Late Season Bass Fishing Tips, with Chris Ogborne
Has the sun already set on your saltwater fly fishing this year? With big bass still a mouthwatering possibility, you might just want to reconsider! Chris Ogborne still finds plenty of encouragement to launch his boat on the Camel Estuary. Here, he tells us the story of an Autumn day’s bass fishing on one of those special rare days between the Autumn storms.*******
Well, the crazy and ill-advised Bass regulations have at last been relaxed, and from 1st October we leisure anglers can fish again with the option of retaining a Bass for the table.
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Or put another way, we can once again exercise our rights as part of our national and marine heritage. Whether the draconian imposition on our sport for most of the year will have had any effect on fish stocks is debatable, and in fact will probably never be proved one way or the other. With commercially licensed boats taking five tonnes each, I severely doubt that the quantities taken by leisure anglers would have had any impact at all, but doubtless the politicians will find a way of making the numbers read the way it suits them.
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Regardless of this, at least we still have the rest of this lovely autumn in which to enjoy our fishing. Besides, if things don’t get too cold in a hurry, I’m hoping the back-end sport will be at least as good as it was last year. These days, of course, you can enjoy fishing bass year round, although timing is key. So what are the best conditions for bass on the fly?
Glorious autumn fly fishing for bass
I took the boat out this week on a glorious day and was reminded for the millionth time why I love living in this special part of the U.K. The estuary looked stunning. Autumn colours were blazing in the sunshine, skeins of geese were flying overhead as I left the mooring and a huge mixed flock of Curlews and Oystercatchers exploded from the salt marshes as I cruised past, on route to sea. I thought, as indeed I think every time I take the boat out, that life doesn’t get a whole lot better than this!
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The fish were in a good mood, too. Last week’s storms had stirred things up nicely – we need a good blow now and then to liven up the water and move the food around for the fish – and the extreme water clarity of summer had changed to a very slight green haze, which is exactly what we want for Bass fishing.
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Best fly colours and fly lines for late season bass
I stopped off at several estuary marks on the way down channel, taking a couple of schoolies at each one on the fly. The Turrall sand eel patterns in chartreuse and pink are just right in the brackish water, as the fish can see them more clearly than the neutral, grey or blue colours that we use in clearer water.
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I tend to use intermediate lines almost exclusively at this time of year, as the fish can be a touch lethargic when the water cools down from summer temperatures. Retrieve rates are slower too and the ultra fast stripping of high summer is replaced by slower, staccato movements which give you the opportunity for more variety in each cast.
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Conditions were as near flat calm as I’ve seen for a while, so I headed out to sea for a bit of prospecting around the islands. Sport on the fly was good, but I had to switch to a fast sinker on some of the marks, just to get down quickly.
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Fish were feeding well in the running tide, and I positioned the boat in the down-tide lee of the island to fish the seams effectively. As high tide approached I just let the boat drift off across the rocky reefs that circle the island, taking fish between two and four pounds from around 15 feet of water. Brilliant sport, made so much better by the near-calm conditions that allowed the rare luxury of perfect control on the fly line.
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Plan B: From fly casting to lure fishing
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As often happens a breeze picked up after the tide changed, so I had to adjust tactics. For anyone sniffy at doing this, there’s no shame in casting lures when the need arises. As much as we’d love to catch every fish on the fly, lures can be a brilliant backup weapon that could save you a blank afternoon should the fly become difficult or impossible to fish.
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On this occasion, a light LRF spin rod and 25gram soft baits enabled me to find the depth and if anything the sport just got better. I headed back inside the estuary to explore a couple of favourite marks inside the headland and they didn’t disappoint. I found a good pod of fish, all in the 3 to 4 pound class that gave a great account of themselves on the LRF tackle. There were still a few mackerel around too, to I dropped a string of feathers down to pick up a few for supper – the humble mackerel is still one of the most delicious fish to eat when it’s this fresh.
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Time and tide…
All too soon it was time for home. I keep my boat on a mooring that gives me around 3 hours either side of high tide, so I have to make sure I’m back in time before the water disappears. Get it wrong, and you and your boat are stranded for ten hours or more!! Only once in thirty years have I left it too late to get back on the mooring – lesson learned! It wasn’t dangerous in any way, but the embarrassment factor was off the scale and I didn’t live it down in the boat club for many seasons! These days, no matter how good the fishing is, I always err on the side of caution! Or maybe that’s old age for you!
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As is a part of my boating ritual, I stopped off on a little shingle beach about a mile from the mooring to gut the mackerel. In the flat water, I couldn’t help but notice a spray of tiny fish (probably baby Mullet) which were obviously being chased by something bigger.
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It happened again about twenty yards away with an accompanying swirl so I quickly dropped the filling knife, reached for the fly rod, and put a fly down near the last disturbance. Three seconds later I was into a beautiful bass that must have been close to five pounds and he lead me a right old dance around the beds of wrack before I subdued him in the shallows. A spectacular end to a very special day and I admired him for a few long moments before slipping him back into the water.
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Whatever your sport, get out and enjoy these final weeks of the season. The legacy of the summer heat is that we have a stunning array of autumn colour this year, but all too soon this will turn into the inevitable grey of winter and, as we all know, it’s a long old time till spring!”
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For further reading on bass and saltwater fly fishing, check out our blog archives.
Perfect fly lines and saltwater fly patterns for bass…
Looking for the best flies to catch bass and other saltwater predators this autumn? Look no further than Turrall’s own range of proven fish catchers. Designed and tested by Chris himself, our various sandeels and baitfish designs are spot on for bass. Chris recommends the brighter colours for later in the year, especially following disturbance and less than gin clear water. Find them at your local Turrall stockist or order online from the likes of Troutcatchers.co.uk or FliesOnline.
As for fly lines, an intermediate or fast intermediate is perhaps the most useful tool later in the year, with slower retrieves. Tough and long-casting, Cortland Lines come especially well recommended for the job. Find all the best Cortland products from fly stockists across the UK.
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