Cool box tips and bass on the fly

KEEPING IT COOL
Cool boxes are indispensable, but you can improve their performance with a little extra thought and some DIY.

It's worth making some flat shelves with cord handles at each end to just fit inside your cool box. These act as bait type separators and also spread the weight pressure if you're carrying lots of packs of paper wrapped black lug, plus they make it quicker to get access to the lower layers instead of lifting out individual items.

The first law of cool boxes is that cold air falls and hot air rises. If you have to travel long distances in hot weather and need to keep fresh worm and crab sedated in chilly conditions, by putting a few frozen mackerel or a couple of ice packs in the base of the box, then insulating the worm and crabs at the top from the direct cold with a hard plastic sheet and a few sheets of newspaper, the atmosphere at the top of the box is chilled enough to hold the crab dormant. Remember though to lift the lid every couple of hours so the crab can breathe.

Freezer boxes ideal storage for frozen fish baits

If you put a couple of ice packs in and add plenty of fresh damp seaweed, you can keep peeler crabs happy for days. A cold damp atmosphere keeps them healthy but dormant and reluctant to pop their shells, but again make sure you occasionally lift the lid to recharge the air supply.

Taking a separate cool box with ice or ice packs in is an ideal way to preserve the quality of any fish you decide to take home, especially aboard boats. A layer of crushed ice, then fish, then more crushed ice and so on gets the fish home in perfect condition for immediate eating or freezing. If you only have ice packs, put the packs on the top with the fish underneath, not the other way around. Remember cold air falls!

TIPS AND TRICKS
If you buy yourself a bait pump, to keep the rubber washers in good condition for maximum suction first clean them then lubricate with corn oil before reassembly. This natural oil does no harm to the rubber, whereas car oils crack the rubber and quickly renders the washers useless.

Always use your best quality bait first. Too many anglers skimp on bait at the start of a session in case they run out, but rarely do so and probably miss good fish by not making the bait attractive enough to passing fish. This especially applies to anglers fishing competitions for the first time.

BASS ON THE FLY TACTICS

The growing sport of saltwater fly fishing

Size 8 weight lines are okay in calm conditions, but the 9 and 10 weights cut through the wind better. Go for a weight-forward floating version for surf fishing in shallow water and around the edges of estuaries, plus an intermediate sink for deeper areas and where you want to use the tide to work a lure across and through a current. Most fly caught bass are in relatively shallow waters and it can pay to have a clear line option for twilight as a coloured line silhouettes itself hard against the brighter sky, though when they are hungry by day they hit flies behind a bright orange line no problem.

There is no need for tapered leaders. Use a straight clear coloured leader between 5-feet and 10-feet long and nothing less than 10lb breaking strain. Bass are not shy of even 15lb tippets. Some of the Fluro Carbons are good, but check for wind knots during fishing as they can cause weak spots.

Flies need to be between 2-inches and 4-inches long. Use thinly dressed patterns that imitate small fry and sandeels. White bodies and hackles with a few strands of flash tinsel are good in daylight and slightly coloured water. Switch to black bodies and black hackles with tinsel in twilight conditions. Red and yellow with black hair hackles are also good. Make sure flies you make or buy have large eyes. Bass hit lures with eyes far better than plain patterns.

The best places to fish are where estuary creeks meet the main channel and form sandbanks. On surf beaches fish close to and over rock patches. The best fishing of all is over heavy rough ground. Stick to flooding tides with both low and just before high water peak times.

Generally speaking a figure of eight retrieve as you would after trout is too slow to interest bass. They like a faster single handed retrieve and keep retrieving right until you can almost see the end of the fly line as bass follow flies close in before taking.