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Tough it Out! Catch Bass Despite the Heatwave. Clear blue skies, flat calm seas and a scorching summer sun – not ideal conditions! But Steven Neely has some tips on how to increase your chances of bass on a lure.
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t’s not often we are presented here in Ireland with 25degrees, blue skies and glassy seas. For the holidaymaker this may sound bliss, but for bass anglers it throws up a whole new set of challenges. On a recent trip we were faced with the very same conditions. The forecast had given bright, warm conditions and a light southwesterly breeze – not ideal but still promising. Waking up to find no wind and a sea like a millpond was somewhat worrying. It’s times like this when you wish you had the knowledge and experience of the local lads – failing that there are a few steps you can take to boost your chances. Lure length and profile Our standard bass plugs usually range from 110mm up to 140mm. These are often the staple on the open coast, however the larger profile and loud rattles make these too aggressive – we need to think about a more subtle approach. Downsizing the lures to between 60mm-100mm will make less disturbance and produce a more natural presentation. Bass become incredibly picky and selective in gin clear water, so presenting them with a smaller, less aggressive lure, increases your chances. As well as length, the profile of a lure will have an impact on how the bass react. A slimmer profile will replicate small baitfish such as sand eels and baby mullet. Lures such as the Tackle House Cruise Pencil, IMA SF 95 slim and the Megabass Cutter 90, are all perfect candidates for calm conditions. Small metals and jigs can also work well in these conditions, but the fast sink rate can limit where they can be fished.
shad in the Illex I Bass hits
Do not feel restricted to only using hard lures – soft plastics can provide a deadly alternative, especially if the bass are becoming shy and lethargic. As with the hard lures, do not be afraid to downsize in both length and profile. Try using slim, 3-4inch soft baits such as the Illex Ishad and Pintail, Megabass X-Layer and Lunker City Sluggo. I have found the 70mm and 90mm Fiiish Black Minnow to be particularly lethal in these scenarios – the lifelike appearance and action prove irresistible to a feeding bass. The versatility of soft plastics will allow you to search the water column for feeding fish. Rigged weightless, you can try sub-surface and mid-water. By using a jig head you can try bumping or hopping your lure along the bottom. Do not be rigid – try a variety of approaches to locate the fish. Clear water and bright skies may send the fish to the bottom so work the depths and increase your chances. Colour choices A somewhat controversial topic! Everyone will have their own particular favourites relating to their own marks and knowledge. Some anglers will stick to the well known theory of bright lure, bright day and dark lure, dark day, but recent experiences have me leaning towards the use of semi-transparent colours given such conditions. The lures I use tend to have a transparent underside and a pale green/blue or olive top. Some have a holographic foil or plate in the middle, which omits erratic flashes – this applies to both surface and sub-surface lures.
ater. moving w
‘Waking up to find no wind and a sea like a millpond was somewhat worrying.’
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64 Irish Angler August 2013
After a strong fight – a bass about to swim away.
August 2013 Irish Angler 65
General
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Coarse
The other alternative is to ‘match the hatch’. Try using lures which best resemble the food source present on the mark, the most common being mullet or sand eel patterns. For mullet you will be looking for a black back, silver sides and perhaps hints of blue on the flanks. Sand eel patterns are often green, olive or brown on the back with silver bellies. I have found this theory of matching the lure to the food source is most applicable to soft plastics. Moving water Another option to maximise your chances under these conditions is to seek out moving water and current – especially those marks with deep holes, dropoffs and depressions. Bass will often lie in these features waiting for food to be
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brought to them. For me there is only one way to approach these scenarios – soft plastics are my most successful lure when targeting bass in strong current flows. The depth and strength of current will have an impact on the weight you use – the stronger the flow or the deeper the water the more weight will be required and vice versa. My go-to lures for fishing strong rips are the Fiiish 120 Black Minnow, the Illex 120 Nitro Shad and the Delalande GT Shad. The vibrations given off by the paddle tails help the bass track the lure in the moving water. This method will require patience. You will want to bump these lures as close to the bottom as possible but be prepared to pick up weed on each drift. You may find that around slack water – the times either side of high or low
A fine bar of silver in the summer sun.
water – there’ll be less weed. Persistence will pay off, however, when the bass emerge from their ambush spot and engulf your lure. All weeded up? One thing that comes with warm weather is the increase in algal bloom and weed growth. This is perhaps the biggest killer for lure anglers as the suspended weed catches the hooks and kills the action of the lure. Bass simply will not take or even look at a lure if there is a slight bit of debris caught on it – it simply looks unnatural. Sometimes you will just have to fish through it until it clears. If it doesn’t, there are a few tricks to try and give you the edge. The first is to switch over to weedless soft plastics. Using a weedless, wide gape hook with the point buried into the lure should decrease the chances of weed snagging. If the weed is floating on the surface or in the top section of the water, then you can try using a sinking pencil style lure. These are often slim in profile and are worked best with a steady retrieve with added twitches. This will allow you to work the lure below the suspended weed. Using a single hook may also help. There is no definitive solution to the weed problem, it’s just something that everyone will have to try to deal with and adapt as best you can given the circumstances.
‘The versatility of soft plastics will allow you to search the water column for feeding fish.’
Conclusion Hopefully the prolonged testing conditions we faced in early July will not be a reflection of what is to come in August. Whilst the warm weather is helping the water temperature to rise after a long cold spell, the placid conditions
Small surface lures can be deadly in warm, shallow waters.
66 Irish Angler August 2013
Dawn and dusk Under testing weather probably your best chances are at dawn or dusk and during the hours of darkness. Given the rare summer weather, the rocks and bays become crowded with sunbathers, dog walkers, swimmers and kayakers – this all contributes to underwater noise and activity. Whilst bass are renowned for feeding close to the shore, they simply lack the confidence in such calm, clear conditions. Early starts and late nights will increase your chances as the bass may push inshore once the hive of activity has died down and normality returns. Fishing at night is a method in itself and is worthy of a devoted article at a later date. Dawn or dusk allows you to start reverting to your standard plug sizes. As the light levels remain low, the fish will be more inclined to respond to the greater water disturbance caused by the larger lures. You may find bass more obliging to hit surface lures, especially over shallow, weedy ground. Try to work the top water lures in a slow and methodical fashion – this will give the bass time to lock on to the lure and make their assault. Standard plug colours will work, but red, orange and gold tend to perform well in lower light conditions.
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The lure of the moment – the Fiiish Black Minnow.
are doing little to bring the bass inshore and switch on the feed. Bring back the usual dull, wet and windy July weather – did I really say that? Use these tactics with confidence but bear in mind that the key to success is persistence.
August 2013 Irish Angler 67