Bass caught on pellets

[no-one in particular]

Bumped into a friend last weekend. She had caught a 3lb Bass on the beach using halibut pellets. She said she threaded two on the hook. I don't see why not however, my question
is, does anyone else try these or other coarse baits, just curious. If not, could this be new trend?

 

[Paul Boote]

Pretty omnivorous animals, bass.

On three Welsh rivers that I have fished a lot, bass loved a bunch of lobs or big brandlings as they were fished for salmon miles up the river.

Down in their tidal estuaries, a long-trotted worm bunch fished off an 11ft Avon rod, centrepin and 8 to 10lb mono was a useful substitute for a small soft-back crab fished on the same gear. Fish to 8 pounds on worm, into double-figures with crab. Magnificent sport.

 

[aebitim]

Bumped into a friend last weekend. She had caught a 3lb Bass on the beach using halibut pellets. She said she threaded two on the hook. I don't see why not however, my question
is, does anyone else try these or other coarse baits, just curious. If not, could this be new trend?

Went through a period of experimenting with pellets and boilies sea fishing, to be honest there not that many comparisons between sea and coarse tactics [except for live baits], yes I caught a few fish, no I didnt catch more fish than I would have done using standard sea baits. Mullet are probably the best target if going that route.
Burlie [or however the Aussies spell it] is the way forward, though getting it 150+ mtres can be an issue.

 

[no-one in particular]

Pretty omnivorous animals, bass.

On three Welsh rivers that I have fished a lot, bass loved a bunch of lobs or big brandlings as they were fished for salmon miles up the river.

Down in their tidal estuaries, a long-trotted worm bunch fished off an 11ft Avon rod, centrepin and 8 to 10lb mono was a useful substitute for a small soft-back crab fished on the same gear. Fish to 8 pounds on worm, into double-figures with crab. Magnificent sport.

Love bass Paul, got the lot, looks, size, fighting qualities and good eating.
caught a fair few in my time but, never in a estuary. Seen them, the first time at Arundel on the Arun about 5 miles inland. Tried fishing for them on the Eastern Rother tidal stretch but, never caught anything but I did not try garden worms. caught one or two in the sea by the estuary outfall though.
As to pellets, I thought it a good idea. Something that keeps. I have tried salted, dried, preserved in oil and frozen sea baits before, however not generally very good and fresh bait has a short shelf life.. So, I was wondering if pellets designed for sea fish would be a good thing. Going on my friends result.

Do you mean boilies Aebitem?

 

[aebitim]

Bin sea fishing 50 odd years mate, boiliees just to take the p
Burley is chopped up bits of fish, chum is another name

 

[rubio]

My limited experience of burley(or berley) in Oz is that people had their own recipes. Some in pellet or crumb form that you could add fish chunks to or not as you chose. Mostly I saw it used on the beach,thrown into the waves as the tide rose. It would then drift into the channels and gulleys and keep fish searching in front of you rather than follow the surge. Bit like bream browsing over a bed of groundbait I guess.
Out on the boats pellets were sometimes used in a little and often fashion, keeping a steady stream of food items tumbling down astern. No one I met ever tried the pellets for bait tho. More typically it was a cube of fresh fish for snapper and the like.

 

[mick b]

Pellets....mmmm yes I have a few, cannot remember why I even bought them now mg:

Yes I will give them a try, should work as good as any, tho liquidised bread in a bolt feeder catches supremely well around our local marinas, originally intended for Mullet it now reigns supreme for Bass.

Last winter when the floods were raging our river was jam packed with Bass all feeding on....



.......lobworms


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[greenie62]

.....Last winter when the floods were raging our river was jam packed with Bass all feeding on...........lobworms

So Mick,
Any truth in the rumours that you've built a massive worm-farm raising giant lobs in preparation for next springs floods? Hope you got a good deal on the price of Bass with the local fishmongers for next season!
Tight Lines!

 

[law]

Ive caught plenty of mullet on bread. Infact thats all I use for mullet now.

 

[mick b]

So Mick,
Any truth in the rumours that you've built a massive worm-farm raising giant lobs in preparation for next springs floods? Hope you got a good deal on the price of Bass with the local fishmongers for next season!
Tight Lines!

No.
I have a large 'farm' box of Dendros but hardly use them, now I regard them more as pets than bait


Never sold a single fish in my life, Bass or otherwise.
These days I may take a 3-4lb fish for personal use preferring to see them swim away than laying dead in a bin.
Released a +13 last year but nothing near it this, dredging locally resulted in zero mackerel and the Bass stayed away with them.


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[greenie62]

No.
I have a large 'farm' box of Dendros but hardly use them, now I regard them more as pets than bait
.

For that Mick - I grant you the prestigious 'Compassion in Worm Farming' Award:
Congratulations! :w:w:w

 

[rubio]

Livebaiting in the same manner as pike fishing often produces bass in the estuaries round here when the floods hurl thousands of fry into the tidal reaches. I have caught tiny bass on jelly pellets just below the first weir of my local river. Don't bother loose feeding cos they are already on the hunt for fry and worms but might give it a whirl next spring.

 

[mick b]

Livebaiting in the same manner as pike fishing often produces bass in the estuaries round here when the floods hurl thousands of fry into the tidal reaches. I have caught tiny bass on jelly pellets just below the first weir of my local river. Don't bother loose feeding cos they are already on the hunt for fry and worms but might give it a whirl next spring.

Use a circle hook tho the nostrils of anything up to 14" and only tighten when its running strongly and hang on

Eg;
We had a +20 landed in the dockyard and it coughed up a 1.5lb Pout before it was weighed.
Mind you another biggie was caught by a guy dribbling half a ragworm for Flounders.
Elephants do sometimes eat peanuts.

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[no-one in particular]

I have seen and caught bass on a little Pout lip hooked. I find most live baits and lures only work well if the waters clear though. In murky water, not so good. Artificial prawn made by (I cannot remember the name) are a bit deadly. They are rubber with a red vein down the middle, Worked under a pier or along a jetty, I have seen good bass caught on them.

Worms as pets !-some people are just weird....

 

[mick b]

Hi Mark,
There is a beautiful Prawn lure made by Yozuri and a plastic design by DOA, these are the only ones I know of?

But..
Live Prawn is just about the finest Bass bait going.
I have caught more on this bait than all the alternatives combined.
The secret lies in hooking through the right part of the body so the prawn can still make the 'click' when it jumps, because the click is like a dinner gong to a hunting Bass, especially if the water is stirred up.

The Americans (bless 'em) use a special float that makes a noise that imitates the click of a panicked Prawn, this clever float has a couple of brass beads on the stem underneath which, when the float is moved, click together

Best thing about using live Prawns is you can eat the left-overs when you get home or (uncooked) on the bank....yes really, they taste really sweet and are full of flavour, try and see for yourself.

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[no-one in particular]

Hi Mark,
There is a beautiful Prawn lure made by Yozuri and a plastic design by DOA, these are the only ones I know of?

But..
Live Prawn is just about the finest Bass bait going.
I have caught more on this bait than all the alternatives combined.
The secret lies in hooking through the right part of the body so the prawn can still make the 'click' when it jumps, because the click is like a dinner gong to a hunting Bass, especially if the water is stirred up.

The Americans (bless 'em) use a special float that makes a noise that imitates the click of a panicked Prawn, this clever float has a couple of brass beads on the stem underneath which, when the float is moved, click together

Best thing about using live Prawns is you can eat the left-overs when you get home or (uncooked) on the bank....yes really, they taste really sweet and are full of flavour, try and see for yourself.

.

Thanks, I will look out for them, still cannot remember the name of the one I used to use but, it worked. , going daft in my dotage. The story with prawns, a familiar one, is two Chinese came on the pier once with a bucket of live prawns and hand lines. They virtually cleaned up on all the Bass under the pier, much to the dismay of all the regulars. As to eating them raw, why not, sushi, however, not to keen, I like them cooked.
That float sounds interesting, will look out for that too. Americans, who would have thought it, an actual good idea, oops, I am in trouble now I suspect.

Just got it, came to me, Storm Baits, pretty sure that was it. they did this prawn one, I first caught on to it watching a bloke waving one about in the current under the pier and he was pulling up Bass all afternoon. However, I have found all these type of baits are best fished when the sediment has dropped out of the water when the bass are hunting by sight, otherwise I have found it best to use conventional smelly baits like fish or worm.
Anyway, cheers Mick, always nice to learn a thing or two.

 

[mick b]

Mark, you have a pm.

 

[Paul Boote]

Yup. Just because a fish is highly edible, fellas, doesn't mean that it's okay to clonk it. I killed my last bass, salmon and sea-trout in 1988. I can also count on a couple of hands the number of wild brown, brook and rainbow trout that I have killed since. Not to score virtue points, but on account of the fact that we need every one of those species alive and swimming and reproducing these days.

 

[no-one in particular]

I do not know if this is a sustainable view but, I take home fish for the pot, I believe angled fish taken home has very little effect on the overall population, especially in the case of sea fish. I will often let go a big fish though as I feel killing a creature that has survived so long deserves to live on, just so I can have a meal does not seem right to kill it. But, then you could argue killing a smaller fish is worse. The rights and the wrongs of this are difficult. I suppose it has to be up to the individual.
I have on occasion fished some areas of the Bristol Channel where commercial fishing is banned. This area is more prolific in fish, it is fished by quite a few anglers who I assume take their fish home. This does not appear to affect the population much whereas commercial fishing did. I don't know the facts and figures.
In a river I imagine its a bit different, populations are easier to ascertain and if a population is very low, a few fish killed for the pot could make a big difference to the population.

 

[mick b]

Actually the way to crop Bass is to take fish that have started breeding but have not reached the larger sizes.
The Americans have got it right with their lower and upper limits on Stripped Bass.
The Woods Hole scientists have proved that a big fish produces more and larger eggs, which hatch earlier, grow faster and reach maturity quicker than fish a smaller size.
Cropping the bigger fish results of a species slowly diminishing in its maximum size.
Clear examples exist where this has already happened specifically the Blue Marlin fishery around the Hawaiian Islands where the largest fish is now 2/3 of that which it was 50years ago.

Interestingly several Strippers were caught around the UK this summer, which will please the Bass fishos on here


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