My Recent Catches – My lure choice explained…

My Recent Catches – My lure choice explained…

An ad-hoc, late-January session, in conjunction with a significant capture has prompted me to write this post… Admittedly, the lovely bass in question has already seen some ‘air time’ via Henry Gilbey’s blog post (here) and my Facebook and Instagram profiles of course. But true to form, I wanted to convey my thoughts in regards to the tactics I administered to catch this particular ‘winter warmer’, and more especially, the lure I utilised, and why I chose it out of all the others I had with me that morning…

The What?

Although I very much doubt that it is the only lure that would have worked during this particular session (one in which only the one bass was caught) as I surveyed all before me and considered the options and the many variables, after some careful thought, there really was only one lure type and indeed colour that I was going to attach. So let’s look at the parameters in an attempt to quantify the situation – all of which relate to certain ‘biotic and abiotic‘ factors.

If you haven’t read my second book: Bass Lure Fishing – A Guide’s Perspective (Volume 1) then you may be thinking: ‘The What? So, in a nutshell, the ‘Biotic Factors’ are the Living Things within an ecosystem, whereas the the ‘Abiotic Factors‘ are Non-Living components – both of which I continually evaluate when I am both fishing, and teaching and guiding my clients.

The former undoubtedly relates to the prey items that the bass may be hunting for and feeding on (and indeed their pursuant(s) that could be a seal and maybe even a tuna) with what they ‘expect’ to see or what they maybe fixated upon adding an additional dynamic to the actual lure I will very often select first, or indeed, ask a client to attach.

Banging on about my books even more I’m afraid! Within my first publication: The Lure of The Bass, Chapter Two – An Introduction to Lures places a great deal of emphasis on the notion that each and every lure that you purchase (be it for its shape, size, colour and movement) should, in my view, represent a specific bass prey item. A good example of this would be a 90-130mm, shallow-to-medium diving, hard minnow-type lure, with a brown/black back and a golden, red or orange underbelly designed to mimic a pollack, or wrasse – or in the case of the image above, a rockling perhaps.

Limited options

Taking into account where Henry and I were fishing that day, when I calculated the options in regards to the fish species that any bass present were likely to be ‘looking for’ my options were somewhat limited… I say ‘fish species’, as we had both commenced the session by delicately ‘tip-toeing’ a Megabass Sleeper Craw or similar through the wrack-ridden margins that adorn this section of the outer-estuary in question, with the intention being to imitate a crustacean – a crab in this case as per the thinking in my two previous posts here and here.

But what species of fish were abundant or even available right at the very end of January anyhow? There certainly weren’t any sand eels or whitebait/sprat that’s for sure. No mackerel, no garfish, no scad, no bream, even though all of these ‘silver fish’ routinely do hang on late into December here in south Devon, and often do reappear in mid-to-late-March if it’s mild. And although it was certainly possible, I hadn’t observed any smelt in the shallows as we traipsed to the venue – and believe me I was looking.

I really didn’t think were many or any wrasse, pollack, rockling, butterfish, pout or poor cod present, due to the topography of the seabed being relatively benign and lacking in any distinguishable ‘cover’ to house such species, especially in broad daylight. Moreover, I also doubted whether there were any turbot, plaice or sole hanging around, and even if there were, how would we present a flatfish imitation – the next big thing perhaps?

Onto what was likely to be on the bass’s radar then. Flounder – yes, but see above. Herring – they do migrate through the region in winter and they do infiltrate a long way into the larger estuaries. Hmmmm, what else… Mullet of course! What’s more, alongside the 2-3lb torpedo’s that can be prevalent even in winter if a little sunshine or relative warmth materialises, there would most certainly be a good number of the ‘more than a tasty morsel’ that is the 6-8″ mini-versions.

A culmination of events

Aiding my decision making process to slip on a lure that I had specifically searched for in my ‘garage of doom’ earlier that morning was the Abiotic Factors – the constituents that make up the surrounding sub-aquatic and above-water environment remember. Although not an exhaustive list, to give you a flavour as to what was whirring around in my mind as I placed Henry into his fishing position, the abiotic factors I was paying particular attention to were the following:

• The sea temperature.
• The outside air temperature.
• The light levels.
• The water clarity.
• The wind direction and strength.
• The direction and strength of the current/tide.
• The features present on the seabed.

So let’s cover the components above. The sea temperature was in the region of 10.2^oC at the time – which was slightly above average for the time of year. The air temperature was also in same bracket and had been hovering in the 8-11^oC range during the day and night bar one brief interlude, during the entire week prior to this session – a very good indicator of potential winter bass activity in my opinion. Although dry, it was cloudy and dull, and the water clarity was exceptionally clear – meaning the bass would be hunting by sight, and able to utilise the lack of bright sunshine to their ruthless advantage.

In regards to the wind direction and strength, although the wind that day was due to die off, I had specifically chosen this stretch of shoreline with the intention of remaining sheltered from its affects. The reason I did this, and my clients will understand and appreciate all too well, is that when fishing within more powerful tidal environments, I prefer the focus to be on exploiting and harnessing the current, via the optimum lure presentation, over potentially ‘fighting it’ should a wind against tide situation become apparent. Plan ahead accordingly, and you’ll be able to avoid this.

Stay with me here! Dotted within and among the sandy seabed on this venue, is a series of raised rocks – collections and clumps if you like that do change following heavy seas as the sand reveals them and vice versa. And where the direction of the current interacted with the highest or most prominent of these features you can, at a certain stage in the tide, visibly see the water initially ‘backing up’ and then ‘speeding up’.

Further, with a hefty (17g in the case of the 4.8″ TT Shad) soft plastic paddle tail lure, appropriately weighted (7g in this case) to not only combat a pretty fierce tide, but to occasionally ‘tap’ the seabed (more especially over and between those rocky undulations) if the cast and subsequent retrieve was aimed and timed to bring the lure along a very precise trajectory, I knew that if a bass was sniffing about, I was in with a great chance of connecting with it…

Finally, back to the lure. And yes, I did choose the colour configuration because it is decidedly mullet-like and I do love a natural coloured lure in clear water and a dull sky as per my scribblings in Bass Lure Fishing – A Guide’s Perspective Volume 2 (I had to get that in there haha). But the reason I also chose quite a ‘thumping’ paddle tail (in the sense that the throbbing really reverberates through the blank) was that I knew when this style of lure reached that crucial point in the current and the seabed, where the flow sped up considerably, it would cause the tail-section to quiver even more violently – all to mimic a mullet being overpowered, and therefore, in distress and more vulnerable to attack.

Anticipation

Although it was late-January – a period in the year when bass are thin on the ground, this was definitely a situation, based on all of the variables that were all pointing in one positive direction from my perspective, I really was anticipating ‘the hit’ when it arrived. The words “if we nail one Henry, it’ll be a good one” had literally just left my lips when that wonderful ‘THUMP’ transpired. Yeah!

Much like the ‘creature-bait-bass’ that I landed only a few days prior (here) this approximately 3.5lb fish was absolutely ‘mint’. Scale and fin perfect, with a blue-hue to the outer edge of her fins, and with that formidable dorsal pronounced throughout the entire exchange – the battle, the grip n’ grin, and the successful release that Henry also expertly captured below:

My Books

My previous blog post (here) describes what is encompassed within each of my three of my books. The prices quoted below include postage and packaging to a UK Mainland/IOM/Channel Islands address. Furthermore, if you would like to purchase one of more of my titles then you have two options:

1. You can email me at: marccowlingblf@yahoo.com.
2. You can use the Contact Form at the bottom of this page and I will reply asap.

Thanks for reading.

Marc Cowling