One of the big sea fish success stories of recent times is without doubt that of the bass. A number of factors have to varying degrees made a contribution, some of which include seasons with high spawning success, secure nursery areas, and global climatic changes. Twenty five years ago, the species was considered to be at the edge of its regular west coast distribution around the English-Scottish border region, and probably the Humber over on the eastern side. Then came the 1990’s bringing with it several of the warmest years since global records began. Coinciding with this, the bass has now expanded its range to take in the entire British Isles, and will very likely have extended its effective spawning range too. For those parts of the coast traditionally blessed with bass it is a return to the good times. For the rest of the country where bass numbers were previously sparse or non-existent, there is the promise of exciting times ahead. A very good example of this has been the Lancashire coast which when I started fishing was bordering on the distributional fringe. From the mid 1990's to around 2005, bass was the dominant summer and autumn target fish, though numbers have dropped off since then, probably as a direct result of over exploitation. The reasons already suggested have played their part in the bass boom for the North West. Some however think there is another equally important environmental force at work.
Lancashire’s coastline is relatively short. On a calm day, a small boat with a big engine could probably push it from one end of the county to the other in under 2 hours. In some ways this is good news as the counties bass hot spots are also the joint property of our Merseyside and Cumbrian neighbours to the north and the south of the Fylde coast. This puts the three small boat clubs located on the Fylde in the advantageous position of being able to strike out in either direction dependant on weather, tide size, season, and current trends. A lot of bass angling expertise has developed locally over recent years not only within the three Fylde clubs, but also the Wirrall, Knott End and Morecambe dinghy angling clubs. Even so, for some people, the catching of bass still has a certain mystique which can be off putting. Much of this has to do with bait quality and choice. Peeler crab and sandeel are the two baits most commonly associated with fishing for bass, and are also ironically probably the most troublesome of all potential bass baits to get hold of. But this need not be a problem off the Lancashire Coast.
Depending on how you look at it, bait fishing for bass in the North West can be slotted into one of three categories. Over the rough ground around King Scar off Rossall Point, and the various scars close in off Heysham, peeler crab is the bait to have. This contrasts with the banks along the northern edge of Morecambe Bay, which lie well inside Cumbrian territorial waters where live sandeel is the killer bait. Other baits will work to a lesser degree in these areas too. But for the rest of the North West the top live bait is arguably black lug worm, which is good news as this is not only the easiest bait to gather locally, but can also be bought readily from local diggers and tackle shops. Over the southern bass marks in the River Ribble, the fish likely to show most interest in peeler crab will be flounders. Switch to black lug and bass start to come into the reckoning. A similar pattern shows along the edges of the Lune Deep and the offshore banks in the southern half of Morecambe Bay. Most probably it has always been that way. The difference now is that more people are fishing for bass because there are so many more bass around. But there are those who believe there is more to the local bass boom than global climatic change.
Wherever nuclear material is used or stored, people tend to fear for the environment. Bass anglers on the other hand see a more positive side to nuclear electricity generation such as at Heysham's two power stations. Both stations have discharge channels returning abstracted seawater used for cooling their reactors. None of this water runs any real risk of contamination. What is of interest here is both the volume and the temperature of the water returned. Collectively, the two stations are licensed to abstract up to a staggering 1.6 billion gallons (yes, 1,600 million) of sea water each and every day of the year, and have done so since 1986 when the second of the two units was commissioned to run along side the first. Both discharges have different consent limits set on them in terms of temperature with permitted increases of 11 and 14.5 degrees Celsius above the ambient intake temperature. But these are maximum figures with the daily average probably being nearer 7 degrees. It isn’t difficult to visualise how this could affect sea temperatures not only in the immediate vicinity of the outfalls, but right out to the very fringes of Morecambe Bay. And it is equally easy to predict what the knock on effects of these artificially elevated increases are likely to be.
Small bass shoal up and thrive in the concrete discharge channels themselves. The area around the outfalls is a protected bass nursery area in which boat fishing is prohibited, though unfortunately not shore fishing. At higher temperatures, fish develop more quickly due to an increased availability of food and more efficient chemical conversion of that food into growth. This creates a higher density of faster growing school bass to spread out into the bay and adjacent areas where they should continue to grow on well as a result of the temperature increase. An odd big bass is not a good barometer of potential as one can put in a show anywhere and any time. Consistency should be the true yardstick. The general trend locally is for the Ribble estuary to produce good numbers of smaller fish with the odd better specimen mixed amongst them, the best of which recently tipped the scales to 16 pounds. Along the Fylde front, bass are thinner on the ground, though some very big fish are caught from time to time, often by people fishing for other things including smoothhounds and tope. Only when you get to Rossall point and across the Lune Deep do bass numbers start to climb again. On a direct comparison, average catches in the bay are probably lower than they would be at the mouth of the Ribble. After all, Morecambe Bay is a bigger area for them to spread out into. But what these fish lack in concentrated numbers, they make up for with better average size.
My normal technique for catching North West bass is with static redgills, a technique I shall go into more detail about on another occasion. My first trip bait fishing from the south end of The Fylde involved taking two boats down to the mouth of the River Ribble, one of which was our guide Tom Birtwhistle. On both sides of the Ribble estuary, banks have formed as a result of suspended material carried by the river falling out of suspension once the flow has eased. Preston has ceased to be a shipping port, so the river is no longer dredged which has allowed creeping siltation to start infilling the main channel. There are more banks over on the Southport side than the Fylde side, and more chance of getting stuck on a dropping tide. The plan for the day was to pick out and anchor our chosen bank at low water and fish the tide up. The anchor went over in around 7 feet of water within casting range of the edge of the bank where we patiently waited for the run to get under way. We had been warned not too expect too much until water depth had increased to around 10 feet, and to expect a good mix of fish including flatfish and plenty of weevers. Out of interest, I rigged up an extra rod with small hooks on a paternoster baited with mackerel strip and frozen black lug to see what else might be about before setting out the big fresh black lug baits at prime bass time. That turned out to be the busiest rod.
Collectively, the bigger baits picked up a few schoolies almost immediately. I on the other hand had a seemingly endless stream of fish to deal with. In the main these were tub gurnards, weevers by the bucket full, dabs, and tiny pup tope. You can very soon tire of that, particularly the weevers which have to be disgorged using two pairs of pliers so as not to get stung. A couple more schoolies also put in a show. Then Tom decided to head off elsewhere and try for other things. On several previous occasions this trip had been cancelled due to poor weather. Now we were having problems for entirely the opposite reason. It was just too calm, and with other boats in the vicinity, too noisy. The fish simply weren’t having any of it. So out of curiosity, Dave Devine and I decided to make an investment of time by exploring the area with the sounder and GPS. We quickly noted that what had been the main river channel was barely deeper than the sand build ups on the shore side of the training wall. Between the wall and Lytham front the bottom appeared to be much of a muchness with hardly a feature to be picked out anywhere. So we decided to put the anchor down and fish blind until high water before heading back in. Amazingly that hour brought four bass and a couple of good flounders, with a double hit of bass on the very first cast.
A subsequent run out into Morecambe Bay with Tom to fish black lug baits for the bass also took place in mirror calm conditions. But it was mid week with nobody but ourselves out there, besides which, Morecambe Bay is a very different prospect altogether. After sounding out our exact position, we put the anchor down on top of the bank then eased the boat back on the rope to within casting range of the lip. Previously in the Ribble we had fished ultra light fixed spool outfits with a maximum of a couple of ounces of lead to hold bottom. These Morecambe Bay banks called for much more substantial gear. Medium boat rods and a multiplier are required to get the gear in due to the amount of loose weed washing about the place. Uptiding is out of the question as it would pick up even more weed. Fishing a 4 to 5 foot monofilament flowing trace tends to trap most of the weed slipping down the line at the weight leaving the bait less prone to picking up a covering. It’s a constant battle bringing the gear in and clearing the stuff off, but one that has to be done. The stronger the run, the more prone the gear is to weeding up, but the more likely you are to get a bass bite. Tom said it would be like that and it was. Then as the tide dies away, other fish such as plaice and dabs come into the frame if you want to give them a chance by scaling the hook sizes down to around 3/0 which picked up several flatfish including plaice.
We started off with 2 ounce leads and had some early success with a mix of schoolies and better fish before the tide hit peak flow. More weed and more run meant more lead to prevent the baits being lifted clear of the feeding zone. This brought a bit more interest. But not as much as had been anticipated, though it has to said that the weed problem on this particular day was acute. Fishing a flooding tide from low water is often the best option and makes seeing the edge of the bank marked by the tide that much easier. However, on this occasion after we had re-positioned the boat to try the ebb, the fishing was actually better, though still not breath taking it has to be said. Just an intermittently good day. Un-predictability on the other hand is what makes bass fishing so interesting. You never know if the next fish to pick up your black lug will be another schoolie, a double, or more likely as was our case, something in between. May see's the start of our bass season while October marks its effective end. September is arguably the best month overall. But it is not unusual for some of the better fish to go on feeding into November when most other North West dinghy anglers have their sights set on cod. This could be a further legacy of the warming effects of Heysham’s power stations on Morecambe Bay.
