Client Catches – Particularly Precise……. (Part 3 of 3)

Client Catches – Particularly Precise…… (Part 3 of 3)

If you’ve read the two previous parts of this short series (here and here) then you will know that I have already depicted how 70-80% of the time I/we are stood in one place when bass lure fishing and essentially waiting for the bass to come to us – very much the art of ‘interception’. Well, in this final instalment I am going to discuss what I/we are doing during the remaining 20-30% of the time.

As per my two previous ‘Particularly Precise’ posts, there is always a specific capture to discuss, which in this case was a new personal best at getting on for 4lb for my client, Barrie. The exceedingly reliable Xorus Patchinko 125 was the successful lure during this early-May session – which was seminal not only for Barrie, but also for me as it marked the first noteworthy capture of the 2023 guiding season on a surface lure, which is always a treat!

‘Hunt Mode’

To keep this post as simple and easy to digest as possible, when I am writing about ‘Hunt or Hunter Mode’, it actually isn’t in relation to the behaviour of our quarry, but rather it is an action that the angler him or herself is performing. To elaborate, consider those periods in the tidal cycle when the current or flow are at their least vigorous – the 30 minutes either side of low and high water for example, as this is when the bass are more likely to be sat, positioned and resting, digesting or just mooching…

Generally speaking, bass do like to ‘hitch a ride on the tide’ as it were, therefore, if they are actively travelling with the momentum of the flow, then providing you are stood in the right place, you can intercept their movement as they traverse the coastline. In complete contrast to this, if the bass are somewhat stationary, then the angler needs ‘to go to them’ by virtue of casting and moving – I hope that makes sense.

Precise

Cover and concealment is what the bass will be looking for, therefore when I am fishing myself or guiding under under the ‘Hunter Mode’ guise, I will be actively casting the lure, be it a soft plastic, hard minnow or surface lure into some exceptionally specific sections of the seabed. Precision casting and retrieving is the name of the game here if you’re are to extract a comparatively docile bass (to that of a fearsome and fast moving assassin) – and this is what we do during the ‘other’ 20-30% of the time…

In the case of Barrie’s bass then, it was a collection of stones and weed situated on an otherwise clean section of sandy/muddy seabed that I knew at some stage of the tide a bass or two would pay a visit. And with the other two clients (a really lovely couple called Tracey and Steve who travel down from Wales to be with me each year) during this session content to latch into some small bass further up the foreshore as a means to perfect their surface lure technique, I decided to take Barrie for a short jaunt in order to target this very zone.

Established

It stands to reason that bass will not be situated or positioned within these rather explicit locations all of the time, and it is this predetermined timetable that anglers and guides like me spend hour upon hour attempting to figure out. Sometimes there is a clear pattern – for example certain tide heights or times of the year, and most definitely a certain period within the tide itself (which can be either the flood, ebb or even both) and sometimes there isn’t, which on this particular venue is precisely the case.

So what is the answer then? Well, in my experience, it is staggering how many times you will hook a bass within the first couple of casts if they are ‘at home’ as such. But if they aren’t, yet you fully expect them to be at some stage of the tide as suggested, then a tactic I like to employ is to make maybe half-a-dozen casts into these regions, and if a hit isn’t forthcoming then let the area ‘rest’ for 5-10 minutes in order to allow any bass moving through on the current to become ‘established’.

Seriously, you will be surprised how many times a bass will grab the lure, again, on one of, if not the first cast back into the selected area. Furthermore, should you land a bass from it, my advice is to try and restrain yourself from whacking more than another couple of casts into the successful zone, and instead, just allow it to rest again, and for another ‘batch of bass’ or a ‘big mumma’ to become, you guessed it, established.

A Happy Hunter!

So after a couple of failed attempts at the collection of stones I’d earmarked and that I’d displayed on my mobile phone screen for Barrie, on attempt number four I believe (he was working an area 50m or so down from us) he shouted to announce that he’d hooked “a better one Marc!” The Patchinko and that very, very precise zone, in conjunction with Barrie sticking religiously to not only the ‘let it rest and then return mantra’ but also by working the lure on my specified trajectory in the current had come good yet again. Would it open the floodgates to more ‘surface lure-caught bass over the follwoing weeks?’ Yes, it most certainly would as you’ll read in future blog posts.

Features featured.

In my latest book ‘Bass Lure Fishing – A Guide’s Perspective Volume 2‘ I devote an entire chapter to the ‘Templates For Success’ that I utilise when searching for features or structure in the seabed that I have discovered over 30 years plus of bass lure fishing will attract bass prey and/or the bass themselves.

My Books…

My new title ‘Bass Lure Fishing – A Guide’s Perspective (Volume 2)’ is IN STOCK and available to purchase. Details of the contents within each respective book in the image above can be found in the blog post that I wrote recently here, in addition to the various PayPal payment options applicable to each book at the bottom of this post.

Alternatively, if you would prefer to pay by Bank Transfer or you just have a query, you can contact me via the Contact Form below or directly at southdevonbassguide@yahoo.com and I will answer as quickly as I possibly can. Thank you.

Thanks for reading.

Marc Cowling