Bass Fishing. Bait V. lures.

[nimue4]

Hi,
I guess you all know that bass fishing is my thing.

Up until 2 years ago I used whatever I thought might work on the day, squid, mackeral strip, worms, lures etc etc. Then 2 years ago I decided to find out what worked best so......Last year I (when I say I , I mean anyone fishing from the boat) decided to only use lures, no real bait of any sort was allowed. The result was over 60 bass.

This year we tried no lures, only live sandeels were allowed (supposedly the holy grail when bass fishing) Result about 20 bass, (did also catch flounder and none on lures, but no gurnard which we did catch on lures!)

So? Was this year a bad year for bass? Did any of you notice a big drop off in bass fishing? The biggest bass I caught in the last 2 years was on a lure. I also have a mate who has a warrior 175 and mariner 90 who goes way offshore for bass and will only use pirks! (15-20 miles is normal).

So Are artificial lures taking more fish than bait? A big question I know but I'm sure you guys are up to answering.

Look forward to, I hope, many replies on this one.

Regards, Jules.

[A fluff chucker]

Hi Jules,

Good question I'm hoping there's lots of response.

They say there is lots of good bass in the Lougher estuary. I'd really like to know how best to catch 'em.

We also have a few bags of plastic worms we brought back from US - it'll be great if we can catch some bass with them.

Cheers

[Simon TorbayFishing]

Pair trawling has hit the bass numbers pretty hard this year. I wonder if maybe that could be a benefactor of the lack of catches also?

Now it’s been banned (up to 12 miles out I think?) it will be interesting to see what happens next year when they return in numbers.

[delboy]

i did read somewhere that pair trawling had been banned up to 12 miles out to protect stocks so you are right

[nimue4]

I think you're right, pair trawling makes a huge difference.

I read an awful story in the papers earlier this year of pair trawlers netting 5000 tons of bass off cornwall.......can you believe it was allowed..then no market in cornwall would buy them so the entire catch was dumped over the side!!!

I think maybe my 40 missing fish were part of the haul.

[John Marshall]

Here we tend to use lures as live sandeels are hard to gat hold of.

Pirks, jellies, shads and immataion eels all work well with each lure out
fishing the others on the day, at times though its down to the angler...
fast retrive, slow? when working jellies, shads wind like hell, gets the tailing working, pirks reel in quick and jig? slow and jig?????

Sorry if it posses more questions

[wellyfish]

this year has been my best ever for catching bass (shore) from different marks around the devon coast,never caught any on peeler crab!! as i like to rock hop and just take bass rod and selection of rapala`s .i had 7 bass using either dexter wedge or rapala j11 ,and my biggest of 7 1/2 lb was caught on whole calamari !!!!!!!!! its a funny old sport we will never fully understand the mind of a fish,but thats what makes it intresting !!!! long live the general,or untill i come down for the wee bu**er...

[John Marshall]

Great sport Welly, go get the "general"

[Old Smoothound]

Originally Posted by wellyfish

this year has been my best ever for catching bass (shore) from different marks around the devon coast,never caught any on peeler crab!! as i like to rock hop and just take bass rod and selection of rapala`s .i had 7 bass using either dexter wedge or rapala j11 ,and my biggest of 7 1/2 lb was caught on whole calamari !!!!!!!!! its a funny old sport we will never fully understand the mind of a fish,but thats what makes it intresting !!!! long live the general,or untill i come down for the wee bu**er...

There will be no hiding place from the Wellyfish for the "General" its gonna be interesting if Chef serves up his normal "Bass" fishing recipe!

[nimue4]

Umm have caught on the dexter....good spoon, but strangely enough never caught anything on a j13 which is supposed to be the best? 4 inch lump of s shaped metal does it for me. Need to keep experiment going, anyone else
up for using 1 thing exclusively next year?

Please help, Jules.