Bass Fishing Marks - what do you look for ?

It seems that quite a few of us are spending more and more time bass fishing, particularly using plugs. There should now be a steady amount of knowledge building up as our experience grows. Realistically we only have two months left during this season to use this method, but on the positive side this seems to be the time when the bigger fish are caught, and recent forum catches will show that the latter part of the season will confirm this belief. So with our pool of knowledge gained what do you look for in a bass mark. Based on my experience these are my beliefs:

School Bass (up to 4lb)

1) They rely on running water, ie some sort of current, this is either tidal or currents created as the tide moves in and out of gullies - for the latter you want to look for an exposed stretch of coast that consists of scars and gullies, I would say immediately after or before a headland would be best - because these places are generally shallow the currents change quickly and therefore the bass move quickly, identifying where these occur and at what times helps to catch

2) At low tide, when there is no movement these places will not produce fish - however the bass switch on as soon as it pushes

3) Once the tide is well up, look for headlands where currents meet, or any large structure, there again finding how the current works is the key

Bigger Bass

1) Most of my bigger fish have come in deeper water, on high tide to neap lows, never on a big low

2) Most of my bigger fish have been solitary

3) I would look for any structure, like a large rock or gully, and cast as close to it as I could, if a fish was there you will get it first cast

4) I believe they don't rely on movement as much as smaller fish, but disturbance created by small waves helps


Of course there are always exceptions to the rule - these are my findings and I hope they help some others to have a go, it would be interesting to hear what others think - also what about plugs? there has been loads of discussions about colours and style, but how important is plug chose? personally I don't think it is crucial in shallow clear water, however in cloudy or deeper water then vibration and sound plays a major part

 

Re: Bass mark - what do you look for?

Great Post Iain.

A couple of things I have noticed in my limited experience.

- Your theory of running waters, tidal rips etc certainly seem true for the smaller bass up to 3 pounds. Areas where tides meet or water runs off a shallow area. Headlands and underwater reefs where disturbances and current are created. Also I have noted that they seem to like increased tidal flow caused by narrow areas where the water runs through. The beauty of the yak is that you get a lot more information on tidal disturbaces than you can from the shore. When you paddle across these areas you know about it, yet from the shore the tide might not be visible.

- On the early flood the fishing seems very similar to the cod. Bass appear to enter the gulleys and scars in a similar manner to cod. The only difference is the methods employed to take them.

Ive never caught a big bass so arent qualified to comment.

 

Re: Bass mark - what do you look for?

I always look for Gary and Dav :laugh:

Deep water with plenty of tide with shallow ground on the inside but I,m no expert. If there's a reef or something it,s better still. The ground close in I,ve been getting them on lately is not typical of where I thought I would find them though. They were between the deeper water and the shallow bladderwrack strewn area,s, an area covered in relatively clean boulders approx 3-4ft high. I only fished there out of desperation and it looked like the most unlikely place :suspious:

 

I,ve not enough experience with the bass yet Iain but your observations seem to hold true for me so far for the smaller bass :yes:

Dont know about the bigger fish just yet !! but I am making notes :yes:

Good advice mate cheers :happy: :happy:

 

As you say Glenn reefs are of particular interest - I went out to one yesterday which was at least 200 yards out, it looked spot on but I got cold feet after 2 casts as I nearly got dumped by a wave that crept up behind me :surprise:

 

If its the reef im thinking of it should be good :happy: It has the bottleneck of water and fast tide funnelled through.

When I was watching the Henry Gilbey program with that Larkin fellow they fished between those big reefs that stuck out the water. I remeber thinking about the tide rushing through the bottlenecks and how the bass would lay in wait and make ambush on anything passing in the tide :happy:

 

I've got my eye on a few other local reefs tomorrow :wink: plenty of bottlenecks and a flat sea with a strong tide, should be interesting

 

I look for Quint and ask him to lend me a plug!

 

Yeah spot on with that iain , have noticed tho that over the last hre top and first of the ebb on them tidal shots the schoolies try out of the main run and take a bit of shelter , not sure if this is to just take a breather while the tide is at its strongest or they are using the tide to bring the food to them , but the better fish dont seem to mind strong tide , i suspect they just hold station behind a rock or in a little gulley depression . and make the most of the stronger tide, not that i have or seen many biguns come out , but the ones i have a majority have come in strong tide...and agree that the biguns are few n far between and solitary , One thing is for sure i never overlook anything now ......

 

I think finding a good food source rocks holding crabs, small rocklings and fish with good cover/weed close by, channels/runners and tidal run if you can find it with a depth around 3-6ft are what most of my bass have came from this season.....

 

fishing last year on a local mark it was a good tide and flat calm and crystal clear and i was using a 4oz lead and 2 hook rig and got nothing.. young lad 30 feet away using a beginners spinning combo from castle foot hooked into a cracking fish and it gave up a good fight, came off his hook as his dad lifted it onto the path.. they were gutted to say the least but i now know where to go and that when i go always to take me plugging rod as i could see hundreds of bait fish being chased by what i think were about 6 bass!

 

out of the mouths of baby's spring to mind :whistle:

 

add BB & Dan the pollock to that :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

 

Just add Dans name, he kicked all our asses again tonight.

 

just hope my luck continues into winter

 

BUMP

Has any of your views changed on marks over the past few year?

 

the one thing ive picked upon is that the bigger fish seem to be more of an ambush predator rather than a searching predator like the schoolies are.

the bigger bass seem to like the roughest ground or ground with alot of cover out of the tide run and sit and wait for the bait to come to them

 

Strange but I only caught more than 3 bass in any one session twice last year but the first fish always seemed to be the biggest and then got progressively smaller, both times on the flood in fairly shallow water, whilst non of the bass were very big, I wonder if the big ones are a leader of the pack thing ??

 

could be les,

but there was one night last year when the lads had around 12 bass between them all around the 2lb mark then as the light faded, the last two fish were caught were new pbs for glenn and damo at 5lb9oz and 4lb 8oz

i hate to say i blanked that night though

 

Funny how people view things differently.

On rough ground, the bigger bass seem to lay in wait around big boulders and ambush their prey whilst smaller fish are moving around constantly on the hunt.

On clean ground I get the feeling that age groups swim together. One pattern I noted on the kayak a few years ago was the schoolies would come early flood. Then a period of nothing, then a period of better fish.