Announcing a new epic website

So it has taken a while but Epic Fishing Trips now has its own website which you can find here www.epicfishingtrips.co.uk. Our previous website will keep running as I build Epic Fishing Trips into the future. All should be finalised by October 2016 but for now do have a look and let me know what you think...

How lite can you go?

I seem to have blown up a storm over in the World Sea Fishing Forum where the local inhabitants have got very excited (and a tad too personal) about a Blog of mine that is posted there. (Find it here http://www.worldseafishing.com/columns/tim-harrison/). I chose to call the piece 'Bass don't fight', knowing as I did so a title such as that would challenge entrenched preconceptions and stimulate grey matter. I believe that it is right that those of us that write about lure casting for sea bass do so in a manner that challenges convention and promotes discussion. After all, discussion stimulates ideas and by using ideas we anglers all better what we do.

I am now firmly of the view that it is better to fish lite for bass. And that equals using lightweight rods and lightweight lines. Braid technology is advancing quickly with some of the new on the market (and often Japanese) 8 weave lines having an incredible strength to diameter ratio. These materials are strong and when teamed with the right rod more than able to handle any bass that still swims. Five years ago I was using 20lb bs Powerpro. I am now spooling some of my main reels with 15lb and the HRF stuff with 10lb. Remember though that I don't use leaders and as such feel totally confident in lite line running through to the lure (as above picture shows).

The argument for fishing heavier than this is that you might get broken by a big bass. Truth be told I can not remember being broken by a bass? Must have happened I guess but it does not stick in my memory, so its so infrequent as not to be an issue at all. As I am boat fishing, bass don't seem to fight mean, they don't run for cover and the only time I am ever fearful of a lost fish is if one is taken across a barnacled reef. Then cut off's do occur but no matter how strong your line, it will always shear when taking on barnacles.

Lite line casts better, cuts through the water better, produces better feel and allows for more skill full fishing - thereby more chance of a bass hook up.

So I stand my ground. Those of the closed and blinkered minds that are unable see the advantages, I implore you; please stick to your firmly held views and beliefs and keep doing what you are doing. You are quite correct you will catch plenty of bass: But my clients and I will catch more.

What a load of Scallops

Living close to the sea or rather next to the sea, practically in the sea and for all of the summer on the sea; one of the things we are never short of is fresh seafood. You will know that I put both lobster and prawn traps out, you will understand that we are well blessed with fish to eat and you will recognise that a healthy network into the local commercial fishermen brings foody rewards. Our only problem is one of time because in mid summer after 12 hours at sea I simply can't face gutting, preping and cooking more fish.

At this time of year things are very different and with a office full of to do's its a welcome relief to go hunting and then spend time preparing, fresh sea food. My latest great get was this batch of 30 odd scallops. I'm indebted to local fishermen Len for these splendid shells. He was kind enough to keep some from a fresh batch ready to go off to market that day and then charge me a very fair price. I was salivating as I collected them, more worked up still as I journeyed home, listening to the beasties flapping in the back.

There is only one way to treat live scallops and that is to sashimi them. The Japanese consume more sea food per head of population than any other country in the world. And the vast majority of the fish they eat is eaten sashimi...So many Japanese can not be wrong and they are not.

I am told that it takes as long to train as a sashimi chef in the Japan as it does to train to be a doctor here. Boy do they take their raw fish seriously! I can't possibly compete with such skills, so for me its dive in, shuck the scallops out and go for it. Shucking out scallops is not all that difficult, doing it well and without waste takes practice. I'm ok at it and what I do leave behind on the shell I scrape off with a spoon to pan fry. Once a scallop muscle is in your hand wash it well before drying it in a piece of kitchen paper. Then with a samurai sharp blade hold the meat on its side and slice it at least three times. Suddenly you now have three thinnish rounds of scallop. If you are lucky the muscle will still perceptively shimmer.

Waste no time now. Grap the rounds with chop sticks (well you have to be authentic), dip in slightly vinegared soy. I like Kikkoman's sashimi soy, dab with the best wasabi you can find, lob a round into your mouth and enter food heaven.

I can honestly say this is one of my top foody things to eat. Sashimi scallop and sashimi tuna would be both be in my top 10. Correction top 5, yes they are that good.

Timely reminder

Very recently I spotted a press release from CEFAS (the Governments fisheries research wing) about a new tagging program that has been initiated in a effort to better understand sea bass populations. You may have spotted that I posted their flier on my Facebook page and if you haven't already done so you can check that out here.

Blessed with or should I more properly say; trained with all the relevant skills to undertake fish tagging I once seriously considered doing some small scale tagging aboard 3 Fishes. It is easy enough to import Floy Tags (a firm in Australia supplies them through an online portal) and Floy Tags are easy enough to use on bass. Their signature dorsal fin provides the perfect base in which to lodge the T of the tag. If you have never seen one close up they are very like the annoying bits of plastic that clothing retailers seem intent on using to add pricing labels to garments. And better still bass are very obliging when it comes to the tagging process as, if you lie them upside down (on their backs), they will become motionless as if in a trance. Other fish do this too but bass are particularly receptive to being still on their backs. So there is no need for anaesthetic which is good news as in order to use some a whole tranche of bureaucratic hoops must be jumped through.

So getting the tags is easy and not very costly, doing the tagging is easy and getting the bass is not all that difficult either - lets face it I make a living taking people fishing for them so if I haven't got a ready supply of the things then I have no business.

Why in hell have I not done it then? Well for two prime reasons. Firstly although bass tagging is easy it does demand attention if it is to be done well and without harm to the fish. I have a myriad of other things demanding my attention at the moment a bass comes aboard, primarily 3 Fishes and take you mind off her for a few seconds and you are asking for trouble. And secondly, just imagine for a moment getting a customer a nice six pounder, tagging it and releasing it (all fish over 55cm are released aboard 3 Fishes anyway). Job done you might think. True it is until a few days later when someone hands me the very same tag pulled out of the very same fish that they had caught and killed. Now that is going to hurt.

Call me overly emotional but I want to believe that the fish I release head off to survive, thrive and recreate. I certainly don't want to know that someone killed it.

Cutting the festive cake

At the moment I'm reminded that it is nearly Christmas time almost every second of every day. Radio adverts, TV adverts (am I alone in wondering how a scentless film of a perfume bottle, sells perfume?). The shops are full of boxes of Quality Street and my wife is stressed. Even the dog is wearing a look of fear as it worries over the imminent arrival of the dog sized plastic rain deer antlers. Last night I tried escaping to crew training at the village Lifeboat House only to be bombarded with need to make my starter, main and pud choices the forthcoming Christmas meal'? Bah humbug...

I am not alone. I am quite sure that others suffer the same affliction. So why then am I making the same mistake and pestering you with Christmas greetings? Well partly because we just have to do it. It is within our culture, our society, our inherited persona to pass on seasonal greetings to all whether we feel cheery or not. We have to send Christmas cards, we have to pull crackers, suddenly we have to like bread sauce, we just have to be  festive; ok!

Mostly though I write because this time of year heralds (no Christmas pun intended) the beginning of the next fishing season. And frankly this is something to very be cheery about! This is fun, this is fishing!

Next season 2015 we will start fishing in Mid March. March and April is spurdog time and these feisty sharks are great fun. 2014's best went over 20lb and we intend to beat that fish in spring 2015. My main spurdog marks are sat there quietly developing and untouched. Can't wait to get a piece of squid trundling across them.

Early spring is also king Whiting time. We had some lovely hauls last year with plenty of 2lb + fish popping up. I like whiting fishing, they are plentiful and the eat superbly. I will deep fry mine gutted but whole, no flour just in the fryer they go. They come out crisp and juicy and a squeeze of lemon and a spoon of tartar sauce turns them into fish meal heaven.

The fist bass will arrive in April, the first Mackerel in late May and then the summer is up and running. We will be pollacking on the offshore wrecks, breaming locally. Grabbing hold of the rods and holding on for all we are worth when the first Tope arrives. As the summer months wear on so the fishing just gets better and I can not wait.

I love Christmas. Let the feasting begin, let the angels sing and praise the new born king because soon after comes the best time of the year. Time to go fishing.

Happy Christmas all.

The bass crisis

I have just learnt that scientific advice in 2013 asked for a 36% cut in bass catches, which was not acted upon and now the latest advice from the International Council for the Exploitation of the Seas (ICES) released June 2014, advises that an 80% cut in catches of bass across the EU is required in 2015! 

I am becoming more and more afraid that increasing commercial bass fishing is pressurising the bass stock rapidly to the point of no return. The estimated six thousand commercial fishermen remaining land £160 million worth of fish 80% of which are of little direct interest to us anglers. Of the remaining 20%, £32 million is made up of those same fishery resources upon which the £1.23 billion sea angling industry is dependent and include £5 million worth of commercially landed sea bass. 

A £1.23 billion recreational angling sector and a £32 million commercial sector? It is immediately clear where the benefit to the UK lies and yet over fishing continues. It is a deeply worrying trend and one that can only be addressed through politics. I'm going to write to my MP and my AM. You should too.

What gave the hardest pull this year?

 Whether the day is just breaking and we are on passage from the harbour,

or whether we are on the way home just coming onto the pier, thoughts naturally turn to the best fish of the day.

The hopes and aspirations at the start of the trip are matched equally by the pleasure of memories of fish caught during it. So what did give the hardest pull this year? To be honest I'm not really sure. A big ray kiting across the tide can be a beast to deal with and there has been some muscle straining action as a wise old Thornback is pumped up. Tope, now when they are in the mood they seriously pull. Funny fish tope though because at times they will come to the boat like dogs on a lead, whilst at other times the first adrenalin filled run is like hooking a steam train, In fact my best analogy is its like tying the reel line to the collar of a Labrador, throwing a ball and yelling fetch. Unstoppable.

Then there is the mighty bass, a good one on light tackle is a different prospect to anything else we fish for here in the UK saltwater. They pull hard. The surprise of the early season were the bountiful spurdogs that use guile and muscle to put a cracking scrap into any effort to boat them. The seasons best went to 20lb and my word did it fight. Similar in so many ways are the smooth hounds but they pull harder still. If the Labrador analogy works for tope then smooth hounds are grey hounds. Keep up with them if you can. But perhaps the thing that pulled the most was this boat. Broken down and in need of a helping tow, 3 Fishes knew she had a scrap on!

So here is the list.... enjoy.

Bass - 9.5 lb

Tope - 51 lb

Spurdog - 20 lb

Ray - 10 lb

Smooth Hound - 7lb

Huss - 15 lb

Cod - 3.5 lb

Pollack - 4.5 lb

Gurnard - 2.5 lb

Whiting - 2.5 lb

After this the list gets almost endless and includes, flounder, plaice and dabs, coalfish, mackerel, herring, 3 species of gurnard, 2 species of weaver, launce, garfish, 2 species of wrasse, scad, pouting, 2 species of eels, dogs, dragonet, etc etc.

Q. When is a fish not a fish? A. When its a shellfish

Lucky me. I get to take you fishing for fin fish and when I'm not doing that I'm either fishing for them myself or hauling my Lobster pots in the hunt for something wonderfully tasty! Under current legislation anyone can 'fish' five Lobster pots on a hobby basis (i.e. you do not sell your catch). The rules are that you must have a 'hobby' licence from the Sea Fisheries people and you should not land more than two legal size Lobsters a day. Your buoy's should be clearly marked with your issued hobby licence number and as a courtesy to other boat users leaded buoy lines are necessary. After that its up to you to chuck 'em in somewhere good and hope!

This summer I fished four lobster pots for fun and for food. I would have fished five but my stock had diminished and I felt too tight to spend £60 on new ones. A problem I have now solved by salvaging four perfect storm blown pots off a local beach recently. Five pots next year! The game is so simple I find it endlessly surprising that more people don't do it. Add its simplicity (bait, drop, leave, pick up again) to the fact that its great fun and I'm even more amazed. Maybe its the fear of eating something that needs some preparation. Lets face it buying a pre boiled frozen thing from a discount supermarket that was caught in Canada probably a year ago seems so much easier. It comes in a nice clean package probably complete with instructions!

But then I'm a hunter gatherer and like all of my ilk, I enjoy both the hunt and then I enjoy the proceeds. Cooking is a part of the process. A spicy fragrant salad of lime, garlic, palm sugar and fish sauce and salad leave tossed into still warm lobster takes some beating. Here as well as on a south Asian beach! By the way the stunning Spiny Lobster that I found on a beach yesterday was under size and returned to the sea. If the miracle happens and I catch it again in a few years time it will still be returned. Too beautiful even for this hunter gatherer.

What did it for me? The definitive Shallow Runner list

If there is one question I get asked more than any other it is; 'where can I catch bass?'. And it is a question that I'll politely avoid answering. It is after all a significant part of my trade - the where to find fish thing. If you are a client then there are no secrets, I'll happily point you at shore marks but catch up with me on the harbour wall with a 'eer mate, eard you no were to catch bass local like' and I'll tell you little.

So marks are off limits (unless you like to geek my photography - yes some do - for the occasional background clue). However I am happy to talk lures. This is a big mind set change for me and one that didn't come easy. I've had to learn that keeping lure secrets is pointless. After all one man's dream catcher will be another man's dead loss. Added to that fact is I believe 'the be all and end all' is in the instant in time that a lure swims past a fish. No one can replicate that as the variables are too endless. Think about it in this way; you will never fish the same spot for the same fish in the same conditions ever. So mimicking my lure choices will do little to enhance chance.

The important issue is one of confidence. Buy a lure online 'blind' and you will have no faith in it and if it has not caught in 20 mins of fishing, it will rust in the bottom of the box. By a lure online that you know others have caught with then your faith and therefore confidence will grow. So my advice is clear don't listen to those that say 'try this'. Listen only to those that say...'I have caught plenty with this'.

So here it is season 2014 Shallow Runner 'plenty of fish' catchers. In no particular order of preference but all caught well. Remember please that this is not a list of every lure that caught fish this year, just the ones that caught consistently.

1. Rapala's subtle but oh so effective Max Rap. Casts poorly by today's standard, swims slowly and they love it.
2. Luckycraft's Flash Minnow 110. Welcome to lure heaven. Fake and burn it or simply wobble it home either way its deadly in any ones hands.
3. Rapture's Momoko 120. The surprise of the season. Fish it slow'ish'. Fed up with £25 lures then this is the baby. Get 5 for the price of 1!
4. Rapala's xrap. No good in a head wind but want depth (c.2.5m) and this little lure is unbeatable. Yes unbeatable.
5. IMA Sasuke - the Ferrari of the shallow runner world. All glitz, all poise, all expense.. But hell it catches.

Next time = top water and here, as a tease, is one of the sexy ones!

I love it when its calm

A couple of mornings ago, before the N wind returned, I went fishing. A rare and beautiful event as I hardly ever go fishing just for myself. Corrine, the dog, 3 Fishes and me. Of course we chose the best day of the season (don't worry guys that's best day of the season so far). The sea was glass calm as the picture proves better than words.

We left the harbour at first light and headed straight to a great HW hotspot. I had slept listlessly the night before as I practised how I would position 3 Fishes on the mark so that Corrine could fish it to its maximum. My wife is a surface lure aficionado. Truth be told its hard to get her to fish anything else and this particular spot is a surface lure dream. As the light came up I crept 3 Fishes up to the mark and C fished it beautifully without moving a single fish! Sammy let us down. There was only one conclusion - the bass were not there. And as bassing is all about location, location, location (without Kirsty Allsop) we moved on.

There is a special spot where a shallow reef extends out of the coast. Its not known locally and one that I cherish and keep under wraps. No one has seen me fish it (other than customers) as if there is a boat around I'll not go near. As we cruised into the ground we saw fish move, and then a boil and then another. A dense area of fairly gentle fish movement was just outside of us and I used all of my field craft and 30 odd years of sea fishing experience to identify as mullet. Good news as open water mullet equals bass. We watched this large raft of fish drift slowly away from us and made no attempt to follow them absorbed in our own ground.

And then for no apparent reason the drifting and gently boiling raft of fish came alive. Suddenly sandeels were scattering like mini air born missiles and the boils became wallops and splashes. Shit they're bass you plonker!

I dived into the wheel house fired one of 3 Fishes wonderful engines up and gave her a quick shunt towards the fish. Engine off again and 9m sprint to the bow and my rod. C casts and hooks up on the sammy instantly on lure splash down, I cast and hook up on a flash minnow. Double hook up!

C boated 5 and I boated 2, one of which went to 6lb on the boga. And then they were gone.

Bass heaven, seen, experienced and banked in the memory for all time. Forget fizzing Henry, I love it when its glass calm!

You've seen the big ones

Look the fact is, no matter how much I spin it, not every bass I catch is a big fish. Oh I wish, no I really do wish they are but they are not. And I don't believe that its any longer the point. Bass are now too scarce to be fussy about any catch. I'm fairly firm with anyone who steps aboard 3 Fishes only to exclaim when they get a hook up 'oh that's a small one'. To me a bass is a bass. Too many chef's have made too many TV programmes cooking sea bass fillet and they are over persecuted often illegally simply for the quick buck that a carcass brings. The ultimate insult to such a proud and noble fish is to drown it in a gill net, sell it for cash in the black market and give the cash to the local landlord. As meaningless and pointless as over exploitation gets. So getting a hook up and a fish aboard is an achievement to be celebrated and enjoyed, no matter its size. And whilst I'm on the bass fillet thing let me tell you this. Eat Mullet; there is more of them and they taste nicer (yes really).

That said its also true that we all like looking at big fish so I'm keen to post pics of the big ones and the other superb achievements go unheralded. Until today when I celebrate the small ones! Although the one above actually isn't that small but its somewhat helped by the fact that Noah is a small person.

Fishing is a strange sport. get one and you want another, get another and you want a bigger one, get a bigger one and you want a bigger one still! Its part of its mystery and the drug that is fishing - what will take next!

What am I catching on?

The stonking amazing beautiful and still swimming bass that a client had yesterday was a fish of a lifetime. And I am choosing my words carefully as 8lb is the new 10lb when fish of this class are involved. The thing is that this fish measured out on Bass Anglers Sport fish Societies weight length tape at over 10lb but boga'ed at 8.5lb. It looked bigger but bass and indeed fish often do. For years I carried only the BASS tape as a succession of scales proved unable to with stand the wear and tear (and salt). In fact the tape did all I needed of it firstly because anything over 55cm always go back (take two bass limit per person on 3 Fishes) and secondly because its quick and easy to use. However with the boga revolution seems to have come a handy durable and reliable tool and thus far I'm happy with it. It weighs light but I'm happy! 

As I handed Paul his catch like a proud and relieved mid wife handing over a baby I was chuffed to bits for him, for those on the boat that got to see this ultimate predator and myself for delivering the product (again!).

I had said to the guys aboard and got disbelieving snigger's in return as I said it....'bass are in fact bloody easy to catch, just bloody difficult to find'. The point was proved yet again as we had only a cod (2.5lb'er) and some baby pollack off the first four locations we fished and there on the fifth was this baby and four others. 

Ok I here you saying get to the point - what did it take? It took a Rapture Momoko 120mm shallow runner but the colour I'm keeping to myself and the lads at Rapture (ask them). I will however tell you this about the colour.... I've made a loud and clear point blogging about it in the past, so if you follow what I do online and in Sea Angler mag you'll be there.

I'm liking these lures more and more now.They mimic some IMA stuff that Henry Gilbey is very fond of but come in at around 25% of the price. They are catching, that's reason enough. They cast well enough and their action is tight and sweet. Clearly a fish puller. I've just ordered more.

Here's the cod and proud captor Lee.

Rapture capture

If you follow my Facebook ramblings you'll have spotted that the lads from Trabucco UK flew in (yes posh I know but they really did fly in to Aberporth just down the road) last week. They came to give their bassing gear a work out and were particularly keen to give the new Rapture series lures a swim.

The bottom line is that the lures catch. Indeed they catch well. Now let be be clear and up front with you about this. I am not in Trabucco's pay (other than they paid for the day aboard 3 Fishes as anyone else would) and I have no 'deal' with them its simply a good working relationship. The came, they used, I put them on the fish and I watched. Seems fair enough.

I like the look of what I saw and can find no better thing to say about the lures than since that day I have been giving them to clients to use! In the pics associated to this blog are a couple of strong lures that clearly catch fish. The big selling point for these fellows is the price range (as well as the fact that they catch).
The Chartreuse Monomo 120 below retails at £7.99. Yes that's right there is no numeral 1 missing from in front of the 7. Nice kit, good price and it works.

Dope

Sorry for the typo in the title bar clearly I meant to write rope as in this pic taken only a couple of days ago it seems that this Tope is attached, using the word very loosely, to a slack piece of rope. So what is going on here? Other than the screamingly obvious fact that this is a stunning fish coming up towards 3 Fishes and a group of thrilled anglers.... well what you can see is a 100lb rubbing leader.

What you will not know, unless you have ever handled one of these babies, is that they have extremely abrasive skin. Its shark skin and shark skin makes short work of anything softer than it; which of course is just about everything! Indeed I took the precaution the other day of asking a shirtless angler to don his T again before cuddling his 50lb'er. A wise precaution I felt otherwise he would have had the closest chest shave he's ever had (its a new men's fashion, don't ask a 40 something year old why!). And what is worse still he then would come out in a prickly heat/nettle rash which hurts. Loads of bacteria in the skin I believe....can anyone tell me more though as I would like to learn?

So my 30lb nylon mainline is in trouble very quickly if one of these shark chooses to roll on it (and they do roll). So you add a metre + of 100lb leader to take the rub. They roll because they will both tear at food by rolling and in defence. You will have seen, I'm sure, underwater film of shark rolling on prey and indeed the same thing is done by crocs (not that there are any crocs here other than those worn by those who really should know better).

Yes I've been on the tope and bass this week. Lure casting for sea bass is my passion and what makes my blood flow free. Going after tope is my dirty secret hobby. I think it is the shock and awe (aka desert storm - and that was successful wasn't it?) moment. Not the shock that I feel but it is that seen in the faces of those who have never caught a shark. Its is a wow moment, a life memory; put simply it is epic.

Ever caught crabs?

Ok clearly I know this is a lobster, a chunky full power male lobster. But if you have come to here via the link I posted at www.facebook.com/bassfishingtrips then you will have seen the clonking spider crab that the title perhaps better relates to.

What you may not be aware of is that as well as fishing trips we run crab fishing trips. We have taken the all time family favourite harbour side family holiday game to a new level and gone extreme (well at least epic) crab fishing. With baited nets the size of large bicycle wheels and a local shellfish covered reef to drop the nets down to, this is deep water crab fishing of a whole new world.

Its a game of endless excitement as a) you never know what is going to come up and b) its always a surprise when it does. From blennies to whelks and octopus to starfish just about anything and everything does come up. People get on with varying expectations for some its about the fun, for others its about the education and for many its about a shellfish dinner!

Whilst we are on shellfish dinners; of the beasties that are caught and can be taken (limits apply) are velvet crabs (the Spanish drool over these feisty critters, visit a tapas bar in Barcelona and you'll find them boiled, cracked and covered in deliciously garlicky extra virgin olive oil and chopped vine ripened tomatoes = lovely). Brown crabs are the Brits favourite but spider crabs are better as they are sweeter and full of white flaky meat and less rich. Eat them warm on sliced bruschetta with fresh basil and a squeeze of lemon. Or how about prawns? The wonderful humble British prawn. A pint pot full, a crusty brown loaf, good quality proper salty butter (hunt for some small scale produced local butter or think french) and some rocket leaves to nibble on = wow.

And then there is there is the beautiful, prehistoric and much sort after lobster. For me they are at their worst boiled. With lobster I advise you to look east, to south east asia to be specific. Wok fry them from blue in ground nut oil with fresh ginger, garlic, green chillis and coriander or half them and slap them on a grey coaled BBQ. Then drizzle with lime juice, fish sauce, chilli and sugar. The classic Thai flavours of sour, salty, spicy and sweet. You have not eaten lobster until you have eaten lobster cooked like this.

Ok enough. I didn't expect to reveal my love of preparing cooking and best of all eating the great British shellfish found on our coast. So come crab fishing this summer and you too could be going home with something very special. www.facebook.com/crabfishingtrips.

Up close and personal

One of the many wonderful things about 3 Fishes is the control I can place over her. And lets face it how many of us have any control over anything female! She is a fabulous boat and with her feminine lines and stunning good looks other vessels in the harbour are very much the ugly sisters! Although I'm happy to admit that we all love our own boat, dog, baby, intimate body parts etc!

Anyway back to the point- control. With the kind of control that I able to place over 3 Fishes I am able to put her in some real tight spots and its the real tight spots that often hold bass! I've learnt that her twin Suzuki's are both quiet and responsive allowing positive but near silent low rev manoeuvring and thus I can put her nearly anywhere.

Yesterday I took the excellent Australian lure caster Korg out on the lures. We caught, as those of you that follow my facebook page will have seen. And truth be told (and I always do; tell the truth) we didn't get the fish in the tight spots. The thing is we could have and we tried. I knew from the outset that I could not offer the fishing that Korg is able to enjoy in his 'land down under where women glow and men thunder' (are you old enough?). No there was no way in this world was I ever going to give him 20kg Spanish Mackerel, 40 kg Yellow Fin Tuna (note the T Shirt) etc.

But what I could give him was the most stunning of fishing surroundings. I think; no I will go further than that and state, I know that he was in awe of what he saw. The beautiful, stunning, dramatic Welsh coast line up close and so personal that at times he could have stepped off 3 Fishes and onto the rocks! I put him in places where no one has ever fished before (lie many of my clients have) but I tell you this for sure. No one, not modern man or ancient man will have ever stood let alone cast a lure to!

And that's the magic of 3 Fishes she can do time travel. Or at the very least she can take you to places to throw lures that are truly unexplored!

Lure hoarder?

Are you a lure collector? Has the online shopping bug bitten and your lure collection grown into new lure boxes after new lure boxes? It’s a compelling game and why not, it’s fun and can be very beneficial. After all you may just buy the perfect bass lure, the one that never fails, the one that will become ‘the one’ forever.

The likelihood is though that you will always have your favourites and those will simply be the ones that catch. The trick I believe is to boil your lure collection down to a proven few bass catchers and only ever take those out bassing. It is very easy to carry too many lures on a shore side outing and I suggest that this will have a seriously negative impact upon your lure fishing. For a start too many lures are clumber some and just more stuff to carry. These days if you are lure casting from the shore you really need your kit attached to you somewhere as movement along the ground whilst fishing is essential. Take a look at some of the belts, bum packs, belly packs and back packs that are designed for the job. This doesn’t apply to me aboard my wonderful bass lure casting boat 3 Fishes as I can pretty much carry what I like but you are unlikely to have the space and flexibility that a 9m Cat brings.

More importantly though too many lures equals too much choice and too much choice in turn weakens’ focus. The mantra of, ‘I’ll give this one a go now’, is all wrong when lure casting for bass. A small, well chosen, selection of lures will bring many more results. So what do you need? Well here follows my honest, no holds barred and no secrets; top tips for a strong lure selection to take on any general outing.

Two surface sliders and one small surface popper. The sliders should be of similar type but differing sizes. One at around 100mm and the other at 120mm, (yes size matters). To be specific I would look at the Luckycraft Sammy as my go to slider and a small Storm Chug Bug as my popper. Only fish the chug bug if you are facing one of either of these two scenarios when you reach the water:  1. The sea is too rough to fish a slider on the surface; or 2. You have found bass on the feed! Surface lures have two clear colour options. In the daylight think bright; whites, chartreuse or silvers and in the dark think black.

Next you will need three shallow running divers that run back at three varying depths; strong options here are the IMA Komono for just below the surface work, the Luckycraft Flash Minnow to get you 1m down and the Rapala Xrap as your deeper water selection. These lures are all proven bass catchers and will work any ground that you may find in front of you. As for colour think natural (silvers, browns, greens and blues). 

And finally I would suggest a pack of softies. For me the breadwinner, season after season has been the Slug Go 7.5 inch. Its casts, is incredible in the water and catches. What more reasons could you possibly need! That is it; that is your session lures in a nutshell, or more specifically in a nice small lure box that fits tidy onto you somewhere. Take anymore and they are just more to carry and more to distract you.

Keep in mind though that this small selection does need to be radically altered if the environmental conditions you are facing are not ideal or if it is dark. In the dark, think dark colours. In dirty water think either hot bright colours or dark colours (the jury is out on which works best) although for me, I favour shiny silvers in cloudy or dirty water.

The final point I’d make on lure collections is, if you aren’t using it, sell it. Lures that sit in boxes that you pick up and look at but never leave home should be sold. They take your energy and focus and fill you with indecision. Sell them and buy ones that you will take bassing, after all that is what they are made for; fishing.

The bass are here...

Yes they arrived this week. Well truth be told I had a first serious crack at them this week and hey presto up they pop. Not the biggest you have ever seen photographed but very welcome non the less. Indeed Colin and Jason were well chuffed to get a couple (four in total) in a fairly quick session at that. We simply headed out to a local mark and found them. Its easy when its easy. I then debated whether to stay where I was or go hunting more and better. In the end I moved away and tried two more spots but found nothing so headed back to the original location and they were still there. It can be a devilishly hard game being a bass guru!

What did we catch on....? Hard plastics for all and the Rapala took the trophy with both the xrap and the max rap doing the business. As always the colour Ayu seemed to be the favourite.

We then got the LRF kit out and tried for some reef fish. Ace sport with little pollack hammering Maryuku worms like plastic is going out of stock. The new Tronix Rockfish revolution LRF rods came out and I'll blog more about this fun trend in sea fishing soon again. Here's a teaser pic below. Fish on!

Why can't I catch some fish?

What is more disappointing than catching a stone? Well catching nothing! And truth be told this is not exactly a stone, as its a stone with sea anemone attached and it is the creature of the deep that got caught. He (or she) just decided to bring its stone home up with him (or her).

It is however a picture that better describes the fishing at the moment than I can do with words. In short the fishing is hard (and not just because of stones). We are at the seasonal change point; the time that the winter species head off to new pastures and the summer species arrive. So what is going on and what if anything can we learn from it?

All fish migrate to a greater or lesser extent but lets concentrate on bass for a moment (after all they are the things that most 'float my boat'). We all know that bass move steadily up the coast of the UK as the summer progresses - moving from their winter spawning grounds in the southern channel. Both lengthening days and warming water encourage the fish to move northwards. They are a warm water species and though comfortable tolerating cold water they prefer warmer water. Indeed they will bask in it. It is classic to suggest that bass will work up the foreshore as the tide floods hunting food items that have been stranded and possibly died, as they were beached by the previous ebb. What is little understood is the fact that they will do this deliberately to seek warmer water. A hot sunny day here on the west coast of Wales (yes it does happen and with global warming it happens more frequently than ever now) is a trigger to hunt fish in the warm margins. If the tidal sequence produces a big spring LW tide during a warm day and then gently floods into the evening - I'm interested. Target the newly flooded warm shallows! These pockets of warm water can be small and isolated - it is worth the hunt. Remember swimming in the sea as a child? We used to joke that someone had pee'd because suddenly the water felt degrees warmer. That is actually a warm pocket of water and their you can find bass.

Back to that seasonal change. I can read it happening right now by the fishing and the wildlife. In fishing terms the sea is devoid of mackerel, the whiting are getting smaller, the spurs have vanished and I'm still sitting on my hands where bass are concerned. They are not worth the effort - yet! In wildlife terms I've hardly seen a gannet and as exclusive hunters of pelagic fish (mackerel, launce, herring) they are a bloody good indicator that the warm water fish are here. Here in New Quay we get Dolphin sightings daily now. There are here to entertain tourists (I'm convinced that they do deliberately do just that, putting on evening displays close to the pier) but they are also here to feed. They arrived with regularity about three weeks ago and this I believe is because they too are awaiting the summer migration.

Cardigan bay is a flat shallow sea. Its nutrient rich as any wave action and all tidal action constantly churns the sea bed and releases nutrients. Nutrients = algae, algae = plankton and the food chain explodes upwards ending in Dolphins (nice but not very interesting) and Sshhhaaaarks (bloody interesting).

So when is it going to happen? When will it all start and the summer fishing take off. My records indicate 10th June. What do yours say?

What lure colour caught the most bass in season 2014?

I've written about lure colour before but the 'proof of the pudding' is in the eating as the saying goes. So here are two of my recent lure purchases. Fresh off the plane from the US and I Love Hard Bait Ebay store these babies are shaking with anticipation as they sit next to me on the office desk. I can't resist picking them up and giving them a wobble; they rattle and shine enticingly and I just know that they will catch.

That is because they are trendy. Bass like trends or seem to anyway as trendy lures catch plenty of bass. I only have to mention the patchinko and anyone who knows about them (and we all do now) knows that they catch. Or the slug go or the Fiish minnow, red rods or for that matter yellow rods (2015) etc etc. It boils down not to bass adapting their modus operandi - ok lads its 2014 now lets get into the next big thing - no its simply because a certain lure type or colour gets used more frequently. Photographs get taken and posted online or in angling mags. The pics then get talked about in online lure casting forums that are generally inhabited by people who don't or can't fish but believe they do or can and hey presto a trend is born. We all go out and buy them and we all use them - I will (or at least my clients will) this season.

The colour trend of 2014 is cotton candy (like these beauties) or its sometimes known as frost candy or anything candy. Get a lure in this colour now because I promise you this; no I'll go further than promise - I'll guarantee it - they will catch a shed load of bass this year. What are they? - Well gold star if you recognise them and if you don't just ask and I'll tell you. Hit the comment link as below....

So sure am I of this bass forecast that I will post more than 1 pic of bass with one of these lures in its mouth this season.