Location Location Location
Flyfishing around our coastline is a daunting task for too many anglers. Photographs of muscular, silvery bass and bent fly rods inspire numbers to give it a go, but when they first arrive at the big pond they feel lost, experience failure and soon go back to the reservoir.
I remember a similar feeling on my first visit to Chew Valley, which was equally daunting and inevitably ended in a blank. It’s like that for most of us the first time, but we see others catch and go home determined to succeed next time. On the rocks there’s usually no one else around to inch a bit closer to.
To be honest, if you can persevere through the first few blank sessions you will soon start to crack the code. The sea can be easier than some large still waters once you know where to look. Lakes don’t often reveal their fish holding structures until there’s a drought. The sea shows you the lot at the bottom of the ebb! Buy a tide table, get your boots on, and start walking the shoreline at low tide.

This reef produced a few great Bass

Where

I remember the first time I stumbled on a hidden cove, a few years ago, while walking Cornwall’s coastal path. I wondered about the bass potential but on closer inspection passed it off as an unlikely spot. There was little water depth except at the top of a spring tide and the ground looked un-fishable, so I dismissed it. Two seasons later and it’s now one of my most reliable hotspots.
The mark has provided me with a fair number of good bass, but more importantly, most of my better fly caught bass have come from similar ground. Broken and shallow is the best way to describe it. Look for rock pools that leave small fish and marine life stranded until the next spring tide.

Low Tide

The same location during a flooding Tide. Bass will be in there hunting

Steve with a bass from similar ground

Some places have what look like the right structure, but life doesn’t seem to exist in them. Look for areas brimming with life. Where there’s life and strong tide and wave influence then death will also be a feature. Where there’s death, there’s food!
Common shore crabs favour this type of habitat and big bass love crabs. Bass really are in their element hunting over this shallow, broken ground. I have seen them feeding in heavy surf over the most harsh, sharp rocks imaginable.
During a memorable session with a guest last summer. The surf was pounding at our feet and bass followed our lures right to the waters edge, turning quickly and swimming through the next breaking wave. Observing this sort of feeding behaviour leaves you marvelling at their agility and timing.
Wind and Tide
A light breeze that blows inshore generating a good wave will generally bring the fish within range especially if combined with a flooding tide. Bass will arrive at spots with good food supplies as soon as they can. Once a foot of water breaks over a series of rock pools there can be three to five feet of water and you might never have guessed what was swimming around in there.
Bass will hunt very close in these areas, and there is no need to cast far. It needn’t be a daunting experience if you’ve done your homework.
Flies and Strikes
Surface lures and poppers are not only great fun, but they are very effective. To see a bass slash at the fly takes some beating. Try a Crease Fly if you’re stuck for choice or confronted by endless snags. The strike can vary from a subtle pluck to a ramming speed surface assault.
Leaders
Don’t be afraid to fish with heavy leaders in this situation and 17lb Fluorocarbon is perfect.
Technique
Try starting a session with the ‘dead in the water’ technique. This will allow you to keep still for longer so that you are less likely to spook a large solitary fish. Don’t retrieve the fly by pulling it but do stay in touch with it. Remember, a good fly should be ‘alive’ in the water with or without a retrieve. Let the fly do the work.
When to fish
Without doubt, dawn and dusk are the best time to catch fish, but there are no hard and fast rules. I like to be at the water’s edge casting a fly as the dawn breaks, or similarly at dusk, a magical time of day to be fishing. I like the dawn session most because releasing a decent bass before the rest of the world has woken sets me up for the rest of the day. So spend a few evenings pouring over an O.S map and start planning some trips this year.

Bass hunt for Crabs in these locations