BRILLIANT BASSING
Martin "No Prisoners" Harding reckons that lure-fishing for bass takes some beating.

A COMPLETE REVELATION !
I suppose my sea-fishing with lures started round about 1985 or so, when one day, for some reason, boredom probably, I decided to temporarily put-aside my 12ft beach-casting rod and to try-out a 9ft spinning rod, small fixed-spool reel and some lures that had been lent to me by a good friend. For me this proved to be a complete revelation, very different from sitting-out all night on the beach waiting for a bite on my beach-fishing tackle. Almost instantly I found that lure-fishing for bass from the shore could be a very exciting and productive method of sea-fishing and I spent many fruitful hours fishing for bass with a variety of plugs, spoons, spinners and soft plastic baits.

Since then my keenness and enthusiasm for all sorts of lure-fishing has grown and I have extended my angling adventures ashore and these days I also fish for pike, perch and chub in my local rivers and lakes, as well as my regular sea-fishing exploits. 

Beautiful silver-sided Sea Bass are highly-prized and very hard-fighting fish! They’re top of my list for solid, rod-wrenching “takes” that pull my rod-tip right round almost to the butt! I should say that I’m currently using a high-modulus, light-weight, 2-piece 7 ft American spinning rod with quite a stiff action. It will cast lures weighing up to about 3/4 oz ( 25 gm ). I have found that this mobile approach to angling using light but strong and well-balanced spinning tackle surely must be the ultimate that this sport can offer and fortunately nowadays there is a much better choice of rods, reels, lines and lures for bass fishing than when I first started-out!

It never ceases to amaze me just how far you can cast a lure with this relatively small, balanced rod and fixed-spool reel set-up. I use a small Abu Cardinal fixed-spool reel that has a smooth, powerful and progressive rear-drag system: it’s loaded with about 100+yds of braided line. I’m using a 20 lb Berkley Whiplash braid which is thin, strong and doesn’t rot when exposed to salt-water, and my set-up seems to be more than a match for those hard-fighting saltwater predators — I don’t let many fish get-away and I guess that’s perhaps why my close fishing friends have humourously nicknamed me “ No Prisoners ”  Harding!

Initially, and probably just like most bass anglers, I fished with much longer, heavy rods and bigger lures, rods around 11 ft and lures of up to 2 oz but I soon found the error in my ways. With my light, strong, balanced set-up I can fish for hours-on-end without getting so tired, and as a result I catch a lot more fish and have a lot more fun than I used to with my old heavy-weight bassing tackle.

The venues where I catch bass vary tremendously from harbours, estuaries, sand and shingle beaches, to rocky shores or ledges, usually with a fair bit of water movement when a tide or surf is running. I fish from May right through to November but of course everything depends on the tides and prevailing wind and weather. As for time of day, this can also be a very important factor and I tend to fish at dawn or dusk for best my results.

CONSERVATION
But sadly, it seems to me that the number of good-sized bass being caught is in steep decline on my coastal venues in the UK. It’s a great shame that the bass fishing of 20-30 years ago, when there were many more larger bass, seems to have gone for ever. Bass are a slow-growing species and it’s obvious what will happen if they are caught and killed before full maturity – I return all my fish for conservation. The bass that I catch these days vary quite a lot in size from juvenile fish of 1 to 2 lb, up to those magic Double-figure 10+ lb specimens if I’m extremely lucky. To conserve stocks of this fantastic species, all bass smaller than 36 cm (14 in) must be returned alive and unharmed. Also boat fishing in the 30 or so designated bass nursery areas has been thankfully prohibited.

CATCHING BIG BOLD BASS
Now I expect that you’d like to know which are my favourite lures for catching 10+ lb bass?! I thought so! Well, if I had to pick just one top type of lure for bass, it would be Minnow Plugs, especially big jointed ones like the 9, 11 and 13 cm Rapala Jointed Original Floating Minnows and jointed Bomber 15 cm  “Long A”.

I also sometime use sinking Rapala “Countdown” Minnows too; their Original Floating Un-jointed Minnows are OK as well but they are rather too light for casting in strong wind. This is when I put-on my Rebel Windcheater plug which is brilliant for casting whatever the wind conditions. I have also recently become quite keen on suspending lures as they are more easily available these days. I used to have to make them myself by weighting-down my floating plugs! Now Rapala have introduced a whole range of suspending lures called Husky Jerks: I use the 8 and 10 cm sizes. The 7 and 9 cm Rapala Magnum plugs are also good for bass.

And I mustn’t forget the Storm Jointed Thunderstick plugs which have a very lively, wiggly action, excellent for bass. I also like the Bagley Top Gun plugs with their lazy wobble and flashing chrome-like colours. But my Secret Weapon Bass lure for the New Millennium is the 4-inch Rebel Ghost Minnow: this has been a very successful lure for me as far as big bold bass are concerned. It has a super-slim profile and a fantastic holographic finish. What I think makes this plus so special is that when you stop retrieving, it simply hangs temptingly in the water ... magic! Any of the plugs I have mentioned are very likely to get you good results; I particularly like fishing with them from shallow shore-lines, but they’ll work almost anywhere where there are bass.

For deeper water venues I generally fish with slim-line and fast-sinking spoons like the all-time classic Abu Toby in 20g or 28g weights. Also the Krill in 12g/14g/28g is very good. Another spoon that I use a lot with very good results is the Bridun Lance in 15g/25g.

Another but all-together different type of bass lure is the Rubber Eel; you can get these from Redgill and Delta. These lures generally require an up-trace weight of some kind.  I occasionally use spinners, such as a Mepps Aglia or Aglia Longue: these spinners are very good at getting results for me when I’m bass-fishing from harbour walls or piers, and in estuaries.

GOOD BASS LOCATIONS
Bass are serious salt-water predators! They have huge mouths and will eat almost anything from ragworms, lugworms, crabs and other crustaceans to squid, sprats, herring and whitebait. And so to find the biggest bass, you need to know where their most  abundant food source are likely to be found.

The best locations are in the south-west of England, southern Ireland and West Wales. If you're shore-fishing, rocky promontories with lots of gullies on either side of shallow bays can be very good, but check the local knowledge first. I've had many a big bass from the break-water at Dover, from the bay at Portwrinkle west of Plymouth (not far from the Eddystone rocks) and from the Gower peninsula near Swansea in South Wales and there are many other excellent bass bays and rocky coves in north and south  Devon and Cornwall. Some favourite summer locations on the north Cornish coast are the bays and rocky out-crops, gullies and promontories around Trevose head near Padstow.More excellent shore-fishing for bass is to be had on Anglesey and in the bays of Southern Ireland such as Dingle Bay. 

If you get the chance to do some boat fishing for bass, grab the opportunity with both hands! The bigger bold bass are often found off-shore near wrecks, reefs, rocks and other off-shore features. All good boat skippers will know exactly where to take you for the best bassing. The Thames Estuary is good for bass fishing from a boat and if you are to get to Plymouth, do try bassing near the Eddystone rocks .. it's the biz! Don't get too close to those rocks!

And if you're going on holiday to the Channel Islands, don't forget to take your bass-fishing tackle with you  because Jersey, Guernsey and their associated islands are ace bass fishing locations almost all-year round. One of the most favourite island locations is Alderney and some absolutely cracking bass are regularly caught there every year.

Bass come closer in-shore during the warm summer and autumn months, and  move back off-shore to deeper water when the weather gets cold. But winter or summer, day or night, weight-for-weight, bass are one of the most hard-fighting sea-fish that you will experience and that's why it's one of the most sought-after species. I hope you catch plenty of them! Brilliant Bassing to you all !
Martin Harding

Editor's Note: If you've got any questions or need any more help, you can e-mail Martin or me (Brian Barwell) or Editor Nick Caine — just click on the the Question Corner button.

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