Bass-revisited

[christian kimber]

Had another good day at eastbourne, it was a reasonably calm day so thought i might be in with a chance of a fish or 2.

 

Once the mackerel shoals started moving through i hooked up to a couple and used the smallest one as bait, though unfortunatley i didnt get one take on this, does anyone know what kind of size joey mackerel i should be using as live bait?

 

Nothing on lures either apart from mackerel so i switched over to live floated prawns and picked up 2 nice schoolie bass, one for tea!

 

Just goes to show you should always be prepared and ALWAYS have some live bait to hand, i could only find 8 decent prawns this morning in the kelp but boy am i glad i slogged along those rocks for those!

 

Tight lines

[Leon Roskilly]

Bass are what is termed a 'gape limited predator' ie they will grab anything that will fit into their gob.

 

And even a modest sized schoolie is quite capable of getting a fairly large mackerel into their gob, and will readily do so.

 

You shouldn't use any mackerel (or other species) below the legal minimum landing size (mls) for livebait, ie 30cm in the North Sea (which includes the Eastern Channel) and 20cm elsewhere.

[barry luxton]

You shouldn't use any mackerel (or other species) below the legal minimum landing size (mls) for livebait, ie 30cm in the North Sea (which includes the Eastern Channel) and 20cm elsewhere.

 

So if we are out on a boat catching mackerel for bait we don't usually measure them. so we could be in breach even if we use them on the boat without bringing them ashore?

 

What about joey's used for pike bait and as it would be used 'onshore' even literally just off the coast, how would anyone know if they was caught in the north sea or the channel.

Edited September 6, 2007 by barry luxton

[H.A.]

Strictly speaking, the Defra/EU MLS figures apply to commercial landings.

 

However, as you will see from this, many fish are protected by SFC local MLS Byelaws and these apply equally to boat, beach and shore, whether commercial landings or not. These are the Southern (Hants/Dorset) Sea Fisheries District listings (note: the bass comment is out-of-date and still remains at 36cm for everybody in SSFD + other laws which govern the Nursery Areas) -

 

http://www.southernsfc.org.uk/mls/wheelhousecard.pdf

(Shad is given as 30cm; although Twaite Shad [Alosa fallax] are a protected species - Wildlife Act 1981)

 

Nursery areas are listed by scrolling down this text:

 

http://ukbass.com/seabassandfishery/inshorerules.html

 

It is highly unlikely that any non-commercial angler (RSA) could/would be cautioned or prosecuted for taking mackerel under the 20/30cm MLS.

 

Edited September 6, 2007 by H.A.

[Toerag]

does anyone know what kind of size joey mackerel i should be using as live bait?

Anything under 1lb in weight is fair game for bass, and a fish as small as 3lb will take a 10oz mackerel. I have fed live mackerel to bass in my local aquarium and a bass will happily eat a mackerel but leave the tail end sticking out it's gob until it's digested the head end. The only problem with the bigger mackerel is that they tow your gear round, and the problem with smaller ones is that they die quicker. Bigger baits definitely select bigger fish.

[christian kimber]

Fished the tide up this morning armed with prawns and mackerel, had 3 very small bass on prawns all returned and loads of mackerel all returned.

 

Question if anyone could please answer, i could not get a take off any decent sized bass today, now the mackies werent jumping so does this mean they were not being chased by bass? (stupid question i know!) if so is there any point trying for bass in conditions like this?

 

And i am going to fish the sugar loaf at beachy head on thursday if weather good, can anyone give me some advice as i am a local now of eastbourne and have had some good fishing for bass up at the castle, but feel i need to get away from the crowds a bit to have a chance of regular catching.

 

I have only been bass fishing now for a month or there abouts and i have to say i just cant fish for anything else! so if any more tips especially for float fishing prawns for bass would be great.

[H.A.]

Interesting questions ....

 

a personal viewpoint:

 

I've never seen bass making mackerel jump!

 

I see them 'boil' (mackies that is) when they are smashing into shoals of whitebait (mainly sprats here). At these times I've no doubt that bass will be on the fringes of the mackerel shoal and picking off the odd fish.

 

Large bass are generally solitary or in very small groups (except when in spawning mode). They're also not so excitable as the smaller ones. The bigger bass of Admiralty Pier, Dover used to queue up near the harbour entrance where mackerel entrails used to be thrown from the wall and circulate in an eddy at the harbour mouth. They seemed (according to divers) to prefer to wait for a head and guts rather than be seen chasing around after live prey.

 

Since then I've concentrated on fishing for larger bass using whole ledgered or freelined head and guts offerings or whole squid and play the waiting game. I've had a good share between 8 and 13-12-0 using fairly static methods.

 

Even boat anglers who have considerable success using livebaits or float tackle are effectively fishing a disadvantaged and tethered mackerel.

 

School bass up to 2 or 3 lbs are a different 'kettle of fish' and I've seen them swarm through shoals of whitebait on South Parade Pier, Southsea.

 

Larger bass are less numerous and sedentary by comparison.

 

[christian kimber]

Interesting questions ....

 

a personal viewpoint:

 

I've never seen bass making mackerel jump!

 

I see them 'boil' (mackies that is) when they are smashing into shoals of whitebait (mainly sprats here). At these times I've no doubt that bass will be on the fringes of the mackerel shoal and picking off the odd fish.

 

Large bass are generally solitary or in very small groups (except when in spawning mode). They're also not so excitable as the smaller ones. The bigger bass of Admiralty Pier, Dover used to queue up near the harbour entrance where mackerel entrails used to be thrown from the wall and circulate in an eddy at the harbour mouth. They seemed (according to divers) to prefer to wait for a head and guts rather than be seen chasing around after live prey.

 

Since then I've concentrated on fishing for larger bass using whole ledgered or freelined head and guts offerings or whole squid and play the waiting game. I've had a good share between 8 and 13-12-0 using fairly static methods.

 

Even boat anglers who have considerable success using livebaits or float tackle are effectively fishing a disadvantaged and tethered mackerel.

 

School bass up to 2 or 3 lbs are a different 'kettle of fish' and I've seen them swarm through shoals of whitebait on South Parade Pier, Southsea.

 

Larger bass are less numerous and sedentary by comparison.

 

 

Cheers so the rock arm i fish there is a possibility of it having some bass along it instead of only the little ones? i have caught schoolies from there before.

 

Will be going down to beachy head today to have a go so hoping for a take or 2!

[H.A.]

Specialise!!!

 

Use baits too big for schoolies; macky head and guts is my favourite.

 

Fish in rough conditions or at night when calm.

 

Don't be afraid to fish in water less than a metre deep.

 

Look for where lazy, fat bass can get free offerings!

 

Good luck

 

[Toerag]

Good advice from HA there.

In the boat we get the bass on marks where we never see mackerel, or even catch them. A lot of our deep (100ft+) bass marks were found by anglers following gannets, but they still produce a lot of fish even though the gannets aren't there. We also find that certain marks produce certain sizes of fish, so you need to find the big fish marks. It's not so cut 'n' dried with shore marks, but you can certainly tip the scales in your favour. My opinion - if you want big bass and not schoolies then avoid clean ground, and fish a big bait - 1/2 or whole 10oz mackerel, or a whole calamari, or whole bluey, or double/triple peeler bait. Whole launce are not so good as you miss bites when the bass folds them up to fit them in it's mouth. Use 5/0-7/0 widegape hooks (varivas big mouth/sakuma manta/razorclaw big bend), maybe on a pennel rig.