Boat Bass Fishing

Out beyond the beachcasters best range, and well inside where the charter boat fish there's a band of water that gets little if any fishing pressure. I'm thinking about a distance of 300-metres to 1 mile out. This ground generally in many parts of the country gets little fishing attention. It's ground the self-drive dinghy angler can exploit to the full. Your prime target is going to be bass.

The best way to pick out inshore bassing ground is check out the local beach catches. Note the areas where the bass are being taken from consistently. Next step is to look over your charts and locate these beaches, then find the nearest rough ground you can within that 300-metre to 1 mile band. At some stage after the bass leave the beaches, while they wait for the next tide to flood, they'll be working this inshore rough ground.

Bass aren't dumb. They use the flood tide to cover as much ground as possible and feed right on to the beach line. Once the tide starts to ebb, then they are moving out to sea to feed over areas where smaller baitfish and crabs are available which is why offshore rough ground is so prime.

Don't worry if this ground is relatively shallow. Bass will work reef and rough ground offshore in just a few feet of water. Mostly though, you'll be looking at a depth of 10-feet to 25-feet for the best opportunities. Bass like this shallow water as it's more turbulent and produces food easier for them than deeper quieter water will.

You'll find that bass shoal up over this type of ground, especially during the spring tides. They steadily build in numbers during the middle ebb of the tide, and then will disappear as you approach low water, unless there are large qualities of food available to them like sandeels shoals that can preoccupy them for long periods.

You have two ways to fish this ground. If the sea is starting to ease down after rough weather and the sea well coloured, then you need to anchor uptide of the ground and cast fresh peeler or soft crab baits back on to the rough. The bass will be taking crab instead of other baits during these conditions.

The best tackle set up is a light uptide rod, 6500 sized reel and 15lb line with a short 30lb shock leader. The best rig is a simple running ledger using a link ledger bead to take the lead weight, followed by a bead, tie a swivel to the leader, then add 24-inches of 25lb clear mono and a size 3/0 or 4/0 Mustad Bass hook.

Make sure you cut the crab body in half and use enough to fully fill the hook size but leave the point well clear to make instant contact with the fish as takes the bait. Cutting the bait makes the juices flow properly and helps locate the fish quickly.

Your second option is to drift over the mark using the tide current and fish a live sandeel with just enough lead, usually a couple of big swan shot clipped on the main line about 6-feet above the hook, or a light quarter-ounce ball weight to get the sandeel down to the bass's working level. Mount the live sandeel by hooking them once through the lower jaw, pull the hook and line through, then nick them lightly in the lower body just below the pectoral fin.

The best-sized sandeel to use are the ones about 6-inches long. That said, try and match the size of the sandeel to those the bass are taking, that is if you can see the shoals of sandeel at the surface. Choose a silver nickel finish hook such as a Mustad 3261BLN Aberdeen. The little flashes of light coming back off the nickel plating add life to the sandeel and increase your overall catch.

As you drift over the ground, release about 35-metres of line and let the eel swim freely with the line at a downward angle with the reel in free spool. Hold the rod all the time and you'll feel the bass hit the lure from behind and literally engulf the sandeel. As it turns away and takes line from the reel, hit the rod hard to set the hook.

Out of all the methods by far the most gratifying is trolling. The live sandeel is excellent if the fish are tightly shoaled, but by trolling you cover lots of ground and locate individual pockets of fish that dramatically increase your catch rate.

Trolling is easy. Get to know the ground you are running over and check out any very shallow areas where the boat could potentially touch, just in case. Also note the areas where there are rising uplifts of rock and areas that are much rougher and more uneven than the rest. Plot these so you know where they are and deliberately troll your lures over these. Your trolling speed needs to be no more than 3 miles per hour. The speed is critical.

Playing a bass

Why this rig? The big swivel is all the weight and water drag you need to pull the rubber eel below the surface. Adding extra weight kills the movement of the eel and takes it too deep. Also, bass see the chrome swivel as a small baitfish being chased by the larger sandeel and this helps trigger them in to attacking.

As you approach the ground you are to troll over, release the eels behind the boat and pay off about 60-metres of line. then click the reel in to gear. Hold the rod tips at a right angle to the boat with the tips almost touching the water so that the tips bend a little. Bass can be felt to take as a simple increase in pressure and the tip pulling over as they eat the eel. Just lift the rod to doubly make sure the hook point is fully set.

As fish are hooked, the man on the wheel needs to drop the boat in to neutral for you to play the fish. If two of you are fishing, the one without fish needs to slowly retrieve his sandeel as the other fish is played as other fish in the vicinity are just as likely to hit the retrieved eel as they are when you're trolling. This simple ploy puts more fish in the boat.

Colours of sandeels are important. In clear water, use a white or white/green maybe white/blue combination colour. On days when water clarity is not quite so good, go for a hard silhouette such as all black, all red or green. Eels with a different coloured body and separate tail, called Afterburners, are also good if the body is black with a white or yellow tail.

Plugs are also good for trolling. Good ones are the Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow 130mm in silver or mackerel colours, the Rapala Rebel J30 size140mm, or the Rapala Sliver 130mm and ABU Terminator as a guide, but any good plug will catch bass. Mix shallow divers and deep divers. Plugs working about 6-feet down tend to do best in water around 15-feet deep.

There you have it. Next time you intend getting your boat out, think before you gun the throttle and try that inward ground that everybody else passes over on their way to the horizon. Get the marks and tides correct, and you can expect some outstanding action. Just remember to put all the fish back bar for a couple for supper.