Last weeks morning tides were spent chasing Smoothhounds so I was glad of a change in the evenings when the rock marks were full of the after work anglers. I made my way round to Grey Sands at the far end of Northam Burrows and a channel called the South Gut, at low tide this was empty, it's as the tide starts to flood that the Bass move up this channel and into the Taw and Torridge estuaries and this is the perfect place to set a trap for a Bass or two. Last year I found the magic bait that gets the bites, the humble lugworm. I'd spent hours trying Crab and Sandeel as bait and failed to get any takes but as soon as I swapped over to lug the rattling bites came thick and fast and this was the only bait I was going to use for the Bass this year, the lug was dug at the same place I collected the crabs which didn't help with the bad back.
The rough weather on Sunday had disturbed a quantity of weed which did clog up the line after about ten minutes in the water but this was enough time to get a rattling bite, the only trouble being that most of the schoolies were small and very quickly stripped the hook bare without feeling the point.
I had a couple of what I call 'Tesco' sized fish but none were taken for the table. This one is on the top of my camo bucket which has a twelve inch lid, the fish was about fifteen inches.
Another small one
and this one, even smaller.
Last year at Southwold I had a go off the beach with my Spod rod. I was casting about 75 yards to a sand bank but only caught when a lob about 20 yards was all that was needed. Only caught 3 over 4 days but 2 were over 3lbs - tasty. The smaller one went straight back. Got them on rag as couldn't find any lug. It's nice having a go at a different sort of fishing isn't it? Liked you Hounds post.
ReplyDeleteOn the Essex flats it's all lug or rag - fish anything else and it's a sure fire blank. Round the corner at Walton they'll take whole squid and mackerel because they are fish of the open sea there.
ReplyDeleteWhat I have found is that the best way to get the larger bass from amongst the hoards of schoolies is to find hard flat featureless ground at low tide, places where the crabs cant hide and then fish to it, especially on the very last of the ebb in just inches of water.