 Kent Coast Sea Fishing Compendium |
Free Lining for Bass |
A forgotten bass tactic is pure and simple free lining. It's not commonly used even by experienced bass anglers and yet it is the most effective form of fishing at close range over rough ground. Free lining is a method of fishing using nothing more than a rod, reel, line and hook. There are no floats or split shot or ledgers to splash in the water, the line is free to flow in the current or to rest on the surface. It is a method of fishing that presents the bait as naturally as possible.
The phrase some carp men use when stalking carp working tight in to the margins is "combat fishing" and this is the perfect description and it applies just as much to close quarter bassing with free lined baits.
Experienced bass anglers will tell you they can often be stood on the tide line and watch bass just a few feet away from them working through the boulders, dorsal or tail fin right out of the water, oblivious to the angler nearby. These are the fish you target with free lined baits.
When and where to fish
Free lining really comes in to its own from mid April through to late June, then again from mid August to late October when the crab are peeling in good numbers and the bass run through the rocks and boulders pretty much every tide. At this time, during the first hour of the flood and the hour either side of high water, bass will work very close in to the tide line, often in just a couple of feet of water.
The best tides will be the bigger spring tides. Always the best fishing will be on the tides that fall in the three days prior to the biggest tide of all. This is when the largest numbers of bass move inshore to feed.
Immediately the tides start to fall back towards neaps the numbers of bass fall inshore and you're fishing to a much reduced audience.
Dusk and dawn, as ever, are great times to be fishing, especially if it coincides with low or high water. Equally, fishing at low or high tide in full darkness can also be very effective under the light of a light sky or moon.
Never rule out full daylight, but ideally you need to be fishing on the more overcast days, better still if it's drizzling or raining, the water carries just a hint of colour and a light breeze roughens up the seas surface to inhibit light penetration.
Hot spots for bass are areas where the smaller boulders are broken up by any bigger boulders as this will hold the crabs better. Perfect spots are depressions in the boulders that hold water when the tide has receded and you should make special note of where these are for when the tide floods in. Any food pushed along by the tide gets dropped in here and the bass will always work these holes.
Other good spots are the deeper edges of shallow rising finger reefs running shorewards, small patches of sand amongst rough ground and areas of weed.
Free lining also works when casting along the edges of weed covered estuary sides and into shallow drainage creeks, again during the flooding tide.
Tackle for free lining
Tackle is kept very simple. Choose either a 9ft 6in spinning rod capable of casting up to 3oz, or go for a full 2-4oz bass rod, but make sure the latter is a very light example as you will be holding it all the time.
The only reel for consideration is a fixed spool reel. An 050 size is ideal and light in weight. Choose a model with a good front drag system such as the Penn Captiva 5000, Penn Sargus 4000, ABU Soron or Shimano Exage.
The big debate is mono or braid line. Personally I prefer braid for a couple of reasons. Firstly you're literally feeling for bites from fish that might be just 10ft away. The braid line is so sensitive that when your instincts become fully attuned to freeline fishing you'll sense the fish close to the bait before you feel the bite proper. You don't believe me … well don't doubt this until you've experienced it for yourself. Also the braid catches the tide less and gives a more direct pull of power to the hook point when striking for such close quarter reactive fishing.
When fishing braid, I use Berkley Fireline Braid 20lb or 30lb breaking strains depending on the severity of the ground I'm fishing, I always add a 5ft section of 20lb Fluoro carbon line to minimise visual contact between line and fish and to just give a hint of elasticity when playing big fish right under the rod.
Mono is okay though, but I'd suggest using one of the better quality Fluoro carbon reel lines in 20lb such as the Berkeley Trilene as it's less easy for the fish to see at such close range.
There is only one hook I trust, the Mustad Viking 79515. These have a knife-edge point and can be honed to maximum sharpness easily. The size I use most is the 4/0, but choose the size of the hook to suit the size of the bait.
The only other items I carry are bait elastic, a small pair of scissors, a honing stone and a few spare hooks. I put my spare live crab baits in one of my own MTI Bait Caddies as I prefer the bait on me around my neck to minimise movement when baiting up. The worse thing you can do is to keep walking backwards and forwards up and down the shingle or rocks as the fish will see or hear you and vacate the immediate area.
Other essential items are a baseball cap and a good pair of polarized sunglasses which are essential for helping you spot fish before they spot you when fishing in daylight.
Baits & presentation
Crab, crab, crab and crab is the straight answer! Shore peeler crab is the main bait as this is what the bass come in to the rocks looking for. Maybe slightly better is a just popped big softie that just oozes out juices.
Don't be afraid to use big baits. Use one big peeler, or use two smaller ones to form a bait a good 3 inches long. Kill the crab and peel it of all the brittle shell but leaving the legs on both sides. Cut the body half way through then bend the body around the hook and thread the crab fully on to the shank. Use just a few turns of elastic to secure the legs to the shank of the hook. The other legs are left to dangle below the bait to add some movement as the bait washes around.
You can do the same with a couple of smaller soft crab, but you don't need to cut them as they'll break up a little when being put on the hook.
Big softies need to have the hook passed through the back and be brought out and upwards through the belly. Use elastic if need be, but I don't on big softies. Don't worry too much if the hook point is not fully clear. A hard strike will see the hook come through the softie and in to the mouth of the bass.
Tactics
The art of free lining is concealment. Use any cover available. This will usually be behind big boulders, or at least try and break up your outline by sitting low behind any tree trunks or old lobster pots washed up on the shore and keep still.
A tactic I've used many times on rough ground backed by shingle is what military snipers call "the grave". You scoop out a shallow depression in the shingle and literally lay on your side with the rod facing at an angle across the sea. Bass will see up through the water column and at a shallow upward angle beyond that. If you're below that angle they'll never see you.
Make the cast and literally let the bait wash around in the swell. Only retrieve a little line if the bait is being washed inshore quickly. If possible just let the bait sit on the seabed and just occasionally twitch it a little by either pulling on the line by hand or slowly moving the rod tip.
Ignore the rod tip as a bite indicator. You will always see the bite via the lift and tightening of the line first. As the line lifts ready yourself and as you feel the weight of the fish come up against the rod tip only then do you strike and strike hard to set the hook.
The first tactic of the bass will be to turn and bore out seawards, then throw its head around a few times, then turn and run again this time with the tide direction and along the surf tables. Big bass over 6lb will hug the seabed and thump the rod tip hard as they power for the snags. Don't bully the bass, have faith in the reel drag and drop the rod to the side if the bass tries to run for a known snag out in front of you, which they will try to do, as the sideways rod angle will turn them. You'll know the fish is beaten only when it wallows and thrashes on the surface.
To lift big bass from the waters edge, I just use my finger and thumb, thumb inside the mouth and index finger under the chin. Grip them hard and lift then from the surf. This is reliable and will not damage the fish in any way prior to unhooking and returning.
Top tip 1: throw used bait taken off the hook out in to the water you are fishing. This acts as ground bait and will help pull more bass in to your bait zone.
Top tip 2: use dark coloured braid lines in green and grey to match the boulders and ground feature. Avoid using bright colours even when using the short Fluoro carbon leader to the hook.
Top tip 3: wear dark coloured clothes when fishing at short range. Confusing your silhouette is necessary as bass have good close vision and will note coloured clothing especially if you're moving about.
"The Sea-Fisherman" (1884 - 4th edition) James Carrall Wilcocks at page 95
Rod-Fishing for Pollack from Shore
Rod-Fishing with a Light Line
Off a pier-head, when there is a very little or no tide, or in a moderate tide from a boat, very good fishing may be had with a light line, with no sinker whatever, a collar or bottom of the best salmon gut, 5 or 6 feet long, being attached to the line. If the water be sufficiently deep, let out about 15 yards of line, use no float, and bait with rag-worms; you will chiefly take pollack, bream, and horse-mackerel.
"Practical Sea-Fishing" (1905) P. L. Haslope at pages 116, 147 & 148
On many parts of our coast this sport is keenly followed, and, from the excitement attending it, has been not unjustly compared with the finest salmon-fishing. From a precipitous rock on a wild part of the coast the angler casts his spinning or natural bait into the frothy water, and drawing it gently along, so as to resemble some silvery fish endeavouring to escape, induces the wily bass to make a dash at it.
When a large fish has seized the lure do not check him too suddenly, but allow him to take a fathom or two from the reel before arresting his progress. Bass are sometimes rather long in swallowing the bait, and if any strain is put upon the line may very likely reject it. The most favourable time for sport is when there is a fresh breeze from the sea, creating "white water" or surf close to the rock. A small sandy cove is a good place for operations on a flowing tide, provided that there is a prominent rock at its entrance from which one can throw the bait. In such a locality a bass may sometimes be observed swimming along close to the rock, and by carefully displaying the bait to the best advantage he may often be prompted to seize it.
One of the most reliable lures is a red rubber eel without a spinner, and the size should be rather smaller than that used for whiffing [1]. This should be cast out as far as possible, allowed to sink, and then drawn gradually to the foot of the rock. If there is much wash, the waves themselves will assist in playing the bait without great exertion on the angler's part.
Amongst natural baits the tail-part of the pilchard proves almost irresistible, and Fig 79 shows the hook thus prepared. Pass the point once through the tail-end, turn the hook over, and just catch the barb in the fleshy side. By this simple plan a fish is not so liable to be missed. For large ground-bass the head of a pilchard is excellent, and so are the entrails of this or any other fish.
Soft crab is also a deadly bait, and being easily washed off should be affixed to the hook with a piece of silk or an india-rubber band. A small cod-hook (No 4/0 to 6/0) will be suitable for this bait.
If pilchard is unprocurable, a piece of mackerel, long-nose, or squid will make a good substitute. Mussels or rag-worms will also be readily accepted.
Another capital bait to use when spinning or trolling from rocks is a sand-launce of moderate size rigged up as represented by Fig 80. The larger hook is whipped to double gut and is introduced through the fish, whilst the smaller hook (also whipped on just above the shank) keeps the bait from slipping down. It is a very deadly plan to place a sand or mud-worm upon the point of the larger hook to render it more attractive.
A good method is to wade into the water as far as possible on a sandy beach and cast this bait, allowing it to remain on the bottom. When the tide has commenced to flow a large bass often comes along in search of dead sand-eels, and will in all probability discover the bait. There should be several yards of slack line so that the fish may feel no strain upon the bait when carrying it off. When there are rocks in the vicinity, the trace should consist of double gut or fine wire. If there is no current a light line may be used, but when spinning it will be advisable to attach a small pipe-lead just above the trace.
In using the pilchard bait throw it out and let it sink near the bottom, then draw it up by degrees. Bass swim at different depths, and if there are any in the neighbourhood, such a bait will not remain long unnoticed. Sometimes a large float is useful, and with this arrangement deeper water may be fished. If possible, an assistant with a long-handled gaff should accompany the angler, to land a large fish; and I must here impress upon the reader the necessity for observing caution, as a slip of the foot may launch the sportsman into deep water, a most dangerous predicament in rough weather.
An old fisherman of my acquaintance used to take some fine bass by placing pieces of pilchard and other refuse into a bag of fine netting and depositing it at low water. Near this he planted his baited line, to which, of course, the fish were immediately attracted, and as the tide flowed he would be almost certain to meet with success. A rod would in such a case provide much better sport than a hand-line.
Bass appear to frequent rocks and landing-stages in preference to piers; but occasionally fine specimens are taken from the latter places, where the water is not much disturbed by boats …
[1] Foremost among the delightful and sportsmanlike methods of fishing from a small bait is that known as whiffing, trailing, or trolling, names which are practically identical in meaning. It simply consists of towing lightly-weighted lines from the stern of a rowing boat generally propelled by a crafty old fisherman well acquainted with the peculiarities of the tide and the different grounds likely to yield a good catch of fish. The best kind of coast for whiffing is where bold headlands are found around which there is a strong run of tide, and deep water close to the rocks.
"Sea Angling Modern Methods and Tackle" (1952) Alan Young at pages 74 - 75
Bass and Bass Fishing
Drift Lining
In my opinion, drift lining is the finest of all methods of bass fishing, for, except in a strong current when a little lead has to be used, there is nothing but the line between rod-tip and hook.
The tackle consists of the light rod, a Nottingham reel, 100 yards of 6 to 8lb monofilament or silk line … with a no. 3 or 4 short-shanked hook. A 4ft monofilament trace is attached to the line by a small swivel.
The best results are obtained from a boat, though the tackle can be fished with success from projections [2] and rocks.
An ideal method is to anchor the boat 30 or 40 yards from the breaker line on a rising tide. The drift line is lowered over the side, the hook baited ideally with a live prawn, but alternatively with live sand eel, ragworm, lugworm, or any other of the recognized baits. Line is released, and the bait drifts into the breakers, where it can be held for a considerable time. If there is a boatman, the boat can be drifted parallel to the beach. Float tackle can be used in the same way.
An alternative method, particularly useful in and at the mouth of estuaries, is to anchor the boat off a bass mark where the current will take the drift line to the mark. If the current is strong, one or more ¼oz foldover leads can be added to the line. In a strong current sand eel is superior to prawn, while lasts fish well. This method can be followed at any state of the tide except slack water.
The same method can be employed from projections past which a current runs, but such fishing is only practicable if a landing net or drop-net can be used. The remarks under "Float Fishing" about not causing inconvenience to other anglers, apply equally to drift-line fishing.
Fly Fishing
Fly-fishing for bass is excellent sport, but the occasions on which it can be practised are rare, though school bass can be taken by this method with some regularity.
When bass are found feeding on the surface in shoals (usually in spring), a fly can be cast to them, allowed to sink a few inches, and recovered in jerks. Medium-sized salmon flies and white mackerel flies are favoured, but any fly seems to do. Bass have been caught on a black gnat.
[2] Author's Note: To avoid constant repetition of the words "piers, groynes, breakwaters, jetties" etc., the word "projection" has been used to cover everything which juts into the sea from which a man can fish, except rocks and other natural features.
"Bass: How to Catch Them" (1955) Alan Young at pages 59 to 65
Chapter IV: Methods
Drift Lining
Description
Drift lining is, in my opinion, the most sporting method of catching bass or any other fish. The equipment is simplicity itself … A drift line can be fished from several vantage points, but since an anchored boat is by far the best position from which to fish it, I will assume, for purposes of description, that a boat is being used.
It is anchored in a suitable spot where a not-too-fierce current is flowing in an area where bass may be expected. The rod can be a light one, though the action should run from tip to butt and not be concentrated in the top section. Suggestions are a good 10ft coarse fishing rod, or the top two sections of a three-piece ex-aerial steel rod. With any of these, lines from 5 to 8lb b.s. can be used. It must be remembered that there is, in these circumstances, practically no wear on the line; few obstructions, if any; and any fish hooked, played and brought to the boat can be netted or gaffed. It does not have to be lifted through the air.
If from inclination or necessity a heavier rod is used, a line to match it will be essential. If the rod cannot bend freely to the pull of a 5lb line, then a 5lb line is useless.
… When this tackle is set up, the hook can be tied direct to the end of the line or affixed to a short trace whose strength is a little less than the strength of the reel line. This is a matter solely of personal inclination. When the hook is baited it is simply lowered into the water and allowed to drift off with the current. Line is fed by hand from the centre-pin and multiplier reels; or allowed to coil off a fixed-spool reel.
The bait sinks naturally as it moves and is most attractive. It is allowed to travel as far as the tackle admits of an effective strike. This may be anything from 40 to 60 yards. When it has run its distance it is recovered, and it is advisable to reel in fairly slowly. While this is being done the bait rises to the surface and acts in a somewhat unnatural manner, but a good many bass have been caught during this process, especially when sand eels or lasts are used as bait.
If the current is too strong to allow the bait to reach a sufficient depth in its run, it will be necessary to affix a spiral lead of the weight required (this should never be more than 1oz - if more is required, float fishing or paternoster and ledger are better methods) to the line or trace some 3ft from the hook.
"Sufficient depth" is difficult to define. Drift line fishing is designed primarily to catch bass feeding in the middle and upper layers of the water - say from 4ft down to mid-water. In comparatively shallow water with a moderate current the bait may sink to the bottom within the limits of the manageable run, but generally speaking it is not a method to employ against bottom-feeding fish.
If, after a time, it is found that bass are being caught at (for example) 18ft towards the end of the run, a ¼oz weight may be put on. This will bring the bait to the "fishing depth" nearer the boat, where striking is not so difficult or delayed as when a long line is out.
It needs no imagination to see that this form of fishing provides the angler with the greatest degree of sport it is possible to obtain - a hard-fighting fish of great endurance hooked on light tackle with no clutter of weights, floats, booms or other impediments.
Having discussed drift lining generally, I will pass to its particular applications.
From Boats
I have already mentioned that drift lining is ideally done from a boat. The main reason for this is that an exhausted fish can be lifted from the water in a landing net, thus making really light tackle possible.
There is, however, another really important advantage in drift lining from a boat. When a drift line is fished from a pier or from rocks the angler has no control over the direction taken by the bait. It simply follows the current. It still does this when fished from a boat, but by choosing the position in which the boat is anchored an angler can ensure that his bait travels to any spot he desires.
Piers and jetties, rocks, buoys in estuaries and every other object or feature which can shelter or sustain food creatures have a great attraction for bass. When a drift line is being fished from a pier, the bait drifts away from the most promising place for bass, but a boat can be anchored forty yards "up current" from the pier. The angler's drift line bait travels towards the pier and at the end of its run it is fishing close to or among the piles, where bass are most likely to be, (The distance of forty yards will, of course, be adjusted as necessary to the particular requirements of depth, tackle, current, etc.)
Unless the current is extremely fierce, drift lining from a boat is profitable anywhere in an estuary on the flood tide, but if there are fairway, wreck or other buoys it is always a good idea to anchor the boat so that the bait reaches one of them towards the end of the run. This is not essential, of course, but it increases the mathematical chances of bringing the bait to the notice of bass, for these fish, though unlikely to stay for long, are inclined to spend a few moments in the vicinity of any object that might serve as cover for their prey. At the risk of tediousness I will once again say that the boat should move up the estuary from time to time as the flood advances.
In suitable weather a boat may be anchored an appropriate distance off the beach. This is an excellent though rarely used position for drift lining. The ingoing tide carries the bait into the breakers, where bass may be expected, and there it is swirled about in all directions by waves and undertow, covering much water and rendering itself most attractive by its movements. It is unnecessary in these circumstances often to retrieve the bait. It fishes itself at the limit of the line allowed it. It is an excellent method for anglers who dislike paternostering or ledgering but whose coastline is devoid of estuaries. As for all surf fishing for bass, there must be some surf. Bass are unlikely to go close into the beach on calm days when waves appear to be too tired to break.
On such days it might be well to try the same style of fishing when anchored in deeper water farther from the shore.
From Projections
I have mentioned already that drift lining from projections is inclined to take the bait away from the places where bass may be feeding, i.e. from the piles of piers or walls of jetties, etc. This objection may be more theoretical than practical, for in practice a very great number of bass are caught by this method from these positions.
I have found it particularly useful where two jetties lie in close proximity to each other, when the bait can be drifted down from one to the other.
Projections into estuaries, too, make suitable vantage points for drift lining when the current is not too fierce, and they are ideal for fishing the ebb tide if they are situated where the shores of the estuary merge with the true shore line. Here the tide ebbs gently and bass returning to the sea tend to hug these less boisterous waters.
From Rocks
Much of what I have written about drift lining from projections is applicable to rock fishing, and the method suffers from the same disability of taking the bait away from the rock on which the angler is standing, which may be the one to which bass are coming to feed.
As a general rule, float fishing and spinning are the best methods of bass fishing from rocks, but drift lining can be practised with every hope of success, particularly when it is possible to drift the bait down to some large weed-encrusted rock suitably adjacent; and when there is an area of comparatively calm water in the lee of a chain of rocks, providing there is sufficient current to drift the bait.
"The Guinness Guide to Saltwater Angling: Light tackle technique for British waters" (1977) Brian Harris at page 53
3 How to use the tackle: basic techniques
… Freelining is simply dropping a baited hook into the water from the end of a pier or other projection and letting it waft about in the surges below or be taken away by the tide. A very small lead may be used to help control the bait but it is not sufficient to cause it to sink quickly to the bottom. This can be very effective on a pier for bass and pollack, bites being felt by holding the line below the butt ring of the rod.
The Sunday Express, 11 June 2006 at page 101
A silver prize you'll savour
Gone Fishing by John Wilson
If we had to choose a national British saltwater sports fish, the majority of anglers would choose that hard hitting, power-packed, silver-sided speedster, the bass.
I know I would, and just now there is no better time to get among them.
Concentrations of chunky specimens are taking up their summer residence around sets of tidal rips, where their prey such as mackerel and sand eels gather along the edges of steep-sided banks of sand and shingle.
For many skippers along the east coast, bass have been the saviour of summer sport in these dwindling times of flat fish and cod.
Stewart Smalley is now the only skipper offering serious bassing trips out of Orford Quay in Suffolk (Tel 01728 453088) aboard his 25-foot boat Aldeburgh Angler II.
Last year Stewart's boat accounted for the biggest bass in the UK, with a monster of 16 lbs. I've certainly caught my fair share of chunky double-figure bass to 12 lbs and lots of 5-8lbs fish while out with Stewart.
The killer tactic is drifting frozen or live sand eels or king rag worm on a long flowing trace in depths from 60 to over 100 feet. The fights are always spectacular on light tackle over a long series of banks situated some 20 miles off Orford. In fact, I don't think we have ever failed to catch bass. Hope I'm not talking something up here?
If the tides permit, we sometimes catch our fresh baits over shallower banks at around slack water when the sand eels are most responsive, and using sets of tiny jigs, the occasional garfish and some sizeable mackerel make bait catching great fun on light tackle.
I put my little, single-handed freshwater American bait-casting outfit to good use. Being light, I can feel the vibrations of everything that grabs hold. Have I whetted your appetite enough for the balmy, bassing weeks ahead? I hope so, but remember one thing. Don't fill the box up with meals you don't really need. A catch and release policy for the majority of the bass will ensure healthy future sport.
"Guide to Angling in South West England: A Fresh Approach" (2008) Wayne Thomas
Free lining for bass … After dark an exciting method to try is free lining for bass using a 2lb test curve carp rod and 15lb line. Harbours, beaches and some rock marks can give anglers the opportunity to catch large bass.
Choose a calm night, a flooding tide is generally more productive though this will depend on the venue. A large mackerel bait is my favourite, either a head and guts or a whole side mounted on a size 6/0 hook. I always use a hook length of 30 to 50lb as a precaution against sharp rocks, or the teeth of an unexpected conger. At many venues a pair of waders are a distinct advantage. Under the cover of darkness large bass will ghost around harbours and beaches in search of prey or discarded food. There is no need to cast far, do not shine a light on the water, as this will spook the fish. Lob the bait out into the flooding tide, it is surprising just how close in bass will venture. Try to keep in contact with the bait at all times, I hold a loop of line in my left hand and feel for bites. On the first indication of a take I pay out a bit of slack, as the line tightens and the fish moves purposefully away raise the rod to set the hook. If the area is snaggy you will need to put plenty of pressure on the fish to prevent it breaking free in rocks or amongst ropes or structures in the harbour. This can be very exciting fishing, the electrifying pull of a fish taking the bait and a short tense battle on a straining line with a rod bent double to the pull of a powerful bass.