LIGHTING UP TIME
I’ve targeted most of my bass with the fly  rod this year, and I’ve experimented far more with flies, some of which I’ll  start passing on in future columns. One problem we’re all to aware of though is  that so often the best parts of the tide fall in darkness, obviously more so now  the days are shortening.

I wanted to try and find a way to fly fish  in darkness with a good chance of catching. Bass will take flies in almost full  dark, but they need a cloudy sky backlit by a good moon to give them something  to silhouette their target against. What if there’s no light at all?

I then got to thinking about the smallest  chemical light sticks or isotopes available, the type you stick in the tube on  the end of barbel and carp rods, and sometimes on sea rigs, plus some sea trout  flies use a similar principle. I made up some flies using medium length shank  hooks with the tube whipped on by one end just in front of the bend of the  hook. I formed the fly by tying in the different feathers, usually black or  white marabou to give a “hard” target, tight in front of the tube, in effect  “back dressing” the fly, and left the rest of the forward shank clear. That’s  all you need.

By activating the light stick and pressing  the stick half way in to the tubing for security this gives a reasonably  lightweight fly with a hair or feather wing, but with a highly visible buoyant  body that makes a huge target area, but also slightly illuminates the  surrounding fly materials to give the impression of a small fish breaking  through the algae in the water.

This has transformed my night time bass  fishing. The bass attack these flies like there’s nothing else left to eat, and  the bonus is that the average size of the bass I’m catching has gone up by  fishing at night. This is something I’d expected, honest, as daylight does  produce mostly school bass to 2lbs, with the bigger 3lb fish tending to show  right on dusk and dawn.

The bass also hit the fly at slower  retrieve rates. I’ve found short sharp retrieves the best, though some of the  bigger fish have taken flies retrieved at speed by long stripping. If you fly  fish bass, try it, it’s a revelation!

TIPS AND TRICKS
Reel seats on the economy to medium priced  rods don’t always grip the reel foot of the reel as tightly as we’d like  causing the reel to move slightly when we’re retrieving or even worse, when  casting. This especially applies to rods designed for multiplier reels. The  same can be said for some fly rod seats and boat rods too.

You can stop the reel moving inside the  seat by simply cutting a length of rubber strip from a cycle inner tube or similar  material, or alternatively using a strip of bandage material. Glue or stick  this along the full length of the reel foot and this adds both bulk to take up  the slack when the reel seat is tightened, but also adds grip between the reel  foot and the reel seat eliminating any chance of the reel moving.

EARLY AUTUMN WHITING TACTICS
The first flush of autumn whiting is just  about due to hit our beaches right around the country, though in some areas  this year, they never really left staying inshore the whole summer. These early  fish are usually smaller whiting to 12ozs or so, but you do get the odd bigger  ones arriving with them.

The best marks are the open surf beaches  with the bigger spring tides and a low water falling in actual darkness giving  the best prospects. With low water falling in dark, the fish are encouraged  closer inshore and move in with the tide. If low water is in daylight, the whiting  shoals stay further out until full darkness arrives, especially on shallower  venues, and this reduces your effective fishing time.

Good weather conditions are calmish nights  with just a slight surf and a gentle onshore wind. Whiting also feed well after  storms when the sea has flattened right off but the water still carries some  colour. On very shallow beaches in the west where sea clarity is high, bright  moonlight nights can reduce the numbers of fish inshore.

Whiting come close to the surf tables during  the flood tide, but will immediately move out a fair way as the tide begins to  ebb out. If you find that you start to miss whiting bites when the tides flow  eases, lengthen your hook traces by 6-inches to give the whiting the room to take  the bait and pick up swimming speed to help set the hook against the weight of  the lead.

A good all round whiting rig on a flood  tide is a simple three-hook flapper with short 12-inch 20lb Amnesia hook snoods  and size 2 Mustad Match Aberdeen’s. On the ebb tide, when more casting distance  is need choose a two-hook wishbone rig with size 2 hooks clipped tight in  behind the lead, or a two-hook flapper rig. The best baits are lugworm tipped  with mackerel or squid, or plain mackerel strip about 1-inch by a half inch, or  small sections of sandeel.

So early in the season, the bigger fish are  few and far between, but a single one-hook rig clipped behind the lead and  baited with a strip of mackerel or a small sandeel cast as far out as you can  will be the best way to get your first pound fish of the autumn.