I have been fishing a bit lately with the rather lovely and not remotely cheap Daiwa Morethan 12 Braid, and whilst it seems to be a fantastic braid to lure fish with (so far), I am at a bit of a loss to understand what more it might be giving me over the two 8-strand braids that for me have completely changed my opinion on what I reckon it now costs to buy a spool of seriously “proper” braid - and these days that figure is under £20, thanks to Daiwa’s own J-Braid and the Sufix Performance Pro 8 braid. My review of these two outstanding braids is here if that helps.

OK, so this around £50 per 135m spool (yes, it’s not cheap!) of Daiwa Morethan 12 Braid feels very thin, and if the figures here are to be believed then it’s a little thinner again than the equivalent 8-strands - but I can’t verify these figures of course, and at the end of the day when you’ve got a couple of sub-£20 8-strands which are incredibly thin already, it begs the question how thin do you really need to go for a mainline? I am sure there are further benefits to be gained from a 12-strand braid that I don’t know about or am quite simply missing because I am just not good enough to recognise them, but at the same time I can’t fault the cheaper ones one single bit.

For all that this Daiwa Morethan 12 Braid is fishing absolutely perfectly for me and it sure does feel like a seriously high-end braid (slightly different feel to an 8-strand, kinda feels solid as opposed to “woven” if that makes any sense), Daiwa themselves have in my opinion gone and seriously shaken the braid market up - but why? Because their own sub-£20 J-Braid is so damn good that I just can’t find a single reason now for spending any more money on a braid for my own lure fishing. Same with the equally outstanding Sufix Performance Pro 8 braid, indeed both are as good as each other in my mind.

Is it me here missing the point of this expensive Daiwa Morethan 12 Braid though? It’s a beautiful braid to lure fish with - it flies out, no hints of any wind knots so far (always the fault of a reel or a braid of course, and never the angler!), it knots well, it does seem to really cut through the wind, and if money was never an object I’d happily buy plenty of it and fill a few different spinning reels up with it - but for most of us, money is a big consideration when we buy our gear, and because their own J-Braid is so damn good I am struggling to find a reason these days to use braid that costs any more. Which of course is a good thing for the angler.

Some anglers are going to want to buy the most expensive gear regardless, and that’s up to the individual. I have tried to find something that niggles me about both these two sub-£20 8-strands but I can’t. Both are in my opinion flawless braids and I just love how they are such good value for money. Have Daiwa made a mistake by launching their J-Braid when they themselves have far more expensive braids to sell? I would guess they know exactly what they are doing, but I do wonder sometimes when their own J-Braid is so damn good.

What about something more rough and tumble like wrasse fishing though? Sure, you could turn to the tried and tested PowerPro because it’s a 4-strand and it handles rocky stuff pretty well, but as for myself? I now simply turn to the stronger and just as cheap 0.18mm/26.5lbs Daiwa J-Braid or the 0.18/28lbs Sufix Performance Pro 8 braid - nope, I don’t need a mainline that strong for a fish that ain’t going to reach 10lbs, but a bit of extra thickness in my mind gives me that bit more abrasion resistance. In reality 0.18mm is still a hell of a thin mainline and if you felt the need to you could quite easily go bass fishing with a braid like this, indeed I have been trying them out on a heavier lure rod/larger spinning reel combination and they seem to fly out just fine in really heavy conditions. Hell, you could go thicker again with both these sub-£20 braids for wrasse and even pollack fishing, and still I reckon you’re not losing anything at all when at the end of the day all you are really doing is bumping small leads around on the bottom and then skull-dragging fish out of their rocky lairs - which is some might fine fun in my book, as per the short video below of one of our clients hooked into a rather nice shore pollack over in Kerry last year. I do love the bit of guiding work I do with John over in Ireland, but when you see pollack like this around you don’t half want to grab a rod yourself!

A profound thanks to the Jersey based angler Keith White for taking the time to write me this guest blog post, and if you have never heard of or let alone fished for bass with a needlefish (lure), then this introduction to a whole different world of bass fishing is outstanding. I am fully aware via his generous sharing of information that Keith has been fishing with needlefish style lures for many years now, and with some simply incredible success rates at times, but my knowledge of these sandeel imitations is at best very limited. And yes, the name needlefish is somewhat misleading, because as you will read below, a needlefish lure is imitating a sandeel amongst other things.

Why my interest in needlefish lures? Quite simply because straight-retrieving senkos at night is opening up a lot of bass fishing to me, but there are of course many occasions when a relatively lightweight soft plastic stick ain’t going to cut it with more lively sea and wind conditions - and unlike a few years ago, I am becoming more and more comfortable using lures that to us look like they are doing essentially nothing in the water, yet to the fish must be doing just the right thing because they hammer bass. As I said, I know essentially squat about fishing with needlefish, but I am increasingly interested in them as a hard lure which could help me out with night fishing in bouncier conditions and/or current runs etc. - and then on from that there is obviously a whole heap of info to learn about these simple looking but hard to track down lures (you can find a few here if that helps). Thanks again Keith……………

Photo courtesy Keith White

“Where do I start. OK, the beginning sounds good and though this is simply an overview, it’s probably in everyone’s interest to be accurate. In fact, I have almost 20 years of history with this lure family in British waters but the story goes back way before then. No one really knows who made the first needlefish lure, only the history of it in striped bass lore was recorded and I’d hazard a guess, even that is a sketchy recollection. So, somewhere back in the 1970’s, the striper men discovered the needlefish but it was used in the guise as a ‘sandeel profile’ lure opposed to the way similar looking lures have been used in much warmer waters for other species. The latter is more a skipping, ‘walk the dog’, even slashing style for warm water game fish and yes, of course there is always crossover and I’m sure sure some of the needlefish lures themselves will serve in multi purpose roles. However,  the needlefish in NE USA striper circles is a lure of stealth, of distance, of inaction. It didn’t take long to become one of mystery and magic either and to this day, many are scared of it’s simplicity and effectiveness because many buy, try and ‘fail’. In fact, many would never unlock its secrets even with easy on the shore exposure to the lure by other ‘sharpie’ surfcaster’s smashing big bass after big bass. The myth about this magical stick, stuck.… LOL

So, this stick with hooks on it was accounting for some remarkable catches. Plug builder’s had tried many variations and to this day, many exist. Some were also made in mass production like the super strike series and these have been, very successful used in context. However, the needlefish as a lure, simple as it is, is still surrounded in myth and disbelief despite many efforts to dispel it. Why you ask?

Photo courtesy Keith White

Well, let me go back quickly to the late 90’s. I was being shown, first hand, the use of needlefish lures at Philbin Beach MV USA. Lets just say, I got a hammering I’ll never forget but I learned lots. From my perspective, I was doing ‘everything’ my mentor and teacher was doing. But 36 striped bass to 1 later, I kinda had to concede, something was not right. I learned for the first time, and this is coming from someone with a very open angling mind, that the bass wanted what they expected and though they wouldn’t refuse other presentations, the needlefish was simply offering what they expected, were used to seeing and, representative of what they would feed on at that time of year. That being sandeel and ‘spearing’. For all intent and purposes, we get the same sandeels and, spearing are ‘smelt’. From underneath, a very similar profile and, for the large part, these baitfish, like most baitfish, shoal and are largely inactive by night. In fact, most bait, day or night, is largely inactive and this idea of bass chasing bait around all day long has been asking to be lined up against a wall and shot for a very long time. My mentor’s response to my questions about why he whacked me with a baseball bat of fish was always “You have to believe in it”. I did, I’d seen it first hand but I know now, years later, what he actually meant and, that will only come with experience.

Anyway, cutting a long story very short, after a period of years, we had finally overcome initial problems with needlefish in Britain (mostly supply and dollars as Davy Jones started his collection) and we started to enjoy good success. Success that grew and grew. Some years were so fruitful, that needle-caught fish alone, spilled into the ‘thousands of bass’ on a single lure type. Basically, it works.

Photo courtesy Keith White

Now, years later, suddenly, people are asking questions about the ‘inactive style’ lures. Most have done this backwards as we only developed the ‘soft needlefish’ system of senko’s/Sluggo’s/Hogy’s on weedless swimbait hooks etc after many years of losing hard lures to rock, reef and weed beds. The soft style of fishing ‘sticks’ is very similar indeed to ‘hard needlefish’ but each have their shiny sides where they excel in given conditions. There is much to ‘soft needlefish’ or sometimes called ‘senko’ fishing for bass that deserves a series of articles by itself. However, here, we are talking about hard needlefish.

So, calm bays, weedy, 2 or 3ft deep or weed sticking up over just covering reef … Yea, I’m going to fish a weedless ‘soft needle’. But what about those nights when the fish are 60 – 100 yards away, the water is deeper, there is a strong current, a riptide, some surf, combo’s of the above and, let’s add an onshore wind of F4 or above into the cake bowl for a laugh. Clearly, trying to cast a weightless, weedless 6” senko that at best might total 18g isn’t likely to be my first choice to make 20 meters yet alone 60. In fact, being realistic, it simply won’t work.

We are now entering the world of the hard needlefish, and this magic wand of a stick. The latter, well, it’s up to you to prove that is it exactly that, a myth. It’s just a lure and one that catches fish without seemingly offering anything you might associate with bass catching action. Lets be careful here, “What YOU associate with bass catching action”. Well, what exactly is that?

Who said a lure has to roll? To wiggle? To Dive? Not the bass, then who?

Well, no one of course. There is always a place for minnow style lures, walk the dog style, poppers, jigs, vertical presentations, metals in their many forms but they are all simply slices of the bigger pie. Bass in general are lazy. The bigger they get, generally, the lazier they get and trust me, ask any night diver to watch baitfish and bass interaction and they’ll tell you, the bait does hardly anything and neither do the bass. I’ve seen bass IN shoals of bait, the bait didn’t care, unaware that it’s brethren was being picked off on the night tide. Bass drift with, sometimes intercept and often wait in ambush but, they will if at all possible, do things the ‘easiest way’. Bass feed using negative vortex. Mouth and flared gill’s sucks baitfish in from as much as 3ft away… gone!

So, ok, sometimes, a bass rooting for crab, disturbs a sandeel in a bed and like a flock of birds, you get a chain reaction of flee response and yes, this many, momentarily, trigger a pursue response in bass otherwise engaged and in a passive mood.

In fact, let’s take this this concept, just a little further without getting all scientific…

1) Inactive Bass

2) Passive Bass

3)Active Bass

In general, over observation on many tides, these 3 states of bass mood and awareness could describe most of the bass you might encounter. An active lure might appeal to group 3 but could spook groups 1 and 2. However, a needlefish, or a passive lure, a lure that doesn’t do a lot, doesn’t offend, doesn’t excite, is … well, just cruising or drifting along, like all other bass food sources, blends in and thus, in theory, is appealing to all 3 groups. If we suggest, each group owns 33.3% of bass numbers (very general and just for example as more complex owing to tides, conditions etc) you are by fishing the flashy minnow, banging away with a walk the dog lure etc, appealing to just 1/3rd of available fish. The needlefish or family type of passive lure, appeals to 100%, or ‘could’ in theory. This is already getting longer than I wanted so let’s cut to the chase.

Needlefish are cast, either to be swung on current, eased through surf or retrieved at various paces through calmer bays. All of that and more, works. If I had to suggest a colour, and colour isn’t that important to me but I would suggest ‘mid green’ as this will work in all day and various moon states. Size wise, 5 – 7” would be a good range on ‘our bass’  but I have needles 9”, 12” long and all have caught bass.

We have talked about the Super Strike needles and I carry 2 types. The 1oz and the 1.5oz. Both sink, quickly, both cast more than well enough and, if you have 6ft of cleanish water over surf or anywhere really, or a current, a rip, the super strike is a go-to choice. You simply cast, and retrieve, as a slow to moderate pace in calmer bays (speed is determined by reel size, speed of ratio, line size, cast length, needlefish size and THEN weight). If you say, keep snagging the bottom with a 1oz sized Super Strike needle, a 1.5oz needlefish actually might not as it has a larger surface area. It’s all hydrodynamics… lol, I digress.

As I said, we match the needlefish lure, to the prevailing conditions and, depth of water and, the type of ground over which said needlefish will be cast and swung or retrieved. Let me say, I cast 70 meters with one of my super slow sinking 7” needlefish in a left → right sweep. No surf, simply current. I’d cast, pick up the slack and, just make sure, as the needle is travelling (swinging), my line contact is just enough, to let it complete the ‘arc’ but, not simply fall to bottom like a rock with too small a life jacket. In fact, all needlefishing is like this, a balancing act.

There are many design types and most of course will have a ‘mark or area influenced heritage’. My own needlefish suit British style rods, lines and reels, are designed to cast, deal with currents and sweeps. Others deal with surf AND sweeps, others might float and simply be extensions of ‘wake lures’. I might use one as a sub-surface walk the dog style lure too but, that, outside of the more tropical waters and stickbait work, isn’t the design remit of the US style ‘sandeel emulating’ needlefish.

As I’m writing this, I’m sweeping snow off the mountain. I could try to add a lot more but it would likely only serve to confuse. Just take it from me, I have been hugely successful using various needles across such a wide range of water and in recent times, others have reported some really remarkable catches using not just hard needlefish but ‘soft style’ needle fish lure types too.

This is just the beginning.

You will note, I said we make our own. This wasn’t really by choice initially as most US style needlefish are designed for stripers and rods/reels/line far in excess power wise than would ever be needed for our own bass. However…, some do work, some are just fine and you can do some homework and find stuff in the right weight and size ranges by looking at NE USA sources. I’m certain at some point, we’ll have to let some of our needle’s go. You really need the ‘right’ needle for the right job and something that ‘looks the job’ might be rubbish and completely unsuitable. I was talking with Henry about this ‘gap’ in supply and filling it, well, it’s going to be a case of hard work and research for now for those interested or, until if ‘demand’ (demanded it), sorry… lol.

Photo courtesy Keith White

Local builders of lures could start a garage industry on salt water wooden lures. Yes, super strike are plastic, most of the other needles you need and use will likely be wood. With wood, heavy doesn’t always mean sinking, or indeed, fast sinking. One of our best designs sinks around 1’ per 5 seconds and yet weighs 1.5oz. However, anyone attempting such a build project would need to understand the needlefish and the weighting options and arrangements or you would be just as well attaching some hooks to a broken pool cue section. Weighting, planing angles, hook sizes (type of wood) are all in the critical balance that in turn, gives the stick it’s magic.

Learn to trust the wood and look after it. Do as I say, not what I do and wash your wooden lures after use and ‘dry them’ slowly at room temperature. Wood is organic, it breathes, it shrinks and swells with humidity and the seasons. It’s alive! No wonder the bass love to eat it.”

Keith White 2016

I post a bit on the WSF forum, and a lad from there emailed me the other day to ask if I might consider trying to help out a bit with a raffle they are running to try and raise some more money to help look after this lad Geraint. Via the links below you can read all about this brave lad, and his story is something that hits home hard to me as my eldest girls suffers from asthma. I know the lad Hendrik Strydom who makes these lures, and take it from me, what he does with wood is just out of this world (you can find him on Facebook) - rather than me waffle on though, below is the email I received with all the details of how to enter this raffle to win these handmade lures. My sincere thanks for entering if you are so inclined……………

"Hi guys, We have some pretty amazing members on this forum, but I very briefly want to tell you about just two. I sincerely hope you will be touched by either, or both, enough to inspire you to help in any small way you can by dipping into your pockets to buy a ticket, or few, for these amazing hand made lures (all photos here are of the lures and box they will come in, thanks to Hendrik for allowing me to use them)."

"The first is Chris Richards - Chris has a son, Geraint, an asthmatic, who shares his father's love of fishing. Two years ago, aged 11, Geraint suffered an asthma attack on the way back from school that was so serious it affected his breathing enough to put him into a coma, and cause him permanent brain damage. I link two articles on this, here and here."

"Now, I am not a father, so I cannot even come close to comprehending the emotional devastation this fleeting moment of tragedy must have had on Chris, but many of you will be, and will understand only too well. Having a child hospitalised in these circumstances is the stuff of nightmares. Just imagine it for a split second."

"Or, to be Geraint. One minute a carefree young boy, able to happily fish alongside his father. The next, to be struck down and have all the little things we take for granted every single day snatched away by a cruel hand of fate. Chris or Geraint could be anyone of us on here. Any one of us. There but for the grace of God, and all that."

"The other person I want to tell you about is Hendrik Strydom. My story on him is just a simple one. Just that he has put himself out, and tried to help Geraint and Chris in the only way he knows how. By putting in huge amounts of time, effort and skill to produce these four amazing hand made lures to be raffled in their aid. They will come boxed as well. They are just stunning."

"Now, not only am I not a dad, I am also lazy and rather selfish, so the accounts of these guys leave me feeling unbelievably humbled. They don't think they are heroes, but they are. They are the little people who deal with life's cards, or help make the world a better place through incredible selflessness and thought. My comparatively tiny contribution to this cause is merely to tell you about them, and about Geraint, and to bring this raffle to your attention."

"All four lures, boxed, will be raffled for £5 a ticket to raise money for Geraint's care and treatment. The closing date will be the evening of Sunday, 30th October, with the draw taking place on Monday 31st. If you are into bass angling, or want some lures for a tropical holiday, then these lures will sell themselves. If you are not, try to justify buying a ticket to win them to give to a friend or relative? And, if you cannot do that, just buy a ticket in lieu of buying Hennie a beer for the time and effort he made to help someone else. He deserves that. So does Chris."

"More importantly, so does Geraint. Giving £5 is another way of being a hero too. There are a few ways to buy tickets -

Bank transfer £5, or a multiple of that, to:

Bank - Carter Allen

Account number - 56081080

Sort code - 16 57 10

OR, send a PayPal 'gift' payment to -

ddraig69@hotmail.co.uk

You can transfer money over the counter using those same account details.

Take a picture with your phone of the counter slip or send proof of your payments (screenshot etc.), and email it to me at benwaddington@mac.com

Even non-members of this forum can join in, so please do circulate this amongst your friends, family, or anyone who might wish to help. Thank you, on Geraint's behalf. Tight lines, Ben."

I blame lure fishing for bass at night! Without a doubt it’s changing how I am looking at the areas I fish, and whilst photographically it might kill me, this whole casting lures out in the dark and getting hit when you can’t see is becoming more and more addictive - hence Mark and I taking a bit of a punt yesterday evening and heading a bit further afield to try a spot that has been on my mind for a while now. We have fished fairly near it a fair bit for bass, but never at night, and with the tides and conditions we had last night I reckoned this spot was worth a punt………..

OK, so for the first time we fished it I don’t know the best state of tide etc. to attack it, but I reckoned we could do worse than fish roughly when we have fished and caught bass at another spot not that far away. Last night we had HW at just before 7.30pm, it’s a pretty big tide, we’ve got clear skies with no moon, and for chucking these white senkos in the dark it seems to be pretty ideal - a gentle offshore breeze, calm with a small swell rolling in, and from having walked around this area before I know we are fishing over shallowish water with plenty of reefs and sand patches. With those clear skies it took a while for it to get properly dark last night, but things did feel pretty much spot on - bearing in mind of course that we’re not really sure how this spot might fish, and whether it might be worth persevering with it anyway.

Now it wasn’t exactly a session to set the world alight, but an hour or so into the ebb I connected with a solid fish not more than about twenty yards out that hit my white senko (with rattle) like a train. I do find with this style of lure fishing at night that you do sometimes get a few hits that seem to be more tentative plucks than outright grabs, and both Mark and I got a few of these last night, including a proper wallop for Mark that didn’t connect. You’re feeling pretty confident, but you need to actually see a fish landed to trust that the punt might convert into something more interesting. I landed the bass and we gave it around 6.5lbs - the barbless hook fell out once the fish hit the sand and I let the tension fall out of my mainline, so it was simply a case of picking up a very good conditioned fish and slipping it straight back in the sea. No photos, no measuring tape, fish safely back none the worse for wear, and a couple of rather happy anglers because a bit of a punt had actually gone and proved rather interesting.

We fished on for a while but landed no more bass, and to be honest I wanted to get back to catch the end of the Ryder Cup which we lost anyway! Sure, it would be great if a stack of big bass had crawled up our lines yesterday evening, but in reality I can’t ask for much more than one of us coming away with a decent fish from a spot we have never actually fished before - and therefore taken that bit of a punt. I love having plenty of fishing not far from my doorstep, but I thrive on looking around and taking a few gambles - what’s around the next corner? I don’t know how this spot might end up producing for us, indeed it’s hardly as if the one short session tells us a huge amount about the place anyway - but it’s catching or seeing that one nice bass that so boosts the confidence and makes you want to go back and start unravelling what this spot might throw up. Obsessing more and more about chucking lures around in the dark for bass……………….

I find it fascinating how the traffic to this blog spiked the other day when I put that guest blog post from Keith White up about using whole needlefish lures for bass thing. I referenced that blog post on my Facebook page and asked people to fire away with observations and questions to Keith - with my stated intention being to then copy and paste the good stuff into a blog post here. If you have any interest in trying these sandeel style lures out for bass fishing then the words below make for some fascinating reading, and again it’s my sincere thanks to Keith for getting involved with this. More to come I assure you……………..

The 1oz Super Strike Super N Fish needlefish lure

“Excellent read Keith. A whole new method has opened up for me, though my success has been almost instant, I don't think for a minute that I've nailed the stick method......Yes, I knew that big bass were very likely to be present, but after an hour of 'normal' lure fishing, no way was it luck that the needlefish nailed two cracking bass within 10 min of clipping them on, something clicked into place last week!.....what I'm looking forward to is the trial and error of learning, and the desire to 'crack' the stick fishing method. I've not been this keen about my lure fishing since nailing my first ever bass off the top!........ Specimen hunting with sticks....... Got two 30g needles arriving today.....They'll be out swimming tonight.....”

Me: You might like to know that the “two cracking bass” mentioned above weighed 9lb 8oz and then 12lb 13oz - and yes, you read that right. The guy knows his onions backwards when it comes to bass fishing, but even so, that is some frigging amazing result for the first time trying a needlefish lure out. I would hazard a guess that the guy’s now obsessing about needlefish!

“Brilliant read, fair play to Keith and Henry for putting it out there.... Lads will be chomping at the bit to get out with them. Excellent read...check out the jack fin stylo 210. Amazing lure with a lot of strikes here in the Mediterranean. Brilliant....more money on lures when I said no more......Great read Keith White.”

Keith White: “As I keep saying, specifics and the 'right needle' / technique can mean hammering em, or blanking. It's one of those lures you have to 'use', almost to exclusion to begin to master them.”

“The bit in the article that really stood out for me is the presentation works for all 3 of the bass behaviour groups you wrote about. I know that there is a lot more to needle lures but definitely food for thought and I will certainly be taking that advice on choosing lures for future sessions.”

Keith White: “Good man, well spotted. You see people don't often realise, bass have states of activity. However, it REALLY matters to know when and where bass are likely to be in a given 'state'. People also don't realise, in some places, and trust me, it's more common than is realised, bass can be like 'rabbits' and actually go 'subterranean' . These are resting fish, but become 'staging semi active fish' whilst still 'underwater AND underground'. Happens here too but granite isn't the best rock structure so they can stage and rest in various weeds. An active lure will almost 100% spook these bass. However... a passive lure near these fish, especially if you find them changing 'state' can be deadly. Go pop a balloon by someone just waking up, see what happens and then, on another day, waft a english brekkie around and the results will be very different..”

“Great read and thanks for sharing Keith. Going to be given this a go over the next few days.”

Keith White: “I hope you do well. Some have been almost immediately successful, other like myself, had to work at it. My mate took to the method like a duck to water and together, with my brother, we worked out stuff I'd never have done alone. Well, or it would have took years longer.”

“I need to find the right ground to work these on lol. Thanks again Keith.”

Keith White: “ALL ground is suitable as long as the water is deep enough and clean enough so you don't have to wind like a maniac. Over rough or shallow weedy ground, do EXACTLY the same things as I'll hopefully get to describe, just using a weedless plastic.. note I didn't say 'weightless! However, we weight the plastics internally to give similar properties in the water as the hard needles.”

Question: “What sort of depth do you think is deep enough Keith? Most of the marks I fish are sub 6 foot. Also curious on another thing - do you fish them with confidence in coloured water?”

Keith White: “Knee deep is deep enough at night. In coloured water, knee deep is deep enough by day too. Yes, no problem in coloured water retrieved 'slow to steady'. This is where a 'tail weighted' needle might be better, even a floater. You would then choose a couple of 'noses' to create a wake. I haven't gone into this yet but the 'wake' a needle gives off is sometimes very important. The 'profile' is the no1, but the wake can really matter on a retrieved needle. A narrow nose gives a very different wake to a blunt nosed needle for example. Without getting complex, a wider wake, is like a low frequency wake and is more 'omni directional'. In coloured water, Target area's that are weedy and keep the needle 'shallow' as a rule. I hope that helps. In really coloured water, my first choice would be a black, narrow nosed, tail weighted super slow sinker.”

Question: “reading this got me thinking.Maybe the wake and frequency produced by my new favourite lure, the Asturie, accounts for so many takes when other more blunt nose lures like the patch are struggling? Not entirely sure it’s that simple but gets the wheels turning in my head.Probably wrong on this but reading into profile, nose shape etc producing different frequencies is fascinating.”

Keith White: “Very sharp nosed isn't it... Say no more... But, makes you think which TBH, was always the goal. Look around at people's results with the needles. Sure, some have read my stuff, some have asked questions and received answers but I'm not there with them when fishing so it's only by doing what you are 'now doing here' and questioning things, putting things into perspective, taking educated guesses etc and seeing the results, that guys move forward. All part of that learning curve but I actually enjoy the process. btw, I wouldn't baulk at using the Asturie as a 'floating needle' wake style. In fact…”

Question: “Many Thanks Henry & Keith White for making this happen. Can I ask what percentage of your hard needle fishing is done in flow Keith?”

Keith White: “Hmm? Maybe 60%. I mean, Jersey flows, the end but I'm talking about actual current strong enough to swing the lure. I have another golden rule that is "Fish where current is, will be, has been". Always served me well that one.”

Question: “How much of your hard needle fishing is done after dark?”

Keith White: “Most of it. Needles do work in some daylight conditions but, night is a lot better generally.”

Question: “Great read Keith. Just a quick question, is it better to fish these so they create a bit of wake or are they just as effective fished subsurface?”

Keith White: “No easy answer to that. Both works and sometimes on the same fish. In calmer water, I tend to think the wake helps. However, the 'displacement' created by the needle, even being swung is more than enough for bass to locate and destroy it. Most needlefish work is subsurface though in my fishing even if just an inch or two.”

This blog post is a copy and paste from an email I received from BASS the other day, plus the same details can be found at the excellent Save Our Sea Bass website here. Sure, my asking you to send a couple of emails centres around bass related issues in Cornwall this time around, but surely the more we anglers stand together, the greater our collective chances of success in the future? Please read this blog post and take the brief amount of time it will actually take to fire a couple of emails off - all the required details are below. Many thanks and have a good weekend…………..

Following closely on the heels of Devon & Severn IFCA’s netting byelaw review, Cornwall IFCA have launched a public consultation on a new Netting in Rivers byelaw for 2017. We are asking for as many people to respond as possible. The deadline for responses is 27th October.

The River and Estuarine Fishing Nets Byelaw 2017 has been proposed to balance the different needs of persons exploiting sea fisheries resources in the tidal parts of rivers and estuaries, by prohibiting most net fishing methods. It also provides additional protection from netting for sea fish, salmon and sea trout, including juvenile and spawning stocks. Landing nets may still be used, ebb nets, sand-eel seines are also permitted subject to certain conditions and geographical restrictions. Click here for further information.

These proposals are very much welcomed by anglers in Cornwall who have long petitioned against the current use of nets and, in particular, feel that nets have no place in estuaries where they can do great damage to bass (including juvenile fish) and other species such as mullet and gilt head bream.

While broadly supporting the proposal, anglers would like to see several important amendments:

1. The proposed byelaw allows for the continued use of ebb nets. CIFCA feel the use of ebb nets is insignificant and currently limited to occasional use in the Fal by one or two hobby netters for flounders. This being the case, what is motivating the CIFCA to propose a byelaw, the main thrust of which is to increase netting restrictions, to allow ebb nets in all other estuaries where no history of their use exists and where arguably as a fixed engine method they have historically been prohibited? The Environment Agency feel that they could become a problem if other types of nets are banned, especially if deployed by several boats working together.

One of the problems with the existing byelaws is their complex nature which makes it hard for members of the public to know when an offence is being committed. Not including ebb netting would simplify the situation and help the general public to play their part in the effective enforcement of the new byelaw by knowing when to report offences.

Under the present proposals there is no requirement to have a permit for ebb netting. This does not seem sensible and is inconsistent. It is important that CIFCA knows how much ebb netting is taking place so that management measures can be revised. Surely if sandeel netting is to be subject to a permit then so should ebb netting if allowed.

2. As the byelaw does not state otherwise, it is assumed that it will apply all year round. This is certainly necessary for conservation purposes and will simplify the situation (see above re enforcement).

It is important that the areas covered by the new byelaw match or go beyond the areas covered by the existing Bass Nursery Areas (BNAs). This is the case within the Fal and Fowey and we welcome this and also the protection provided within the Looe river which is not currently included with a BNA. However we note that this is not the case within the Camel and Helford, where netting will be allowed within part of the existing BNA. Since these BNAs are only operative for part of the year, outside these periods any bass caught in nets may be retained. To see maps showing the areas where netting would be restricted click here.

We note also that the byelaw (see schedule) includes other rivers, estuaries, channels or streams to the landward of the low water line.This will give protection from netting in areas such as the Gannel and Hayle estuaries which are not currently BNAs. In order for this protection to be fully realised, consideration should be given to extending the boundary further seaward to protect fish congregating beyond the low water mark prior to running back up the estuary with the flood tide.

3. The proposed byelaw uses the term “fixed nets” rather than the outdated “fixed engines”. It is important that any equipment which could be considered a “fixed engine” should continue to be prohibited in BNAs. An important example of this is long-lines which must not be allowed in BNAs or areas covered by the new byelaw.

4. Revocation of existing byelaws – this must not make the situation on the open coast any worse than now and we assume that a new byelaw giving increased protection from netting on the open coast will come forward soon.

5. We note (from the Impact Assessment) that the byelaw seeks to alter the balance of access by persons from netting to rod and line fishing (recreational and commercial). While this is welcomed in general it is important that, particularly with the current dire state of bass stocks, the existing prohibition on retaining bass caught when fishing from a boat (recreational or commercial) in a BNA continues.

It’s important that we really get behind this and your support is very important. Please send an email with your comments to the Marine Management Organisation at ifcabyelaws@marinemanagement.org.uk and Cornwall IFCA at enquiries@cornwall-ifca.gov.uk

What should I say?

This is entirely up to you but feel free to copy any of the above if required. Alternatively here are some bullet points you could choose from:

• I welcome these proposals to prohibit netting in rivers and estuaries and commend the CIFCA for it’s forward thinking and for recognising that recreational sea angling is a legitimate activity that is reliant on marine fishery resources and brings about valid and positive economic impacts;
• It would be a pity if the protection from netting which this byelaw will bring about was reduced by the increased use of ebb nets so please do not allow these under the new byelaw provisions;
• The proposed boundaries for the Camel and Helford rivers should be extended seaward to match those of the existing BNAs. The proposed boundaries for estuaries etc. covered under the general provisions of the byelaw (e.g. Hayle and Gannel) should be extended seaward beyond the low water line to protect aggregating bass waiting to run back up the estuary;
• Please don’t allow long-lines to be used in BNAs or areas covered by the byelaw;
• Please ensure that existing protection for sea fish (including bass) from netting on the open coast is not reduced by revocation of existing byelaws and bring forward a new byelaw to increase protection for bass as soon as possible;
• In the current dire state of bass stocks, it is important that there is no relaxation in the current prohibition of retaining bass caught (recreationally or commercially) from a boat in BNAs

We are all different and we are all going to have different opinions about different items of fishing tackle when we go out fishing, but sometimes I read stuff say on Facebook or a fishing forum and I wonder if the same product that I am using myself is in fact something different without me having realised. I have nothing to do with Daiwa UK and I am only using the example of their J-Braid here because I mentioned the arrival here at home of a brand new, sub-£20 8-strand braid on my Facebook page (SpiderWire Stealth Smooth), so of course at the price and specs I am wondering how it might compare to what are now for me proven braids at very nice prices, that Daiwa J-Braid and the Sufix Performance Pro 8.

And then I read comments like this about the Daiwa J-Braid, and to be honest I am left wondering what on earth I have been fishing with when it’s done so damn well for me yet obviously done so damn badly for these anglers here - “J braid it's cheap and with poor quality. After I was 0.16 for 2 months I start losing very expensive plugs. I paid 20£ on him and I lost 60 £ lures. Now i'm using 0.18 Tournament and I'm very pleased. Don't by J-Braid speciali for saltwater”, “Tried the green J braid in August this year. It was so unreliable and easy to break that I could actually snap it like a sewing thread between my two forefingers. It went straight in the bin after half a session. Utter junk.” Crumbs!

My point here is not remotely to defend this J-Braid, because as I said, I am using this as a means to illustrate a point - but how can our experiences of the same product be so wildly different? OK, with fishing rods they are such a personal thing how they cast and fish that we are all going to love and hate the same rods in equal measures, but how can a fishing line which I can’t get to do anything bad for me then perform so badly for somebody else? A mate of mine who happens to be a very good angler has been using nothing but the same spool of 20lb J-Braid on his spinning reel since May and like me he can’t find fault with it - and we use different leader knots as well (bless him, he can’t tie the FG knot). So what are we doing wrong to be getting on so well with this product when I read the above quotes from my Facebook page from a couple of anglers who have obviously had bad experiences with the same line?

Now we could of course be doing something right (!!) and those anglers who have had bad experiences with the stuff could be doing something wrong, but that’s too presumptuous from my point of view to just label those bad experiences simply as plain bad angling. Let’s say you go and buy a pair of the Patagonia Ultralight II wading boots which I happen to think are a pile of junk (see here), yet you get on with them famously and wonder what on earth this Henry Gilbey prat is on about. I still reckon the Major Craft Skyroad Surf 9’6’’ 5-28g is just about the most awesome lure rod I have ever come across for the money, but what happens if you buy one and hate fishing with it? OK, so not liking a bit of fishing tackle because it doesn’t suit you is slightly different, but how can anglers have such different experiences with something as fundamentally important in our fishing as a mainline?

I can think of any number of reasons, including the logical ones like a chipped guide or line roller that’s damaging the line without us realising (I am convinced this happens a lot more than we think), dodgy knots, a spinning reel that just doesn’t work very well with a modern 8-strand braid, dodgy casting styles, rough ground damaging a line without us realising, etc., but at the end of the day I do also think that we just don’t get on with the same stuff in the same way. I have always read such good stuff about that light blue Sunline Castaway braid for example, but I just could not get on with it very well, so I must accept that it had to have been my fault. Let’s be honest though - when an item of fishing tackle fails on us, is it ever angler error? Never of course, and because the majority of us are blokes, as our wives and girlfriends can attest to I am sure, when are we ever wrong? Very rarely, and quite possibly never!

500 miles door to door in my amazingly attractive car (?), got here at 10.30 last night after a good journey from south east Cornwall to south west Ireland, and it’s as special as ever to wake up in this quiet corner of the world as dawn makes itself known. I have come back out to Kerry to do some more of this co-guiding work I do with John Quinlan and their rather wonderful Thatch Cottage Ireland set up - we have two sets of four clients and I can’t wait to get going. Anyway, as per usual when I am out here, I simply can’t keep this blog going as consistently as I do when I am back home, but I will do my best. Wow this is some part of the world and I can’t believe that I get to come here as part of my work……...

My thanks once more to Keith White over in Jersey for being so kind and forthcoming with the huge amount of knowledge he has accumulated on fishing these needlefish for our bass. Obviously I can’t afford to pay Keith for these guest blog posts and it’s a big thanks from me to him for taking the time to hand over so much information here. All words and photos below are from Keith - they are as is, I have neither edited nor changed anything. I hope you can all take something away from this, because it’s got my head absolutely bouncing! Have a good weekend from out here in Kerry………..

“Here we are again and many thanks to Henry for giving this needlefish method more blog space and time. It seems that some guys have really taken the bull by the horns with the whole needlefish thing in these past months and wow, there some superb results coming back. In fact it’s getting silly, multiple doubles from Ireland, big fish in Wales, local guys in Jersey picking up the stick and starting to nail bass, the list is now becoming more expansive and yet, on the face of things, needlefish, the method, it’s related family and the so called ‘secret’ understanding is still being held in the hands of but a few. Surely it must deserve a more ‘mainstream’ acceptance.

These articles are all designed to help further debunk the mystery but, trust me, that will never be an easy task until you personally cross the ‘realisation threshold’. You need to reach that ‘wow’ moment when it all simply clicks into place and off you’ll go.

The point is, needlefish and needlefishing is simple, so simple no one believes it. Anyway look, we covered all that in the first article about the myths and belief needed for success and that, I’m afraid, no longer has anything to do with the lure, but all to do with the angler.

So, where are we right now at this juncture?

We have mentioned that the needlefish, the ‘cold water’ sandeel/spearing imitation from the NE shores of the USA was successfully transitioned to British waters almost 2 decades ago yet, we kept it secret for years and didn’t openly share until perhaps 8 years ago. We weren’t being funny but most people still hadn’t transitioned to lure fishing at night yet alone now being asked to fish with a stick. We know it works and, we also know, it’s mega difficult right now, as it’s always been, to get the lures in sizes suited to our bass and our tackle.

Recent weeks have seen people get out there and start hand carving, even buying lathes to make sure they will have access to a range of needlefish that simply don’t exist in the UK marketplace (yet).

Small start maybe but, from acorns …

I hope times could be changing and maybe that garage style industry I have so long wanted for British bass lure fishing may one day emerge.

So, super difficult to get the lures? Well, yes and no. Actual hard needlefish are, outside of ordering from the USA, almost impossible to get without asking a builder to make a few but, they are FEW and not many will have the knowledge to produce a needlefish for YOU. Some will but you’ll have to research this in your own time or, get your hands dirty and make some.

“Keith, I keep losing my needlefish to weed, to rocks, to ‘pot ropes’ …” lol (always one). This is a classic issue actually and it puts people off the continuous search and supply chain for the lures.

This, is a very big factor in rendering potential needlemen, null and void. A real shame.

So, right here, right now, lets debunk one myth. Yes, a needlefish is a stick, with hooks and weight in it. But, it’s the profile of the lure, NOT the material that it’s made from. In many ways, it is the method in which the lure is fished, that makes that lure, a needlefish.

A selection of soft lures perfect for soft needle

Senko’s, Sluggo’s, Hogy’s, DoLive sticks, in fact, anything long and thin, has a bit of weight, is plastic (hard and soft), wood, nylon, acrylic, metal… is suitable and at times, can be fished, as a needlefish. I used to buy in batches 20 needlefish whenever available from the US, we’d lose them and be stuck. Lack of funds, lack of confidence, lack of ‘availability’ was killing us. We hadn’t yet developed the ‘soft needlefish’ style but it didn’t take much to put two and two together once we ran out of money and enthusiasm.

I’ll tell you now, as these articles unfold, you will see that minnow lures can be used, bucktails, darters, surface flies, the lot can actually be used in similar styles to needlefish and whilst they are not needlefish, it’s the passive way they are fished, and the way your developing watercraft allows you present lures better that will open the door to the ‘three general states of bass mood’ we discussed in the previous article.

I used to collect broken tide minnows and in fact, any longer lure that had a bib broken away from anglers hitting rocks with plugs, especially the sinking ones as these for a while, doubled as needlefish. The correlation too between say, a Japanese sinking pencil type lure and a needle fish is pretty close as lures go, but the way they are ‘fished’ is different.

A selection of some of my hard needlefish. Top to bottom ...’ Home made 1& 3/4oz’, ‘LifishinVT 2oz’, ‘Home made 1 & 1/4oz tail weighted’, ‘Choopy’, ‘Super Strike 1.5oz’ and finally, ‘Super Strike 1oz’

Now, cutting a very long story, very short indeed, imagine we’d lost maybe 50, 60, more needlefish, we were struggling, limiting ourselves to fishing over plain sands and surf as the few places we could throw a needlefish and not lose them. Every time we wanted to throw over reef, near reef, swing over horrid ground, we lost needlefish to the open hooks. Open hooks that don’t generally bother the striper men of the NE USA as some hotspots over there simply don’t have the reef, the weed that the British angler deals with. Of course they have rough ground too and some specialist anglers fish it with great success but, try throwing a 3oz needle 100 yards over shallow weedy reef. Yep, you’d go through a few bonfires worth of wood pretty quickly. You can tail weight the needle to help keep it UP in a retrieve,  but…

Davy Jones is always wanting to add to his lure collection.

Then it clicked when we were slowly developing HRF and LRF initially somewhere around 2008.

We revisited the sluggo, used as a long trailer on bucktail style hair jigs by us since the late 90’s..

For years, we’d also fished the sluggo in a way developed by US angler Steve McKenna. It utilises tandem open hooks and is weighted.  Again, whilst this worked, these things were easy to lose coming through shallow weeded reef and,  to be honest, I was never convinced with it’s pro active thrashing (American eel imitation side to side action). It worked, but it wasn’t great, at least for us.

Why couldn’t a lure like a sluggo simply be cast, and retrieved or swung as a stick?

Of course, it could but no one was doing it, not even state side! A needlefish was ‘hard’, end of.

Comparison of lengths and profiles. Top 9” senko, Centre is a 7.5” Sluggo and bottom, a 1oz super strike ‘yellow eye’

**WHY** (Tackle at the time, or prior to the HRF / LRF push was very, very limiting and simply would have never allowed casting a weightless senko, or sluggo in any suitable way. Transitioning to sub 20g jig heads and such was hard enough for most as their gear allowed NO FEEL at such weights. The rods were heavier, longer, no way as responsive. In fact, most anglers were indeed new to braided lines full stop and go try throwing a 7g senko on 20lb wire like fireline or mono. The former is like not going to happen and with mono, you feel jack all. Yep, as easy as it is now, it wasn’t always like now. Newbies need to remember this. Of course in the US, guys were never going to throw even 7.5” sluggo’s weightless on 10ft heavy rods into big surf on 60lb braided lines. The ability to utilise weightless plastics in the sea, is quite a recent development especially where any distance is needed.)

We played with the senko, the sluggo and started throwing 6”, 7.5” and 9” variations, weightless on ‘J’ hooks, pegged with a cocktail sticks. We were still some time away from discovering swim-bait hooks, hitch hikers and offset shanked hooks big enough and long enough. Remember, this was a time, way before most shops even stocked hard lures yet alone soft and even today, I’m told it’s not that easy to walk in any tackle shop and stock up with senko’s and sluggo’s yet alone all the hardware that goes with the lures. However… that said, they are easier to get than hard needlefish and, hard and soft needlefish, are the SAME!  (Essentially).

Yes, the same basics, just used in different places at different time but I would fish with a 6” senko and perhaps a 7.5” sluggo all year round and not feel disadvantaged.

**Hooks** (Be careful and look at the pictures shown here. Not all offset hooks work with every lure. Watch in particular for gape length as hooks of the ‘same size’ often have different gape lengths. You want long, wide gapes and also, not hooks where the point turns back in on itself).

Yes, you heard it here. No difference in the way you treat the lures but, each has it’s own nuances and options. In fact, the soft needlefish options are greater and more versatile in nature. This is what we shall discuss here and now. Remember and get into your head that any methods and presentation options are applicable to BOTH hard and soft needlefish. Just that you can throw soft needlefish ANYWHERE, albeit with limited range and narrow set of conditions.

As you can see, these articles aren’t easy to write because something seemingly so simple, actually has considerable thought behind it.

Remember what I said about weed and reef…

Soft needlefish rule. However, all soft lures are different and senko’s, sluggo’s and hogy’s to name a few, will all offer slight presentation options in flow, out of flow, whilst retrieving etc. Hard to cast? You bet so, you’ll need a lighter braid and a rod that has some feel and maybe some length. 8ft through 9.5 would be ideal, a bit tippy maybe, parabolic actioned. A nice thin 8 strand braid (not a requirement btw), a longer leader that actually sits on the spool as you cast, no clips, just your rod, reel, line and hook. That is it, generally.

You can cast an un-weighted 6” senko some way, a 7.5” sluggo maybe further and certainly far enough. Basically, try stuff. All senko’s are NOT the same either, some are heavier but be careful as the original Gary Yamamoto senko, as great as they are, break quite easily with repeated casts and the options to ‘weight them’, are reduced.

**Salted Senko’s** ( Heavily salted senko’s or soft plastics are great but, will split more readily trying to insert weights. Something to remember and a quick search online will show you a myriad of senko style lures and sluggo’s. You want a more resilient plastic to start sticking bits of lead in it here and there.)

Regardless of all that, keep it SIMPLE, senko’s are awesome because from the top, side, the underneath, the perspective carries the SAME profile.

‘Trust the profile’. This is what the fish are looking for, not the fish doing the acrobat show.

Lay a big wave bamboo senko style lure against a 6” superstrike 1oz lure and just look. You should see straight away, shape is similar, the ‘profile’ is almost the same. However, a super strike is top centre weighted on an internal banana type rigid wire frame. Your wave bamboo, your senko, your sluggo is a naked canvas waiting to be painted.

I have mentioned tail weighting, centre bias, slow sinking, fast sinking, swinging, retrieving, the works and all this is achievable with both hard and soft needlefish styles. Just that to cover the hard options, it’ll cost you a fortune and what you carry is what you have. However, with a packet or three of senko’s sluggo’s hogy’s etc and a range of weights and  hook options, you can control all these things on the fly, or, as I do, pre rig some so they are ready to throw.

You’ll also note, no colours are mentioned. Just get one you like and throw that. I work around light, medium and dark contrasts and it’s never stopped me catching a bunch of bass but if colours are your thing, feel free. I highly recommend not getting bogged down and choosing say, a watermelon senko, maybe a black and white. Add to that some alewife sluggo’s or similar natural coloured ones and if you go with hogy’s too, follow a similar selection procedure. If you had to push me, hard, for one colour that works everywhere, in any moon, I’d choose watermelon style green in a soft lure if I could choose but one. I’d also use a ‘swimbait hook’ that is long enough to reach somewhere between ¼ and 1/3 the length of the lure (Just a rough guideline and you’ll just know what is right). You will need some soft, maybe scented lube for where the hook penetrates the plastic body and some insert weights.

Some senko’s and some nail ‘lead’ inserts

Lunker City amongst others do a few sizes of inserts but, in the past I’ve used nails, lengths of solder wire, the works. Bass don’t care, just use what works and what you can hide, utilise and is available without killing the lures ‘STRAIGHT’ profile. You MUST MOUNT THESE STRAIGHT LURES, …  STRAIGHT! Or as damn near as possible.

Gauge the lure length and select a suitable hook.

For a tail weighted senko (soft needle), push an insert weight into the senko all the way IN

If we want to equalise the weighting, line some weights up like so

Then simply trim them off

Any weight you add must not interfere with the ability of the hook coming through the plastic on a take. This is also where lubing the hook bend/plastic intersection helps.

Maybe rig a sluggo too

Remember … rig STRAIGHT!  

It’s ultra vital to mount these lures straight. Sorry for over emphasising this but you will catch far more and the lures, on any pauses etc need to be straight, and, most importantly (NOT HELD ON A TIGHT LINE) to fall as desired or ride truly in any current. Up current and down current wind also has a massive affect on where a lure should be run. The surface speed in wind of any current can increase by some amount.

** Light contact is all that is required at any time. **

**Reels** (Size is your choice, but remember, you and your friends reels ratio’s might be different, using different lines etc and so matching each other turn for turn matters not. I would suggest, yo use ONE reel for needlefishing in total until you start catching fish. After that, you can adjust easily but retrieve speed memory is an important factor in mastering needlefish hard or soft. With soft needles especially, MANUALLY close the bail if your reel has one (some of mine don’t) and then pull the braid against the drag quickly to bed any loose line down before you retrieve. Your braid will NOT go on the reel tight using many soft needles unless you start loading 9” sluggo’s to the ounce for example. If possible, every now and then, swap the soft needle for a weight or, make a cast and retrieve through a thumb and finger to regain lost tension on the spool.)

So, lets look at a simple, yet common scenario.

Flat bay, little current, shallow, weedy, reef, dark, weed sticking up in places, a little wind from behind.

Mount your lure, senko, whatever and, you want a little distance, a nice slow to steady retrieve and, your lure is actually making occasional contact with weed sprouting from the water and shallow parts of the reef or boulders.

You choose a 6 or 7” senko, maybe a 7.5” sluggo and, you insert a weight, length ways into the tail. Suddenly, you have the soft equivalent of a tail weighted needlefish. With a smooth cast, it’ll fly a little better if a senko and, upon hitting the water, sink tail first BUT, upon you starting a retrieve, the lure will now be offering YOU and the length of resistance (rod tip to lure), a greater planing angle. This means, upon a retrieve, it will rise up, FASTER.  However, upon any pause, you will have killed the ‘leaf like’ fall of the senko. Using a clip on the nose of a senko, kills this leaf like fall too and trust me, nothing falls like a senko un-weighted. It’s DEADLY. But, you gotta get it out there and, the point is, in shallow water, a falling senko isn’t that much of a requirement so we can compromise it’s ‘action’ to present it’s ‘profile’. I hope that makes sense. Also, we’d want to ‘skin’ the hook thus maximising it’s weedless properties. Again, you’ve seen me make reference to a lure clip but if you simply want to cast ad retrieve, sure, a clip is fine. It only becomes a hindrance on swings, leaf like falls and tipping…

**Tipping** ( You can lift the nose of a senko up at a slight angle and then, release all the tension. The lure will slide backwards, away from you for a short period and then resume a leaf like fall. A sluggo won’t do this. On a ‘slow’ swing where line tension isn’t too great, you LIFT the nose just as you approach a rock say and, then let go. Tail weighted symmetrical hard needles ‘might do this too in faster water, check your lures but just passing a rock, do this and the lure will still swing, but will actually approach the cover. Easy target for awaiting bass, BOOM, fish on. This can be done on dead retrieved lures too by retrieving, lifting the rod periodically and letting the rod top drop, thus allowing slack. The senko will slide backwards and leaf fall mid retrieve.)

The point is, like with hard needlefish, you can simply cast, and retrieve. Do nothing else bar the occasional ‘finger flick’.

Hogy slim and super strike 1oz comparison

**Finger Flick**  (On a retrieve, just put you index finger, once or maybe twice in front of your rotating reel’s bail arm. That is it, do this at close range and watch the lure twitch and flick. However, do not overdo this.)

So, but using these weights in the soft needles, we can replicate, in miniature, all the weighting attributes of a hard needle, on the fly, or, with pre rigged options. Any weights you use with have a profound affect and I often load a sluggo, or a senko with both tail weights AND cross centre weights.

Cast into shallow swing water and tail weighted soft needle will rise faster against the line bow that will form. An un-weighted or neutral yet, ‘weighted’ senko will simply cast further, but ride level and hold down a bit on a swing rather that coming up and skating or waking. Your options are endless.

If your reel ha a back wind and many have, you can extend swings, trot lures backwards through runs and sweeps. In surf, you wait, time your cast and throw the senko into the water table and feel your lure get pulled back, out and under the oncoming wave and yes, it will still swing because most all surf beaches generate what is called ‘longshore current’.

So, the needlefish lure family, ‘from my point of view’ is the use of a lure that matches the ‘profile’ of a sandeel, maybe a smelt and, the goal is to match the hatch and imitate the ‘natural actions’ of said bait fish yet, acting in such a way that any movement imparted by yourselves, is seen as ‘could only be alive’ in such a scenario. Over animating said lures is a sure fire way to failure.

In future instalments, we will cover methods, where, and how. ALL of which which will apply to BOTH hard and soft needlefish unless I say otherwise or you ‘know’ your marks will behave in a counter way to the way I’m describing. If you are already senko/sluggo fishing in the ways described without jig heads, or, you are throwing actual needlefish, you are ‘needlefishing’. The reference to senko fishing in saltwater for bass is a bit of a misnomer as senko fishing, in US freshwater bass circles has many arrows to it’s bow. Also true in British saltwater but, used in a swing, or steady retrieve, is simply a ‘soft needlefish’. With a little split shot however… off we go again and we open up a whole new world. A discussion for another time.

That was probably a really long winded way of telling you that a stick with hooks doesn’t have to made from a bit of tree and, you should learn to trust the profile and imitate the natural actions but, simple as it sounds, ask anyone who has crossed the needlefish threshold and they, and I will tell you, going from the feel of a minnow lure kicking against the rod top, to simply feeling something, or almost nothing getting a bit lighter or heavier is a giant leap.

But, excuse the pun…

Stick with it.

Keith White

Our first group of four anglers are leaving today and then our second lot arrive, ready to start again early tomorrow morning - maybe John and I are lucky with this co-guiding thing we do, but the four we have just had have been fantastic, and the four arriving are sound as a pound as well. OK, with one exception perhaps - check here! Nope, I stand by my belief that for the most part, anglers are just pretty cool people, and when you get them out here in such a special place and they catch a few fish, well I don’t really see how life can get much better…………

Now of course John knows these waters very well and he is making the calls on where to take the lads fishing. I’ll chip in with a few thoughts when I can, but the guy knows his stuff backwards and holy cow does he have a lot of coastline around here! What really does it for me is seeing people catch fish, watching them smile and laugh, and also helping where I can with lure choices, techniques, ideas etc. People often ask me if it bothers me at all not actually fishing myself, but I am perfectly used to not fishing and seeing people catch fish via the bulk of my fishing related photo jobs anyway - but getting involved with actually helping our clients catch a few fish just gets more and more satisfying. I just love it. I am taking photos and shooting a bit of video to give to the guys as a memento of their trips, but to be able to help in some small way with the actual fishing? As I said in the title of this post, it’s a profound buzz.

October in Kerry!

You might struggle to believe that it’s October in Kerry with a couple of these photos here, but that 6lb+ bass that Joe had in such bright, calm conditions will live with me forever. Drifting and twitching a (frigging lethal) 6’’ sandeel colour OSP DoLive Stick in a bit of current with water as clear as you could ever hope to see, and then a prime condition bass like that comes along and inhales the soft plastic - wow! If watching that sort of stuff doesn’t buzz one up then I’d be very worried indeed. Good fishing, the perfect call on John’s behalf, and an October day that I am sure will live long in the guys’ memories. One day you’re trying to cover up from the autumn sun, and the next day you’re getting properly rained on! You get it all here in Kerry and I fall in love with the place the more time I am lucky enough to spend here.

Another thing about not actually fishing is that you do get to see a number of different lures working - and sometimes not working of course. One lure I do often turn to when working with clients is the IMA Komomo II - when conditions are just a bit too challenging for fishing soft plastics rigged weedless/weightless and something like my beloved Komomo SF-125 swims that tiny bit too deep for where we are fishing, I’ll often suggest turning to the even shallower swimming Komomo II and winding it nice and slowly. It fascinates me how often the lure then produces bass, as per yesterday morning in fact. That flashing plate colour Komomo II seems to work in all kinds of water and light conditions, but especially in bright sunshine. One of the lads has been catching consistently on that mullet coloured Feed Shallow, but in some coloured water yesterday I suggested he clip on a brighter coloured Feed Shallow copy that he had in his box - and he went and caught. I can’t pretend that I like the idea of ripoff lures, but the thing worked. It was great to see one of the lads whack out the legendary but discontinued Maria Chase BW in that holo silvery colour and catch a bass. All we need now is some proper autumn swells to get the guys out in the surf………….

We had a lad called Dave Froy on our first week of co-guiding out in Ireland the other day - he was one of four anglers from various ages and walks of life, but never in a million years would I have put Dave at 70 years old. We only found out that Dave was 70 on day three of the trip I think it was, and to be honest I was somewhat taken aback. Holy frigging cow if I am lucky enough to make 70 and I have even half as much zest as this awesome bloke has then I will count myself very lucky. Fit as you like, the most wicked sense of humour, sharp as a razor, he’s done so many things in his life, he’s a mad keen angler who just loves a bit of fishing in a place such as Kerry, and overall was just an absolute pleasure to be around…….

I don’t want to embarrass Dave here, but the fact that he was so up for what we did for four very long days at age 70 left a huge impression on me, and if there is one thing that a love for fishing and thus the outdoors must do is to help keep one’s zest for life shining brightly. Fishing can of course be done by people of nearly all ages, but what we do out at Thatch Cottage can be pretty tough - lots of early mornings, very long days, all kinds of weather, some of the marks can be a bit of a hike and/or a scramble over very uneven surfaces, and I have known a 30 year old client I think he was ask if he could nip off for an afternoon’s kip on only the second afternoon of his four day trip (no names mentioned P…..!)

It’s a blast to spend time with people who are so full of joy, and 70 year old Dave Froy was just that. I’ve already had a brush with cancer and I hope it stays away, but at the end of the day you’re going to get what you get. I can’t help feeling though that such a positive attitude as Dave has is going a long way towards him having such an incredible zest for life. Thanks so much for coming along on one of our trips Dave and we are so hoping you will come back to Thatch Cottage next year. What an inspiration.

It has happened too many times now for me to put it down as merely a fluke - you’re pollack fishing off the rocks, a few fish have either been caught or hooked and lost (typical pollack fishing!), and then the fishing goes quiet. On goes a Crazy Sandeel and as if like magic you catch or at least hook fish again - it’s just frigging deadly. I know that pollack can be very colour picky at times and that marks can go quiet if you have hooked a few fish, but it’s uncanny how changing over to a Crazy Sandeel can produce fish once more.

Last week over in Kerry we made the decision to head for one of the most stunning pollack marks I have ever been lucky enough to see, indeed this place floats my boat that much I considered resigning my post as a co-guide with John Quinlan and fishing myself! Seriously, it’s just an inspiring place to be. Anyway, a few fish were either landed or lost and things then went a bit quiet. I said to Andy that now was the time to clip on a 150mm/20g Fiiish Crazy Sandeel………

I think the problem if you like with the Crazy Sandeel has always been that anglers aren’t aware how it’s meant to be fished. Hell, when I first tried bumping the lure down a current (categorically not how it’s meant to be fished I subsequently found out), I kinda dismissed it as not being nearly as good as the Black Minnow and left it alone for a while. Nope, the Crazy Sandeel needs to be ripped hard to get it working, and nine times out of ten you will then get hit as the lure drops and you are cranking back down to it - and this is how I told Andy to fish the lure. The lads are good anglers and he susses it out straight away.

A cracking shore pollack from the same location last October.

So it’s gone quiet on the pollack, Andy puts on a Crazy Sandeel, and first chuck he hooks up (on the drop) yet doesn’t hook the fish. A few casts later and he hooks a donkey pollack (on the drop) that he saw clear as day but his line snapped - I got some video footage of all this and will post it up in due course when I had a chance to edit it together. I have seen this happen too many times now for it to be a fluke, and I am fast coming to the conclusion that the Fiiish Crazy Sandeel is just about the most lethal pollack lure I have ever seen. Back in August over in Kerry we went out on John’s boat a couple of times with our clients and it was almost uncanny how many pollack the Crazy Sandeel produced, but you’ve got to get it moving (rippling).

How often do you watch fish swimming about in say a harbour or marina? I am out in Lanzarote this week with my family and I was watching a bunch of mullet mooching around the other day (well I can’t not can I?!), but it’s when they put on a burst of speed that I am reminded so much of how you need to get the Crazy Sandeel looking when you rip it - at a slow speed the lure’s doing squat, as intended, but now rip it hard and it literally comes to life, just like a fast moving/swimming fish or indeed sandeel. It’s almost uncanny if you ask me how lifelike this lure is when you bring it to life.

We then moved on to another pollack mark and one of the lads landed a few more pollack and also a couple of wrasse on the Crazy Sandeel. I accept completely that there are masses of different lures that work well for pollack, but I have spent enough time either using or being around (guiding) the Crazy Sandeel and pollack fishing now to deem it a lure that I’d feel uncomfortable being without. Obviously I spend a fair amount of time talking about all things fishing with John Quinlan when are are doing our co-guiding thing, and it was interesting to hear how, pollack aside, he has become completely convinced about the Crazy Sandeel as a bass lure, indeed he was telling me of a number of occasions when the lure was the only thing the bass were interested in taking - which of course tends to suggest that the bass were feeding on sandeels of course, but how many of all the other lures we carry are also along the lines of a sandeel? I can’t help but wonder how much more I have to learn about what I think is a fascinating lure that here in the UK is generally very misunderstood.

And below is my work that will be out in the next issue of Sea Angler magazine, including a review of the Crazy Sandeel.

To be honest it makes little sense to me if I think about it logically, because the whole lure fishing thing appeals to me so much because it’s so wonderfully visual for my photography obsession, but obviously when you’re out in the pitch black casting lures around, that whole visual side to this style of fishing flies right out of the window. I can’t get visually excited about say an angler working a lure rod against a dramatic sky in a beautiful location at night, and even a grip and grin of an angler plus bass at night is severely creatively curtailed because you have to chuck loads of harsh flashlight at the subjects. But I find myself standing there in the middle of the night casting and retrieving say a white senko, and for some strange reason I absolutely love it……

Is it that very reason that you can’t see very much at all that is a big part of the reason why? Take away a sense such as sight and it seems as if your other senses try and make up for the loss by jacking themselves up - if you chuck lures around at night, do you get the sense that say the whole feel thing is that bit more heightened? I love it when I’m straight retrieving a senko and out of the blue (black?) I feel a gentle tap on it from a bass, and I am convinced my awareness of these gentle plucks is that bit greater because I am seeing so little - my sense of touch feels like it’s on overload. And yes, I do of course prefer it when a bass simply hits my lure so hard it hooks itself, but wow is the anticipation of the tap or hit that bit more increased because my visual parameters have been removed.

A few years ago I couldn’t really imagine myself actively looking forward to heading out there at night so much to chuck lures around, but as ever, if there’s one thing this lure fishing has taught me, it’s never to say never. When I was bait fishing all the time, going night fishing was as natural as going  daytime fishing, but night time lure fishing has gone and crept up on me in a big way. Yes, it fries my brain that I am not able to properly show it off as I feel I can with my cameras during daylight hours, but then I do wonder if just the pure fishing thing and not also thinking about the photography of it is also helping to concentrate my mind on simply being there and feeling so intently for any interest in my lure that feels so tenuously linked to me by some scarily thin braid.

OK, not quite dark yet, but at least it lets me do something photographically.........

And of course there is the whole argument around night fishing being arguably more productive than daytime fishing for bass, or might it often be that flat calm conditions which usually aren’t remotely conducive to chucking lures around during the day (are estuaries mostly exempt here?) are now a whole lot more appealing to the bass angler who is prepared to ply his or her trade at night when it’s like this? Without a doubt the whole lures at night thing requires a dollop more confidence, and I am sure this is mostly because we as human beings are naturally sceptical that fish can so easily locate lures (which like say a senko are doing so little in the water) when it’s dark, but if there one single thing that has made the whole night fishing lure thing click for me the last couple of years is that I stopped treating night lure fishing as some big thing, and instead started thinking of it quite simply as lure fishing - day or night it seems that a predator like bass can just as easily locate lures, and for me it’s another fascinating aspect to a side of fishing that I just never imagined could be so seemingly infinite…….

Hell, even if only some of the proposals make it to reality it’s got to be at least something to cheer about in the fight to get bass stocks back to a level that one might realistically term sustainable. I am going to copy and paste from the Angling Trust website here because you will get a better sense of what is going on right now. It is of course unlikely that all these proposals will become reality, but the fact that so much noise is being made about the need for drastic conservation measures of bass stocks can only be a good thing if you ask me.

From the Angling Trust website here: “Angling organisations, who have been battling for a better deal for threatened bass stocks and for the introduction of sustainable forms of bass fishing, have today welcomed the announcement by the European Commission that should see the removal of damaging gillnets from the bass fishery in the North Sea, English Channel and North Atlantic.

If the proposals are adopted by the Council of Ministers at the forthcoming Fishing Opportunities meeting in December, commercial bass exploitation will be restricted to hook and line fishing only for ten months of the year in 2017, with a closure in February and March to protect spawning aggregations.

Recreational anglers will be allowed to retain ten fish a month during the ten month open season, as opposed to one fish a day for just six months as is currently the case.

Overall the Commission’s proposals to remove the nets from the bass fishery will make a significant reduction in commercial bass mortality, while the recreational take is likely to remain broadly similar. However, the introduction of the more flexible monthly bag limits for anglers – something the Angling Trust has been arguing for – will help to undo some of the damage done to the charter boat fleet which lost up to 20% of its revenue as a result of a downturn in anglers' bookings following the introduction of the zero and one fish bag limits for 2016.

Both the Angling Trust and the Bass Anglers’ Sportfishing Society (B.A.S.S.) have been examining the evidence of the impacts of the 2016 measures on both bass stocks and on recreational bass fishing in order to formulate a series of proposals to the European Commission and to UK Fisheries Minister George Eustice. This included three separate surveys carried out among charter boat skippers, bass guides and sea anglers to determine the true socio-economic impacts of 2016 measures for recreational bass angling. The conclusions point to a significant loss of revenue for small businesses and coastal communities. Angling charter boat skippers in England have seen revenues slashed by more than one-fifth and coastal towns are losing up to £3 million in valuable tourism revenue as anglers stay away.

The survey carried out by the Professional Boatman’s Association (PBA) showed that an estimated £2.87 million is projected to be lost by charter boat businesses, which take anglers to sea to fish recreationally for bass and other species. The losses amount to more than 50 per cent of the total value of commercial bass landings in the UK, with individual charter skippers reporting an average of 22 fewer bookings and losing more than £8,000 in revenues.

The Commission proposals published today state: "On the basis of social and economic impacts limited fisheries using hooks and lines should be permitted, while providing for a closure to protect spawning aggregations.

"Additionally, due to incidental and unavoidable by-catches of sea bass by vessels using demersal trawls and seines, such by-catches should be limited to 1% of the weight of the total catch of marine organisms on board.

"Catches of recreational fishermen should be restricted by a monthly limit."

Despite evidence to the contrary, the commercial sector lobbied strongly for the retention of damaging gillnetting – a practice which impacts on more than just fish with cetaceans, seals, sea-birds regularly caught up in inshore nets with lethal results. They also argued unsuccessfully for their allowable bass by-catch to be raised from 1% to 5%, which would have allowed netting to continue via the back door.

Nigel Horsman, from B.A.S.S. said: "These proposals are very good news for bass stocks, which have been declining dramatically over recent years, to a dangerously low level. Halting that decline and giving the stocks a chance to recover is not only good news for anglers, and all the businesses and livelihoods that depend on angling, but is a welcome development for truly sustainable (hook and line) commercial fishermen.

"It is important now that the long term benefits that will arise from these management measures are not lost in the horse trading of the December Fishing Opportunities meeting. These measures can form the basis of a long term management plan for bass and would allow, for instance, a maximum landing size for bass to be introduced, in order to protect the largest, highly fecund females which are key to a healthy stock.”

Angling Trust National Campaigns Coordinator Martin Salter, who has long argued for bass to become a ‘net free species’, added: “At long last the Commission appears to have listened to the scientific advice and is learning the lessons from other countries like the USA where valuable bass stocks are managed much more sustainably.”

David Mitchell, Head of Marine at the Angling Trust, said: “It’s good to see the European Commission, so often seen as the enemy, put forward some progressive, balanced and sensible measures to protect bass stocks. Unlike last year it’s essential that these measures are implemented by the Council of Ministers when they meet in December.

"The proposal for a monthly bag limit for recreational catches is one we believe offers a fairer deal for anglers who were given a terrible deal last year once the Commission’s proposals had been watered down by the politicians.”

Additional notes:

Click here for European Commission's proposals for 2017

"In January 2017 and from 1 April to 31 December 2017 in recreational fisheries in ICES divisions IVb, IVc, VIIa and from VIId to VIIk, a maximum of 10 fish per fisherman may be retained each month."

Background Briefing

Bass stocks in Britain and Europe are in trouble and urgent action is needed to conserve and rebuild the remaining spawning populations. The decline is the result of increased commercial overfishing since 1985 - not recreational sea angling (RSA).

Estimates as to the impact of recreational angling on bass stocks vary from 10% to 25% of all landings. Recent evidence from CEFAS and the Eastern IFCA illustrates how ‘official’ commercial landings data is massively understated suggests that the figure is much closer to 10% and many anglers would argue that it is even lower.

The imminent collapse in bass stocks or a total moratorium on all forms of bass fishing would be disastrous for the economy of recreational sea angling and coastal communities. Sea Angling 2012, the study of Recreational Sea Angling carried out by CEFAS for Defra shows:

there are 884,000 sea anglers in England who directly pump £1.23 billion p.a. into the economy (£2.1 billion including induced and indirect impacts)

10,400 full time jobs are dependent on sea angling (23,600 jobs including induced and indirect impacts)

The VAT alone which is collected from sea anglers dwarfs the entire value of all commercial fish landings in England. Recreational bass fishing in the UK is estimated to be worth £200 million a year to the economy.

Organisations like the National Federation of Sea Anglers, now part of the Angling Trust, and the Bass Anglers Sportfishing Society (B.A.S.S.) have been campaigning for the introduction of bass conservation measures for more than 20 years. Things looked hopeful in 2004 when the Net Benefits report by the Cabinet Office recommended that fishery managers look at making bass a recreational-only species. This was followed up by the publication of a Bass Management Plan by B.A.S.S. in October 2004. Sadly, the reports stayed on the shelf, bass stocks continued to be over fished and the unsustainable minimum size limit of 36cm remained in place until last year’s long overdue rise to 42 cm – the absolute smallest size at which bass reach maturity and are able to reproduce.

Scientific advice issued by the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) in June 2014 recommended an 80% cut in bass mortality across the EU area for 2015. This followed the 2013 advice for a 36% cut which was ignored. In 2014 bass landings by UK vessels rose by 30% (from 772 tonnes to 1,004 tonnes).

Current stock biomass in North Atlantic fishery is now estimated to be 7,320 tonnes, well below the ‘B-lim’ of 8,075 tonnes, at which future regeneration becomes critically endangered.

Sea bass are an iconic sporting species, a top target for anglers with a recreational value of £200m to the economy. Thirty years ago bass were considered primarily a recreational species and were subject to very little commercial harvesting. [MAFF 1987].

Commercial Hook and Line fishing is more sustainable and allows undersized (and oversized) fish to be returned. It accounts for around 20% of all bass caught commercially in the UK. However, this figure is likely to have decreased following last year's increase in the bass minimum landing size.

Following the failure to reach agreement at the European Fisheries Council meeting in December 2014 the EU took the unusual step of introducing a series of welcome emergency measures which were confirmed at the Fisheries and Aquaculture Committee meeting on Friday, January 23rd, 2015. These included a new minimum landing size of 42cms and a ban on the trawling of spawning aggregations in order to help save declining bass stocks in the English Channel, Southern North Sea and Irish and Celtic Seas.

The UK secured some success in leading on the introduction of the 2015 package of emergency measures to protect bass stocks. However, the situation has continued to deteriorate. ICES advice for 2016 recommended catches of no more than 541 tonnes - effectively a 90% reduction on 2014. The 2015 measures are estimated to have reduced catches by only 36% - the EC accept they simply didn't go far enough - and it is now clear that the neither did those adopted for 2016 which included increase in vessel catch limits for inshore gillnet and hook and line commercial boats.

There is no doubt that inshore gillnetting has played a significant part in the decline of bass stocks. For example in 2014, UK gillnetters landed 584 tonnes of bass - more than the ICES 2016 Northern Stock advice of 541 tonnes for the whole of the EU.

ICES Advice

The ICES advice for 2017 revealed a deteriotating situation and recommended a moratorium on all bass landings to allow for a recovery in bass stocks.

Recreational angling bodies are not in the least surprised that ICES is now recommending a total moratorium in 2017. For several years we have warned that unless EU Fisheries ministers started taking heed of the scientific advice and began radically reducing the commercial catch limits then the solutions proposed by ICES would get evermore draconian.

The ICES advice for 2017 can be viewed here.”

I’ll start this blog post off my saying that up until the other day, this Daiwa Ballistic EX 3000 Mag Sealed spinning reel that I have been using for a while now has behaved absolutely impeccably, indeed the only thing that I could find about it that remotely niggled me was that you don’t get a spare spool included with the reel. It’s light, it feels great on the sort of lure rods I am going to go bass fishing with, the line lay is perfect, I like the retrieve speed, indeed everything felt pretty damn good with this sub-£200 Daiwa Ballistic EX spinning reel……..

When our second group of clients arrived out in Kerry the other day, Andy’s Shimano Sustain 4000 was feeling as rough as you like because he had managed to give the reel a proper drowning on the Copper Coast when they stopped off for a few days before heading further west. I said no worries, use this Daiwa Ballistic EX 3000 that Daiwa UK kindly let me have a go with - the reel’s there to be used, it’s working perfectly and it’s loaded up with the ridiculously good 20lb bright green Daiwa J-Braid. I reckon it’s also a really good way to test gear - hand it over to clients to see how they get on with it compared to what I might think of it.

So all’s going swimmingly (a deliberate choice of word here, read on). Andy is liking the reel as much as I have been with my lure fishing at home, and we are having an absolute blast with these guys. In a perfect world we’d love some proper autumn swells to hit the beaches for the bass, but aside from part of one day, for the most part the seas were as flat as you like out in Kerry - we did take the guys down to the beach to give it a go when that bit of swell rolled in, but aside from the one bass they just didn’t seem to be there (too much bait around?). These guys are up for it big time though, and Andy took it upon himself to try and wrestle the mantle of The Human Mermaid away from another bloke I know who might or might not be called Charles……...

I never asked Andy to hold back for one second with the reel, but the fact that this reel is now feeling as rough as hell does raise a number of questions, with number one of course being was it unfair to put a spinning reel through that much direct contact (drowning) with saltwater and expect it to keep on working flawlessly? Let’s be honest here - how many lure anglers are going to do what Andy is doing in these photos? However hard you might try to keep it out of the water, it’s copping some proper, direct saltwater abuse, and to be fair to the tackle company, was it designed for anything like this? The reel was washed down in freshwater and kept on working just fine for Andy for the rest of his trip, but it was not until the guys left and I came to check the reel over the next morning that it became apparent that corrosion had obviously set in somewhere inside and turning the handle gave me that horrible, you know it needs at least some new bearings sort of feeling.

The second question I have to ask is how much protection is this whole Mag Sealed thing meant to afford a spinning reel? Until the reel goes back to Daiwa I won’t know exactly where the rough feeling problem stems from, but it sure as dammit feels very much internal, and unless I am mistaken, on this particular Ballistic EX reel, aren’t those inside bits meant to be pretty well protected against water getting in via the Mag Sealed technology? Or as per the fishing that Andy put the reel through, is that simply me expecting too much and being very unrealistic? I am perfectly open to the reel feeling as rough as hell being angler error completely (and I am talking about me here, because I never asked him not to use it as he did), but a part of me also must wonder if a spinning reel that was so damn lovely to fish with should now feel so rough after what was not a long session in all that turbulent water?

Where is he?!

I understand completely why the US striped bass anglers who fish big seas and/or swim to rocks etc. need to use sealed spinning reels like those Van Staal lumps, and when bass anglers tell me that so and so reel has lasted for years and is as smooth as you like still, I can’t help but wonder firstly how much they are actually going fishing, and how hard they are actually then pushing their gear. Same with waders. A salmon angler says his Simms have lasted 10+ years and what on earth am I doing wrong with mine that they can’t even make one year, but then it comes out that this salmon angler is standing in freshwater for a couple of weeks a year at best. Some kinds of fishing by their nature are relentlessly tough on gear - sometimes it’s the insane fish that can do the damage (GTs etc.), and sometimes it’s more the elements. Our bass fishing for example, well we love these fish with a passion, but they ain’t putting our rods and reels under that much strain with the actual fights.

If Andy hadn’t fished that brief session in the bit of surf that did actually turn up then I’d be back at home fishing with the same reel and no doubt loving it as much as I was. But he did, and the reel’s a bit knackered and needs to go back to Daiwa, and whilst it’s not my reel anyway, if you had bought it there is of course a warranty that I believe would cover this damage. There’s a high chance you’re never going to lure fishing like these photos anyway and you could buy the reel and love fishing with it because it’s just stunning, but for me it’s a case of now wondering if something so damn simple to take apart and fully wash down and oil like that slightly more “agricultural” Penn Clash 3000 is indeed the way to go if you’re going to get right in amongst it like Andy did. Food for thought……..

I’ll preface this blog post by saying that it revolves around two very good anglers, with one of them in particular having extensive knowledge of the Copper Coast area on the south coast of Ireland. I know Steve well, indeed we have fished together over in Ireland a lot over the last few years - he’s been going to Ireland for many years now, but I think it’s fair to say that both Steve and Carl are in a bit of a state of shock at just how good their very recent seven day bass lure fishing trip was………..

When tides and conditions come together at what is potentially a very good time of year, you know you’re in with a shout at some good bass fishing, but then I have been over there in October before with some ideal conditions and we bled for whatever reasons (bad angling?!). Steve and I fished together in May along that south coast of Ireland stretch in what we reckoned were some seriously naff conditions, yet we smashed them. Fishing eh? Isn’t it amazing how none of us will ever come close to knowing it all, but just sometimes it seems as if there is indeed a fishing god looking down upon us, and this particular Carlsberg bass fishing trip was some serious stuff.

Carl with his 10lb 14oz bass

Two anglers fishing for seven days. As I said, they know their stuff, I know how hard they fish, and they put a lot of miles of driving and walking in. These trips away are a blast, but most of the time you get home and need a few days to recover from lack of sleep etc. Anyway, Steve and Carl landed a total of 114 bass between them, and Steve reckons the average size was nudging 6lbs. I am sure it’s possible to catch many more small bass than that if you fished certain areas, but that number of fish at that average size? Crumbs. I crossed over with the lads last Sunday when I flew back from Lanzarote to Cork to pick up my car - the fish I landed that day are not included in their figures, but I managed to nail one around the 8lb+ mark, plus a few others, and all the bass were in fantastic condition. Anyway, here are the stats courtesy of Steve, as indeed are the photos here:

Wednesday: fish 19, wind SW Light

Thursday: fish 23, wind SW Strong

Friday: fish 11, wind SW/W Moderate

Saturday: fish 14, wind SW Light

Sunday: fish 11, wind SE Light/Moderate

Monday: fish 17, wind E Fresh

Tuesday: fish 19, wind NE Strong

Average size 6lb

Very few less than 5lb

X12 @ 7lb

X3 @ 8lb (Duel Hardcore 130F, senko)

X1 @ 9lb (Frosty)

X1  @ 10lb 14oz (senko)

Steve with an 8lb 6oz bass

There’s a reason that so many of us love going over to fish in Ireland. I love living here in SE Cornwall and I love my fishing around here, but realistically I know that I’ll never see that sort of bass fishing in my local waters. I might never see bass fishing like that over in Ireland either, but that’s just it - there’s always a chance that every single thing comes together for a few days and you absolutely smash them. I’ve been part of some incredible bass fishing sessions over there before, and I hope to be part of many more in the future, but to consistently catch big bass over so many days like Steve and Carl did? Some mighty fine fishing if you ask me, and I take my hat off to them. I would also like to offer a massive well done to Carl for landing that 10lb 14oz cracker on a white senko at night, and on their last night I believe. If you have experienced bass fishing like this before then I take my hat off to you as well, but for the rest of us we can continue to do what we do as anglers - hope and dream that someday that fishing god is going to smile at us and shower us with big fish until our heads are well and truly wrecked! Outstanding……..

I have worn this Vision Kust waterproof jacket for a few months now, including through some of the heaviest and most persistent rain I can remember being out and about in. Now of course you’d expect what is not a cheap waterproof jacket to be properly waterproof, but I have worn a few different jackets over the years and some have offered, let’s say, “variable degrees of resistance” to heavy and persistent rain - well this rather smart Vision Kust jacket (means coast in English) is one of the really good ones……..

I was wearing the rather good Scierra C&R jacket before this one, but as good as that Scierra one is, I do think that this Vision Kust jacket seems as if it was almost purposefully designed for lure anglers. With a name like Kust it has been designed for fishing around saltwater (lure and fly?) and it’s very well cut so that absolutely no part of the jacket gets in the way and annoys me while I am casting/fishing or walking. To be fair though, nothing about that Scierra jacket annoyed me either and I think it’s a great bit of kit. I tend to wear XL clothes and the Kust jacket in an XL is the perfect fit for me, and when it gets cold I can easily layer up underneath it without ever feeling restricted. I like this. There are a few pockets if needs be, but to be honest I don’t tend to use them save for stuffing a hat into one of them or something like that, and there aren’t loads of pockets sticking out all over the place like they can do on some fly fishing jackets (and bug the proverbial out of me).

As with the Scierra C&R jacket, there’s not a hint of any saltwater damage on any of the (nylon?) zips, which to be fair I would expect considering that it’s a jacket designed for use on the coast, or kust! It’s a good length to wear with waders and I just like lure fishing in the thing, or rather it’s a good jacket to wear when I need one albeit I’d rather we could spend our lives fishing in shorts and t-shirts. But we can’t, and a decent waterproof jacket is in my view as important as rods and reels in our fishing.

I still haven’t found a waterproof jacket which lets zero water in through the sleeve area while you’re fishing in heavy rain, and this Kust jacket is no different. The actual sleeve design is a little fiddly to tighten down after you have put the jacket on, but it’s perfectly comfortable in use - as clever as Vision are trying to be though, when you’re casting and retrieving all the time in heavy rain, you’re going to get some water coming in however tightly you secure the elastic sort of velcro strap design thing. The actual cuffs on the jacket extend out slightly over the top of your hand in what I assume is an attempt to try and keep as much water from getting in as possible, but in reality it makes no difference - fish in heavy rain and you’re going to get wet sleeves. It’s the way it is. This isn’t a complaint by the way, because it’s no worse than many jackets I have fished in and I expect this to happen, albeit I’d love it if it didn’t!

What more can I say? I love this Vision Kust jacket for my lure fishing. It packs down pretty compactly and fits into the rucksack I carry most often, it dries out pretty quickly when you’ve been out in a downpour, it’s nice and light to wear, and as I said, it doesn’t annoy me in any way when I am actually fishing. Wear a baseball cap in heavy rain and the hood works well, and as with the overall jacket design, it’s a hood design that doesn’t remotely bug me when in use. Nice one Vision I reckon.

They’re not cheap, they can be tricky to get hold of, and they smell, but for me they are the most perfect soft plastic lure that I have come across so far for fishing with a sort of twitch/pause/twitch/wind retrieve. I believe that the OSP DoLive Stick exists mainly as a freshwater bass lure over in Japan, but as with a number of freshwater lures, some anglers have switched on to how deadly some of these things can be for our (sea) bass. Holy cow they are frigging lethal and I am at a loss to think why I nailed on them over four years ago but then for whatever reason left them sitting all alone in a dark corner but have now come back to them with renewed love all over again…….

6'' OSP DoLive Stick, wagasaki colour, rigged on a 5/0 Lunker City Texposer Hook

I have fished mainly with the largest 6’’ DoLive Stick, and you’re looking at a soft plastic that weighs about 15g once you have stuck a 5/0 or 6/0 weedless hook in it. I don’t like using a belly-weighted weedless hook with these lures because I don’t want to change how they are fishing when you pause them and the lure then drops so seductively, but without any extra weight they frigging fly anyway, and they are remarkably stable for a soft plastic. To be honest though, when things start to bounce I’ll have most likely turned to something hard like an IMA Hound 125F Glide anyway.

I have purposefully tried a few different colours of DoLive Sticks out this year and caught on them as well, but it’s quite remarkable how sandeel like the Wagasaki coloured one is when you twitch it around. I know of double figure bass that have been taken on this lure, and whilst there are of course a load of soft plastics that will do a similar sort of job to the DoLive Stick, I have yet to come across one that gives me the same casting ability combined with such a stunning action in the water. Sure, rip the thing too hard and it pops up on the surface, but find the “right” speed and I want to jump in and eat the thing myself. I feel that sometimes it catches me bass when other lures aren’t working and that is exactly what I want from a lure like this if I am going to carry it around with me.

Of course I love getting hit on a hard lure - that feeling you sometimes get when it feels like winding into a brick wall as a decent bass inhales the thing, well it’s awesome isn’t it? But I do love how different it can feel to get hit on a soft plastic that you are really imparting life to such as this OSP DoLive Stick. Sometimes you get a tap, tap, then all goes solid (like with this 8lb+ bass I caught the other day on this lure), or sometimes the rod is nearly ripped from your hands. I am positive you could wind it straight in like a senko and catch bass, indeed you can of course twitch a senko around pretty damn effectively as well, but I like the bit extra that this DoLive Stick gives me and as such I tend to turn to it when I think (hope?) that a subtly fished soft plastic might give me a few fish. You can get into such a good rhythm when fishing this lure, indeed I credit a lad I know who happens to fish this lure very well with inspiring me to get back into using it again. Thank you,

I have had bass rip the odd DoLive Stick straight off the hook on a hit, but that’s the price you pay fishing with soft plastics, and to be fair it rarely happens. It’s a soft plastic so of course it can tear up with a lot of use or via a few fish, but as ever it’s very much worth investing in a bottle of the incredibly useful Mend-It and using it to yes, you’ve got it, mend your soft lures! I have started to play around a bit with the lighter, 4.5’’ DoLive Stick and I really fancy this one for those times when the bass might be particularly spooky, or earlier in the season when say the sandeels might be a bit small and skinny.

If you fish bass fish with soft plastics then you most likely have got a lure like this that you really like, so if I need to go checking something particularly deadly out, then please let us know in the comments section below. Give me the Fiiish Black Minnow, Fiiish Crazy Sandeel, OSP DoLive Stick and of course a few senkos and I reckon I am pretty well covered for my bass fishing these days as regards soft plastics. The pain is that tracking down the OSP DoLive Stick isn’t always very easy - keep an eye on this UK website/shop here as Ben often stocks these lures, or else it’s a case of trawling the internet and buying from abroad.

I’ve had a hankering for a slightly lighter lure fishing rod for a while now, and whilst I’ve messed around with a few over the years and really liked some of them, I don’t remember picking one up, fishing with it, and having it make such an instant impression on me as this frigging stunning Major Craft Skyroad 9’ 7-23g lure rod. I am sure that in due course I will come across another lighter lure rod that I like a bit more than this, but yet again with the Major Craft Skyroad range I am left wondering how on earth they are able to make fishing rods this damn good for the price they are putting them out at - and yes, I am talking about UK retail prices here.

I fished for a while with the very impressive, lighter 9’ 7-23g Major Craft Truzer, indeed a mate of mine liked it so much he went and bought the loan rod I had here. A client of ours over in Ireland this year had the lighter 8’9’’ 7-23g Major Craft X-Ride which I must assume is essentially the same blank as the more expensive Truzer, and via the few chucks I had with the rod I quickly handed it back in case I went and ordered one that night. What a rod. I have also chucked various other lighter lure rods over the years (and I’m talking about rods here below that roughly 10-30g casting weight), but then along comes this Skyroad 9’ 7-23g and yet again with Major Craft I am left wondering how much more rod your money can actually buy you. Sure, because I have serious issues with lure fishing rods I will always keep looking around, but it’s going to have to be one hell of a blank to float my boat as much as this particular Skyroad does.

Do you need a slightly lighter lure fishing rod? I can’t answer that for you, but I can’t get away from how nice it is to fish with a lighter rod with certain lures in calmer conditions. Working a subtle surface lure like the rather killer little IMA Pugachev’s Cobra is just awesome on this rod. I’m not going to take a rod like this 9’ 7-23g one out in rough and/or windy conditions, and of course I’m not going to unleash it when there’s a chance I will need to get the heavier stuff out there for whatever reasons, but yes, I can find plenty of situations when using the lighter rod just makes me smile.

Short rod casting video

The rod’s very fast, but in no way is it too stiff to be a pure delight to fish with - twitching a roughly 15g, 6’’ OSP DoLive Stick around on this Skyroad is about as good as this lethal lure has ever felt to me, indeed it just strikes me as exactly the right amount of tension in the rod tip to give me the control I need. I can’t help but smile every single time I chuck this lure out on this rod. Same with those surface lures around the Skimmer/Pugachev’s Cobra size, and of course you can bang most of the minnows we might use out with consummate ease.

I recently bought a couple of truly stunning handmade lures off a guy in Plymouth, and one of them happens to weigh exactly 23g, which is right at the top of the suggested casting weight for this 9’ Skyroad - and the lure just flies out without any trouble at all. I am not about to recommend that you deliberately overload this rod, but it’s good to know how easily the thing deals with the heavier lures in its casting range if needs be. Some anglers might argue that a rod like this could be undergunned for really big bass, but let’s be realistic here and accept how big these fish we love can actually get, and also that it’s usually more about where you hook a decent bass rather than the actual weight of it. You can pull a 6lb bass in without any undue fuss at all in “regular” conditions, but now put that same fish in a snorting run of current and it’s a completely different story. So no, this rod is not remotely undergunned, and I would also politely point out that most anglers are scared of putting a serious bend in rod when trying to get a fish in anyway.

What a lure fishing rod, and whilst we are in the middle of the time of year when conditions often dictate the heavier stuff down here, when it calms right off and I head out at night with a white senko clipped on the end of my leader, this Major Craft Skyroad 9’ 7-23g lure rod does the business just beautifully with those lures as well. Lure fishing with a rod and reel setup that feels so light and responsive is an absolute joy and it makes me smile while I am fishing with it. What more could I ask from a fishing rod?

Oh, and come on England, let's stuff the Boks on Saturday afternoon. And how about Ireland v The All Blacks last weekend? What a game of rugby, can't believe the Irish turned them over like that, what a bunch of heroes.

The subject of sandeel profile lures that do little in the water when you wind them in are increasingly of interest to me these days (have a look here and here), but from my limited understanding of this family of lures so far, it seems that they tend to work best at night. I had one day’s fishing on the south coast of Ireland the other day when I flew back from holiday and picked up my car, and Steve, Carl and I started off in the morning at a stunning Copper Coast mark on the ebb tide - it’s very shallow, broken ground, beset with perfect killing channels for the bass, and because of the lack of depth you can’t go fishing anything that swims very deep at all………..

Anyway, quite aside from what I caught my first couple of bass on that particular morning, I could not help but notice how Carl landed I think three bass in a row on a white senko, doing nothing more than whacking it out and winding it back in like we do at night - only this was morning and you’d class it very much as daylight albeit there was some heavy cloud cover. The night before the lads had caught a few fish on the white senkos and I think Carl thought why not give them a go in the morning as well. It’s an obvious sort of lure to turn to in murkier water, but bear in mind the water in front of us that morning was about as clear as you get.

So the water’s stripping out fairly quickly and I want to try and get a lure a bit further out to cover some ground that I know is out there from previous experience of this mark. I went to Martha’s Vineyard in the US about five years ago now, and just before we left we dropped into a really good tackle shop - the guy in there persuaded me to buy some small needlefish lures and try them on our bass, but to be perfectly honest the three I think I bought have been sitting on a shelf ever since. Why? Because up until recently I simply haven’t had the confidence to use such a boring looking lure that does squat in the water, but things of course have changed for me with straight-retrieving a senko and doing so well with it. I had sprayed one of these small US needlefish lures white a while back, and it happened to be in my lure box that particular morning.

Bear in mind that I could most likely have got a regular white senko out to where I wanted my lure to be, but this little “hard senko” for want of a better lure name casts pretty damn well, further than a 5’’ Bamboo Stick in fact, and with a couple of bass under my belt and a very good angler catching fish on a white senko, in clear water, in the day, and not far from me, well now was the time to give it a go. On goes the “hard senko”, I blast it out, get my rod tip up a bit and start a simple but slower than I would wind a white senko at night straight retrieve. Yes, you’ve guessed it, a bass goes and jumps on the end of it almost immediately. I think I might have yelped with excitement!

Via my experience below, I think the trebles that come with the lure (as per above) are too heavy and thick so I have changed them

So what does this prove? Well that one single bass has now given me all the confidence I need to keep on exploring the use of “boring” lures like these senko or indeed needlefish things. I have caught plenty of bass in the day on senkos, so I see no reason why they won’t hit a hard version of that simple soft plastic.  I am not about to leave my favourite hard lures at home when I go fishing, but I’ll gladly carry a bunch of different options with me. That night I did then chuck one of those heavier Super Strike 1oz, white “Super N Fish” needlefish out in a bit of current and had what felt like a half-decent bass hook up but come off. So much for me to learn, my brain is bouncing and it’s such a blast………..