You may recall that in Part 1 that I talked about bass being far more positive about the ultimate decision to ‘hit’ a lure the less time they have to make it. When you think about it logically, a lure that is being retrieved horizontally through the water, at both a steady speed and trajectory gives these wily predators all the time they need to ‘check out’ the potential meal - particularly in relatively calm, clear and shallow sea conditions. In essence then, this paragraph sets out the initial parameters for their use (as far as I’m concerned) in the course of my personal and guided sessions.

Clarity

Notwithstanding muddy estuaries and local variations associated to the type of seabed or structure (the cliffs and shoreline), generally speaking, the further south or west you fish in the UK the higher the percentage of the time that the sea will be clear. Now this is important, as I believe it has a massive impact on how the bass frequenting those regions will behave and above all, look to feed.

For example, in areas where the water is clear say only 20-30% of the time (Sussex, Kent, North Devon/Somerset border), when it does clear the bass will be sight feeding with vigour on the bait fish that will be forming shoals for protection (often a short period when a diving hard minnow may be taken with gusto by imprudent fish ‘making hay’ as it were). However, in those regions where the sea is clear 70%+ of the time (Devon and Cornwall for instance), and where the bass are far more used to hunting prey using their sight predominantly, the complete opposite can be said - in the sense that they become less wary when the sea has a definite tinge to it. Personally, my thoughts shift to a hard diving minnow when I estimate the water clarity to be between 10cm and 2m - confirmed via wrapping a piece of foil around the rod tip and dipping it in the water!

A near 5lb bass landed by one of my clients on a hard diving minnow (a Daiwa Shoreline Shiner Z120F Vertice) in bubbling, fizzed up conditions when the water clarity was around 1.5m.

Light Levels

“Dawn and dusk are the ‘best’ times to head out bass lure fishing” was the hypothesis ‘drummed’ into me during my initial years chasing silver - something that I can’t say I agree with entirely. However, when it comes to placing that all important doubt into the mind of a bass, during the split second in which it needs to decide whether to gulp down your lure, low light levels will most certainly assist you - providing the bass are there and feeding in the first place of course... Moreover, my more recent fascination and success rate when utilising lures in complete darkness, including hard diving minnows, adds weight to the theory that they are categorically ‘more decisive’ about nailing these lures under the cover of the night, especially in tranquil and shallow water environments - the caveat here being that a more subtle lure such as a senko or needlefish, could, in my opinion, be more suitable overall, in these conditions.

An aspect also for consideration, that encompasses both clarity and light levels, is the depth of the water that you are fishing. Evidently, the deeper the water, the less light will penetrate - meaning that a deeper diving hard lure being retrieved in an otherwise relatively clear sea could be an option.

A bass caught at night by a ‘South Devon Bass Guide’ client when the water was relatively rough and murky. The lure is a Megabass Kagelou 124F.

Sea State

For me, in conjunction with the clarity on my open coast marks, the sea state is one of the fundamental components when deciding where and when to fish or guide. In the main, if I am hunting for bass in daylight then I will, more often than not, endeavour to seek some confused, aerated, fizzed up water, whereas if I am creeping around my ‘night marks’ then I tend to prefer the complete opposite.

Quite simply though, turbulent and confused areas of water, whether it is caused by waves breaking over and around the rocks, turning on a beach or being swirled (eddies) or funnelled is where bass love to hang out. ‘Thinking like a fish’ or a bass in this instance, may not seem that daft after all - as undoubtedly, whether they are actively swimming, stalking or lingering in wait, bass will be hunting in some form close to and very often on the edge of these zones - the perfect place to position a lure that is looking and acting almost, but not quite like, the real thing.

Although the sky is very bright, the ‘white water’ around this stretch of rocky shoreline will provide ample cover for a hungry bass to strike!

Retrieve style

An almost universal style of retrieve associated to this lure type is that if the water is somewhat cloudy or chaotic then a steady retrieve would be my choice. However, if the water was on the clearer, calmer and shallow side of the scale, then I would administer the odd ‘twitch’ to the recovery - as this could induce a bass following the lure to grab it as the ‘small fish’ attempts to flee...

Marc Cowling (South Devon Bass Guide) is a fully insured, shore based bass fishing guide who specialises in catching this majestic sporting species on lures.