Sea Fishing – Alan Yates’ Monthly Diary

Finger on the trigger...Alan with a trigger fish, a possible late summer arrival around our coasts at present

This month Alan is looking to get away from the crowds, to target big bass and he is beginning to think about autumn - and cod

It’s that time of year when shore anglers need to be more selective in terms of when and where to go fishing with the combination of gin clear, calm water and the holidaying crowds keeping the fish away from the shoreline, or making it impossible to get to with rod and line.

On top of that the increasing number of ethnic anglers that clog the deep water piers and popular beaches after mackerel make bottom fishing impossible. You can solve the problem by either moving to the more remote venues that require an effort to get to, or by fishing in darkness. On my coast it’s dusk and dawn in particular that are the best times to cast a line from the beaches and nothing beats loading up the bum bag and your pockets and taking a hike. Unfortunately where I live on the Kent coast the remote venues are limited, but in some regions it’s possible to walk miles without seeing a person let alone an angler. That old saying about no pain, no gain is so true – get out those boots and trek to the fish!

With autumn looming there are a few signs of change as some new species arrive on my coast. Some are at the extreme of their northern range coming up from the Atlantic and make up for the many species that have by-passed my region having headed further up into the North Sea. The bonus of all this fish migration is that soon a few different species will overlap and the autumn can produce some bumper catches around some parts of the UK.

For now the scad are starting to show and although they are not a large or prized catch for the table they can be great fun on light gear from the piers and beaches as dusk falls. Try fishing a sliding float from the beach or boom hanging from the pier wall or between the piles. Groundbait can play a vital part in attracting many of the midwater species to your hook bait from many venues and it’s worth mashing up some bread or bran with boiled fish etc. A loaf and a can of pilchards or sardines can work wonders in attracting scad, mackerel, garfish, bream, pollack, mullet and even bass.

Other late summer arrivals that it’s possible to encounter include gurnard, red mullet, black bream, blonde ray and a few other like the gilthead bream, trigger fish, john dory and in some regions even the more tropical rarities like the rays bream, puffer fish, red band fish and, from the boats, even bonito, wreck fish, blue runner or tuna.

Nowadays you just never know what you may hook into at the end of the summer and remember if it’s a stranger it’s likely to be a British Record!

The next couple of months are also a more realistic time to catch bass on lures, many parts of the country have seen the recent floods of rain silt up estuary beaches and inshore water making lure fishing almost impossible in places – no such problem from many Irish regions and now is the time for a trip to the Emerald Isle to fish a lure for bass. Favourite destinations include County Kerry where every rock or scrap of weed offers a hungry bass. But don’t put all your faith in lures, it can be a fun way to fish and it’s also addictive, but the truth is it’s very ‘tiddler’ selective and to target the bigger bass you just cannot beat bait, with a large lump of fresh mackerel, a whole edible peeler or a Calamari squid the way to go to avoid the schoolies.

As for lures the soft plastics are the future because they cast so well and look so lifelike with a whole host of new shapes, designs and colours on the market to try. My rule is never to dismiss any pattern and, whilst you gain confidence with a few old and reliable shapes,  the peculiar can often catch when all else fails. I have a rainbow trout pattern that has caught me so many bass when others have failed!

Seasonal Fishing Tips

It’s getting towards the last chance saloon in terms of stocking the freezer with a supply of mackerel for the winter. Don’t leave it too late because soon the shoals will break up and be gone.

Is it too soon to start thinking about cod? Definitely not, in many regions late August and September offer a run of codling and for some it’s the only chance of cod you will get all winter so make the most of it instead of leaving it until the traditional codling time of October and November. A sign that the codling are moving inshore is when they start appearing in the inshore boats as the evening start to pull back and the temperatures start to drop with mid September a god bet in most regions.

This month and next the really big bass start to migrate around the UK and many a specimen will fall to a novice’s short cast and a whole Calamari squid bait aimed at cod. Worth trying a second rod fished in beginner’s mode, 30 yards with a large bait. Also worth a try after dark is a live pouting or whiting fished freelined on a slider. This works well from many steep shingle beaches, so keep an eye of the surface when you return those unwanted small pout because the bass can appear as if by magic to snaffle the splash and keep the beach crunching and lighting to a minimum.

Modern headlamps make night fishing so easy and the latest LED models are not only the brightest yet, but their batteries last for ages. The LEDs burn brighter taking less power out of the battery and it’s now possible to find headlamps that last the whole of an all night session. Other great innovations include far lighter lamp units that don’t feel like a lighthouse on your head, headbands that fit and don’t dig into the forehead and look out for a dimmer or flip down red filter for those bass anglers not wanting to spook fish.