to think that you only caught schoolies when bass fishing in estuaries. It is a fact that most bass spend the early years (up to aged 4) in such areas, so these juvenile fish will predominate, but I’m now convinced that some adult bass (including some big ones) spend their summer and autumn in estuaries, and probably return to the same ones each year.

And why wouldn’t they – with an ample supply of prawns, crabs, worms and all manner of small fish, not to mention the shoals of mackerel when they come in. Of course they have competitors, such as gilt-head bream, and predators, such as seals and possibly dolphins, maybe even tuna at times, but at least they escape the nets (in Cornwall at least – where the River and Estuarine Fishing Nets Byelaw now prohibit the legal use of these).

This new-found confidence in estuaries comes from scientific research – like this study in Cork Harbour in Ireland, from increasing reports of anglers catching good bass while fishing for gilts, and reports of big bass being caught on lures.  It’s making me explore whole new areas, in pursuit of catching a big bass in quiet conditions, away from the big seas on the coast, in tranquil and leafy (creepy at night if you’re on your own!) surroundings.

You can imagine the pleasure it gave me then, when I landed this 60cm bass a few weeks ago while fishing at one of angling friend Stuart Martinez’ marks.

Not only was this my first half-decent bass caught in an estuary, it was taken on a Dark Sleeper lure, which I wrote about in a blog last year.

Get the fork out

With reports of big bass caught in estuaries while bait fishing for gilts, I thought it was time to get the fork out. It’s been a while since I used lug, let alone dug for it, so I wasn’t sure if my old spot still produced, or if I still had the knack of getting them. Undaunted, off I went, wielding my fork and with an expectant bucket in hand.

It was a pity I chose one of the hottest days of the year to date! This, and the fact that I had been fishing late the night before, severely affecting my stamina reserves, did nothing for my resolve. Although there were plenty of casts to be seen, the little buggers didn’t want to come out to adorn my hook – most inconsiderate of them I feel! I did manage a few though (including some quite nice ones) before I sloped off the job, drenched in sweat! (bait diggers have my total respect).

Alas, apart from a couple of schoolie rattles, I had nothing to show for my efforts – not that I would expect to at the first attempt at a new mark. As I sat waiting for a bite, I wondered whether  I was more, or less, likely to catch a big bass with bait or lures in estuaries. Using lures allows large areas to be searched, and  feels like a more targeted approach, especially at night – but is it as effective as bait? I know anglers who have caught big bass on both methods in estuaries, but for the specimen hunter, I think lure fishing has a slight edge.

Bass Nursery Areas

The report on Bass Nursery Areas (BNAs) from CEFAS (Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science) has finally been published. As the report says, the original BNAs (37) were introduced in the 1990s, thanks in no small measure to BASS members like the late Don Kelley, to reduce the impact of fishing in areas where the majority of bass are likely to be below the MCRS (Minimum Conservation Reference size, currently 42cm). BNAs are thought to have played an important role in protecting the stock.

The report details 48 proposed amendments (including 39 new site designations) which were received from IFCAs (Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities) and the MMO (Marine Management Organisation). The report cites a lack of evidence for many of these proposals, and whether ANY of them have been implemented is unclear.

Perhaps this is a question of the standard of evidence required being too high, since surely just the presence of favourable habitat conditions in typical nursery areas is enough to warrant the increased protection gained from BNA status, particularly when bass recruitment is so crucial to stocks and subject to fluctuations in climate and weather conditions at the time of spawning and over the winter.

This is why our juvenile bass survey work in Cornwall is so important, and if anybody would like to help with these please let me know; it really is very enjoyable and rewarding, and only takes up a few hours now and then. Page 15 of the above report shows the existing BNAs. If you think your area would benefit from setting up a BNA, why not contact your local IFCA about it? Better still, why not set up a juvenile bass sampling programme yourself, to demonstrate the need for this? I would be happy to pass on any information I have about this.

Recent catches

Finally, there does seem to be a few bass about down here in Cornwall, although the bigger fish still seem to be few and far between. It’s still very patchy though – the west of the county seems to be having the best of it, while other areas continue to find just the odd fish here and there, although I have very recently heard of some big catches of smaller fish.

Apparently there are lots of baitfish out there – just out of range of shore anglers! The usual mackerel ‘blitz’ we see in July didn’t materialise, so perhaps that’s one reason why many bass have stayed out;  perhaps it also explains the late showing of tuna, which have only recently been reported.

August was one of my better months last year, so I’m crossing everything that this year will be the same. It started off well last night – nothing big, but very enjoyable fishing. This is one of my favourite times of year, with warm, still nights, fishing in quiet conditions with light gear where you can feel every knock, and twist and turn of the fish as they fall for your slowly retrieved soft plastic lure in the darkness.

One of the bass I caught, a 49 cm fish, took the lure just as I was about to lift the lure out of the water. The first I knew of it was when there was a great splash as the fish tried to nail the Dolive Stick sandeel imitation as it was about to run out of water.

Jellies everywhere

There seem to be jellyfish everywhere, especially the compass variety.

Be careful if you come across these, as they can give a nasty sting. A friend of mine discovered this when we came across loads of these in our sandeel net – one of them leaving a nasty red mark on his arm. Unfortunately the sandeels were mostly too small to be of use.

State of bass stocks

It’s at this time of year that I eagerly anticipate the ICES annual stock assessment for bass.   As you’ll see from the graphs in the linked document, things are still pretty precarious with the Spawning Stock Biomass (SSB), and the spawning success (Recruitment) in recent years is nothing to write home about.

Bass Fishing Guidance 2021

Given the state of the stocks, you might wonder why any changes in the Bass Fishing guidance for 2021 were made.  Not that these affect recreational bass fishing, which still only allows Catch & Release in Jan, Feb and Dec, and  two fish per day (over 42cm) from Mar – Nov. On the commercial side however, the Government have seen fit to allow shore based netting for bass, mostly in the Northwest, and in Wales; not only will this damage bass stocks, it could well interfere with the abilities of anglers to carry out their activities.

And there’s been more subtle changes – like the slight increase in bass allowed to be kept from trawls and seines, and the fact that bycatches of bass in nets only have to be ‘unavoidable’ if outside England and Wales.

An unusual fish

I received an interesting email from angling friend, and legendary bass author (Hooked on Bass), Alan Vaughan about an unusual bass he had caught – a fish of 66cm which took an Evostix lure with a small lead-head. It was an exceptionally dark fish, with a large head, “a very energetic bass that gave the kind of fight that we all like”. Alan also noted that it was a slim fish, and weighed 5lb 2oz.

The weight for length and appearance suggested a recently spent fish, yet this would be unusual for this time of year, and the fact that it gave such a good fight also goes against this.

Alan also mentioned that it was a male fish. This is unusual in itself, since male bass over 4lb are very unusual. This got me thinking about length to weight comparisons used in tapes etc. Estimates for larger (4lb+) fish will mainly be based on female fish, since these predominate. So I wonder if the relationship for male fish might be different, and whether this might account for the lower weight of Alan’s fish?

The  fact that most larger bass are female also interests me. This is not unique to bass, and a recent scientific paper  suggests that this is because male fish are more active than females, so that less of the oxygen they obtain from their gills goes into growth; could this account for the excellent fight Alan’s fish put up?

The sex of bass is not genetically predetermined. Whether they become male or female is influenced by the water temperature during their early development (around 6 months), with warmer water  resulting in more males. Water temperatures are likely to increase with global warming, and are likely to exceed 20C on occasion in the shallow estuaries where ‘0’ group bass tend to live in the summer. So could we be seeing more male bass in the future? Will this mean more hard-fighting, but smaller bass? Which would you prefer? Come to think of it, would more, sexually mature, male bass (but fewer females) mean increased or reduced spawning success?

That’s it for this month folks. Thanks for reading, and if you enjoyed it please pass on to friends.

Marine biology has always held a fascination for me. In my working life I chose a different scientific route, in NHS Pathology, but I never lost my love of marine biology.

The sea got into my blood at an early age, while living in Malta, but it was a vacation course at Bangor University which really cemented my love of the scientific study of marine life. We studied the rich diversity of seaweeds and the myriad of tiny planktonic creatures which abound in the Menai Strait.

This was as a schoolboy from Oxford, and long before my obsession with bass began. Had I been as interested in the species as I am now, I would have taken full advantage of the opportunity to learn as much as possible about Dicentrarchus labrax.

My love of bass fishing has both indulged, and furthered my love of marine biology. In thinking about catching these wonderful fish, you cannot help learning about their habits and feeding, and what makes it possible to catch them.

But with me it goes further than that – to where they spend the different phases of their lives, and how they reproduce and migrate; in short their life cycle. This article by the BASS science group summarises our current knowledge in this area, but with the amount of research which is going on in  this field, it will hopefully soon need updating.

Spawning success

One aspect of the bass lifecycle which holds particular  fascination for me is the success, or otherwise, of each year’s spawning. This is crucial to the survival of bass as a species, and being able to assess the strength of each year class, and it’s growth, gives important research and fishery management data. I have been fortunate in being able to participate in the juvenile bass surveys run by Derek Goodwin in Cornwall.

Last year’s survey programme was severely curtailed by the Coronavirus pandemic. It’s been good therefore, to be able to resume the programme this year, and carry out a reasonable number and range of surveys. We’ve reached the mid-point of our programme for 2021, so now is a good time to take stock.

In May and June, we are primarily looking for one year old bass from last year’s spawning, the so-called ‘1’ groups.  Results should (hopefully) confirm our estimates of year class strength for the previous year, and check that fish numbers have not been unduly affected by prolonged (more than three weeks)  spells of very cold weather over the winter; these can kill young bass off if they have not made sufficient growth (to 6cm) before the winter starts.

Due to very limited sampling last year,  we just weren’t able to get a fix on how good the spawning, and settlement – the movement of larvae and fry from spawning grounds to inshore areas – had been for 2020, at least as far as the south coast of mid-Cornwall is concerned.

So it was encouraging to find ‘1’ groups on all our surveys (apart from one site in the Fal which was being trialled). And as the summer has progressed, the results have improved. The numbers we’ve seen have increased to around 200 per survey in both the Fal and Helford. These are not the big numbers (~2,000) we see after a really good spawning year, but are nonetheless encouraging enough to say that the 2020 class looks like being a reasonable one; perhaps one silver lining from the awful Covid cloud? I should add that all the fish we catch are carefully returned.

Another silver lining was Derek Goodwin’s John Leballeur Conservation award from BASS, in recognition of his many years of juvenile bass sampling in Cornish estuaries. Having recently undertaken the running of the surveys on Derek’s behalf, I can vouch for how richly deserved this award is. I was very pleased to be able to present the award to Derek on behalf of the BASS Committee during one of our recent surveys. Derek’s latest award comes soon after he was awarded the MBE for services to the study of fish populations in Cornwall.

The survey programme is. suspended during July, since the incoming fry don’t withstand the rigours of netting well due to their small size (~3cm). Work will continue, exploring potential new sites, but we won’t resume netting until August.

The second phase of the programme, during August and September, aims predominantly to assess the number of this year’s bass, the so-called ‘0’ groups. It’s difficult to predict what we might find, but the cold spring we had, with a run of easterlies in April, can’t have helped.

A big thank you to our brilliant volunteers, without whom this important work would not be possible. If you would like to help, particularly if you can spare time during the week, please let me know.

Recent catches

In my last blog, I said that if things hadn’t taken off by the time I write my next one I’d be getting worried. Well from where I’m standing they haven’t, and I am! Despite having an almost unshakable optimism that ‘they’ll be in soon’, doubts are beginning to creep in. These doubts are fuelled by the untold damage done to stocks by gill nets, and the new threat of ‘Fly-shooters’ which the authorities are seemingly unable, or unwilling, to do anything about it.

Yes, there are reports of good catches occurring, especially further east and north, but down here in Cornwall these seem to be few and far between, both on the coast and in the estuaries – even in boats.  A recent all-day boat trip with Steve Ainsworth yielded only 3 bass to 4lb – mind you, he did catch a nice pollack of around 11lbs (although I think he would have preferred it to have been a bass!).

Some encouraging reports of fish to 7lb are beginning to come through, but it hasn’t happened for me yet.

One of these reports involved local angler Bryan Robinson, who caught a nice fish of 6lb 4oz this week:

Imagine Bryan’s surprise when he found this in the fish’s guts:

Bryan thinks it might be a young turnstone, or something like that; at 10-12 inches long you wonder how the fish managed to swallow it!

One possible scenario, says Brian, is that the young bird had fallen out of its nest and been ‘mullered’ by the hungry bass; obviously the fish still felt hungry enough to snaffle Bryan’s peeler crab bait, even though the bird was only partially digested.

A new fishing companion

Readers of my book A Bass Angler’s Life  will know how much dogs are a part of my life. We lost Toby   back in October and had decided not to have another dog. Well, once a dog person, always a dog person; we weakened and nine months later we collected our latest addition to the family, young Archie.

It goes without saying that no dog will ever replace Toby, but it looks like Archie is going to make his own mark on our lives. He’s not quite ready to go fishing yet, but as soon as he’s a bit bigger, and learned not to ‘retrieve’ every lure I cast, or charge about frightening the fish (if there are any left!), he’ll be by my side at the water’s edge – day or night.

Peter Macconnell RIP

It was with great sadness that I heard the news of the sudden death of my friend Peter Macconnell. I never actually fished with Peter, but we had many conversations on the phone about fishing, family, dogs and BASS. I will always remember our epic journey to the BASS AGM in Gloucester in 2018 – the year of the ‘beast from the east’, coming back along the A30 in the snow and almost getting stuck for the night!

I was honoured when Peter agreed to write the forward to my book, and this will serve as a permanent reminder of him. This tribute from BASS is very fitting.

That’s it for this month folks. Thanks for reading and Tightlines.

With Father’s Day fast approaching, my thoughts turn to fishing and family. As passionate about fishing as most anglers are, family is still the most important thing in their lives. My book, A Bass Angler’s Life, is dedicated to, among others, my family: “To Angela, Ben and Sarah, who never minded when I wanted to go fishing, and always humoured me when I wanted to tell them something about it, or go looking for new spots”

With many anglers, a family member, or relation, was in some way instrumental  in them taking up fishing. My own father took my brother Peter and I fishing while on holiday in Scotland, and this triggered a lifelong passion for angling. The magic ‘tug-tug’ as another obliging flounder took our cockle baits, legered on thick lines and heavy weights from a wooden frame, has never left me.

Alas, my own children never felt that indefinable thing which makes anglers so ‘hooked’ on fishing, whatever the species or surroundings. That thing which, at times, can occupy our every waking moment (and even our dreams sometimes!), obsessing about marks, tides, weather, methods, and of course ten-pounders laying at our feet.

It wasn’t for the want of trying though, as this photo of a young Ben with an estuary schoolie, caught on float-fished live prawn shows:

Estuaries are good places to introduce youngsters to fishing, with their gentler conditions and usually obliging schoolies. Ah well – maybe the grandchildren will take to it!

It’s important that young people have the opportunity to try fishing, and we can all help in this by taking a family member with us once in a while. Hopefully this will lead to some of these youngsters becoming the next generation of anglers, without which this wonderful pastime has no future, and will become just the stuff of whisky-haze nostalgia.

What excites kids (including 60+ year-old ones!) most about fishing is catching fish, so we owe it to them to look after the stocks, and fight for more and bigger bass. By following and supporting groups like Save Our Sea Bass, the campaigning arm of BASS, you can do your bit to this end.

Recent catches

Well, the foxgloves are out in force now (see my last blog), but the bass don’t seem to be! There are some encouraging signs, like this 53cm bass I caught on the North Coast in mid-May:

followed by another of 56cm on the next cast. Both these were caught on crab, from my own traps, but we have struggled to find either fish or crabs since then. I have yet to catch a bass on lures this year.

It can be a bit worrying when the fish don’t show – have commercial catches finally damaged the stocks to the point where even our reduced expectations can’t be met? But don’t give up just yet – there could be other factors contributing. Mind you, if things haven’t taken off by the time I write my next blog I’ll be getting worried.

Keep fish wet.

I came across the excellent Keep Fish Wet website. I like its philosophy: “Our goal is to create a supportive community for learning and sharing best practices for catch-and-release. We do not support finger pointing or shaming.  Keep Fish Wet is not opposed to the lawful harvest of fish. We also acknowledge that even when we ‘catch and keep’, we often return some fish to the water (due to size limits, closed seasons etc.) and therefore practice catch-and-release. Keep Fish Wet best practices can be applied to any type of fishing in any type of water anywhere in the world.”

For any fish which you want, or need to, return, it makes sense to maximise its chances of surviving and recovering as quickly as possible. When I wrote my book, although I had stopped using treble hooks in order to minimise fish damage, I did not see the need to go further and use barbless/debarbed singles. But subsequent experience has taught me that even single hooks can take some time to extract from a fish if they are barbed, and this adds to the time the fish is out of the water. All my plugs are fitted with singles now, and I’m replacing these with barbless patterns.

I know I’m probably missing small bass by using single hooks, and whether barbless hooks also reduce the number of fish landed is unclear – but that matters much less to me than a returned fish surviving, and fully recovering after I’ve caught it.

That’s it for this month folks, but I can’t close without a mention for Pete Ryan, who I met while out fishing the other night. Pete recognised me (even with the wooly hat on!), and his first comment was to say how much he enjoyed my blog. Thanks Pete, it’s so nice to get that kind of feedback.

Tightlines, and best wishes to you and your family.

 

When the foxgloves come out it’s time to go bass fishing – as somebody told me years ago.  There’s no obvious link between the two, yet the saying is usually pretty reliable. There’s no sign of foxgloves in my area yet, so perhaps the explains the lack of fish at the moment! Maybe they’re both feeling the effects of the cool spring.

I’m not saying you won’t catch bass before this, but if you want to focus your efforts, this is a good time to think about starting. If you want to be more specific “The second set of springs in May” is another good time to aim for.

Recent catches

After an encouraging March, April was very disappointing in terms of bass catches. Just one schoolie was the sum total of my catches from nine (mostly chilly!) sessions (mainly bait). I don’t think I was alone though, with those anglers in Cornwall who actually went fishing reporting the same. Other areas (Dorset, Wales, Sussex) seem to have  been more productive though.

Reverse migration

With so few anglers fishing at this time of year, it’s difficult to draw too many conclusions, but a pattern seems to be emerging, and I would be interested in the views of others. Looking back, these catches in March are quite regular and consistent, and are probably due to a reverse migration, where fish are making their way back to their summer feeding grounds. The angler who is prepared to brave the chilly weather at this time could well hook into the fish of a lifetime.

By April, most of the fish seem to have moved past Cornwall’s shores, bringing early results to anglers further up the line. I say most, because there is still a chance of connecting with a hefty specimen down here; the odds are against you, but you could just hit the jackpot.

But it’s not until May that most of the resident bass return to Cornwall, and fishing should become more consistent. By resident, I mean those fish who habitually return every year, and spend the summer and autumn feeding in the same localised areas, exhibiting so-called ‘site fidelity’.

Exploring

One of the highlights of the early part of the year for me is using the quiet time to discover new marks. In recent years however, I’ve run out of steam a bit on this. I think this is partly because there aren’t many places in my part of Cornwall I haven’t already checked out, and partly down to a desire to consolidate what I already know, and turn this into actual results.

Bit when an old and trusted fishing partner suggests looking at somewhere, it spurs you on to make the effort.  Steve Ainsworth and I like fishing the same sort of weedy rocky ground, with lots of ledges and gullies, so I knew it would be worth the effort. Without giving anything away, the ‘bassometer’ was going off the scale as we checked out the mark, with visions of great fishing nights of the past being repeated. This mark had everything – boulders for lure fishing over, gullies and flatter ground for legering. And it was so enjoyable just to be on our beautiful, inspiring Cornish coast again, now that the Covid restrictions are easing.

One area of my fishing where I  still have much exploring to do is estuary bassing. Now convinced that larger bass do live in estuaries for much of the year, working out where to fish for them is high up my list of priorities. But it’s like starting all over again, so I’m anticipating my catch rate suffering a bit. Only time will tell if this is a price worth paying,  but  I’m looking forward to finding out.

Water temperature

The relationship between bass fishing and water temperature is a complex one. Localised warm, or cool spots may cause a temporary increase, or decrease in bass activity, depending on how long they spend there, due to the fish being poikilothermic (their body temperature varies with their surroundings).

A temperature of 10C is thought to be the trigger for bass to begin feeding. Yet they will still feed in water temperatures of 7.5C, although probably less often since it takes longer to digest their food at this temperature.

When thinking about when bass fishing will really take off, I have always set more store by the time of year than water temperature (allowing for year-to-year variations), since this determines whereabouts the fish are in their annual cycle of movements – as the old saying goes, if the fish aren’t there you can’t catch them.

But once they are there, the water temperature may make them more, or less active, and make their food take longer, or shorter, to digest so that feeding will take place less or more often. Rising water temperatures may also make their inshore food more active – whether this makes them more attractive to bass is uncertain, but it will make them grow faster, providing a bigger meal for a hungry bass.

Bass surveys

We have just begun our 2021 juvenile bass surveys in Cornwall. In May and June, we’re looking for juveniles from last year, or earlier. This helps to support our assessment of the previous year’s spawning. However, since our surveys were severely curtailed by Covid last year, we weren’t able to draw any conclusions about the strength of the 2020 class, and the work we are doing now will be our main opportunity to assess this.

Our latest survey results were encouraging, which is a good sign for the strength of the 2020 class.

With regard to this year’s bass spawning, I’m a little concerned about how well the larvae and fry will have grown, given the cooler temperatures we’ve had recently, and how many will reach our coast and estuaries this summer, given the run of easterlies we had a few weeks ago. We’re keeping our fingers crossed, but we won’t know until we start looking for the ‘0’ groups in August.

All the best, and tightlines.

 

My buildup for the bass fishing season ahead was given a sudden boost by news of Cornwall angler Jordan Griffiths’ superb 10lb 5oz bass, which can be seen in the featured image above.

What a fantastic achievement by Jordan, who’s not been fishing long. “After a year and half of fishing can say I’ve caught a fish that I will possibly never beat, I’m over the moon!! ” There’s many an angler (myself included) who have yet to land the magic ‘double’ after fishing a lot longer than that, so well done Jordan.

He caught the fish on bait – squid and cart. If, like me, you’re unfamiliar with ‘cart’,  it’s made from the insides of a brown crab.  Jordan cuts open the squid, puts a small amount of cart inside the squid, and binds it together with bait elastic.

Jordan’s is not the first big bass I’ve heard of being caught at this time of year in Cornwall, but they’re not exactly commonplace. These fish are probably making their way back to their summer feeding grounds. Some may not have spawned yet, and a bass the size of Jordan’s could contain around 2 million eggs, so well done to Jordan for returning her to the sea.

Great to be by the sea again

Over the last few weeks I’ve been getting ready for the coming season – checking out rods and reels, topping up on bits of tackle etc, in anticipation of the ‘stay at home’ Covid requirement coming to an end on March 29th.

The day itself coincided with some very big tides, so some razor collecting was on the cards. If you’ve never done this, have a go – it’s great fun, and they make superb bass bait (and eating – apparently).

It was wonderful, driving to the coast and being by the sea again, especially on such a beautiful spring day; a real tonic for lockdown blues. I used to be able to collect enough razors for the season in one go, but not now. So I was off again the next day, to another venue. I should have enough to last a while now, and there’s another set of suitable tides for collecting at the end of this month.

While in bait collecting mode, I decided to check my crab traps out. This was mainly to clear them out, after silting up over the winter, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that the spring peel had already started. And I landed a schoolie on one the other night – my first bass of the year.

 

Can fish feel pain?

A recent news item from the Angling Trust contained a reference to a paper entitled “Can fish really feel pain”, which concludes “fishes are unlikely to experience pain”. Not long after this, I watched the “Seaspiracy” film (more about this later) which also raises this subject. Wanting to know more about this difficult and controversial subject, I did a literature search.  I found this more recent paper (among others) entitled “Evolution of nociception and pain: evidence from fish models”, which concludes that “it is highly likely that fish experience pain”. So there seems to be conflicting messages out there, and the fact is that it is impossible to provide a definitive answer to this question, since fish are unable to communicate directly with us.

If we accept that fish may have the hardware to experience pain, does this mean they actually feel it, in relation to angling activities? It’s not as simple as yes or no  – different parts of the body may have different pain thresholds. Being able to feel pain is held out as a good adaptation, which allows animals to avoid injury. But what if this were to put a fish at a disadvantage? Fish eat all manner of spikey objects, and if they felt pain in their mouth this would surely discourage them from doing so, potentially leading to starvation.

I well remember hooking a good fish, only to lose it in a snag. A little later, my fishing partner hooked, and landed a bass of about 5lb – with my hook and elastic band in it’s throat! Clearly this fish had not been put off by its encounter with my hook, and me pulling for a break.

No doubt the debate will rumble on…………

Seaspiracy

This Netflix film is quite a difficult watch in parts. One of the standout features is the damage being done to the planet by commercial fishing. Equally disturbing is the apparently passive acceptance of this by some marine conservation groups. I experienced this myself, when raising concerns about immature bass being caught in gill nets with too small a mesh size.

Feeling the pressure

Another excellent article from Alan Bulmer “How fish use their later line” contains some useful lessons for the lure angler.

A fish’s lateral line senses pressure waves, but it seems that this is only efficient over short distances (less than one body length). “Experiments have also shown that fish rely on sound and sight to detect prey and approach it whereas the final strike and catching of the prey is mostly based on the lateral line.” “When the water clarity is poor, or in low light, the importance of the lateral line in locating prey becomes critical.” So presumably your lure needs to be passing quite close to a fish for it to be detected in the dark, or in coloured water, since sight is much reduced and sound pressure waves cannot be perceived by the lateral line.

“Torpedo and arrow body shapes give off less pronounced oscillations when moving through the water than sinuous eel like shapes.” Does this mean that soft plastics catch more bass at night? But that’s presumably not taking into account the good vibrations that many plugs give off. I’ve caught bass on both in the dark, although I tend to use soft plastics more now – mainly because I don’t have to worry about snags so much.

“Changing treble hooks for singles, replacing split rings or increasing the gauge of hooks used could completely change the pressure wave “fingerprint” and attractiveness of a particular lure.” I change the trebles on all my plugs to singles, and I’ve not noticed any effect on catches yet, other than perhaps losing the odd schoolie. I think it helps to get the weight of the singles + split rings as close as possible to the  original trebles + split rings, at least for shallow-diving plugs.

That’s it for this month folks. Tightlines to you all, and let’s hope one of those big girls come your way.

 

We’re at that special time of year for bass anglers. We’re full of anticipation for the season ahead, our heads filled with plans to try this and that – a new style of fishing, a new lure or bait, new marks, or improving our personal best. You might be contemplating getting a new rod or reel, some new boots or clothing, and almost certainly some new lures.

Even though I know the bass fishing was less than spectacular last year, that sense of optimism I always feel at this time of year doesn’t desert me. Maybe things will be better this year; maybe I wasn’t fishing in the right places, or at the right times before? But perhaps my optimism is misplaced – only time will tell, but I’ll have a lot of enjoyment (or frustration!) finding out.

Plans for 2021

So here we go on the annual bass merry-go-round again. I think it’s important to have a rough idea of your aims for the year; not too prescriptive – remember you want to actually enjoy this! In my case this year will be about more time in estuaries, more time in the boat, and catching that double.

Of course, this year should hopefully see things improving with the Covid situation, allowing a return to (new?) normality eventually – fishing with friends without having to worry about infecting them (or being infected), not worrying about touching that gatepost, being able to travel as far as you like.

Roadmap

Vaccination is central to the Government’s roadmap out of the Covid situation. I had my first shot of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine on February 19th, and have the second one booked for May 7th. There was some initial delay, waiting for a call from the GP, but once I found out that they weren’t doing our cohort (5) it was plain sailing. The people at the local Pharmacy where Angela and I had the jab were very pleasant, and the whole system was very efficient. It was good to get vaccinated, but more than this, I was so proud of our marvellous scientists, healthcare staff, armed forces and volunteers.

From March 29th, people will no longer be legally required to stay at home, although travel should still be minimised wherever possible, and people should not be staying away from home overnight at this stage. I’m interpreting this to mean that I can make short journeys to the coast, with perhaps the odd longer one thrown in as well.

Very fortuitously, this is the very time when I normally look to start bassing again. The fishing isn’t pretty at this time, often involving long, fruitless hours on cold nights, hoping to intercept a big fish returning to its summer feeding grounds. Some very large bass have been caught at this time, so it’s worth sticking it out if you can.

The dangers of fishing

Fishing can be a hazardous business. Every year we hear of the tragic loss of an angler. Watch this moving video about Tyler Westlake’s sad demise.  Please make a donation to the RNLI to help continue their vital work.

Take action on gill nets

One of the reasons, perhaps the main one, for last year’s poor fishing has to be the amount of gill netting going on. Early January saw the aggregating and pre-spawning bass being hammered once again. I often wonder why it’s only bass anglers that seem to care about bass conservation, and what we can do to get the public involved in stopping things like gill netting.

Enter Whale and Dolphin Conservation, with their  campaign to reduce the cruel deaths of dolphins and other cetaceans from gill nets. Please take a minute to check this out and let the Government know what you think about gill nets.

Recent catches

I’m not hearing of much being caught locally at the moment. Mind you, I doubt there are many anglers actually fishing for bass. I suspect this is down to a combination of poor catches at this time in previous years, and less comfortable weather to fish in. It will be interesting to see if the situation changes as more anglers fish through the winter, which I suspect is already starting to happen.

One thing of relevance here is the number of pilchards around. Large numbers were seen on the North Coast at the end of January, and on the South Coast during February. So there’s plenty of food for the bass which haven’t gone off to spawn.

Distribution and growth of bass

I obtained this useful map showing the distribution of bass from the NWIFCA website (with thanks).

It’s interesting to note how far north (Norway) and south (Morocco) they can be found.

The late Don Kelley tells us in his book Life with Bass that bass grow faster on the Biscay coast (about 50% faster by weight). He also notes that in the overall range (of bass distribution), the fastest growth occurs in the Mediterranean, and that a bass of 7 years old caught at Sete in southern France weighed 7lb – in the UK this fish would weigh about 2lb!

Said Elhabchi, fishing off the Morocco coast, caught an enormous bass of 11.5kg (~25lb) back in 2014. This fish was 24 years old. A UK bass of 10lb  would be about 20 years old, so you can see just how fast Said’s fish had grown!

Otters on the coast

Otters seem to be having something of a resurgence. I always pictured them in freshwater streams, but an interesting article from Roseland Online notes that they can move between rivers, estuaries and the sea, and their diets include marine fish such as bennies and gobies, and crabs.

An evening with Cornwall IFCA

Many thanks to the Angling Trust for hosting a recent online event with Sam Davis from Cornwall Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority. Sam noted that communication with anglers could be improved, and this meeting was a useful step in the right direction.

Sam told us about the fisheries management and research work which CIFCA undertakes, and about the limitations they have to operate within.  It must be difficult trying to manage fisheries with such limited resources, trying to meet the sometimes competing needs of different stakeholders.

Yet I cannot help feeling frustrated by the glacial pace at which change seems to happen under CIFCA’s leadership with respect to bass. And Sam’s attempts to manage expectations worked well; nothing I heard from her gave me any confidence that bass would gain any meaningful protection from coastal netting anytime soon. It was so heartening to see the Estuarine nets bylaw introduced in 2018, but since then things have stalled.

I also came away feeling that anglers as a stakeholder group are not given sufficient weight. Yes, we understand that commercial fishermen have to make a living from the sea, but so do lots of angling businesses. In 2019 there were around 12,000 fishers working on UK registered commercial fishing vessels, landing fish with a value of £987 million. In comparison, on average 823,00 UK residents (aged 16 and over) went sea angling in the years 2015-2017  with a total economic impact of £1.94 billion and supporting 16,300 jobs in 2017.

And why is it assumed that angling is less important than commercial fishing – how would people feel if they were picking blackberries and someone pushed them out of the way because they wanted to collect them for money?

That’s all for this month folks.

Tightlines, and good luck for the season ahead.

Here we are in mid-February. We’re in the midst of another lockdown, the weather is misbehaving, and for most of us bass fishing is a little way off yet.  But let’s look on the bright side – things are improving on the Covid front, the days are getting longer and spring is just around the corner (March 1st to be precise, or 20th if you go by the astronomical seasons).

Walking solo

At least we can get out for our daily ‘exercise’. It seems really odd though – not being accompanied by my best friend Toby. This is the first winter since he passed away, and I miss him so. I’m getting out every day though – rain, shine or brass monkeys. I’m staying local, walking from home, and I’m fortunate to have a good variety of routes to take, many bringing back memories of the old boy.

Missing the coast

At this time of year I’d normally be out exploring new marks, or just enjoying favourite walks on our wonderful coast, making a day of it in the sunshine. But of course that’s out of the question at the moment.  I do miss the coast, but this is a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things, and hopefully it won’t be long before we can travel further afield again.

Catches

I’m not fishing myself at the moment; not that I could if I wanted to, with the huge seas we’ve had recently. I do very little fishing in February as a rule – perhaps just the occasional trip if the weather is kind, just to test the water, so to speak. I’ve been keeping myself busy though, spending my time preparing a talk, and writing stuff for BASS.

I am hearing of occasional anglers getting out recently though. Danny Richards has been getting some bass. One session earlier this month he and a mate caught 28 between them, mostly smallish, on bait. That he was catching so many bass at this time of year is interesting, particularly when some of the 2lbers were running with roe. This suggests to me that either these fish were very late to migrate, or that there might be an inshore spawning area nearby.

Bass are thought to spawn mainly in the western end of the English Channel, and off North Cornwall, but there may well be other areas, and these may be changing with global warming, since water temperature is important for spawning success.

Beast from the East?

The very low temperatures and strong E/SE winds blowing from Scandinavia we’ve had recently are reminiscent of the ‘Beast from the East’ of 2018. Fortunately this one doesn’t seem quite as ‘beastly’ as the last – at least in terms of duration. This is just as well, since the tiny basslets from last year’s spawning don’t do well in prolonged (more than about 3 weeks) very cold spells. I’ve been watching the forecast with more than little trepidation recently. This is also a crucial time for bass spawning, so let’s hope we don’t see too many more easterly blows like we’ve had of late.

Reading beaches

The seemingly featureless nature of beaches can  make them hard places to fish consistently. But although these features, or structures, may not be as obvious as those on rocky shorelines, they are there.

I’m indebted to a Facebook commenter for bringing Rich Troxler to my attention. For those who have not seen this previously, his video “Reading The Beach – Sandbars, Troughs, Dips – Let The Water Tell You Where to fish” really gives a great insight into how to improve your catches from beach fishing.

Bass Minimum Landing Size

I must draw your attention to a superb article from Malcolm Gilbert entitled The Bass Minimum Landing Size Debacle. You can access this via the BASS blog.

Malcolm makes some very powerful points about the painfully slow progress in bringing about the current MCRS of 42cm, and the folly of years of heel dragging by the commercials.

Two points struck me in particular: (i) we still need to increase the MCRS further (to at least 48cm) to give most female bass a chance to spawn at least once before being harvested, and (ii) why has it been left to anglers to fight for the MCRS to be increased – where are the Conservation bodies in this?

The more widely Malcolm’s document is seen, the more likely it is that support for a further increase in the MCRS is gained, so please share with others; I have made a start by sending a copy to my MP.

Ikigai

I recently gave a talk (on Zoom) on bass fishing to a local U3A (University of the third Age) group. Commenting at the end of the talk, the Chairman, Dr Roy Fisher, spoke about Ikigai, the Japanese concept of finding purpose in life, and its association with longevity. It’s what gets you up in the morning, and keeps you going. Having a hobby that you’re really into is good for ikigai, and the Chairman thought my talk demonstrated that I had plenty of it!

Fishing is something that appeals to all ages, and because it can be practiced in many different settings, it’s possible to carry on doing it into later life; I’m certainly planning on going fishing for a good few years yet!

That’s all for this month folks; thanks for reading. Keep safe, and let’s hope things improve in time for the early bass run. In the meantime, why not pick up a copy of my book to while away an hour or three; you can see an electronic preview of this here.

 

After a stop-start summer I was really looking forward to a lengthy spell of good bass fishing through the autumn and into winter. Well, basically it just didn’t happen. I managed quite a few trips right up until the end of the year, in between the storms, but the fish were hard to find – in fact the last bass I caught was on December 2nd.

So what happened to all the bass? You don’t have to look far to see what is the most likely cause. The amount of illegal netting for bass going on down here in Cornwall (which will have implications for stocks in other areas too) has been exposed by Save Our Sea Bass. Commercial overfishing has had an impact on stocks, and therefore on anglers’ catches, over the years; this may well have reached a tipping point in Cornwall, given what I, and other local anglers, have seen in 2020.

Diary review

This is where reality sets in – where we separate fact from impression! Going through my 2020 diary, I see that 62% of my 128 trips were blanks, and I managed just 118 bass from the remainder. The best of these was a modest 61cm, accompanied by just a handful of fish in the mid-late 50’s. It didn’t help that I lost the best fish of the year, a real bruiser which took a peeler crab, at my feet in October! August was my best month, accounting for 34 fish, including most of the ‘larger’ fish. Perhaps the only highpoint of the year was improving my estuary fishing.

It felt like 2020 had been the worst year I could recall, but when I went back to my 2019 diary, I was surprised by what I found. For a similar number of trips (110), I’d had a similar percentage of blanks (65%), but had actually caught fewer fish (87). Why then did it feel like 2020 had been such a poor year?

The increased number of fish caught in 2020 (even this was modest) was consistent with slightly more trips than in 2019, but there was a big difference in the number of ‘quality’ fish caught. Whereas I only managed one fish over 60cm in 2020, in 2019  I caught 11, including 2 at 71cm (excluding my Guernsey fishing).

Some of this may have been down to a reluctance to fish further afield at times due to Covid, and a fair amount of experimenting with estuary marks, but these results are nonetheless pretty concerning.

Getting bigger

Going by the number of 60cm+ fish that  were around in 2019, I was expecting to see decent numbers of 65+cm fish last year, the fish having put on an extra year’s growth. I was also hoping there might be a realistic chance of a double, given that the 70cm fish which seemed to be cropping up regularly in catch reports later in the year would have grown to mid 70’s+

But Simon Toms, Cornish Federation of Sea Anglers fish recorder, notes that only 7 bass over 7lb were recorded from the shore, with the biggest just over 8lb. This despite a lot of anglers fishing for bass in good conditions (before the weather deteriorated in the autumn), who also noted the lack of larger bass. On the bright side, Simon notes that there were good numbers of 3 and 4lbers around.

Natural causes

It’s important to take a balanced view in these situations, and consider what else might be contributing to the picture. Are natural causes also playing a part?

The hoped-for boost in catches from migrating fish in late Oct, and again in mid Dec, didn’t materialise. There were reports of large shoals of bass further east in early December, and commercials seemed to be getting lots of bass in nets in Cornwall around this time, but this didn’t translate into improved catches for anglers. These bass were often stuffed with pilchards.

Bass will follow pilchards, and if you can intercept these baitfish, you could have a bass bonanza. Mostly though, the pilchards and the bass will be out of the shore angler’s reach, except perhaps when there’s a good onshore blow to push the pilchards in. Even boat anglers will struggle, trying to compete with all that natural bait, and with bass completely full, and not able to feed again until they have digested their last meal.

Simon Toms comments on a serious lack of mackerel close inshore from July to November last year, and thinks there is a link between this and the fewer big bass we saw. The regular occurrence of tuna close inshore may have had a bearing on both the presence of mackerel, and of  bass – either indirectly, by pushing their food source further out, or directly by the need to avoid these large predators.

A measure of success

With my diary review in mind, it’s interesting to think about what constitutes successful bass fishing to each of us. I don’t get too hung up on numbers of fish (unless of course we’re talking big ones!), but rather I think in terms of the number of successful sessions I’ve had in any given season. These might include sessions where I’ve caught half a dozen 2-3lbers, or at least one fish over 4lb. Some will think this is a pretty meagre measure of success, and my sights have lowered over the years as the quality of bass fishing has declined. Even by this yardstick my bass fishing in 2020 was poor, with only 9 successful trips. Red-letter days, with the landing of an 8lb+ fish, are becoming as rare as rocking horse poo!

But success isn’t just about results. If I happen to hit the mother lode, catching numbers of fish, in quick succession, rather than cash in, I use the opportunity to prove a new lure or bait. This usually results in fewer fish caught than if I had stuck with whatever I was using. But it can also lead to gaining confidence (or not) in new things, thereby potentially enhancing your overall fishing success and pleasure, and avoiding wasted time on things that don’t work for you.

Other measures of success include discovering new marks and new methods, or just simply enjoying time spent fishing in beautiful places and inspiring conditions, time which burns itself into your memory. Trying new marks can also result in fruitless sessions and lower catch figures, but this is a price I’m prepared to pay – up to a point.

Talking of measures of success, why not pick up one of the new BASS competition tapes?

Another year, another lure

I don’t think I could be described as a ‘tackle tart’,  but I do have a penchant for lures. It’s not like I’m addicted or anything (well maybe slightly, to one or two), but I love the search for the perfect lure that casts well, can be fished through anything or in any situation, is reasonably priced and catches huge bass every cast just using a straight retrieve. OK, there’s no such lure (if there is please let me know!), so I’m continually looking at different types of lures for bass fishing, hoping to discover (or rediscover) ones which will improve my results, and are best suited to the varied and changing way I fish.

I almost feel guilty, and a little fickle, in saying that my ‘go to’ soft plastic, the good old DoLive faced stiff competition from the Swimsenko in 2020. I started using this again, after reading a post on Mike Ladle’s blog; a fish on the very first cast and I was hooked, never mind the fish! I noticed that the paddle tail on this lure seemed to gee the fish up on the very small tides, when the DoLive seemed to struggle, so it’s now first choice at such times.

I’m generally late coming to the party in relation to lures. The SF125 is a case in point. I took pity on the one which had been languishing in the fishing drawer since my Ireland days. I  was repaid with almost instant success when I took it for a swim back in the summer, and it’s become a regular when fishing in roughish conditions in daylight – single barbless hooks and all. Likewise the classic Chug Bug, now adorned with two big singles, has finally proved its worth for me.

On a more contemporary note, 2020 saw me catching my first fish on the Autowalker 115S, the Dark Sleeper and, with thanks to angling buddy Stuart Martinez,  Mishna eels. Who knows what I’ll discover in 2021; I have a feeling that needlefish lures might make an appearance.

Captain Derek Goodwin MBE

I can’t close without a word about my good friend Derek Goodwin. As readers of my book will know, Derek is something of a legend, an inspiration to us all, for his hard work and dedication to conducting juvenile bass surveys over many years in Cornish estuaries. I was delighted to learn that he had been awarded the MBE for this work. I have been pleased to help Derek since 2013, and I can say that this award is richly deserved. I know that Derek is absolutely delighted, and so pleased that this important work has been recognised in this way.

Roll on next season

Well, that’s me done fishing for now – time to hunker down for the rest of the winter I think. Let’s hope this year’s fishing is better than last!

I hope you and your family stay safe, and that things get back to something approaching normality just as soon as possible.

Featured image from Pixabay

In my last blog I spoke about the weather putting the kibosh on the fishing. Well, now that the weather is playing ball, and we have some lovely conditions, the fish seem to have disappeared; such are the frustrations of bass angling!

It’s not quite as bad as that, as you’ll see from my ramblings below, but it certainly feels that way. Not that this is totally unexpected though, going by past catches at this time of year. Is it something to do with migration? Is it something to do with the number of pilchards around? But then that doubt starts to creep in – has the effect of commercial fishing on the bass stocks reached a tipping point?

Netting carnage

I would love to be telling you in my next (January) blog that I’ve had a brilliant end to my bass angling season. But I’m not holding my breath, especially after hearing recent reports of big catches of fish by gillnetters locally.

These fish are aggregating and migrating ahead of  overwintering offshore. They follow a well-known path every year, which puts them at the mercy of those who would intercept them for commercial gain. I have nothing against people earning a living, but this mass slaughter seems like crass stupidity to me. Not only is it doing great damage to bass stocks, the flooding of the market that results makes the price obtained go through the floor. If nothing else, please have respect for this noble fish, and don’t reduce it to being sold for pet food.

And aren’t the current bass regs supposed to stop people targeting bass with gillnets anyway? I’ve already written to Cornwall IFCA about this; please do the same. Save Our Sea Bass have all the info here, and have made it easy for you do this. And remember, this isn’t just a  Cornish issue – these fish come from far and wide.

I can recall being very depressed each winter by reports of huge catches of bass in the pair trawl fishery. Thankfully this has now been stopped, which shows that things can be improved. But for this improvement to be fully realised and maintained, this annual slaughter of migrating and prespawning fish by gill netters must go the same way. The current ban on all commercial methods of catching bass in February and March must be extended locally for gill netters to cover the peak months (Nov, Dec and Jan for Cornwall). We know that spawning fish are making their way back up the coast in April, so that should be included as well.

A lousy bass

Rob Franklin caught a very nice 74cm bass recently.  Going by its length, this fish would have been estimated at 9lb+ using the BASS tape and yet it weighed 7.5lb. This is odd, since bass are usually fattening up at this time of year, and if anything can weigh more than the tape weight suggests.

One possible explanation might be the louse that Rob found on one of the fish’s fins (not visible on the photo above), which looked “like a giant wood lice”. He sent me a photo of one like it:

The Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) identified the louse in this photo as belonging to the family Caligidae.

Is it possible that this thing, feeding on the fish’s flesh, could account for the loss of weight? PML think that low numbers of lice are unlikely to cause significant issues to the host, so this seems unlikely.

Rob says that these lice have been found in the mouths and bellies of cod and whiting locally, leading to the conclusion that they have been eating fish with lice attached.

Rob wonders if the presence of these lice could be linked to reduced numbers of wrasse, which have been harvested as ‘cleaner fish’ for salmon farms, but Mike Ladle (personal communication) thinks this is unlikely.  Whatever is happening here, it will be interesting to see if more reports like Rob’s are forthcoming; Ash Gower recently caught a whiting with two lice attached to its tongue. Thanks to Rob and Ash for their observations.

Cream of Cornish

Angling pal Paul Wallace caught a cracking bass of a smidge under 8lb (7-15-11), one of the best bass registered with the CFSA so far this year.

Paul’s fish, a new Personal Best, was 73cm when caught, and weighed 8lb 5oz, so was nearer the weight predicted by the BASS tape (8-12) or the CFSA chart (8-8), than Rob Franklin’s fish. However, by the time that Paul was able to get his fish officially weighed, 12 hours later, it had lost over 5oz, and its length had shrunk by 4cm. The fish was stored in the fridge, in a plastic bag during the intervening time.

The only reason that Paul kept his fish was that it had taken the needlefish lure well down, and this could not be easily removed.  He was distraught that it couldn’t be returned, but he only keeps the occasional bass, and this one made a good feed for his family. When gutting the fish, Paul noted that its stomach was completely empty; it must have been one hungry bass – perhaps explaining why it took the lure so readily.

How big was that bass?

Both Rob and Paul’s fish got me thinking about the whole issue of how we gauge the size of our bass. Many bass anglers release most of their fish these days, and indeed we are not allowed to retain any bass at certain times of the year (such as now). The use of tapes has become increasingly popular in bass angling, and allows us to get a quick estimate of the size of the fish without having to weigh it. This is more convenient for the angler, easily documented with photographic evidence, and speeds up the return of the fish – important in maximising its post-release survival.

Yet we know that the weights produced by tapes/charts tend to be based on average fish, and may overestimate the weight early in the season, when many fish are thin and spent after the winter and spawning, and underestimate it late in the season when they are fattening up for the winter.

The traditional measure of a fish’s size used by anglers is its weight. Although I suspect this may be changing slowly, we still talk about size in terms of lbs and oz (in the UK), with the magic ‘ten-pounder’ being the holy grail for many bass anglers.

But, as discussed above, the weight of a fish can fluctuate markedly; it will vary over the year as its reproductive organs wax and wane, and if Paul’s fish had swallowed a big mackerel just before he caught it, he could well have been landing a fish nudging double figures. There is a case to say that length is a truer measure of a fish’s size, since this is less influenced by such variations, so should we now adopt this as our default? At least we would all be competing (if that’s what floats your boat) on a level playing field. And in these days, when it is increasingly difficult to catch really big bass, perhaps we should lower our sights slightly, and aim for a ’75er’ (about 9 1/2lb) as the new ‘holy grail’ (it’s also easier than saying 76.5lber!)?

It was bigger  when I caught it!

Seeing how Paul’s fish shrunk and lost weight so quickly, means that he could have lost out to a freshly-caught fish in any competition which requires fish to be brought to the scales at the the end of the weekend. Surely this is an additional reason to consider catch and release competitions, with the fish being measured at the time of capture?

The current minimum retention size (Minimum Conservation Reference Size) for bass is 42cm.  It’s worth thinking about what might happen if your catch was  ever inspected by an enforcement officer – has your fish shrunk below the  MCRS? Granted, it’s unlikely to have shrunk by much during a short shore session, and you would hope that a degree of latitude would be given in such circumstances, but it’s probably better to err on the side of caution when deciding if a fish can be legally kept. I wouldn’t keep a fish under 48cm anyway – that way I know it’s had at least one chance to spawn.

Recent catches

As I indicated above, things have been very quiet for me in the last few weeks on the bass angling front, and from what I’m hearing, things are pretty quiet elsewhere in Cornwall. Mind you, there are still a few showing on the coast, and the odd good fish is turning up in estuaries.

I’ve had a couple of notable sessions while beach fishing with bait. One night, in mid-November, we were catching lots of very small (32cm) bass on lug and razor; I did try a whole squid, thinking to tempt a bigger one, but it got snaffled by one of the tiddlers.

I took some scales from one of these small bass, which showed it was 3 years old, so from the 2017 year class. Our surveys in the Fal and Helford river suggested this was not a particularly good year class, but perhaps it was better than we first thought. Not that these fish are necessarily from those two estuaries – they could be moving along the coast, searching for an area to settle after leaving their nursery area. At any rate, they seem to have moved through now.

It looks like my Guernsey pals are enjoying some good fishing at the moment, with Simon De La Mare and Bryn Le Poidevin having some good sport. How I wish I was with them!

Good luck to Simon on his new guiding venture. I can vouch for his excellent company, and this nice bass he put me onto demonstrates his extensive knowledge of local marks.

Simon is hoping to provide the complete package, including accommodation. If you’d like to contact him for more information, you can reach him on 07781 188444.

Old mark, new perspective

On another occasion recently, we were catching fewer fish, but of a slightly better stamp. When you regularly fish a mark, patterns emerge, or are learned from others, about the best state of tide and conditions to fish it. Over the years you tend to stick to these patterns, in order to maximise your catches, with perhaps just the occasional, half-hearted attempt to fish outside these.

One of the benefits of fishing with other people is that they can make you look at old marks from a new perspective. I fished such a mark with Stuart Martinez, spurred on by his own experiences there.

It wasn’t long before a plump schoolie on crab signalled that Stuart was onto something, and when I landed this 61cm fish on squid, I was convinced.

So, after years (decades) of fishing the mark,  I realised that I had been missing out by not fishing at other stages of the tide, which potentially could produce bigger fish.

Picking up

Things are just starting to pick up. Stuart Martinez caught this 59cm fish recently on a Swimsenko lure, just as it was getting light:

I managed to land this 55cm fish among a catch of 3 one afternoon:

It was notable for several reasons: it was a real fatty, not unlike others I have caught from the same mark at this time of year, and it was one of the palest bass (the photo doesn’t show this well) I’ve ever seen – almost like a different species. Bass can take on many shades of colour, from almost black, through blues and greens to, like this one,  almost white. The ability to do this allows the fish to blend in with its surroundings, to avoid predators and sneak up on their prey.  As Mike Ladle says (personal communication), “fish usually change colour quite quickly, minutes rather than hours or days.” I caught this fish over sand, surrounded by reefy ground.

Interestingly, the only plug the fish were interested in that day was a red-belly Nabarone (fitted with 3 x size 1 singles) – the Feed Shallow, SF125 and Komomo II just didn’t seem to work. The other thing to note is that these fish were caught in an easterly wind – further confirmation that bass can be caught in these (at least when they’re onshore).

So, if you live in areas like Cornwall, it’s important not to give up just yet; if things follow the usual pattern, we could get some of the best fishing of the year, right into January (netters permitting). If you do go out, with the rough seas we can get at this time of year, it’s so important to keep safe. Have a look at the excellent safety advice provided by the RNLI for anglers and if you can afford to, why not make a donation to them – after all, you never know when you might need them.

Thankyou

That’s it for this month, and this year, folks. Thanks so much for reading my blogs; I hope they have  informed and/or entertained in some small way. I’ve certainly enjoyed writing them, and it’s given me a way of continuing the story of my book. For those who may be considering buying this, please have a look at the reviews it’s received, including one from Mike Ladle which I’ve recently added.

I hope you have a good Christmas, wherever, and with whoever, you’re spending it. Let’s hope we can all get back to normal next year. Keep safe.

Tightlines,

 

Featured image: Stuart Martinez.

 

I don’t know about you, but 2020 is turning out to be a bass fishing disaster for me. The weather seems to have been even more unfriendly than usual this autumn, severely cramping my style just when I usually catch my best fish of the year. Let’s hope the current quiet spell of weather lasts, although the fish seem to have disappeared from my marks at the moment. I’ve even managed to break a favourite rod wrestling with a pile of weed!

And like many others this year, my fishing opportunities have been very disrupted. What with the late start due to the first coronavirus lockdown,  a good chunk of time away visiting family during the summer Covid window, the recent passing of Toby, and of course the bad weather, trips have been fewer than in normal years. And just to cap it off,  the chances of catching that lunker seem much reduced this year, with few big bass being caught so far in Cornwall.

And with the Angling Trust advising us to fish locally during this second lockdown, some of my big fish marks will be inaccessible to me for at least the next month. But it’s great that we can fish, and we are indebted to the Angling Trust for facilitating this.

It’s blowing a gale out there!

Over the years I’ve tried to give myself as many options as possible in the event of stormy weather. There’s usually somewhere I can fish, especially now that I’m increasingly turning to estuaries. Yet even these are not completely protected from the strong winds from the west or southwest we get at this time of year. Sure, you don’t get the huge waves you do on the coasts, but casting into headwinds is still a problem, and the leaf and other debris which these autumnal winds bring can also be challenging.  If any inspiration was needed to fish in estuaries, have a look at this amazing video which James Lean sent me.

Even if you can find a relatively sheltered spot on the coast, there’s often still a deflected swell present.  I suspect this puts bass off feeding over very rough ground. You may still catch them on sandy beaches, but even here the fish may be well out to sea in very rough weather. Either that, or some may seek the relative shelter of estuaries, so if you can find somewhere out of the wind it could be worth trying these.

In any event, safety is the overriding consideration, and I certainly would NOT go near the coast In conditions like we’ve had recently, which have sadly claimed lives.

Where have all the bass gone?

For bass anglers in some parts of the Country, the bass fishing season has already come to a close. For others, like me living in Cornwall, there’s a good chance of catching a bass or two, including some decent ones, right up to the end of January. Yet even here you could be forgiven for thinking that the season is over, going by the poor catches of late.

This is a familiar conundrum – have the fish been hammered by the commercials, or is there a more natural cause? Are the fish offshore chasing herrings etc? Have they been predated upon by the increasing number of seals? A grey seal needs about 11lb of food per day on average. They feed on various species of fish, and on sandeels, but they are not averse to the odd octopus (and presumably squid and cuttle) and even lobsters, so they are not entirely dependent on fish. Mind you, just the other day, a young seal popped up with a bass in its mouth while I was fishing, as if to say “this is how it’s done mate!” Note that they don’t feed every day though, and during the breeding season (August to December in Cornwall) they may not feed for prolonged periods. The increasing numbers of tuna which are coming to our coasts, presumably following the baitfish, may well be having an effect on the local bass populations (either by displacement or predation).

Migration

One further explanation for the absence (or presence) of fish may be the migration of bass. They move south and west in the autumn, heading for overwintering and pre-spawning areas in the western English Channel. There’s a good chance that the fish in your area will already be on the move by now.

Depending on where you fish, this can either signal the end of your bass fishing season, or a temporary pause until migrating fish from areas further north or east make their way past your shores.

In Cornwall, the ‘local’ or ‘resident’ fish stocks seem to be boosted by the arrival of the first main run of migrating fish towards the end of October, potentially giving some very good fishing. Depending on the level of stocks in general, both numbers and size of fish may be increased.

Like most things in nature, the timing of these events may vary, and it may be that there is a gap between the local fish departing and the migrating ones arriving, giving one possible reason why catches are poor when we are expecting them to be good. Have recent storms disrupted their usual migration patterns?  All this just serves to illustrate that sea anglers are fishing in a highly dynamic situation.

Last good session

The last good session I had was in the SE’lies in mid October, where I had 8+ fish (but biggest only about 3lb) on lures. The day after this I lost a real bruiser, while fishing with crab in rough conditions. The fish was really thumping as I brought her in. I had to negotiate my way down some rocks, using one hand to steady myself, while she tore off to the right. As if this wasn’t enough, I had to contend with some quite big wave surges. Just when I thought she was nearly home and dry, everything went slack! Since then the fishing’s been poor, and the frustration of that moment is being reinforced on a regular basis!

 

Do you only catch bass?

My brother Nick asked me the other day if I only catch bass. I have been asked this question a few times before, or variations of it, such as “how do you know you’re just going to catch bass?”

The answer, of course, is that we don’t. Depending on what’s about, or the way we fish, we might catch a few garfish, pollack, wrasse or even the occasional sea trout when lure fishing, or wrasse (in the day), dogfish/huss, rockling, conger or ray when legering.

And yet, despite these ‘bycatches’, most of the time I catch mainly bass. If I wanted to restrict these bycatches further, I guess I would limit myself to lure fishing at night, but even then the occasional pollack might show its hand.

Catching big bass in the daytime

Bass fishing has always been thought to be better in the dark. When lure fishing first became popular, anglers realised that good catches of bass could be made in daylight, but this tended to be in the summer evenings or early mornings.

On several occasions, I  have encountered (but lost) seriously large bass during the daytime. I’m talking about the middle of the day, usually when I’ve only been fishing because I was on a fishing holiday, or fishing a competition, and I might as well go, as sit around twiddling my thumbs.

What brought this topic to mind was a recent article in Sea Angler magazine, describing Don Cook’s capture of his 17lb bass, a new Welsh record, in 1980. Fishing was just an afterthought, since Don’s main intention was to collect crabs for an evening session; he stuck his fishing gear in the car just on the off chance – good thing he did!

The question is, are these just flukes, or should we target the bigger fish during the middle of the day? Well, it makes you think – must be worth a try. About the only common denominator is that these fish were hooked in rough ground, so that’s where I would focus my efforts.

Don’t cast too far

The Bass Anglers’ Sportfishing Society have a great blog. A recent post serves as a useful reminder about not overcasting for bass, fishing in calm conditions and how good mackerel is as bait. The article describes big bass (8-12lb) being caught just one to two rod lengths out.

For sea anglers it can be very hard to convince yourself that bass will come in this close. To my good friend Richard Brandon, with his pike and carp fishing background, this comes naturally. His results, with several good bass taken while legering with squid/razor close in, have convinced me it works. For example, this one took a whole squid just 3 rod lengths out in a heavy sea.

4lb 8oz bass for Richard Brandon, caught only 3 rod lengths out.

Fish the water’s edge

It’s not just bait fishing that can work with a close-in approach. This video from Marcin Kantor shows how this can work for lure fishing as well. As Marcin says “fish the water’s edge and fish the features”. Casting in the open water will catch bass, but this is more dependent on coincidence, with the fish just happening to encounter your lure as it passes by.

Here today, gone tomorrow

Have you ever gone back to a mark the day after a blinding session, only to blank? I certainly have. There are many things that might explain this, but Alan Bulmer suggests in this article  on the excellent Active Angling New Zealand website, that fish digestion may play a particularly important role.

A sudden glut of food items may lead to fish gorging themselves to the extent that they may not feed for days afterwards. The length of time may depend on how long it takes the food to be digested, which in turn depends on the size of fish, the amount eaten and the water temperature. Furthermore, a change in water temperature, away from that which is optimal for digestion in any given species, can have a marked effect on food digestion times, going from hours to days, even to weeks.

Keeping an eye on sea temperatures is an important part of our bass fishing. I measure the water temperature where I am fishing on an ad hoc basis, and this usually ties in well with figures from well known websites. The sea temperature in Cornwall typically ranges from 9-16C over the course of the year, so even without knowing what the optimum temperature is for food digestion in bass, you can see how this could affect their feeding throughout the seasons. In estuaries this fluctuation in water temperature is likely to be even greater.

Bass surveys

Our bass survey programme this year has been very disrupted by Covid. We didn’t manage any ‘1’ group surveys at all, and the 0′ group surveys were limited to shore-based ones only – some of these on a trial basis. The few surveys we did manage to carry out were disappointing, in terms of numbers of ‘0’ groups, but it’s difficult to draw any definite conclusions about the strength of the 2020 class on the basis of such limited data.

Here’s a short description of this work.

That’s it for this month folks. If your season is over, I hope you’ve had a good one. If not, I hope the remainder sees you landing that new PB.