BASS magazine 131 by UK Bass

The Journal of The Bass Anglersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Sportfishing Society

The doyen of Brandon Bay anglers - Vincent McKernan with Shaun Sorensen(WOC)

A superb Irish double for Leigh Davies

A shore caught 6lb bass on squid Clive Hodges

An 8th birthday bass for Luke Lewis

Paul Jennings

Not another 9!! Ian Morris

Bass Anglers’ Sportfishing Society

Officers of the Society Chairman: Peter Macconnell 6 Lyndhurst Road, Peverell, Plymouth, Devon. PL2 3DJ

01752 560538

pmacconnell@tiscali.co.uk

02380 438139

ianmisselbrook_215@fsmail.net

01538 752423

frank.whittingham@btopenworld.com

Vice-chairman: Ian Misselbrook 8 The Grove, Sholing, Southampton. SO19 9LX.

Secretary: Frank Whittingham Shaw Cottage, Shaw Park Rd, Kingsley Holt, Nr.Cheadle, Staffordshire ST10 2DL

Acting Treasurer: Peter Macconnell (see ‘Chairman’ above for contact details) Committee members: John Morgan, 30 Thomas Street, Port Talbot, West Glam. SA12 6LT 01639 793390 john.morgan02@googlemail.com Diane Rawles, 58 Sycamore Avenue, Chandlers Ford, Hampshire. SO53 5RE Steve Pruett, Chinquita, 89 Elm Tree Road, Locking, Weston-Super-Mare BS24 8EL Steve Butler, 47 Central Avenue, Prestatyn, Denbighshire. LL19 8TE 01745 857624 butlure@aol.com Alan Parfitt, 24 Twyn Road, Llanfach, Abercarn, Newport. NP11 5LD 01495 247549 arparfitt@tiscali.co.uk John Taylor, 11 Hunnels Close, Fleet, Hampshire. GU52 6YR 01252 690091 johnrtaylor@ntlworld.com Andy Rye, 24 Scott Road, Milehouse, Plymouth. PL2 3DX 01752 562675 David Hilton, 48 Withy Trees Road, South Littleton, Evesham, WR11 8YB 01386 831987 David Mannall, 1 Manor Villas, Oak Street, Lechlade, GL7 3AY 01367 250370 davidm@thecarpsociety.com Tony Hooper & Jon Williams, Magazine editors, share one committee place. Contact details below.

Catch recorders: Geoff Gonella, 26 The Firs, Reydon, Southwold, IP18 6YS geoff@ukbass.com John Morgan, details above

for Southern England, Channel Islands & Europe for Northern England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland

Magazine editors: Tony Hooper, 2 Compass House, Mariners Court, Plymouth, PL4 0BT Jon Williams, Glen-Tre Cottage, 3 Morcoms Row, Penryn TR10 8HA

01752 257439 01326 377759

tonyhooper@talktalk.net jon.williams@fsmail.net

Magazine printer: The Printing Press, Clare Place, Plymouth, PL4 0JW Membership Secretary: David Riley 12 Bafford Approach, Carlton Kings, Cheltenham, GL53 9HP

01242 234013

dsriley1@gmail.com

01803 409127

h018c2560@blueyonder.co.uk

Forum Administrator: Glen Rolland glen.rolland@btinternet.com

Fish-In coordinator: Phil Hyde, 37 Church Street, Paignton, Devon. TQ3 3AJ.

Restoration Project Team: John Leballeur (Chairman), Steve Pitts, Geoff Hancock and Wayne McCully

Items for sale (from the Membership Secretary): Sew-on Badges......£5.50 Enamel Badges ….£4.00

Car Stickers …...£1.50 Key Fobs (with BASS Badge Logo)….£4.00 Back issue CD-Rom (BASS 1-120)…..£38.00

Current subscription rates: Adult £20.00;

OAP £15.00;

Junior £10.00;

Family, Affiliating Club or Organisation; £30.00

Items for the magazine should go to the editor. Subscriptions, renewals and membership enquiries to the membership secretary. All other correspondence should go to the secretary. The views expressed in this magazine are those of the individual contributor except where officers are clearly writing on behalf of the Society. Copyright of material remains with the authors except for official reports and similar items that are copyright to BASS. 1

BASS MAGAZINE 131 Editorial by Tony Hooper & Jon Williams

So it’s almost Christmas - the good news is that the shortest day, the winter solstice on the 21st, is also not far away. We will slowly head towards spring and a new bass fishing season. Maybe, just maybe, we will see an improvement in the summer weather for 2010 - can it be fourth time lucky?! I have had a small flurry of letters since the last magazine so ‘Backlash’ has re-appeared in this edition. Malcolm Gilbert discusses BASS and the Salmon & Trout Association including the BASS and Gamefisher magazines. Peter Macconnell responds with a robust and knowledgeable reply which elicited another nononsense email from Malcolm.

The 2010 AGM is to be held at the usual venue of Oxtalls Tennis Centre on Sunday 21 March. (See page 17 for details). We have some first time writers in this issue and some regular contributors. As always we need more material to fill the next magazines so get those fishing diaries out and send us a few lines and, of course, photographs. May I remind everyone that the 2010 subscriptions are due - see page 1 for details. Finally, have a great Christmas and tightlines for 2010 Tony

On the theme of items returning to the magazine, ‘Alma’ also makes a reappearance offering advice to worried or desperate BASS anglers.

Here we go again, another year nearly over (all except for the turkey, party hats and the balloons), but with a wry smile I can think of a new season emerging in the spring that satisfies me as much as the lengthening days. Parts of this edition will take us back into the past, with items such as Backlash reappearing and of course Dear Alma having to return to sort out some dilemmas for a few of the readership, I hope you enjoy seeing and reading the return of these. Well, it is nearly time to lift the boat and do the necessary in preparation for a New Year and new opportunities for all of us anglers, so may I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year which brings the promise of more tight lines. Jon

Contents Regular Features

Articles

Editorials………………………………… Backlash………………………………… Secretary’s Report.………………… Chairman’s Report………………… Catch Reports………………………… Dear Alma……………………………… Book Review……………………………

2 3 7 13 19 34 36

Rockpool Baits My First Bass A Good Decision South Hams Fish-in Suspended Animation Still Beats Working A Fujairah Charter

Front Cover: Christmas Scene in Sutton Harbour, Plymouth

photo ACH

Back Cover: Steve Binckes with a stunning bass

photo Steve Binckes

Richard Bourne…………………… Padraig Fitzmaurice…………… Stephen Bothwell………………… Glen Rolland………………………… Leigh Davies………………………… Julian Fox…………………………… Tony Hooper…………………………

8 9 12 14 25 30 32

“BACKLASH”

approach or simply a realistic reflection of the different interests of each o r g a ni s at io n ’ s members? If the latter, has BASS purposefully and transparently chosen a different path from that intended by the original members in 1973 or is the change in emphasis simply an o rganic change to reflect the wishes of its current membership? Malcolm Gilbert

The editors received this email from Malcolm Gilbert who also copied-in Peter Macconnell.

Malcolm wrote: One inevitable result of a three week fishing holiday was the pile of mail to wade through upon return. Amongst the foot high pile of envelopes were the quarterly magazines from two organisations I subscribe to. The Autumn issue of Gamefisher from Trout & Salmon Association and the BASS Magazine 130. Both magazines ran the story of how BASS and the Salmon & Trout Ass. are working closer together especially where there are common goals, however I was immediately struck by one overwhelming difference between the two journals. Naturally, one was primarily about game fish and the other about bass, but the really profound cultural difference between the two journals was the extent to which political and scientific articles were given coverage. In the Trout & Salmon magazine, approximately 60+% of all editorial is based on the political campaign to influence decision makers. In stark contrast, the BASS magazine contained considerably less than 10% content with a political/ research theme. In fact, the only specific content from the Restoration side of BASS, was actually headed: Restoration Corner. The word ‘Corner’ says it all really. Is this a reflection of editorial

Peter replied: Dear Malcolm Thank you for copying me in to your letter to Tony and Jon. I assume that you want it to go in the magazine in the 'Backlash' column and thereby fuel debate. I am sure Tony and Jon will accommodate you. I look forward to reading the replies. I will, however, offer you my own personal comment which is not for publication unless T & J want to publish it. (Peter gave permission to publish his reply. Tony) My thoughts are as follows: Firstly, you are being unfair because you are not comparing like with like. 'Gamefisher' is primarily an information and communication tool with an information flow from the officials of S&TA to its members. As far as I recall almost all of it is written by people in some sort of official capacity or in some other way expert on conservation/ political issues. Only a very small amount is written by ordinary members of S&TA. By contrast the BASS Magazine is overwhelmingly written by ordinary members for the pleasure, guidance, and information, of other ordinary members. Only (for example) five pages of the current BASS magazine (130) are 'editorial' in the same sense that almost all of Gamefisher is editorial. These pages are the Editor's Report (1page), the Chairman's Report (1 page), the Secretary's Report (1 page) and 'Restoration Corner' (2 pages). In most cases these are denoted by the use of

the Keith Linsell two bass logo in the top right hand corner of the pages. Tony & Jon (and Steve B, John M, and myself before them) are not editors in the same sense as the editor(s) of Gamefisher. It is not their job to give the magazine an official editorial direction and content. They do not (for very much the most part) commission or write articles. It is their job to accept whatever members send in and to shape and correct it so that any literary failings of these ordinary member writers can be minimised and the articles thereby be made more readable. They do not select articles, except in the sense of deciding in which issue an article might appear. It has been a long standing policy and tradition that everything sent in by members gets published. No one, however unliterary has his article refused unless it is blatantly commercial or defamatory. The magazine is in a true sense a publication for members by members and not a campaign tool. I personally think this is a very admirable and good tradition and part of what BASS means when we say "BASS is a democratic organisation". In my view your comments come very near to denigrating that tradition, which I think is regrettable. Secondly, one might ask the question:'Why do we need a magazine like this? And to my mind the answer is that there is nowhere else for serious bass anglers to read about proper bass angling as it is actually done, with all its real pleasures, shortcomings and frustrations. Trout and salmon anglers do not need such a magazine. They are well catered for by commercial magazines that have proper articles about proper game angling. 'Trout & Salmon', 'Salmon, Trout & Seatrout', and 'Flyfishing & Flytying', meet that need perfectly well. So Gamefisher would be foolish and redundant trying to replicate that. I am not sure, Malcolm, how long you have been a member of S&TA, but I have been a member on and off for more than twenty years, and I well recall how, back in the early nineties they decided to wind up their quarterly magazine

'Salmon & Trout' because everything it offered (mainly articles by members) was, by the public admission of the Director, being provided equally well by the commercial magazines. So I would say that when 'Sea angler' and its ilk stop being the load of repetitious, dishonest, bullshit they currently are and become the UK equivalent of 'Trout & Salmon' (or 'On The Water' for that matter) we might consider the BASS magazine going in a different direction. Thirdly, I think there is implicit in your letter a misunderstanding about why people join BASS. In the experience of those of us in contact with ordinary members on a day to day basis, we find that, for the most part, people who join bass do so primarily to enjoy their bass angling more and not to campaign for more and bigger bass. Once they are in they very often begin to pick up on the issues but it is only rarely their prime motivation. Now we can perfectly correctly point out that nothing would increase their angling pleasure more than more and bigger bass but the articles in the magazine reflect what people want to read and write about. There is no pile of unpublished conservation/ political articles sitting on the editor's desk. Fourthly, the publications with which Gamefisher ought properly to be compared are the Restoration Project Newsletters published by Steve Pitts. These are 100% editorially focussed on campaigning political issues. Now we can argue that they should be larger and more frequent, and I would not disagree. In financial terms we could afford at least two a year. But Steve does not have the time to do that nor it seems does anyone else. Now the newsletters are not as glossy and in other ways as 'attractive' as Gamefisher but, on the other hand, might they be hitting their mark more accurately. As far as I can see, and I could be wrong about this, Gamefisher is, for very much the most part, preaching to the converted. The overwhelming majority of its readers (S&TA members) have

already bought into the arguments it makes. The Restoration Newsletters, by contrast, go to many more people than BASS members. Usually we print about four times what members need and send them to politicians directly, distribute them at meetings, and other events, and so on. Cheers...Peter

Malcolm Gilbert replied to Peter Dear Peter, I thought I might get a ‘bite’ from you – and as current Chairman of BASS your response is welcome although I wasn’t expecting nor do I believe my enquiry warranted such an abrasive one. You start by suggesting I’m being ‘unfair’ so implicitly you have assu med I’m i n so m e wa y ‘criticising’ BASS or indeed the mag. Please read my letter again – there was no criticism implied or intended. At no time did I say that one mag was superior to the other; just very different. I’m merely endeavouring to clarify what the current overriding ‘goals’ of BASS are and if that isn’t clear, to stimulate an informed discussion amongst members so that it becomes clear. I know what they were when BASS was started and I’m quite prepared to accept they may now be different. Let me be clear here. I’m fundamentally a supporter of democracy so I’ve always believed any organisation can only be a reflection of what its membership makes it. When I sat on the NFSA Standing Committee, I was constantly dismayed by the lack of interest and engagement from most around the table in issues related to fisheries management. The eyes of the majority would glaze over, heads would nod, and it was clear the often complex subject did not interest many and certainly failed to stimulate their participation in the debate. However, when the agenda led to discussion of competitive fishing matters, the energy and enthusiasm to participate was almost tangible. In other words, the NFSA was precisely what its membership made it. As a result, as much as I was frustrated with the NFSA, I was constantly defending the NFSA from its critics (including many within

BASS) because I believed that although the NFSA didn’t meet the aspirations of myself nor those of many others, it certainly represented fairly and squarely its active membership. In other words, the vast majority of its membership who engaged at committee level were competitive anglers who were stimulated by discussions about ‘specimen percentages’, badges for blazers and trophies. That being said, surveys amongst NFSA membership suggested ‘conservation’ should be the priority over and above ‘competitive matters’ but that simply reflects what most members felt should be the case rather than what was the case. For ‘conservation’ to genuinely be the forte of the NFSA would have required a far higher level of participation and engagement in conservation issues by the membership. Sadly, such was demonstrably not the case. I have heard a number of voices from within BASS who say that the organisation became too political or that the magazine was ‘boring’ with too many articles about political campaigning. I disagree, nevertheless I do genuinely respect the opinions of others. So, if the majority of proactive BASS members became primarily interested in knitting fishing sweaters, whilst I may not wish to participate in the debate surrounding wool and patterns, I can assure you I would respect that if that’s what the membership wanted. Your analytical and exhaustive comparison between Gamefisher and the BASS mag does you credit and I agree with most of the points you make. Nevertheless, it was unnecessary and I fear your enthusiasm to defend the magazine which arguably doesn’t need defending may have blinded you to my core question that at present remains unanswered, at least in a sufficiently direct way. I’ve always understood the ‘Raison d’être’ of BASS is to promote the conservation, research and protection of the species, bass. Indeed, the BASS website under “about BASS” actually reads: We believe that together we have an opportunity to encour-

age the conservation, research and protection of European sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax, and to improve techniques of angling for the species. We are dedicated to the conservation of our premier sporting seafish, the European sea bass. I for one have difficulty in reconciling these aspirations with the content of your third paragraph. This isn’t to say I think you are wrong when you state: “people who join bass do so primarily to enjoy their bass angling more and not to campaign for more and bigger bass.” (my emphasis) and “but the articles in the magazine reflect what people want to read and write about. There is no pile of unpublished conservation/political articles sitting on the editor's desk.” In fact, I’d say your observations give considerable credibility to my seeking clarification about what the main aims/functions of BASS are. Those aims should, in my opinion, reflect what the current membership have an appetite for and as you say, it appears it isn’t about campaigning for more and bigger bass. Incidentally, perhaps not surprisingly, I entirely endorse your comments re. the Sea Angler and other similar sea angling press. Cheers, Malcolm

Leigh Davies wrote: Dear Tony/Jon, Earlier this year I was lucky enough to catch eleven bass in a single session from the shore – a rare event in my neck of the woods. Because I was wading fairly deep over rough ground in a lively sea, all except one (a 51/2 pounder which was netted for weighing and then released) of those bass were hooked, played, unhooked and released without ever leaving the water, so all were none the worse for their experience and will have a chance to increase future stocks. The bass stock remains greatly depleted since the 1960s and

1970s yet still today, because of the prevailing climate of (in my opinion misguided) political correctness surrounding ‘Catch & Release’, one can easily acquire mixed feelings about the practise. Personally speaking, I am crystal clear on the subject - my days of knocking bass on the head are over, and have been for many years. And I will continue to return all the bass that I catch until the mysterious vice-like grip that the commercial fishing industry has on ministers and officials is loosened. Maybe then, and only then, when the wholesale raping of spawning populations of bass is stopped and the species gains sportfish status, I might consider taking the odd one for the table. Yes, I do understand about certain species having to die in order to give nourishment to others, and I am fully aware of the reasons behind B.A.S.S.’s relaxed stance on C & R, but the bottom line is that if you want to contribute to the demise of Dicentrarchus labrax, then keep killing the greatest of all European saltwater gamefish for a couple of fillets if you must, for you have every right to do so. But if you have any soul to speak of then perhaps your approach will be more enlightened, and you’ll put them back whenever you can, because bass as a species is worth much more than could ever be revealed by even the most favourable cost-benefit analysis of its recreational economic value. If you simply must eat sea fish, then why not eat mackerel instead (no great hardship, they’re delicious, plentiful and we don’t spend half our lives trying to catch them – it ain’t rocket science!). Whatever your views are about catching and releasing/killing the bass that you catch , the plain fact about B.A.S.S. is that it is a Conservation/Restoration/ Sportfishing Society, not some sort of Rick Stein appreciation club, and the sooner we stop apologizing for that fact the better. Twenty five years ago, the B.A.S.S. magazine’s then editor, the late Harry Parham, understood this. He knew that restraint seldom occurs without some kind of regulation, yet at the same time he also recognised the vital importance of the bass angler’s individ-

ual responsibility towards his quarry, and that anglers must think and act as conservationists even though the impact they make in practical terms may be modest, “ … spread the word of conservation among your friends. We are not saying don’t catch bass, but think before you kill them, think of that big one you want to be able to catch in the years to come” (BASS 31). Well, those ‘years to come’ have arrived and it’s ironic isn’t it, that us sportfishermen, the very people who catch bass, have become the last protectors of a dwindling resource. If some of our members don’t get this, and continue to take fish for the table, then have we (as B.A.S.S. members) any right to occupy the moral high ground when attempting to educate young anglers and the so-called ‘grass-roots sea angler’ to practice restraint and return any bass that they catch so that big specimens of this slowmaturing fish may be caught in the future? Or maybe, to quote a line from a post regarding C & R on the B.A.S.S. forum, ‘It’s all academic now, anyway’, and none of the above matters one jot. You decide. Kind Regards, Leigh Davies.

Dear Leigh Thanks for your very informative letter. Some years ago I did a further education course at the Marine Biological Association on Plymouth Hoe. I asked about releasing bass and other fish that were bleeding badly from the gills. The opinion was that the fish would not survive. Fish have very little blood and to lose a relatively large amount at one time would prove fatal. Based on that I tended to keep bass that were badly hooked and bleeding profusely. It’s one of the reasons why I usually replace trebles on lures with flattened barb singles. It is also easier to disentangle singles from the net. In 2008 I landed about 100 bass and kept 4. However, recent conversations with BASS members indicated to me that not everyone agrees

subtle splash and sharp rattle entices positive takes. ◊ Patchinko – Actually caught on landing this summer, so for that alone it scores. ◊ Optimum Suspending – A weighted plastic that I try to fish just below the surface. I have only recently cottoned on to this lure. ◊ Not pictured – soft plastic Sidewinders in pearl are being well used. Nick

with my view and that bass are capable of repairing damage, including injury caused by seals. Tony

Nicholas Joault emailed: Dear Tony The forum on the Peche au Bar site (www.pecheaubar.com), has run a favourite five lures from the following methods: surface, crank and plastic. I found it very interesting with the various choices including some that I had selected to use myself. Have BASS ever done this? Is it worth running or rerunning it?

Hi Nick I recall that the BASS catch recorders have listed the most successful lures on occasions in the past. Such a list would mean more work for the recorders but they may agree to provide the

Attached is a picture of my favoured lures and a brief description of each one: ◊ Poppa Dog - Not caught in the day but took a couple of fish during the night. ◊ X-rap Ghost – Best lure last year and still an old faithful. ◊ Dexter Wigglestick – Certainly one of the top fishing lures for me and first used with success

by Danny (as I thought this lower priced lure would not be that good! Now we each sneak one into our boxes on every trip). ◊ IMA Skimmer – seems to work when fish are turning their noses up at other lures. Its good action,

stats! I am sure it would be of interest to lure anglers within BASS. Regards Tony

Mrs. Hooper’s Smoked Mackerel Pate Sue has produced plates of this pate at several BASS barbeques in West Cork and suggests that it may be an excellent starter served on fresh French Bread or Melba Toast. There is nothing to beat fresh-caught mackerel, filleted, brined and then smoked over hardwood chips or sawdust. First Sue explains how to hot smoke your own fish and then gives the recipe using the home-smoked fillets or a pack of commercially smoked fillets from your local supplier or the supermarket . Brining & Smoking The mackerel fillets should be brined for two hours in a 75% salt solution. (1.25kg of salt to 4.5 litres of water or 2½lb of salt to 1 gallon of water) Then taken out, drained and dried with paper kitchen towel. We have used a small Fladen or Abu smoker with excellent results using either the fine sawdust supplied or coarser wood chips from Tesco’s barbeque section. We smoke the fillets for about 20-30 minutes. The fish is cooked in this time. Allow to cool before using in the recipe below. The Recipe Ingredients: 4 large smoked mackerel fillets 200g cream cheese 100ml single cream (or crème fresh) 3 teaspoons horseradish sauce Juice of half a lemon Several grinds of black pepper

Method: Break up the mackerel fillets carefully removing bones and skin. Place the mackerel, cheese and cream in a large mixing bowl Add the remaining ingredients Stir until well mixed or blend in a food processer if you prefer a smoother pate Keep chilled in the refrigerator until required for use (freezes well)

Note from the Editor: For very special guests, Oban single malt whisky is an excellent partner for this dish!!

SECRETARY’S REPORT by Frank Whittingham

Autumn I can’t believe Christmas is only a few weeks away, the wonderful autumn weather we were blessed with evaporated faster than a bottle of ‘Grouse’ at a Burn’s Night Party. Whoever was organising the weather for us obviously thought we were due a few decent days after the dismal summer we have just had. I fished a couple of times in October, the weather was very pleasant on both trips, one evening I was fortunate to see a huge flock of starlings shoaling against a clear sky before going to roost. It would be difficult to guess how many birds were involved, many thousands I reckon. It was spectacular and went on for twenty minutes at least. Later that evening a seal was hunting along the beach very close to the shore, it passed within twenty feet of where I stood in the darkness. I can only hope his efforts were more successful than mine. It would have made my night if I had caught a decent fish, however my dream bass failed to turn up, just a few of the usual suspects chose to take my bait. Who takes notice of us? Recreational sea angling rarely gets mentioned in the national media, when it does appear it is often just added as a very minor point. It appears to me that recreational anglers are hardly ever considered in the first round of any talks. Politicians and negotiators from the ‘important’ groups constantly need to be reminded that we exist, only then are we added at the very bottom of any list. One of the reasons for this is

that we don’t remind them often enough or loud enough of our interest in the primary target species. How many members? There has been some talk recently about the optimum number of members B.A.S.S. should have. Fishing for bass is gaining popularity particularly using lure or fly techniques and, as many of us know it can be exciting fishing. The one most important thing we need in order to be successful is a healthy stock of fish, not just the dregs left over from commercial fishing activities. We need to be reminding the decision makers that recreational sea angling is an activity which anyone can take up. To be able to go fishing and have a good chance of catching a few decent fish should be the right of anyone living on an island with many miles of spectacular coastline to explore. Unfortunately fishing around our home shores is often poor, many anglers choose to fish abroad. This is a loss to the rural economy and a poor advert for the ministers charged with managing our marine resource. The stocks of fish around our coasts are not the property of a few commercial fishermen who would have the public believe they need to exploit them to feed the population. Tesco have taken on that role. The Angling Trust may be the powerful voice for sea anglers if they can attract enough members, and I would not want to encourage anglers to join B.A.S.S rather than the AT. Membership of B.A.S.S. is open to anyone who wishes to join, however anglers don’t need to be members to sup-

port what we are trying to achieve, which is better fishing for all recreational anglers. Responses to the Media If you hear the marine environment being discussed on television the radio or in a newspaper article, get on their website and have your say. We have been the silent majority for far too long, the only people who will put recreational angling nearer the top of the agenda are us anglers. This next bit is Important The Bass Anglers Sportfishing Society Annual General Meeting will take place on Sunday 21st March 2010, at Oxstalls Indoor Tennis Centre, Plock Court, Off Tewksbury Road, Gloucester, GL2 9DW. And the good news is that, firstly we have a really good programme lined up for the day and, secondly, they now have tinted windows so we will all be able to see the presentations however sunny it is! If any member wishes to propose a change to our existing club rules, or add any new rules, notification in writing of the proposed change (s) must be received by me no later than 60 days before the A.G.M. Our next committee meeting is on Sunday 17th January, so if we had notification by then it would be helpful though not essential. Thanks. Compliments of the Season Best Christmas Wishes and a Great New Year to you all, and go easy on the ‘tramp juice’... Frank.

Rock Pool Fish as Bass Baits by Richard Bourne back in I discovered the rockling So David almost gave the game hooking it up it bit me (who can was gone. Quickly re-baited and away and I was thrilled!! blame it?). I carefully cast out into cast out. After a long time I had fter a year’s break from about 2 feet of water and waited a bite. The fish moved away bass fishing due to being holding the line between finger slowly and I lifted the rod and it and thumb. This allowed me to at college in Fife, I am now was on! The fish fought well but I bass fishing once more. All I feel the bait’s movements down could tell it was a smallish fish. I caught in Fife were small trout the line. After 15 minutes I reeled landed the fish and took scales. in to inspect the bait. The blenny from a small river. The fish weighted 3lb 6oz and Back in June I fished a boulder was still very much alive. 5 minwas returned. No more fish that utes after casting back out there strewn beach by finding peeler day. crab at low tide and fishing with was a sharp knock at the rod tip Over the next few months I them as the tide came in. This followed by another. I struck and caught a few more fish by the was into what felt like a good fish. accounted for a few fish. The same method, the best being 5lb trouble was, peelers were getting The fish tore off to the right and 11oz. All were lip hooked. I also hard to come by. The water was then the left. It must have been discovered that blennies could be too murky for spinning or plugseveral minutes before I managed kept alive in a bucket of sea waging so I needed another type of to get the fish, which wasn’t as big ter for a few days as long as they bait. as I had first thought, close had an aerator. I haven’t tried I started thinking what else enough to be lifted from the wabut the same is probably true of ter. The fish was hooked in the there was to use as bait and belive butterfish, rockling and gan to wonder if blennies gobies. After all, they live in would work. There were lots rock pools, or sometimes just of the things, in rock pools under damp stones when the and under stones, why tide is out. So far I have used shouldn’t bass eat them? blennies, butter fish and Wondering if anyone else had rockling as live baits. The ever used blennies for bait blennies seem hardier than and whether live baiting was the rockling and are also worth trying in the coloured more rubbery so they stay on water, I posted on the BASS the hook better. Rockling forum. The response was, seem to be just as attractive some had used blennies for to fish, judging by the missed bait and it had worked! Opinrun. No luck with butter fish. ions varied on the water clarI usually use the largest live ity question. Anyway I debaits I can find and don’t cided to give it a try. bother using anything under A few weeks later I colBait, a blenny hooked through the lower lip 3 inches or so. Obviously lected some blennies. This with a 5/0 hook. your casting needs to be wasn’t easy as they swam fairly gentle or your live bait very fast and hid where I corner of the mouth. I measured it will turn into a dead bait! But couldn’t reach them. Anyway, I rock pool fish can also be used as and took scales. It weighed 3lb managed to collect half a dozen. dead baits. Another bass mem11oz, not huge, but a fish noneThey were all between 3 and 6 ber has used legered dead goby theless. The blenny was dead so I inches long. If I was going to use and had a double figure fish, so put on another, the largest and them live, then obviously they this is well worth trying, especast back out. I fished on for an should be fished away from the cially on a rough ground mark hour but no more fish. I let the weed and boulders, or they where you are worried about live blennies go. would hide. I decided to ledger Next trip out, searching the rock fish going under stones. Float the blennies live over a small fished live rock pool fish have pools I found 4 blennies and a sandy patch, as the tide was too worked, the obvious advantage 6inch rockling. Would the rockling strong to make float fishing easy. being that it keeps the live bait work as bait? I set up with identiI set up a simple running ledger from hiding in weed or rocks. The cal tackle to the previous trip and with a 2oz drilled bullet, a good only rock pool fishes I would hooked the live rockling through long trace and a size 5/0 hook. avoid using as bait are anything the lower lip. After half an hour I Now how should I hook the with spines, they don’t look aphad a bite and a good run but thing? Through the lower lip failed to hook the fish. Reeling petizing. Watch out for these seemed the best idea. As I was

My First Bass by Padraig Fitzmaurice

s he lay on his pillow with sea water splashing up to his armpits and a fish in the pocket of his pyjamas, he got a thump from his wife which left a mark on a part of his anatomy shielded from public view! He woke to be told that his football days ended over 40 years ago, and one more tackle and he was out of the bed. Little did she know that he was grasping at a big fish, not a football and that his bass fishing in dreamland had just begun. It all started over a year ago when David introduced him to bass fishing along the scenic and relaxing shoreline around West Cork. Some years earlier David came windsurfing and wavesailing across the Irish Sea intent on capturing the heart of his eldest daughter Regina. The line held steady and they were hooked good and well. David’s expertise on many fronts now extended to bass and he was very focused on ‘catch and release’ so that he could catch again. This game reminded Padraig of his approach to the ladies in his youth before he met, was challenged and then totally snared by the enchanting Teresa - thereafter no more ‘catch and release’ for him…….but now it will start again but this time with bass, hopefully more in the sea than in dreamland. Teresa had on many occasions over 43 years remarked to him that the dreams he could not put into action, he should write about. So this dream writing starts on this page at dawn on a glorious morning in July. The bass fishing dream of reality

began a year ago when a cute salesman sold me a rod, line, hook, lures and all the rest of the gear. Under David’s guidance I took to the shoreline but only succeeded in frightening the fish at first. I could see them laughing at me through the clear water but I had a vision of a smile on my face and a grin on theirs. Christmas 2008 came and so did

Padraig’s almost edible Sidewinder David with a greenish looking sandeels under plastic with one hook in each. They seemed good enough to eat without the hook! A long wait though, Spring into Summer, before a trip to Cork could be reached. The new sandeel lures were checked each day from January to June as they rested beside the computer. Fortunately Spring tides in Cork reached into summer seas and the bass wait on! The vast volume of bass fishing literature supplied in person by David and that magical electronic device - computer and internet - was devoured. Plugs were replaced, spinners and bait prepared and the waters in West Cork were researched and the bass trailed. With the shrubs and trees all sown and as grandsons played on the new lawn (how good it looked after expert improvement!), the youngest daughter married and in safe hands and the other son’s computer closed, Teresa and I headed for the coast with my sandeel lures safely packed. Getting started on the trip to make sure to get there for the 17:00 hour

Spring tide was a challenge. I awoke at dawn but Teresa refused to move, least we wake up neighbours or look out of place, for a few hours. She drove for two hours to keep me fresh for my fishing expedition and I dreamt of bass. David and Regina were all ready for us, especially David. My excitement on seeing the chest high waders he had for me made it almost impossible to contain myself for a few hours as we waited for the right water level measured to the nearest millimetre! The wind and the rain blew in and the ladies said no fishing in the sea today, but the sun broke through and we got away. We were free when the mini storm and rain came up again but there was no stopping us. My first effort at getting into the chest high waders was a total disaster - left foot in right foot section etc. etc., but finally, with help, I was waterproof. David had picked his spot on the beach but in the mini-storm it seemed a long way off. David was fleet of foot – would I ever make it, laden down with all the rain wear and gear should I fish nearer and let him travel – but I told him to lead on and I would follow, hopefully all the way. He reached the chosen spot while I struggled along behind. As he got nearer the water no more waiting for me - I was now on my own but very determined, that sleep in the car proved crucial. With my back to the wind, rain and David, lines, lures and hooks entangled and already hook marks and blood appeared on my fingers. I heard an almighty shout “I am into one”. At

first I thought he had fallen but soon saw the tight line and knew he had hooked a good fish. My excitement grew as I watched him play the fish and I tried in desperation to get my blue/ green sandeel in place. I had just achieved this as he displayed his fighting Bass in front of me - so proud and so efficient. Would I ever catch one? But imagine my total amazement when he examined the fish, said it was perfect and then released it back into the sea. I remained silent, totally deflated, but finally cast my shining Christmas present blue/green sandeel into the waves. The surf was white, the waves getting higher and suddenly the sand moving under my feet. My first time clad in chest high waders in chest high waves, wind and rain beating me, sand moving under my feet but I was not moving until I got my sandeel back - but finally I had to move or sink. My next few casts were a bit more tentative and I was checking the depth of the waves around my chest and my moving feet in the moving sand as my first bass strike took place - for a second as I gave the line a second chuck - my heart almost stopped. But I had a fish on and he was taking my line. I played him like a salmon on the Clare River and did not rush taking him in closer. It seemed an eternity before I got a glimpse of him – he must be surely 6lb or more. What a thrill at first seeing his head.

ter than, well, my first salmon on the river Clare!

And so it came to be that 8 Bass were landed in total and 2 made it to the bag -the others released.

Fish on!

Gradually I beached the Bass and took him well away from the water and David before lifting him even further from the sea. My first bass! What excitement and thrills and what expert guidance from David. He was not quite 6lb but what’s a few ounces or lbs anyway — he was my first bass. At this stage the wind, rain, waves and moving sand did not matter - this was heaven on earth - even bet-

and I quietly moved ahead of him despite his protestations concerns for my stability. Not long in my new position I hooked an even bigger fish than before. This fellow took my line out to sea and I began to follow. As the fish fought harder, the waves grew higher and the sand moved faster under water, David’s anxiety for my stability moved him to take hold of my shoulders - safe hands. The exhausted fish was eventually landed, with even more exhaustion evident in my demeanour - so David said he would handle the fine bigger bass. I regained my composure and turned only to see my fine big bass being released back to sea by David.

Padraig’s first ever bass is beached As near normality as possible was restored and fishing continued. David landed and released a number of fish and I was trying hard without success. David was some 5 yards further out into the waves

As an exhausted Padraig and a lively David retreated from the beach, Padraig with rod and blue silver lure waving in the wind, David gave instructions that total secrecy about the success of the fishing trip was to be maintained. Otherwise if word got out all Europe would converge on the location. Also no mention should be made of the lures used – the blue sandeel should be taken down and put into hiding. One tourist came investigating, enquiring if we had any success. David put his head down and even walked faster. Padraig, struggling behind with the weight of the fish, gave the thumbs up signal but said nothing. “You caught one” said the tourist. Another thumbs up signal from Padraig. “I hope a good one” from the tourist. Another thumbs up back and yet another thumbs up signal from the tourist! The Second Bass Expedition It was going to be difficult to match the excitement, challenge and success of the first session, a repeat which was planned care-

fully by David for the following evening. I was better prepared, having practiced putting on the waders and lures. David provided me with two plugs – one for 18 inches under water, the other for 3 inches under. I had a big surface plug myself. When we reached the car park I had everything ready and began the march to the beach with my fine plug attached to my rod and high in the air over my shoulder. Consternation as I had forgotten David’s instruction to hide my lure – so down it had to come! Such a contrast between West Cork and Tuam! A public announcement would be made on the Clare River of such a successful evening as yesterday – with the lures, flies on public display. West Cork - hide all. So be it and it was done.

have caught one. There goes another young man sworn to secrecy I thought to myself and let it pass saying nothing. David would be proud of me! Third Fishing Session Secrecy part breached! David announced he had recovered and we would take to the water on Thursday evening. I was delighted but felt I needed to make my own mark first if possible. Very early on Thursday morning I was on the beach on

The sun was shining, sea much calmer and the birds had changed location. I was much steadier on my feet and using David’s plug. No sign of fish for over an hour. I tried my big surface plug downstream searching for fish but no pull. I returned to the scene of yesterdays fishing and tried my sandeel. Suddenly a pull but I did not hook….. The fish came again and I hooked, carefully played the fish and it was going in the bag no matter what David tried. A short time later David caught one. Teresa and Regina joined us for a time but before we caught the bass. They were rather surprised when we returned later with two Bass. David needed a break so he could get on with the day job so I was on my own for a few days. I explored other areas, the hotel etc. While in the hotel a chat with the waiter showed that he and his family were local and lived near the fishing area. I asked if he had caught any fish and what kind but he gave little information, other than he had caught some. When asked if he had caught any bass, he hesitated, than mumbled he may

house on my own won the day and I succeeded. He was 5 lbs, maybe 6. In the evening David had picked a different location on the rocks. This proved to be an exceptionally exciting session, mainly because David created the excitement, particularly by almost totally breaching his campaign of secrecy towards the public at large! There was much sea lettuce in the water and the waves were strong and high. David knew the area and he was into action quickly. I was more hesitant and somewhat tired after my early morning session. After a time I retreated to the rocks to rest but suddenly David’s shouts reached my ears….. “They are coming, the Bass are coming!” I kept waiting and David kept shouting at me to join him but I needed a rest. The wind obviously brought his shouting to the attention of some guests outside the hotel and they moved towards the rocks to investigate. David did not see them and the shouting continued. He eventually hooked a bass and this got me going, also the guests moving closer.

A 6½ pounder on the Sidewinder my own and ready for action. Hours went by and not a pull. A few tourists called and chatted but I gave nothing away. They wondered why I was out so early. I said I couldn’t sleep and kept my sandeel hidden! I tried David’s plug – nothing and finally put on my big surface floating plug and began to walk downstream. About 200 yards down stream, watching my plug on top of the water, the big lurch came. I struck and I hooked. Seeing the fish come and hooking him was something special. He was a real fighter and not well hooked, but patience and motivation to take the fish back to the

Some minutes later I hooked my biggest bass of the week…6 ½ lbs. This created more attention. As we prepared to leave David insisted on photographing the largest Bass and one short sleeved male tourist ventured further down the rocks to investigate. He seemed a bit unsteady on his feet but his voice carried – “What did you catch?” David kept his back towards him and began to walk away. I found it more difficult to ignore him, looked up and shouted, “Mackerel, lots of mackerel out there”. He slurred loud words – “Mackerel? Mackerel?” – obviously knowing the big fish head sticking out of David’s bag was not a mackerel!!

A Good Decision by Stephen Bothwell Well I had been fishing most of this week with my friend Ian Pyrke it has only been this year since we got together to fish again after 20 years out of serious bass fishing. We used to be BASS members in the late 80’s and most of our catch reports were sent to Malcolm Brindle. As you know the bass record was held here in Felixstowe for many years and we still think it will produce a big-un as the commercial boys have had bass up to 25lb just off shore so, who knows. My good friend Roger Mortimore and I had a 16 and 11lb fish in the late 80’s. This week things seemed to have picked up here after a very slow summer (what Summer?) and it was the full moon. We have had 7 bass this week up to 4lb on bait fishing but on Thursday night I was fishing on my own as Ian couldn't make it. I decided to fish last four hours of the flood and two hours of the ebb tide. it turned out to be a lovely evening after the night before when it was storm force southwesterly winds and driving rain. I had set up near to where we had the fish earlier in the week. My confidence was high. Tackle was a Greys BZE bass rod, a Diawa 6hm and running ledger with 2 Varivas Big Mouth Extras on a pennell rig. Bait was a whole squid. Up to high tide - not even a touch. I was thinking of packing up but something made me stay and at 2:00am I had a rattle on the rod tip. Thinking it was just small one I just sat back in my chair then all hell broke loose as the rod tip flew round and I managed to grab the butt as line started to pull of the spool. I always have my drag set light. Tightening the drag up I made contact with the fish as she made a run for the open sea. I was only fishing 15 yards out next to

rocks. The power in the fish was unbelievable as it kept making powerful runs for freedom. Finally, after what seemed ages, I got my first glimpse of her in the moonlight and I new then it was a big fish. My heart was pounding. I said to myself “just keep calm and play her”. Twice I had her near to the shore but each time it just turned and powered out to sea again. I couldn't give her much line as I was so close to rocks and here they normally run you over the breakwater.

another day. To see a creature like that in the moonlight swim away is very moving and makes me very proud to have done it. Its just a shame we can’t educate some people to return the big ones. I have no problem with people keeping the odd one. but to kill a true predator of the sea is shameful. Can you imagine a fresh water angler killing a 4lb perch? There would be outrage! So why do it to a bass?

After what seemed ages I finally got her close to shore and it looked like she was tiring. I managed to roll her in on a wave and after the wave receded she lay there in the moonlight, just a bar of gold laying there. I quickly grabbed her and lifted her. Wow! What a fish, a true goddess of the sea. As usual I was on my own, so I quickly took a couple of photos on my phone measured her at 85cm and then weighed her at 13lb 10oz. By now it was after 2am and it seemed that she had been out of the water for ages but it probably wasn't. To think when I catch a big carp you unhook it, set up all your camera gear etc. So I went down to the sea and held her in the tide for a couple of minutes just to get her breath back. The fish was so calm and still. Strangely, her eyes moved to look at me as if to say “please let me go”, but she had no worries there as I catch and release all my bass. I made a decision to ring Ian up so he could witness this beautiful creature of the night. Eventually, he arrived and we took some photos of her before I let her fight

Thanks to Ian for coming out at an unearthly time of the morning to take photos.

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT by Peter Macconnell

The 1st year of the Angling Trust When, on 5th January 2008 the Angling Trust came into being with all the fanfare of a big publicity launch, everyone involved hoped that AT would attract the kind of mass membership that other national bodies for anglers had singularly failed to do. The reality is that, having set itself a target of at least 20,000 individual members by the end of 2009 (with perhaps 100,000 plus over the next five years), it seems to be stuck at about 10-11,000. Those of you who read the angling press will have noticed that AT seemed to go through a bit of a financial crisis in the middle of the year and staff made redundant. Over-optimistic budgeting based on the expectation of higher membership, we are told. Some of us may feel that 20,000 members in the first year is quite a low target for an organisation that sets out to represent one of our most popular participation sports, but, in this country, no organisation has ever, to my knowledge, been able to wake the sleeping giant that is the recreational angler. Despite all its initial difficulties I still feel that the Angling Trust is the best chance we have of making our collective voice heard. And as such I am still keen for BASS to lend such moral and practical support as we are able to do. In line with which, the committee has recently agreed to donate £1,000 to help support the appointment of a Marine Environmental Campaigns Officer at the Angling Trust, a post, the existence of which, is very much in the interests of BASS. So now

you have to consider whether to join or rejoin AT. I would say that, whatever their initial mistakes and failings, lessons are being learned. So it is still worth sticking with them and sending them your £20 for 2010. BASS Business Membership and Advertising? Recently there have been a couple of contacts from small companies enquiring about ‘Business Membership’ of BASS. The sort of people I mean are these folks selling lures and tackle, mainly on the internet. At the moment the only possibilities are that they pay the same as club membership which is £30 per year which doesn’t seem quite enough, or they get a complimentary membership (one free copy of the magazine ) as do Veals Mail Order and Snowbee, because of what they do for BASS, for example the way Veals support the AGM every year and Snowbee offer discounts to all BASS members and have done a fair amount to support the Restoration Project. The committee are unsure about whether we should introduce a Business Membership for a somewhat higher fee (paid annually to the Restoration Project Fund). Currently the committee is of mixed views about this. Some feel it is a good thing and that we should encourage bass related businesses to join whilst others feel that it is the thin end of a commercial wedge, so to speak, and that BASS has always seen itself as non-commercial. They feel that it would be a sad day if ever there was even the slightest feeling that a particular rod, reel, lure, or other item of tackle had been mentioned in the magazine

because money had changed hands. Along the same lines some companies are asking about advertising in the magazine. Up to now we have only ever had very limited advertising, usually from people that BASS knows personally and who support our campaigns. We have decided to ask the members what they think. So please feel free to contact me with your views by email, telephone, or letter. We will also give the subject a good airing at the 2010 AGM. Annual General Meeting Talking about which, the next AGM will be at Oxstalls Indoor Tennis Centre on Sunday 21st March 2010. Please remember that if you want to submit a proposal to be discussed you must do it, with a proposer and seconder (both paid up members) sixty days in advance (20th January) to the Secretary Frank Whittingham. Further details of the AGM will appear elsewhere in the magazine. New Treasurer We have been very lucky in that two members came forward. Clive Hodges, a long time member, with quite a bit of financial knowledge, has been provisionally accepted by the committee but will need your endorsement at the AGM. Season’s Greetings By the time you read this it will be almost Christmas. I hope that you and yours have a splendid time and that Santa brings you all the rods, reels and lures you want!

South Hams Fish-In 2009 by Glen Rolland

riday 11th September The omens looked auspicious, driving down from Manchester the weather was glorious and the forecast was for a repeat of the Indian summer we had at last year’s SHFI. Knowing that we would be somewhat isolated down at Ivy Cove (Lannacombe) and not fancying too many trips up and down the dreadful roads, Claire and I stocked up on provisions at the River Cottage Canteen in Axminster on our way down, and were tempted to stay for lunch so eventually only arrived at Lannacombe late Friday afternoon where we met Eddie Feakes and Luke Kozak at the beach car park just as they were setting off to SWFF the rocks to the left. Eddie and Luke were camping over at East Prawle and were joined later on in the evening by Andy Rye & Steve Veitch. Eddie, Andy & Steve sampled the local Devon Pride in the Pigs Nose later in the evening while Luke got his head down for an early start, Eddie said he heard Luke pull out at 5.30 in the morning.

Saturday 12th September When I eventually got up on the Saturday morning I wandered down to the beach where Luke was out in his waders Fly fishing and his friend Hugh was bait fishing from closer in due to a lack of waders, I think they had caught a Wrasse and a schoolie respectively, I had a go with lures but without success. Steve and Eddie went fishing down at East Prawle, the wind was from the East and blowing hard, there was a lot of weed in the water which made fishing very difficult, they walked around to the point where they met Steve Pruett and Di Rawles, who were fishing with Steve’s Jiff

Lemons, they had not caught anything and neither did Eddie & Steve V. It was then that Eddie found out just how much of a climb it was back up to the camp site. Eddie, Hugh and Luke came over to the cottage for dinner in the evening after which we had a bait fishing session using some barely alive rag worms Luke had, Eddie decided to give it a miss as he had hardly slept the night before, though he did come down and keep us company for a while before heading back to East Prawle. Luke caught a schoolie but myself and Hugh blanked and eventually gave up after an hour or so as the wind had picked up and it was decidedly chilly, we didn’t envy Andy Rye and Steve who had earlier set off for the rocks knowing they would be cut off by the tide until around 3 in the morning, whilst from a personal perspective the fishing was unrewarding and a reminder of just how boring bait fishing can be, all that standing around doing nothing, however I was stunned by the glorious night sky. I had completely forgotten both the vividness and the sheer number of stars that are up there as a consequence of living in urban areas where this is hidden by the constant light pollution. Sunday 13th September Our lazy Sunday morning was disturbed when we heard a helicopter overhead and looking out of the window Claire said she thought it was an air ambulance which appeared to be trying to land down at the beach, we didn’t think much more about it until later when Luke came round to tell us that Andy had had a stroke and that he had called the emergency services who had despatched the air ambulance to take Andy to Plymouth

hospital. As we knew that there is no mobile signal what so ever down at Lannacombe and it’s not much better at East Prawle, Eddie and I had prearranged to use VHF radios to communicate using channel 8, I therefore repeatedly tried to contact him to pass on the news about Andy, unfortunately I couldn’t make contact so I set off for another go at lure fishing with the intention of continuing to try and contact him every 30 minutes or so. Meanwhile over at East Prawle Eddie got up and started up the kitchen, Steve joined him for breakfast, Steve was just going over to the wash house, when Claire arrived at the camp with the bad news about Andy, it was a shock especially for Steve V, as they had been fishing until early hours of the morning, they thanked Claire for coming over with the news, but were quite shocked as she said that she had walked over & was walking back. Steve and Eddie sat around for a while until Steve said he was going back to Plymouth to see how Andy was. The weather was again beautiful sunshine but with a very strong easterly wind coming in from the sea, this was making it very difficult to cast into the narrow gulley’s, so I continued along the coast looking for a more suitable location whilst trying to cast from every set of rocks, though without sight of a single fish, eventually I came across another small cove and made my way down the very steep hillside to the rocks below, half way down I realised it would be very difficult to get back up particularly if I was fully laden, I was carrying a well stocked Rapala Sling bag and another shoulder bag loaded with my landing net, pliers, VHF

radio, camera and other essentials such as a bottle of mineral water, a hip flask and snack bars etc. So I decided to leave these half way down the slope. I made my way down to the lowest rocks to get a closer look at the water and was disappointed to see that it was predominantly a rather murky green with areas of a stewed tea colour, nonetheless having made the effort to get down I decided I would give it a go, I cast out with a gold (Oily ‘dine) coloured IMA gene 130 shallow diving lure that I had picked up in France back in July and was just lifting it from the water when the unmistakable outline of a bass appeared below it, I immediately cast out again and had only retrieved a couple of metres when I had a savage take and after a couple of minutes I managed to land a rather feisty fish on the rocks to find that the bass had unfortunately half swallowed the lure, I then remembered that somewhat stu-

to rid itself of the lure, my guess was that it was around 3½ lb but sadly I didn’t get to either measure or photograph it. I quickly sorted my line out and switched to a gold coloured (Half mirror AYU) Tackle Ho use Feed Shallow lure and 10 minutes later landed a 1½ lb bass, again this Unhooked was a very frisky fish which managed to get itself hooked on all 3 trebles, so prompted by a recent thread on the forum I decided to crush all the barbs thereafter. Over the next 20 minutes I had a number of follows and landed another 1½ lb bass and lost a similar sized one which managed to throw the lure, this brought me up to high tide and whilst I carried on fishing the shallower end of the cove for another 20 m i n u t e s there was no more activity so I decided to mo ve round the rocks to have a go in the deeper water

and about to be returned.

for my lure, my heart was thumping as this was certainly bigger than the 3½ pounder I’d landed earlier, then just as it lunged for the lure the VHF which I had clipped to my belt behind my back sparked into life, unfortunately because of the wind noise I’d earlier ramped up the volume to 25 to try to make sure I didn’t miss any calls from Eddie and had forgotten to turn it down when I decided to clip it to my belt, the end result was that I nearly jumped out of my skin and involuntarily looked around to see what it was, which unfortunately caused my arm to lift the lure straight out of the gaping jaws about to engulf it. Sadly it wasn’t even Eddie on the radio just a conversation between two boat skippers! I carried on for another 30 minutes but saw no further pi-

Eddie lends me a hand landing another one caught on a Holo White DUO Tide Minnow 120. pidly I’d left my pliers half way up the slope! I frantically scrambled back up and across the rocks and up the slope to fetch the rest of my kit and ran back as quick as I could, I quickly got the pliers out and went to grab the bass but just as I did it thrashed about again and dragged the braid across the jagged rocks which instantly severed and it disappeared back into the water taking my lure with it, I only hope it somehow managed

and switched to a large gold Duo Tide Minnow SURF about 15 minutes later I was considering calling it a day when a bloody great big torpedo came zooming across heading straight

Combination soft/hard lure.

We were kept company for a short while by a small bass that took a long time to unhook and wasn’t fit to swim off immediately but luckily there was a small pool on the rock we were on which was topped up with fresh water every few minutes and after a time it had recovered sufficiently to be reBass convalescence home. turned like all the others. scine activity so decided to call it Watching all this action was a a day and having managed to couple who were float fishing with find a much easier way back up prawns from the rocks overlooking the cliff, began the trek back to the deeper water, sadly for them the cottage, disappointed but nothing seemed to want prawns also elated that I had finally brofor lunch that day, unfortunately ken my duck for the year, my for us as we reached high tide the last bass having been caught at bass disappeared and we couldn’t fish the deeper water due to the the 2008 SHFI. strong winds which made it imposMonday 14th September sible to cast without constantly Eddie moved over from East tangling with the lines of the float Prawle in the morning to take the fishers, we therefore made our caravan at the B&B at Lannaway around the cove and tried to combe and having given him difish from the rocks on the other rections to where I had been side but gave up after a while due fishing the day before I set off to to the wind. see if I could repeat my success, whilst he finished unpacking. Tuesday 15th September By the time Eddie turned up Unsurprisingly we decided we around 45 minutes later I had would go back to the same spot, already landed a couple of bass Eddie again taking his fly rod in and lost a couple all around 1the forlorn hope that the wind 1½ lb. Eddie quickly joined in might abate the fun using small Rapala type Having previously only fished jointed lures and also caught two the hour or so up to high tide at and lost two similar sized bass, this cove we thought we should I’d hooked my earlier fish on the start earlier particularly as the gold Tackle House Feed Shallow tides were getting bigger each and a Holo White DUO Tide Minday, so we set off to fish the 3 now 120 and later decided to try hours up to high tide. out some other lures. The wind was even stronger I was keen to see how effecthan the before and when we artive an unusual lure I bought in rived the sea was much rougher France last year was, it is a cross than previously and was full of between a hard and a soft lure, weed, we fished for hours but with the head and front part of the nothing to show for it, Eddie body being solid plastic and the blanked and I had a single take middle and tail being soft with a from a big bass that managed to single treble hanging from the get behind a large rock before throwing the lure. middle and has a fantastically realistic swimming action. Wednesday 16th September This accounted for most of the other bass I hooked that afterEddie contacted me on the VHF noon, three of which I landed the and suggested I walk down the lane and meet him near the B&B largest measuring 45cm and two which I duly did and was more more that managed to get away.

than a little surprised to find him in his waders given the temperature and the fact that he had been wearing jeans and boots for the last couple of days, Eddie suggested we had a go off the rocks to the left of the beach. I agreed and decided I couldn’t be bothered to walk back to the cottage to change into my waders so went as I was in jeans and boots, we duly wandered over and for some time as the tide had only recently started the flood it was impossible to fish without wading out particularly as the wind was again howling in from the south east. I therefore left Eddie to it whilst I explored the rocks and gullies to make sure I had an escape path that wouldn’t result in me getting too wet as the sea came in, after about 30 minutes I saw Eddie hook up with a good bass probably around 3-3½ lb’s and after a few minutes with the waves crashing over the rocks he was stood on he managed to land it, whilst he was playing the fish I had scrambled over to the nearest rocks that weren’t under water to get a better look. As Eddie landed the bass and began to unhook it another wave came flooding over the rocks and swept the fish out of his hands, Eddie immediately threw up his hands in despair unaware that the bass was still on the rocks just two foot behind him, I started gesticulating frantically and repeatedly screaming panto style “it’s behind you!” sadly with the wind howling and the waves crashing on the rocks Eddie couldn’t hear me and the time it took him to cotton on to what I was wildly pointing at coincided with the next big wave washing the bass to freedom. Having been spurred on by Eddie’s catch I decided to give it a go casting into a short stretch of water about 2 foot deep that was beginning to froth up, I was using a red head and silver bodied shallow diver and was delighted when the first cast resulted in a follow from a small schoolie, I immediately cast out again and was rewarded with another schoolie taking the lure almost as soon as it hit the water, I quickly landed and released it and cast out again and had

another take but unfortunately it managed to shake the lure before I could land it. I cast out again and incredibly had yet another take and a few minutes later duly landed an-

Small consolation. other bass, having unhooked it and measured it at 48cm, I cast out again and almost immediately had my fourth take in 5 casts! This was from a decent sized fish which was putting up a strong fight which unfortunately it won as my line parted company with the lure. With the tide coming in quite quickly and having earlier promised Claire we would head out to Slapton Sands for a spot of lunch we packed in and made our way back across the rocks and then went for what turned out to be an unforgettable lunch, though I keep trying, first the pub had just stopped serving food so we continued up to Blackpool Sands and had lunch at the beach cafe then as we exited the site I somehow managed to slam the passenger side of my nice new Audi Q5 into a stone wall, luckily Claire and Eddie survived unscathed unlike the car. On returning we decided to have another go at cove where we’d already enjoyed so much success, though sadly the cove itself seemed devoid of fish again so we fished off the rocks into the deeper water I was using a minnow pattern DUO Tide Minnow 175 but after a couple of hours the only success we’d had was a single large garfish that I

hooked which managed to free itself just as I leaned out to grab it after hauling it up out of the water 10 feet below. A short while later I finally had a another take, which was clearly bigger than anything else I’d encountered as my reel, a rear drag Shimano Aspire, began to scream as the bass stripped off huge amounts of braid as it hurtled out to sea. I quickly slammed the fighting drag lever over to full but it continued to take more line so I tightened the drag knob further and my rod was bent double as I struggled to control the fish. The rod I’d been using all week, was a Grauvell Titanium Concept Spin 2700 which I’d bought from the nearby tackle shop at Chillington last year, it was marked down by 50% from £167.50 but I got it for the princely sum of £80 as the guy couldn’t work out what half of £167.50 was, this is a really nice lightweight rod rated to cast 10-40 gr. My only criticism would be that the 33cm handle is a bit too short to fight big fish. Conscious of the fact that I had lost a lot of fish due to the combination of unbarbed hooks and my failure to maintain the tension whilst I was bringing them in I was determined not to make the same mistake with this fish, having said that as it appeared to be hell bent on trying to snap my rod in half it was doing an admirable job of maintaining the hook hold itself. After what seemed an eternity I managed to retrieve most of the line it had taken and a while later finally brought it to the surface, I knew it was going to be big before it became visible but I wasn’t expecting it to look quite as big as it actually appeared to be, though sadly I never got to find out precisely how big as whilst I was trying to bring it round towards a lower bit of rock to land it, it began to thrash about again and the

lure came free from the line and it disappeared from sight. Eddie and I decided to persevere for a while longer though Claire set off back as the temperature dropped, Eddie caught a couple of small Pollack and I landed a consolation bass as it started to go dark. Thursday 17th September Throughout the week I had been fishing with an 18” fluorocarbon trace (18.8lb) between my braid and the lure, which was a trick I picked up from a copy of a Special Leurres edition of Peche en Mer, I found that this significantly reduced the number of tangles I was getting, and I had also hoped would be less noticeable to the bass, however as I had now lost two big fish when the uni knot to the clip failed I decided that on my last day I would skip the trace and connect the lure directly to a JB clip tied to the braid using a Palomar knot. I also decided to switch to a more powerful rod to help control any further large fish. We returned to our favoured mark which was already occupied by the float fishing couple, again the shallow end of the cove was very weedy and appeared to be devoid of fish so after a while we tried our luck in the deeper water after a few fruitless hours for me during which Eddie hooked but lost a decent bass, I reverted to using a trace selecting one with a small Ragout eel as a teaser and succeeded in catching a small Pollack and landing a garfish on the Ragout teaser, l also lost a small Pollack, Eddie hooked but lost a bass. The float fishing couple fared much better that afternoon as prawns appeared to back on the menu and caught a bucketful of tiny Pollack all of which they sadly kept to put in the freezer for the cat! Summary A fantastic few days fishing with great company and weather along with disappointment that I missed out on a few big fish particularly the one that I think would have definitely got me a certificate of some sort at next year’s AGM, further disappointment that the ever present wind

then later the same day lost out on the biggest bass I’ve ever seen just when I thought I had finally got it under control! To paraphrase the Boom Town rats “I don’t like Wednesdays!!” The week finished on a high when news came through confirming that Andy was recovering well and had been released from hospital. Myself and Eddie were down for the week, whereas Luke and Hugh just for the weekend which is clearly reflected in the above figures, likewise I don’t know if they hooked and lost any fish and I am unaware of any catches by Steve’s V & P, Andy or Di. It’s worth noting that I had a significant advantage over Eddie as I had a much wider selection of lures to choose from, including many shallow divers which proved to be the most effective. The figures also suggest that successfully landing fish on debarbed hooks is a little more problematic and both I and Eddie need to improve our conversation rate.

‘Scores on the doors’ Lost

Bass

Pollack

Wrasse

Garfish

Hugh Luke Eddie

Glen

Landed

Bass

Pollack

Hugh

Luke

Eddie

Glen

Wrasse

Garfish

prevented any SWFFing, I bought a 9# weight rod and reel earlier this year and had been hoping that Eddie would be able to give me some tuition, regret’s that I never managed to get out in the kayak I recently bought and took all the way down and back without launching. However this week has re-

newed my confidence in my own abilities after so many blank sessions using similar tactics, tackle and fishing similar terrain, though I think I’ll use a higher breaking strain trace in future! All in all a thoroughly enjoyable time notwithstanding the fact that I managed to cause £2000 worth of damage to my car and

The 2010 BASS Annual General Meeting Sunday 21st March

It’s only Christmas but the AGM is just weeks away. Among the most popular events in the BASS calendar it is eagerly anticipated by the membership. As before it will be held Oxtalls Indoor Tennis Centre in Gloucester. The usual tackle stands and an array of speakers to entertain us plus the well supported raffle with a table ‘groaning’ under the weight of prizes.

Leave the M5 at Junction 11; Take the A40 signed to Gloucester/Ross on Wye, after 2 miles you will approach a roundabout, get in the right hand lane and exit at 3 o’clock. Follow signs — A40 Ross on Wye (also signed for Chepstow). After approximately 2 miles, just after a Shell garage, turn left at the next roundabout into Tewkesbury Road (A38). After 100 yards, turn left into Plock Court — follow the road for a further 50 yards and bear left into the Tennis Centre approach road. Ample parking is available at the venue. Doors open at 09:30am.

See you there! Oxstalls Indoor Tennis Centre Plock Court Tewkesbury Road, Gloucester GL2 9DW

Recent Catch Reports by Geoff Gonella & John Morgan This report is compiled from returns sent to the BASS fish recorders Geoff Gonella (South of England) and John Morgan (Ireland, Wales, Scotland and North of England).

John Morgan: Sam Smith and his son Steven travelled across from Northumberland to SW Scotland for a weekends fishing in October. They had five small bass on legered peeler crab. A week later Sam had a bass of 47cm (2lb ¼oz), on ragworm tipped with mackerel strip, whilst fishing for flounders in his local club’s ‘Open Competition’. The fish was caught in the last half hour of the match and Sam managed to keep the fish alive in a Greys fish bag enabling him to weigh it in (along with three flounders) and then release it. Sam commented that there are quite a few small bass being caught locally at the time of writing (early November) and that most are being returned. Though there is always the odd person who keep all the fish regardless of size. Simon Williams (north Wales) supplied two catch reports for August and September. He reports that August was a steady month with fifteen bass in nine trips. Eleven fish to 2lbs and also fish of 3.4, 5.12, 3.4 and 4.4. The fish were caught from the shore on ragworm. Simon fishes with a friend - their total for the month was 33 with three over 5lbs. September was slightly better again with twenty-one fish over seven trips. Fourteen up to 2lbs and others of 2.8, 2.8, 6.9, 3.10, 3lb, 3.5 and 5.6. Again all the fish were caught from the shore on ragworm. Simon added a footnote: ‘Had seven fish in forty-five minutes one morning - really good, plus I missed as many again.’ Mike Salmon sent scales from a 50cm fish caught in September in Ireland. Thanks, Mike. In answer to your query . . . yes, we want scale samples from Ireland (in fact anywhere!). Julian Fox dropped me an e-mail: “The week spent in Ireland with Matthew Spence and Allan Hughes was as great as usual. The weather played its part as it always does with some mixed early week weather standing on the beach in horizontal rain and a full-on gale laughing at the futility of it all stands out as a highlight! Later in the it settled down nicely but still with a swell. Fish were caught all through the week with all the biggest fish coming from the shore. Mat had a 9.2 and a 9.4, and Allan had a good 7 and a 6 1/2. There were numerous 5's and smaller stuff that I forget. We did get a bust up on the beach one night which we haven't experienced in Ireland before -pity all the fish were only 4lb ish. I say pity because over here we would have been grateful for that. In Ireland expectations are so much higher. Almost all the big fish were caught on soft plastics.

Julian with his personal best bass - 13lbs on a soft plastic

Highlight for me was a personal best fish of 13lb. It was caught from the shore on a soft plastic. Hopefully the photos do it justice. Notice the damaged fins which we thought strange. These weren't caused by us netting it by the way, as it was netted quite gently.” Tony Hooper was another visitor to Ireland (along with a number of other BASS members) “In the absence of the resurrected Swansea-Cork ferry it was another long drive with the caravan in August from Plymouth to Pembroke and then Rosslare to West Cork. BASS magazine 130 took priority over staying on into October so the last day of September saw us driving back to Rosslare. In common with previous visits to the Courtmacsherry area, we had 'unofficial' BASS bbq's and frequent visits by local and holidaying BASS members - even I wonder at how my wife, Sue, produced all those cakes and biscuits in a caravan! A big thank you to everyone who made contact and ensured we had a great time. My best bass was 6lb 9oz on an Aile Magnet popper. I had rowed the Avon quietly into a small shallow cove and cast towards the beach. Laurence Egerton and John Jeffries were out in their Prowlers at the same time/area. Indeed, they were launching at daybreak and were amazed to see me roll up in the Jeep with the Avon on the roof. They reckoned that editors don't normally get out until mid-morning at the earliest. It did seem an unusually early start!

(Above) An ‘early’ start for John Jeffries, Laurence Egerton and Tony Hooper (below) The Isopod from a bass landed by John Thomas

In a busy half hour, Laurence landed seven bass on one of his lead-heads from a reef close to the shore. He probably had about fifty during his four week holiday. That six pounder was my last bass of the six weeks. I had twenty five altogether, mostly on live sandeel but lug, clam and soft plastics took a few, too. Lots of 'brown bass' (also known as pollack I believe), came from the same areas as the more traditional 'silver bass'. Some were nudging into double figures so good fun on light gear.”

John Thomas is taking part in the Log-book scheme so I think his data is going direct to Geoff Gonella. However he did send the following: “Hi John, Have you ever seen one of these before? I removed it from the second dorsal fin of a Bass I caught down Sker on the 26th of October. Just wondering if you or anyone else has ever seen one? Regards.....John Can’t say I’ve ever seen one of this particular type before, I’ve seen fish-lice, certainly, . . . but small things (grain of rice sized). Nothing the size of the above. John passed it onto a friend who works in Swansea University who doesn’t think its from UK waters. John wrote again “John Lancaster is scratching his head in this one. There is a paper written regarding this type of Isopod found in the mouths of the Lesser Weever fish in Cornwall. John asked me if it was off a wild bass as there isn’t any record of one found using a wild bass as a host. As far as I know he's still searching for the answer.” If anyone can shed any light on the identity of the ‘culprit’, or in fact if you’ve encountered a similar beastie, please do get in touch. We’d be delighted to hear from you.

David Baird wrote on the 16th November . . . “Hi John, Not a particularly good year - catch numbers well down on the last three years, and average weight also significantly lower. High winds and foul weather over most of the summer kept the water well churned up and made plugging impossible for much of the season. It was good to meet up with fellow BASS member Sam Smith, who made the trip over from Northumberland with his boys a couple of times, and I’m only sorry I wasn’t able to put him amongst the fish. Next summer’s got to be better weather-wise - by the law of averages, we must be due a decent one . . . Best Wishes” . . . David Ian Morris has been keeping a record of his catches against hours fished and has noted his results. He’s hoping to continue this analysis over the coming seasons. “A poor couple of years’ results saw me take the decision to sell the kayak and ‘go back to basics’. To be fair the kayak did its job and got me a few nice fish that I would otherwise not have been able to catch due to recuperating from knee surgery in 2006; I’d certainly recommend a kayak as a great idea for someone who for whatever reason can’t go rockhopping so maybe in a few years time when I am a bit more crocked I will think about getting another one! Two 6lb-ers for Ian Morris taken on a soft plastic and a slider

Anyway, Fishing a total of 29 sessions, averaging 2.75 hours, the bad news is I blanked 12 times, (that’s 33 fishless hours) and 12 of the sessions were just snatched ones whilst on camping holidays with the family. In the 17 sessions where I did catch, I caught 35 bass, this works out at 1hour 20 mins per fish, when the fish were there. The average weight was a tad under 3lb, and all were caught on lures, as apart from at Shell I didn’t manage to do any bait fishing. 19 of the bass were caught on minnow lures, (average weight 2lb 12oz), 10 on surface lures(averaging 2lb 9oz) and interestingly, 6 were caught on budgetpriced soft plastics with an average weight of 4lb. My most successful lures where the good old JTS and a very rare, cheap, and (so-far) secret Japanese minnow that were responsible for 9 fish apiece. Next best was my trusty favourite, the 105mm Surface Slider which claimed 4 fish. The most notable sessions were: Late May away on holiday, a sneaked dawn session produced 8 fish over sand/rocks all on a chrome JTS, and included a brace of 3lb’ers, and four at 4lbs and over. Late July fishing one evening over some very rough ground, my mate ‘Trev’ and I shared a catch of 5 fish;

the best of Trevs three fish was a 4.8 on a Gunnish with my brace being a 4lb’er on the Slider, and then after darkness fell I switched tactics to a white 7” weighted soft plastic bounced along the bottom and was taken by surprise by a violent seizure that saw a very welcome 6lb’er netted after a good struggle. I suppose the most memorable session was back at the same mark one mid September dawn; once again Trev had 3 bass, best a 5.12 on a soft plastic, but although I had just the one this time, at 6.4 on a Slider this was my best fish of the season and gave me one of the best scraps I have ever had off a bass. The sobering realisation that in 4 years of very hard fishing with Trev, this was only the 2nd time we had both caught a bass of 5lb+ in the same session, is a sad reflection of how the poor fishing has been. The fact that the previous occasion one of the fish was 10lb saw us both fishing with rare and renewed confidence, and returning to the area the following weekend Trev had yet another hat trick of bass in the 3.8 to 4.8 bracket, while I had just the one of 5.10 again on the white weighted plastic at dusk. Unfortunately other commitments saw us unable to capitalise on this run of decent-sized fish, but hey that’s families for you! This years’ Irish trip was dogged by the much-dreaded becalmed seas, and a promising start of a battlescarred bass that went 9 1/2lb on the tape, but in truth weighed a bit less, deteriorated into an ordeal that really did sap the strength. Relying on knowledge built up over several years’ trips, the lifeless aquarium was thrashed to a froth across three counties with what felt like every lure I had. There was a very disappointing general scarceness of fish, but fortunately most of the nine other fish I managed were of a decent size, the best of them being a 5.8, a 6.2 and three in the 7 to 7.8 range, but they were so hard-earned, it took the edge off what should really be a much more enjoyable experience. Just to jog everyone’s memories - again . . . . trophy and certificate claims must be with either myself or Geoff Gonella by January 14th 2010. Compliments of the season to all . . . .John

Geoff Gonella: Here are the reports received for mid-August to the end of November: EAST ANGLIA & THAMES ESTUARY After a few years away from bass fishing, Steve Bothwell has struggled on the Suffolk beaches, with fish up to 3lb. But he came back with a bang in September with a shore-caught lunker of 13lb 10oz on bait in the early hours. A superb achievement, from an area that doesn’t throw up a double very often. (His article about that bass is on page 12) KENT AND SUSSEX Simon Pickles reported a poor September, followed by October being his best month ever on the Sussex shore, with a 6-pounder on live pout, then a 5lb 6oz and a beauty of 10lb 9oz, both on whole quid fished in low tide surf. The double gave a spectacular fight, thrashing at the surface 50 yards out at night, perfectly lit by the shore lighting behind him. But the best was yet to come, with a calm night session under the Sussex cliffs producing a new personal best of 11lb 7oz to freelined mackerel head, just 10 yards from the water’s edge. Well done Simon. November yielded just one good fish, a 6lb 8oz to whiting head. Clive Hodges has tried a whole mix of venues and techniques this autumn. Progress started slowly with blanks on several different beach locations in August. So it was back to the boat in September, with brought forth two 7-pounders on a wreck using live mackerel. Later in the month he found the bass shoaling up on a reef, and had eight to 2lbs using a mini-pirk, with the shoal feeding right up on the surface for a brief spell. On the same trip a couple of wrecks produced a 4-pounder and a cracking one of 10lb 1oz, the double coming shortly after a dive boat had moved off. Early October brought fish of 3lb 12oz and 9lb 13oz, on what may prove to be the last wrecking trip of the year. An 8-pounder was being brought in along the top, accompanied by two other bass at least as big – then the fish came off ! On looking at the bait afterwards, the circle hook had turned into the bait…Later in October the storms started so it was back to beach fishing in Sussex. Armed with reports that quite a few good fish were being taken on Squid, Clive chanced his luck and on the first visit, had one bite and a 6lb fish. The next visit also gave one bite, this time a 9lb fish and a new Personal Best from the beach. Both fish gave great fights in the surf. The next session was in a small window in the weather, and gave three fish to 3lb 4oz, plus two others dropped. The bait was squid stuffed with slipper limpets. This

was the best beach fishing he’s had since the same beach gave a run of fish over 30 years ago. An excellent run of results from a hard-working and dedicated angler, and several tips for us all to consider. Paul Harman was out in the kayak in mid-August for a four-hour session, drifting over weed beds and catching around 20 fish in the 12oz to 3lb range, all on the fly on a sunny day with an offshore breeze. In September he

had a 7-hour session on the kayak, over rocky ground which yielded 40 bass from 1lb to around 5lb 8oz, including four over 4lb. All were caught on the fly in a choppy sea on a dull drizzly day.

HAMPSHIRE, ISLE OF WIGHT & DORSET Silas Maitland was out on the boat in October, one trip yielding 12 fish in the 36-56cm range, and two 9’s and one 10lb 4oz. All fly caught. A further trip produced a cracking 11lb 12oz fish. Superb angling. Steve Binckes had a fine September with a bass of 8lb 8oz. On one trip out with John Taylor, John equalled his Personal Best with a fish of 8lb exactly. Ten minutes later Steve landed one of 10lb 8oz ! Also this Autumn, Steve has had numerous fish in the 3-8lb range, one day even catching a squid…all on the fly of course ! John Taylor has also had a large number of fish in the 36-56cm range, no doubt on the fly as well. Shaun Goulding had a surprise when looking at the stomach contents of a 3lb fish caught in a local harbour – the hind leg of a rat ! DEVON AND CORNWALL Paul Green had a good shore session in October, at night in very rough conditions, with six fish around 2lb 6oz and better fish of 4lb 7oz and 6lb 2oz, CHANNEL ISLANDS Artur Racznski went out on a friend’s boat a few times,

John Taylor with his PB bass of 8lb (top) and (left) Steve Binckes with one of 10lb 8oz landed on the same day.

(centre) On another trip Steve even managed a squid - on fly, of course!

(below) A beautifully conditioned bass of 11lb 8oz for Silas Maitland.

catching a number of fish in the 2-3lb range, topping-off with fish of 6lb 6oz and 9lb 8oz. All were caught on a variety of plugs. Derek Buesnel had a good few months out on the boat. September started well enough with a fish of 8lb on a Chug Bug, but the weather blew up with 10 continuous days of easterlies which made fishing his usual marks impossible. However, he and Alan Aubert managed to find dome sheltered water, with Derek catching good catches in the 2-3lb range and Alan managing a nice fish of 5lb 8oz. At the back end of September Derek had one of those days you dream about; Out at 07.30 with his son Jonathon, it was a fine, calm morning and very warm, with the mark showing perfect conditions – terns diving Artur Racznsk landed this bass of 9lb 8oz on a plug and bass breaking the surface after baitfish. They hooked into the bass straight away, catching a dozen before the terns (and the baitfish) moved on. After a few more hours catching the odd fish they motored on to another mark, but Derek caught sight of a large number of terns and gulls close to the shore. On getting near to this area there were bass everywhere, in gin-clear water which showed clearly the bass chasing the baitfish, even under the boat. It was almost a bite-a-cast as they edged along following the shoal. They ended the day with 59 bass with the best being one at 6lb 8oz, one at 4lb 8oz, five at 4lb, and the rest in the 2-3lb range. They went out the following day and had only 28 (!) but nothing over 3lb. Derek took Alan out the day after that and they managed 39 fish up to 3lb. In early-October Derek fished with Alan and they had 25 fish, the best being Derek’s at 6lb. Then the dreaded easterlies were back, but they fished in Alan’s boat, trying several areas for the first time. One day in persistent drizzle yielded 19 bass with several in the 3-4lb range, and Alan having one of 6lb 8oz. Mid-October and they were out again, with Alan having four to 4lb 8oz and Derek blanking for the first time since April, which amused Alan greatly, because the only bite for Derek ended up with the leader breaking off – serves him right for not checking the knot! (his words, not mine). The next day Derek redeemed himself; fishing over low water with Chug Bugs in around 8 feet of water, having fish of just over 9lb and 6lb – Alan was not as amused as he had been the previous day! And lastly a few points from me before I round off for 2009. Firstly, SCALES TO BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT IN THE ANALYSIS FOR 2009 MUST BE PROVIDED TO THE RELEVANT CATCH RECORDER BEFORE 7 JANUARY 2010, SO THAT CATCH RECORDERS CAN PASS ON TO THE SCALE READER BEFORE 15 JANUARY 2010. THE SCALE READER CANNOT ACCEPT THE SCALES OF 2009 FISH AFTER 15 JANUARY 2010. Next up some news about the British shore bass record. The fish caught by Steve Cave in November 2007 has been the subject of a claim since then, and the British Record (Rod Caught) Fish Committee finally ratified it as a record at their meeting on 30 June 2009, at 19lb 11oz 12drm. Although Steve is a non-member, he kindly sent us some scales. These were analyzed and the fish was determined as 1989 year class. Next, a big Thank You to those who have sent me catch and trip reports for the South over the year. Your input is very much valued. Please keep them coming in by letter, email or scrap paper – I don’t mind which. If you are new to all of this, please send me a note of your trips and catches (no matter how large or small the fish), with photos if possible. This Catch Report section depends totally on you sending me reports – I will not trawl the Forum for material – it’s been read before. My details are in the inside cover of this magazine. Now a bit of a moan - I rarely get catch reports for these areas: THAMES ESTUARY, KENT, ISLE OF WIGHT, SOMERSET, AVON, AND EUROPEAN MAINLAND – please can I have some reports for these areas. Last but by no means least, a big Thank You to those who have sent in scale samples this year. This input to our research is very valuable, to improve our knowledge about strong and weak year classes, size and age distributions and a whole lot more. Also this information can be good ‘ammo’ for our representatives to back up our case for effective management of bass stocks. If you haven’t submitted scale samples yet, please give it a try in 2010. Details are in BM 129, pages 16 & 17. Have a good Christmas and New Year, and I wish you all the very best for the 2010 season. Geoff.

Suspended Animation by ing end p s u e ck S hwi Rogu t i Sm Pro

Leigh Davies

o my wife, my interest in bass angling is just another indication of my increasing weirdness, which is tolerated at best, more often ridiculed. Being caught wiggling a Slug Go through the air in an attempt to replicate its movement underwater was bad enough, but this latest episode was in a different league. “Last time I looked there weren’t any bass in the bath!” Yeh. Right. Very funny. Putting up with having the p*** taken out of you was the price this sad obsessive had to pay in order to see just how the small, selfadhesive weights (‘Suspendots’ I believe they’re called) would affect the action of the old Storm Thunderstick in the water, before actually using one in anger. With my tormentor doubled-up with laughter at the sight of me getting my tackle out in the bathroom (quiet at the back now), it soon became obvious that three dots were far too many, for the lure sank quickly to the bottom of the bath, so I peeled off one of the ‘Suspendots’ and gave it another go. Again it sank to the bottom, but this time slower, so I cut one of the remaining ‘Suspendots’ in half and stuck it back on. This time the Thunderstick hung beautifully in midwater, and then began to rise, almost imperceptibly, directly above the bar of soap that I’d accidentally knocked in with the tip of my Daiwa Whisker - perfect. Now I was ready.

you pick your tides, you can quite easily catch a few schoolies on lugworm from any one of half-adozen surf beaches, but that just isn’t my sort of bassing these days. So, with a logic that, at best, could be called ‘questionable’, I had decided that early-season 2009 was the time to begin to re-tune myself to a frequency that I was in danger of losing. From the outset it was clear that I wasn’t exactly making things easy for myself, yet I never grow tired of that way of thinking. Whatever is going on, I try to look at things with fresh eyes, and poke a stick at the accepted conventions of the day. Traditionally amongst those who plug for bass, and for very good reasons, surface lures and shallow runners have been standard equipment for quite a few years now, and more recently, soft plastics have started to come to the fore, judging by their now ubiquitous presence in virtually every sea angling magazine, tackle-shop, website, forum and ’blog’ that exists. All of these types of lure are perfect for the shallow, graunchy ground that bass frequent. Yet my earlyseason experiences in my part of the country had me looking for an alternative in order to up the odds a little bit, for it is impossible to start a new season without expectations, and this year, after a couple of particularly lean ones, I was determined to have those expectations met.

Most of us would accept that bass, once located, are not that difficult to catch, however I find that a particularly tough time of the season to catch them in North Wales is early on in the year – March, April, even May some years – those first signposts that point the way to the (hopefully) quality bass fishing of high summer and autumn. Ok, if

Over the past three or four years, these March/April/May rough ground bass have been few and far between, at least from the shore, but when they have shown, they have been in the 3 1/2 – 4lb bracket as opposed to the sub 2 1/2lb surf beach schoolies, so they’re well worth targeting if you’re willing to put in the effort before the annual algal bloom sets the water foaming on the beaches

Bom b Exc er Su alib s ur pend in Min now g

and affects much of the bassing in this area for a few weeks. What I have found to be a common factor in the capture of these early fish is that the majority of them have been caught on slowly retrieved floating minnows such as the Storm Jointed Thunderstick, Duo Tideminnow, etc. I’m assuming the reason for this is that the water is still fairly cold up here at this time of year, and, as fish are cold-blooded creatures, their metabolism is dictated by water temperature. The lower the water temperature, the slower the reaction of your quarry. Consequently, the bass that are present are nowhere near as active and aggressive as they will be when the water warms up to summer temperatures. Generally speaking, these lethargic labrax, especially sizeable ones, are unlikely to attack a surface lure or chase down a fast moving Contact Feed Shallow but won’t hesitate to make a grab for what it sees as a halfdead baitfish moving slowly in front of its nose. Even if a bass isn’t hungry, I reckon that it can’t pass up a meal that it won’t have to move to get to or expend much energy to chase. It was this ‘cold water equals slow presentation’ idea that got me thinking about leaving my poppers, sliders and shallow diving minnows at home and giving it a try with the lure that was getting the bathroom treatment a few weeks ago, together with a couple of others that I’d bought years ago due to contracting a serious case of “ebay mania” and then promptly shoved in a drawer to gather dust. These days, unlike a few years back when a high percentage of them had to be modified, there are loads of beautifully balanced suspending plugs that fish superbly straight out of the factory such

as the Lucky Craft Pointer and Flashminnow SP series, Daiwa TD Suspending Minnow, Rapala XRap, as well as many others manufactured by the likes of Owner, Storm, Yo-Zuri, etc. But if you’re DIY-minded and want to turn a floating lure into a suspender yourself, then use the small stick-on, peel-off weights that I mentioned above – it’s a fiddly operation to get it right, but they do work. I recently had the lip break off a SPRO Floating Minnow 45 after it snagged in some rocks, so rather than throw it away, I transformed this very natural-looking lure into a suspending ‘jerkbait’ by adding two Storm ‘Suspenstrips’ (the long version of the dots) to its belly. It performs just as well as any of the modern, factory-produced suspending plugs. The main problem that I have with fishing floating, shallow divers slowly is that it is such hard work. I just feel that they need to be worked much slower than your average floating minnow can physically manage. I seem to spend all my time and energy trying to keep them below the surface! This is where those suspending plugs that a lot of us have got secreted away in some dusty, long-forgotten corner of the garage come into play. The beauty of this type of lure is that they can be retrieved s-l-o-w-l-y, you can even leave them ’hanging’ for as long as you want, and then give them a twitch and leave them again. It is at this point that many will be tempted to impart some action to the lure, so fighting the urge to work them quickly is difficult because old habits die hard, but with these lures, at this time of year, less is more, and the key is patience. I was determined to cast one out and play the waiting game, for I had become convinced that it is the pause that counts most. What about soft plastics? Yes, of course they have their place, in fact they can do the same job as many of the lures you own, often better, but for me, a suspending plug is the one lure in your tackle bag that a soft plastic cannot successfully replace. Firstly, the smaller plastics can’t be cast anywhere near

as far as a plug, and secondly, they have the opposite problem to floating lures in that eventually they will sink to the bottom – even unweighted – and that is something that I don’t want when I’m fishing early in the year (I was forced to change my thinking on slow-sinking lures as events unfolded). Ideally, if conditions allow, I’m looking for a smallish lure that will constantly be in what the Americans call the “strike zone”, and the near neutral buoyancy of the suspending plug allows you to achieve this. Of course, on many rough ground beaches, there will be no option but to fish either weedless plastics, topwater lures or shallow divers due to the masses of rock and weed present, but there are marks that I fish that have fairly clear areas between the walls of kelp and boulders that do produce bass and where a suspending lure can be used without fear of those evil little trebles that most of them come with becoming immediately snagged. It was all beginning to make sense to me – a baitfish imitation acting like a fish without falling to the sea bed, or rising quickly to the surface like a balloon filled with air. An enticing theory to be sure, but a sound one? Fast-forward then, one month from bath night, and as the cabin fever of the last few months ebbed away, I found myself surveying a Llyn Peninsula beach in the dawn half-light on a cold Friday morning in mid-April with the intention of giving some fishing time to what is probably the most neglected lure in shore bassing. This shallow to medium depth, mainly rough ground beach is a far cry from what Pearson may have experienced when he namedropped it forty-odd years ago, but what the hell, we still have it and I like it. It was just about low water, so it would be difficult to use an out-and-out suspending plug straight away, so calling to mind a couple of things I’d read from a few years back (one a B.A.S.S. magazine article penned by Steve Butler in which he describes using a slow-sinking Odys-

sey Piglet jerkbait with some success in North Wales; the other a description of a couple of outstanding Irish sessions using an unnamed slow-sinker written by Hugh Stoker somewhere in Sea Angling Hotspots), I attached a small, jointed Duo Terrif DC-11 Type II-J which I’d had for several years, and on which the sandeel pattern paint-job had definitely seen better days. I have had some success with this plug, but have always used it as a shallow runner, using a straight, fairly rapid retrieve, but like the Piglet and the anonymous Stoker lure, it is also a slow-sinker, and used accordingly, requires only a twitch of the rod tip to impart action, then pause, before another twitch or two. Depending on how you work it, and with the middle treble

A surprise mullet on a Jointed Thunderstick removed, it can be fished just below the surface to a depth of three or four feet at this mark. First cast of the season results in a take and shortly afterwards I land my first bass of 2009 - all of a pound in weight but beautiful to behold and very welcome. Nothing for the next hour, so I change to a Silver Scale Jointed Thunderstick which was the replacement for a black and chrome one that was taken away from me one October evening on an Irish beach. Once again on my first cast with this plug I get a great take and the fish steams

off. It feels like a good bass and never gave up the fight right up to when it broke surface in front of me, where it took me a while to process what I was looking at – the ‘good bass’ was actually a mullet of about three and a half pounds!

this the proof of the pudding? Was this to be a watershed in my bass fishing – a Dylan-goes-electric type of moment? Well, erm … yes and no. The fish ran very fast parallel to the shore and dragged me round a protruding finger of rock away to my left as I struggled to

“Not a bass but a beautifully marked seatrout” taken on a Lucky Craft Flashminnow By now there was enough water over the beach to allow me to try out my modified blue and white Thunderstick, so I made my way over to the spot that I’d earmarked for its debut. I cast out and cranked it down to about three feet and let it hang for a while, giving it an occasional twitch while all the time my instincts are telling me to retrieve it far more quickly and erratically. Half an hour of twitching and waiting produced nothing, so it was time for the ever-reliable Lucky Craft Flashminnow 110SP in a more natural-looking Ghost Minnow to have its first outing of the season. Once again I followed the textbook retrieve – crank it down, wait, and twitch – and on the third twitch, I saw the slack line on the surface straighten as a fish took. I struck, and was into what, again, felt initially like a good bass. Was

get it under control. Strange, but I’d never known a bass run quite as fast and straight as that, and where was that dogged headjagging that is so typical of our favourite quarry? A minute or two later the puzzle was solved as a beautifully marked sea trout of about two and a half pounds was landed in a small gully at my feet. Granted not a bass, but there was no denying that the suspending plug had worked in the cold water of April. The sun was well up now, so I decided to make my way back, casting as I went, and managed a small pollack that hit the Flashminnow as it ‘hung’ motionless along the edge of some kelp. It’s likely that this lure is vaguely suggestive of the small sandeels that I saw flitting amongst the rocks in tiny shoals close to the shore. What an interesting morning’s fishing – perhaps a bit early in the year for bass to

be present in any numbers, but the short session still produced my first one of the year, together with mullet, sea trout and pollack all taken on plugs, the latter two on a suspender. Some anglers will fish for just about anything, anywhere, with any method, and the best of luck to them; but in my eyes the bass is absolutely without peer, so my Day One ‘Grand Slam’, was just an enjoyable dress-rehearsal for the real deal. So bring on the bass, because as the man said … ‘I’ll be back.’ I re-visited the Llyn a further four times that Spring; once a week later, and a further three sessions in May. The second April session - on what my solunar calendar predicted as a ‘BEST’ fishing day - was a humdinger, and if ever patience paid off it was on that day. I almost turned over and pulled what remained of my side of the duvet over my head when the alarm went off at the absurdly early hour of 2:30 a.m. I could hear wind and rain outside, but I could also hear ‘You’ve got to be in it to win it’ in my head. Two hours later, fishing into water that a gushing stream had turned the colour of a ‘special clinic’ urine sample, I was into my first fish – a pollack. Sea conditions were far too lively to fish a suspending plug effectively, so again a Plan B was required. I opted once more for the slow-sinking Terrif that I would allow to drop a few feet, then give it a slow, twitchy retrieve, then repeat. At low water one hour later, with the water at the base of the stream now the colour of milky tea, I had caught four bass using this method – all schoolies of around a pound and a half; so much for the 31/2 – 4 pounders! Nevertheless, I felt very much in tune with the great conditions; birds were working everywhere, the wind had lessened, there was a lot of cloud cover and there was plenty of movement in the water, which made wading over this ground bloody awkward, but the adrenaline was flowing so I didn’t mind fishing with water almost to the top of my chesties, turning sidewards every couple of minutes to present as little resistance as

a headland that was sheltered There are some places – not many possible to the fair old swell that from the wind. Once again, ganthese days – where it seems that was coming in. Thankfully I was nets were fishing just out of casttime has stood still. Places where using one of Ian Morris’s ‘retroing range throughout the sesthe ancient heart of the landscape style’ wading sticks that I was sion, and this time there were six can be sensed in the air. This is railroaded into buying a couple of of them. There must be one heck one of them. Other than my own AGMs ago. Three hours of the of a lot of baitfish about this footprints in the sand, there is no flood later, after moving ‘up-tide’ year. mark of human shaping. of the coloured water, I’d caught seven more bass to the same On the face of it, the last session The less said about the next sesplug – three more identical of May was far more schoolies, three threepromising, and I was pounders (all of which confident. The sun had took the plug on the set leaving a salmon drop) and to finish off 1 sky fading on the horithe morning, five and zon, a gentle onshore a half pounds of silver 4 breeze rippled the surmagic that made the face, and there was a drag on the Stradic good tide that would screech – a pit-bull of 2 flood into darkness. a bass. There were 5 That evening I walked also three or four alone along the tidemissed ‘takes’. If mark of a rugged things carry on like shoreline full of rock this, Plan B may well pools busy with life; a become Plan A, for on 3 shoreline where only the evidence of the 6 gulls and oysterfirst two sessions of catchers had stepped the year, it seems before me, yet there that when it comes to was no loneliness, for I early-season bass, was at peace with the that sinking feeling world, and wondering isn’t such a bad feel- 1) 4.5”/11cm Storm Thunderstick, 18g (suspending/ modified with Storm ‘Suspendots’) what happened to the ing after all! 2) 4.5”/11cm SPRO Minnow 45, 17.7g (suspending/ worries of yesterday. I stopped for a moment Conditions for the first modified with Storm ‘Suspendots’) to allow myself to drink two May sessions 3) 4.5”/11cm Due Terrif DC-11 type II-J, 14g (slow in the whole scene, and were not so good, and Sinker) at that moment I knew this was reflected in 4) 4”/10cm Storm Flutterstick Madflash, 20g (slow sinker) why I was a bass anthe catches. The first 5) 4.5”/11cm Lucky Craft Flashminnow 110SP, 17.8g gler. But as usual when trip resulted in a small (suspending) you think you’ve got it bass that took a 6) 4”/10cm Lucky Craft Pointer 100, 16.5g (suspending) sussed, most of the Daiwa TD Suspending time you haven’t. Minnow, once again Those seemingly perfect condision the better and I think that in on my first cast, leading me to tions produced just two small retrospect, Stuart Gowland and believe that I was in for another bass - one to the modified SPRO myself should have paid more atred-letter day … but that was not Floating Minnow 45 and one to a tention to the poor forecast and to be. Half an hour later, a thinPointer 100, with no response stayed at home. Yet the bipolar looking 31/2 pounder fell to the whatsoever to surface lures or character of the committed bass same lure, and turned out to be slow sinkers. It could have been angler – both depressingly realisthe last fish of the session, dethree when I hooked a halftic and naively optimistic at the spite trying the Terrif and a coudecent fish when trying out the same time – allows him to fish in ple of plastics. Nevertheless, a classic Smithwick Suspending Pro even the most hopeless of condiminor victory for Plan A and the Rogue, until the £2.99 ebay spetions. Needless to say, there were suspending plug. At 6:15, the cial slipped the Norman Speed less bass in evidence that morning sun rose over the mountains beClip (I had been warned!). Ah than women at a Taliban hoehind my shoulder, and the cold well, I suppose it’s a good thing down. A strong crosswind made east-north-easterly had picked that fishing was not made too plugging extremely difficult and up, flattened the sea, and effeceasy, and it’s on evenings such the tide was the smallest of the tively killed the fishing; but being as this you also learn that some month. Result between the two of in such a wild place, stretched things in life shouldn’t be taken us – one pollack to a small Delaout on a carpet of sea pinks too seriously. lande Sandra rigged on a 10gm watching four gannets outStorm Lip Weight, and that was perform a host of yowling gulls The Spring offensive has seen off despite moving a few miles along and terns diving for baitfish 100 April and May, and a total of sixthe coast to fish a suspender yards offshore, more than made teen bass have been caught over through some gullies in the lee of up for a disappointing morning.

“Five and a half pounds of bass that made the Stradic screech” five sessions, all taken on either a slow-sinking (12) or a suspending plug (4). This has been by far the best early-season lure fishing that I have experienced in terms of numbers of fish caught, and especially pleasing considering that four out of the five sessions were dictated by when I could get time off from work rather than being chosen with regard to conditions. Hardly a rigorous scientific experiment I know, for in reality, there are so many variables that come into play when plugging (or indeed any form of angling), that it is difficult to know precisely what it is that is working and why, but nevertheless I am pleased with the way things panned out. Haul me off to Pseuds Corner if you like, but it must be the case that you learn far more by asking ‘Why?’ and ‘What if I do this or that?’, formulating your own ideas and then getting out there and trying these things out for yourself in order to answer your own questions. Simply believing that buying the latest, ‘musthave’, plugs/red rods/whatever that are being touted as indispensable by the current ‘experts’ is going to catch you loads of big bass must surely end in disappointment, for there is no substitute for research, effort and watercraft. Yet these days, even the usually conservative Sea Angler

can’t resist the pound signs and most months there is some ‘guru’ telling us what we need to know and, more importantly to such a publication, what we need to buy in order to become successful lure anglers. So maybe we should be thinking a lot more about getting back to basics as an antidote to the cult of ‘modern-style’ bass angling. Maybe we should be recalling the reasons why we got into bassing in the first place and why we still love it so much - the simple pleasure of being immersed in a wild marine environment; the quiet personal satisfaction felt having caught and returned a good bass after a plan comes together, and the contented exhaustion at the end of a successful day - rather than obsessing about which one of a collection of insanely expensive plugging rods we should select to perfectly complement our £500 reel and £20+ imported ‘high-tech’ lure. A while back I fished with a very successful bass angler who used, almost exclusively, a Speckled Trout JTS and a Mackerel Duel Aile Magnet. His plugging tackle consisted of a reel that looked as if it had been salvaged from the rejects bin at the Winfield factory circa 1970, which had seized to the reel-seat of a spinning rod on which the finish had completely worn away, the cork grip was battered and shredded, the butt-end fitting was missing, a ring on the tip section

was mis-aligned, and the buttring had lost its lining and hadn’t been replaced. Yet more specimen bass have been landed by that angler using that crap outfit, using those so-called outdated lures, than I will ever see. Obviously I’m not saying mistreat your gear, far from it, and in the past I have been guilty of buying more than my fair share of expensive ‘new’ lures (Xlayers, Hazedongs, etc., as well as Ima, Sebile and Tackle House stuff have been in my bag for years). I’m simply saying that it is what that angler did with that magic wand and those ‘old-fashioned’ plugs that was special, and to me that begs the question … is it time we called a halt to the worship of the false god of ‘gear’, and set about ‘de-commodifying’ our pastime by deleting those foreign tackle sites from our Favourites, cancelling our subscriptions to the advertisementdriven, bandwagon-jumping sea angling magazines, and search out some of those out-of-favour lures that have caught many a large bass in the past? They haven’t suddenly stopped working have they? And if you can slow down enough to try those suspending and slow sinking plugs that many of us must still have stashed away, especially early in the year, then like me, you might be surprised by the results. Postscript: Not strictly ‘early season’, but only a week later, in the searing heat of an early-June afternoon session, three bass to 5lbs were taken on a suspending Thunderstick and a Firetiger pattern Storm Flutterstick (a lipless plug that costs about a fiver and sinks slowly with a ‘fluttering’ movement). A further five fish fell to surface lures, including a Frosty (the Patchinko’s smaller and less ‘fashionable’ little brother) and two more took a white soft plastic paddletail, bringing the total for six sessions to twenty-six bass, three pollack, a sea trout and a mullet, with all bar nine of the thirty-one fish being caught on either a slowsinking or a suspending plug. Talk about the disbelief of suspension!

Still Beats Working by Julian Fox

ur next annual Irish trip starts to come together pretty quickly after returning from the Emerald Isle. We often talk about ‘next year’ before the week is out, but its not really a serious thing. It’s more a kind of hope that we’ll all actually make it back. A request perhaps for everybody else to ensure they make it through another year and join up again together. We are testing the thought that we might be allowed another week away if we play our cards right. The conversation usually goes aimlessly around until Allan mentions that we’ve all got a full seasons bassing before then. He’s right of course and we shouldn’t be wishing our fishing lives away, but we all know though that this is just a ruse. He’s planning to make an early summer trip as well. He’s got the bug bad. Mat and I know he is just trying to get his own back on us by getting to Ireland as often as he can. The first year that we took the trip Mat and I were sending texts of bass caught and lost whilst Allan was sitting in the office. He was flying over later that night and I think it got to him quite badly. Work is no place to be when your mates are catching bass. That first afternoon Mat and I arrived in a bit of a rush not knowing a lot about where we were going to fish. Too many hours spent pouring over the maps in the winter months had given us more enthusiasm than perhaps we needed. As we drove down the lane we strained for a first glimpse of the bay.

The glare of the sun bounced off a flat sea hemmed in by green and tawny fields. Rocks covered with weed disappeared and reappeared in the small swell. It was one of those few days when you stop for a moment to think to yourself you must be dreaming. There was good weather for once with high white clouds, and a deep blue sky with a just few small waves sucking at the sandy edge. The sound of high-flying choughs filtered down into the bay. Ever the optimist I mentioned something about the bright sun putting them off but I don’t think Mat heard me. He was filling the boat with gear and threading his line through the rings with a speed that meant business. We motored all of 50 yards and Mat caught a 9lber pretty much straight away. The slider came back to just under the rod tip when it disappeared in a whorl of water. I’m not sure whether it was Mat’s enthusiasm, or the fish itself but it didn’t go far and I just put the net in the water and hoiked it out. We couldn’t really believe it. Blue sky, clear water, no wind and pretty much the best bass we had caught in two years in the boat. The year before we had pretty much done the same thing. We got the car together, booked the B&Bs and off we went. It didn’t really work out though. Sure we fished some good-looking places, but the water wasn’t right or the ground just not quite what we were looking for. In the end we just kept moving and searching. Paying our dues. Putting in the hours. Car breakdowns and some terrible news from home didn’t seem to dent the enthusiasm with which we searched. A focus that

somehow we both knew would work in the end. I finished with one fish in that short holiday, Mat a few more, plus a 7lber from the shore two feet out in chocolate water with my perceptive comment of “You’ll never catch one in there” ringing in his ears. That fish marked the end of one journey and the beginning of another. We knew we had found them and perhaps we also knew that our bassing would begin to take a different turn. Our early trips to Wales had given us both some great fish and some memorable fishing sessions. Sessions that you turn your mind back to time and again. One such session was in the middle of October and we had been itching to make our last trip of the season. The weather wasn’t great, and the sea a little lumpy, but when you’ve got a long winter ahead you try and make the best of it. We were glad we did. Up until that trip we had rarely used poppers and sliders. After it we were converts. On that afternoon we had to anchor uptide of our favourite spot. There was shallow water, a good run of tide and it was spot on the right time. Casting downstream we had to bring the poppers back up through the current. Unnatural I would say but we had fish from almost the very first cast. No monsters but good 5, 6 and 7 lb fish and there just seemed to be so many of them. For some fish, no retrieve was required. Poppers resting 10 feet from the boat would be engulfed. I’ve never seen fishing like it since for such good sized fish. We must have caught over 30 in the space

of about 90 minutes and as the afternoon wore on the wind started to pick up. It was a fivemile run back to the estuary that I knew would be getting increasingly uncomfortable. I was happy to wait and put up with it, but it’s a fine line between knowing you are just going to be uncomfortable and knowing you are going to get scared.

time is important. It’s more than just focus, and it’s more than just wanting things to happen and concentrating like mad. Intensity implies confidence. A kind of knowledge that now is the time. Why does one person in a group so often catch a lot of the fish and then the next time, it’s someone else? There has to be some blend of intensity and confidence that transmits itself down the line and into the water. Something that makes that person fish in a different way, and in a different way that matters to the fish. Until I discover what this is I’m going to put my faith in not fishing too hard, and fishing alongside some very good fishermen. At least then I may get some pointers.

When to go home must be an age-old fishermen’s problem. There’s always pressure to keep catching fish, and more probably to catch a fish in the first place. When you think about it, it’s irrational. I don’t go fishing just to catch fish, I go for many other reasons as well one of which happens to be catching. But not to catch what you seek leaves a hole, however small. I suppose I’m waiting for that trance like state when it really doesn’t matter if I don’t catch. Sometimes I’m there sometimes I’m not. One thing that I have discovered is that I enjoy myself more if I don’t try too hard. Don’t get me wrong catching bass consistently is all about hard work. The trick is in knowing when to focus. It’s no good thrashing the water to foam if there are no fish. First rule of fishing - fish where there are fish, then fish hard. So creating intensity at the right

people fall in love too easily, but in fishing love at first sight rarely lasts the distance. The realisation that either someone was there before you, or the place just doesn’t come up with the goods soon dampens any early enthusiasm. There are lots of places that look good but very few that keep you coming back for more. I suppose that Ireland is full of places like that. In fact, when you think about it, this country is full of places like that too. It’s just that in Ireland more of the likely looking places actually do come up with the goods

Those lovely Welsh fish we caught a few years back seem to have gone now. The general decline in the quality of the fish we caught led us to explore further afield. I don’t think that Mat and I ever thought that Ireland was the answer to all our bass dreams; realistically we just thought we might catch a few more bass. I suppose that is really the reason why anyone tries anywhere new.

Fishing new places for new fish creates a level of childish enthusiasm. If we think of our life as a quest to become better fisherman (or perhaps just a quest to be happy more of the time) then experiencing new things has to be a good thing. Destination fishing teaches you more than anything else that catching fish is really in the lap of the Gods. There is a lot of luck required to travel a distance - even just across the Irish sea - and catch a fish you intended to catch.

Ireland was a new place and we approached it with a new enthusiasm. New places can get under your skin and Ireland worked its’ way under ours. It’s like falling in love new marks I suppose. The temptation of the unknown. Some

So you have to learn to relax believe in kismet, or karma, or whatever. Do what you can to make it happen of course, but if it’s going to happen it surely will. And if it doesn’t well, it still beats working.

BASS Fish-ins for 2010

Shell Island 1st May Bank Holiday Saturday 1st, Sunday 2nd, Monday 3rd South Hams 2nd weekend in September Friday 10th - Sunday 12th East Prawle Contact: Eddie Feakes

A Fujairah Charter by Tony Hooper

y phone alarm jangles, I fumble for the off button and then my spirits lift as I remember I am on holiday in Dubai and I am going fishing. It’s the day after Boxing Day, half four in the morning and still dark. Dave is already in the kitchen brewing tea while Julian fills the cold box with our lunch and other goodies. Our wives show no interest in our adventure.

Peninsula. We are meeting Wayne de Jager, South African owner of East Coast Fishing Charter. The four of us have booked one of his boats for an eight hour trip from seven o’clock this morning.

We arrived in Dubai ten days ago on one of Virgin Atlantic’s Airbus A340-600’s. It was a seven hour overnight flight from Heathrow and would have been very nice in one of the huge flatbed seats found in upper class. Never mind, at a third of the upper class price economy is not so bad although six footers are a little pushed for legroom especially when the passenger occupying the seat in front suddenly reclines backwards. Small wonder it’s referred to as ‘cattle class’, then! Outside Julian’s Dubai villa the air is warm and one member of Dubai’s huge Indian workforce is just finishing the weekly wash of Julian’s big Volvo 4x4. He seems to have cleaned all the other vehicles along the road, too, so I wonder if he works at it all night. Julian’s colleague, Andreas, turns up and we are ready for the off. Julian and Andreas both live in Dubai and work in air traffic control at the airport while Dave and I are the visitors. It is a two hour drive to Fujairah - one of the seven Emirates - on the Indian Ocean side of the Arabian

The roads in Dubai are smooth, wide and busy - day and night. The road we are on is used by convoys of heavy lorries taking stone from the quarries near Fujairah to Dubai City. The stone is used for the construction of manmade islands off the Dubai waterfront. Several are already near completion. The three ‘Palms’ and the ‘World’ can be seen from space or on Google Earth. As we near the Port of Fujairah there is a sudden ‘whoomph’ and a loud flapping noise from the offside front wheel – a blowout! Julian guides the Volvo onto the verge but we feel vulnerable as

verge but we feel vulnerable as lorries rumble by. At least it’s now daylight. We sort out the jack and the skinny spare wheel. Andreas assembles a warning triangle a little way back along the road. Julian calls ahead to let Wayne know we will be late but we almost match the speed of the Ferrari F1 pit team and within twenty minutes we are pulling into the Fujairah International Marine Club. Wayne greets us and after a brief chat about the punctured tyre and the fishing he takes us to our boat moored in the marina. He has two boats and both can take six anglers although ‘Makulu’ is a little larger than ‘Dream Catcher’ - our 26 foot sport boat for the day. Wayne introduces us to the skipper, Lal and his crew, a fellow countryman from Sri Lanka. They cast off and the twin Honda 130hp four-strokes rumble in unison as we plane out across the bay. Dream Catcher can be geared for fly, trolling or spinning. But with me the only angler of the four, trolling was going to be easier although not especially interesting. Two outriggers and two transom mounted rods were rigged with shallow-running Rapalas and six to eight inch jethead lures. The Rapalas work a few feet under the water but the jet-heads break the surface every few seconds spraying a jet of water. While submerged they trail a line of bubbles. A little way offshore from Fujairah hundreds of ships of all sizes up to very large bulk carriers and tankers are anchored.

Some ships are awaiting orders, others are taking fuel and others are used as floating oil storage tanks. Fish are attracted to the huge floating structures and the skipper tells us we are going to troll close to the larger ships. Having spent most of my working life involved with ships and shipping I found the sight of all those ships interesting but I could see that some eyes would be offended by all that floating steel. Our crew rig the trolling rods starting with the two long out-

riggers. Two fishing rods are in holders on the gunwale. The lure is paid out behind the boat and the line between the rod tip and lure is clipped into a release device which is then pulled out to the end of the riggers. Two more rods are placed in holders at each corner of the transom. I am surprised that the lures are quite close to the boat and in its wake. Trolling speed is important and we are doing about 7 to 10 mph. Rather faster than I would be trolling in the cold waters off Plymouth. Within five minutes the ratchet on one of the rods screams. I am first up and while the other gear is being retrieved I drop the rod into the butt pad that Lal has quickly secured around my waist. A Dorado has taken one of the jet-heads and leaps well clear of the water several times before heading down into the depths. Dorado are very fast swimmers and speeds of fifty mph have

been recorded so they have no difficulty in overtaking our lures. A few minutes of leaning into the fish brings it alongside. The Dorado is about 15-20lbs. The crew deftly lift it into the boat for a quick photograph before it is returned to the sea. The four of us rotate through the ‘hot seat’ taking the rod when a fish hits one of the lures. We had just one double hook-up but the crossed lines were sorted for us when one fish came off. Passing one of the anchored ships we see a large fin sticking out of the water. Shark is the immediate reaction but slowing down for a closer look I see a very large ocean sunfish surrounded by remoras or suckerfish. Some remora are attached by their sucker – a modified dorsal fin - and others are swimming closely around the sunfish. Ocean sunfish can grow to more than a tonne and feed mostly on jellyfish. We land about ten dorado and lose several more. While we are dividing the contents of the cold box, Lal says that we will motor to another area to have a look for tuna. He also tells me that in the previous couple of weeks he had released two sailfish and a marlin. The marlin had taken two hours to bring to the boat before being tagged and released. We leave the four trolling lines out hoping for a sailfish while Lal takes us a few miles across the bay leaving the anchored ships behind us. We are looking out for seabirds working over shoals of baitfish driven to the surface by tuna and other predators. Sure enough, a huge flock of gulls and shearwaters (Audubon’s according to my reference book) are circling and diving over a dark patch on the sea about half a mile ahead of

us. The offshore wind has picked up since this morning and the sea has a small lop. It is still warm and sunny with a few clouds drifting seaward from the stunning Hajar Mountains behind Fujairah. Although at home I would have cut the engine and drifted to the shoal, Lal suggests we troll around the edge. After two hours we have had no interest from the tuna and regrettably the clock soon comes around to 1500 – time to return to the harbour. The afternoon session has been a bit of an anti-climax with tuna showing all round the boat but seemingly not interested in our trolled lures. With no previous experience of fishing in tropical seas we were relying on the skipper’s choice of method and fishing area. For me, the charter was well worth doing and if there is another trip in the future I would certainly try other methods of fishing – particularly plugging and fly fishing. I found the trolling novel but not especially exciting. Back in the harbour, Wayne is waiting on the pontoon and tells us that while we were fishing he has had the punctured tyre on Julian’s car replaced so that we won’t have to drive slowly back to Dubai on one of those dodgy looking space-savers. Great service, I thought. We booked with Wayne de Jager of East Coast Fishing Charter, Fujairah, UAE. Check his web site: www.eastcoastfishing.ae. Although it is quite feasible to fish from Fujairah throughout the year, the main season is from October to April. Between May and September the air temperature can climb past the mid40ºC’s with a sea temperature in the mid-30ºC’s. Regarding the flight - Virgin Atlantic allows one piece of sporting equipment up to 32kg free of charge in addition to the normal 23kg. Fishing equipment is described on their site as ‘rod and tackle bag’.

Dear Alma……...

Dear Alma, Thank goodness you have made a return to this magazine as I have been beside myself lately, wringing my conscience on what to do …….. I have been so deceitful. This particular incident started a few weeks ago when I was fishing with a friend, he said that he was surprised that I did not have “…one of those red rods, mate” as I have always made a point of convincing him that I have or get the best of everything as far as tackle is concerned “ because it always paid dividends in the end…..” why I did it I have no idea, but I blurted out that I had ordered one with special ring guides and therefore the delivery was going to be longer than usual. I then spent the next couple of weeks spraying one of my cheap spinning rods with red car paint and whipping on a new set of cheap rings as I knew that if I really did order one my wife would soon pick it up on our bank statement. I now have to produce this rod at one of our imminent fishing trips, I am not worried about being ‘caught out’ by my friend as he would not know a ‘red rod’ if it bit him and I also think he is a bit long-sighted so can never see that clearly, but I now feel guilty at having to deceive him once again, yes there have been other times such as when I got an old Intrepid spinning reel, cut the bale arm off, sprayed the body parts black and told him it was a limited edition Van Straal ! He believes me ! I think it his being so gullible that I do these silly things like when I cut the word Zziplex out of a mail order catalogue and varnished it over the original name of a decent looking cheap rod I had, I waited until we went beach fishing in the evening and showed him as the sun was going down, he believed that too ! So I look to you for advice as I have just re-read this and realised that I have made most of this up too, especially since winning the lottery and now being able to afford everything my friend would expect me to have, so are you able to help this multi-millionaire ? Honest John

Dear Honest John, Thank goodness your friend believes you ! Had this not been the case then I could see you lapsing into an irreversible state of truthism ! May I suggest that you wash your mouth out with soap and start telling the truth, or as an alternative, send me a cheque for £750,000.00 and I will believe everything you say. Yours truly, Alma

Dear Alma, I am afraid that I have become a closet lure collector, it all started with some innocent banter on a forum I frequent …. Oh, I know you will view me with disdain for visiting such places, but it is one of the only places that I can get true satisfaction on the fringes of my latest habit. On this forum there was much talk about JTS’s, Sliders, Poppers ….. the list just goes on, but I must be strong and resist the excitement that rises within me at the sheer mention of such objects … let me continue. I have now searched the remotest, darkest corners of the web for such things that I can twitch, draw, tease … such a collection do I have that I am now hiding many in nooks and crannies around the home, afraid that my

wife will discover these objects and scorn me in front of friends and neighbours alike, this is especially distressing as I have some likeminded friends that I have even hidden some of my latest purchases from ! I have been so deceitful that I am now in a position that I will be eyed with suspicion because they will know how deceitful I have become. Should I open up and tell my closest friends only ? Should I gather friends and family together and reveal to all that I have been a secret lure collector ? Please tell me what I should do as life is becoming intolerable with such secrets. Yours truly, Ali Magnet

Hello Ali, Let me put your mind at rest and tell you that there are many collectors like you, all seek pleasure in purchasing these lures, I am also led to believe that some only collect on kind of lure such as the JTS you mention, they have obscene numbers of them and are quite overt about it, so I can assure you that you have nothing to fear … except perhaps close family who may be alarmed at how much you spend, so be careful with that part. There is suggestion that comfort can be found in making contact with similar collectors on a “You show me yours and I will show you mine” basis, but do take caution with this approach. Yours truly, Alma

Dear Alma, I am writing to you in desperation as I am turning into the very human I would personally hate to know, it is really stupid to be honest but I have become envious of my fishing buddy every time he catches more fish than me on any fishing trip we have together. It makes my skin crawl to be like this, especially when we arrange a trip out on the rocks or a beach, from the moment we finalise the arrangements it starts eating at me and I even think of ways to spoil his fishing, such as wiping my hands in a cloth contaminated with old engine oil before passing him what he thinks is the biggest and juiciest peeler crab, or masking his hook with a large bait whilst pretending to clear weed from his hook, why has this happened to me ? We used to be such great fishing mates, well until he caught that huge bass a few months ago, the one that he insisted I took about a hundred photographs of, that were then plastered all over the forum and magazine like *@;&^£>$ wallpaper, the fish that made him the centre of attention from experienced bass anglers and novices alike, let alone the six page article that followed the whole eight page thread on the forum, YESSSSSSS ! WE ALL KNOW YOU CAUGHT IT !!!!!!! Anyway, back to my original problem Alma, why is it that I have become so envious of him and want to scupper his fishing on every trip we share ? Yours A Tiddler Hello Mr Tiddler, Sorry I had to use your surname but this was necessary as you did not provide a Christian name. As for your behaviour, are you sure that the huge bass your friend caught has not misted your view of the real world ? I feel that it may have had just a tiny affect on you so can I suggest you get out there and do something about it Mr Tiddler, rather than working your way to lonely fishing trips when he discovers what you have been doing, it is not all about having the biggest …. apparently. Tight lines Alma

Book Review by Tony Hooper

‘BASS FISHING FROM THE SHORE IN SOUTH EAST WALES, AND MORE!’ BY DEREK TOWNSEND The first edition of this book was privately published by Derek Townsend in 1980. Recently, Derek realised that there was still a demand - copies of the first edition had appeared on ebay and also Amazon. He set about a complete update and revision of the book. This new edition is far more than just a reprint - now with 82 pages (the first edition had 32), 17 chapters and well illustrated with colour, black & white photos and drawings by the author. Its pages include a tour through the history of sea angling in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s with anecdotes about the development of the ‘Bare Bones Bass Rod’ and his sea angling experiences with well known personalities of the period including the late John Darling, Ian Gillespie, Digger Derrington and others. Derek tells us “when this project to revise and update the 1980 edition began, there was no intention to eulogise the ‘good old days’ , but as the words have developed into paragraphs and then pages, I find myself inevitably drawing on my experiences of yesteryear as the datum against which comparisons with progress to date are made”.

(above) Derek Townsend’s first edition was published in 1980

As the title says, of course, the book is mostly about bass fishing on the north side of the upper Bristol Channel although the principles can be applied to other areas. Only a few general marks are mentioned - The Ogmore Estuary has its own short chapter and there are passing references to Porthcawl and the Aberthaw Power Station. Local anglers will be pleased that Derek has not given too much away about marks. So this is a ’how to’ rather than a ’where to’ book with much to interest bass anglers whether based in South East Wales or elsewhere in the UK. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Tony

Book Details. 82 pages in A4 Format. Black and white/ colour photographs. Watercolour artwork by Derek Townsend Selling Price £14.99 per Book (plus £1.50 p&p) Distributed by Keens Tackle and Guns 117/119 Bridgend Road Aberkenfig Bridgend CF32 9AP Tel: 01656 722448 Email: sales@keenstackleandguns.co.uk

The 2009 edition of Derek’s book is completely revised and updated

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