Bass fishing made Easy!

Bass, often called the king of the sea is highly priced by anglers and a popular choice with chefs. Since it a voracious predator feeding on sardines and mackerel it has high oil content and tastes very delicious. It is the most attractive and sought after sea fish in England. The bass (locally known as sea salmon) was found in plenty on the Cornish surf beaches during the 60’s and the 70’s. In fact surf beaching at that time was immensely popular with fishes caught from open beaches averaging 4lb. But large scale exploitation of bass fishes due to its high market value (about £6 per lb) resulted in a sharp decline in their numbers. Fortunately with the legal notifications for protecting bass nurseries across the UK, their numbers have plummeted during the last ten to fifteen years and the average catches have once again reached the 3lb-4lb range.

The Cornish coast is an ideal place for bass fishing with some celebrated bass marks in the whole UK. The choice that the place offers in terms of variety in bass fishing is simply marvelous. Shore fishing from the beaches, headlands and cliffs simply takes your breath away. Surf fishing among the large sandy bays, beaches and coves located on the southern and northern coasts of Cornwall is also becoming popular with anglers. There are various methods for catching a bass including float fishing, legering and spinning. Although some beaches may be favored by the bass over the others, but still they are found on almost all surf beaches in Cornwall. Surely there are certain landscapes that attract more bass due to the presence of food favored by bass. Features like patches of bared stone, rocky outcrops and gullies will be having little mussels, crabs hiding in holes and small fishes –all highly favored by the bass. For surf fishing the surf must not be too low and must not be in a suspended form.

The fishing season in Cornwall starts from May when the adult fish come back inshore and lasts till January, although smaller school bass is found throughout the year. Night time is considered the best to catch a bass when the fish would come very close to the shore. Fishing in south Cornish coast requires only light tackles while the strong lateral tides on the northern coast surf beaches demands heavier rods. Baits may include lugworm, peeler crab, sand eel and king rag worm. It is always good to finds out in advance what the local anglers are using as the bass may get engaged in eating what it gets on a regular basis. The well known fishing venues on the north Cornish coast includes Fistral, Whipsiderry, Watergate Bay, Crantock, Mawgan Porth, are worth trying. In addition, Portreath, Porthtowan, Chapel Porth, Perranporth, Constantine, Harlyn, Polzeath, Trebarwith strand and Tregardoc. The venues on south Cornish coasts include Whitsand Bay, Crinnis, Carne, Pendower, Towan, Loe Bar and Praa sands. Then there are many small coves and bays around the Cornish coastline that might offer opportunities to a bass fisher.

It is estimated that there are two distinct takable size limits for bass fish in Cornwall. While the designated nurseries have a minimum landing size of 14 inches the open coastal areas have sizes more than what was stated above. According to latest studies fishermen in Cornwall generally get a bigger landing size when compared with the rest of the UK. A responsible angler must have a respect for the size limit and not exploit too much of the smaller basses that might have had only little chances of reproducing.