Ragworm for bass

I've had more luck with sandeel for bass in North dublin

That's interesting, to be honest I've never tried them when targeting bass..I know the late Bob Moss used to recommend them for Bass in Kerry, he thought they usually picked out the better stamp of fish.

That's what occurred to me too Al. When I started out beach fishing and was asking folk about baits for the east coast, most lads would dismiss sandeel for bass and suggest it as a bait for dogs mainly or maybe small ones for sea trout so I've never considered it. Would be dead handy to head out for a quick session with bit of bait from the freezer have to say...

Yep I agree, give it a go and find out, you can use frozen black lug too. If I wanted to go fishing for a few hours and I had bait in the freezer not having fresh rag or lug wouldn't stop me, better to be out fishing than not going because your bait isn't 'right' I think. I've caught fish on the mankiest refrozen cr@p in the freezer

Mostly schoolies on small sandeel had 1 really nice one bout 2 months ago conditions were tough big tide and surf bought xtra large sandeel by accident put on a pulley pennel and said feck it won't let me add the pic but a nice 53cm bass no scales on the list of things to get mow

Mostly schoolies on small sandeel had 1 really nice one bout 2 months ago conditions were tough big tide and surf bought xtra large sandeel by accident put on a pulley pennel and said feck it won't let me add the pic but a nice 53cm bass no scales on the list of things to get mow

Nice one, will defo be giving them a go alongside the rag so

My biggest bait caught Bass was on sandeel and squid. We had bought a couple of packs of both, too much as it turned out, so I chopped up a pack of each and groundbaited. I then had a large sandeel tipped with a couple of 2 Inch strips of squid lobbed out. Was A HUGE bait.
The rod slammed over and the "seal" took off towards the horizon. It then surfaced and the dark back lead me to believe it was a conger...it was when I got it in closer and saw it was a Bass did my legs start going to jelly. Estimated at 10Ib. Was about 15 years ago now.

Big bass are very lazy. Contrary to belief too Bass dont eat everything and anything. I have been on a small beach where they wanted sandeel and nothing else. I had bunched lug and they wouldnt touch it. The English angler I was fishing close to kindly gave me a pack and I started catching immediately.

Google "Big baits for big bass" and similar. Lots on there about it

Watch this series on Bass fishing :

http://youtube.com/watch?v=oqr74PAV4Eg

Then this one :

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6aFWNnl-vn0

I promise you will learn loads from these, I know I did. Keith White is a diver as well as a brilliant Bass angler. He talks of very big bass swimming slowly through myriads of sandeels and not bothering as to open their mouth....but will descent slowly to engulf a full crab. Always taking the easiest effort for the biggest reward. He estimates 80% of a Bass diet is crab and says catching Big Bass is so hard as they are so lazy.

Anyway, just some info you may/may not find helpful/interesting.
The way I look at it, we spend a fortune on gear, rods, reels etc and then cast 1 small worm out..??

If you want more convincing - http://www.mikeladle.com/archive/catch524.html
Mike ladle fishes this stretch of coast probably daily. He uses lures and bait. On the lures his average is 4Ib bass.
For large bass, casting into the same mark, he uses a whole side of mackerel on a single circle hook and catches 8-10 Ib fish.
That tells me these bass would see the lures he is casting and just dont bother to chase them. They are scavengers looking for the easy way out.

There is a very good reason Mike is using a very big bait and not a few worms.

Back to the main question though, I have seen huge Bass landed in North Dublin on kig rag. Couldnt believe my eyes that big bass were caught up this way.
If I was fishing up this way I would opt for large or lots of rag and also dont forget to try a big crab bait.

Quality post Eoghan,

Nice one for putting that together. Seem those videos before I think. Will take another look alright though. And have also looked at the Mike ladle page where he often freelines a big bait for bass. This approach seems to work very well over rocky reefs in particular.

It’s funny re the large crab baits. I’ve tried large crab baits and razor baits with no success on local clean ground beaches and locals who fish them a lot say stick to rag. Hence my query re the best way to bait up rag.

I mostly use lures when fishing over rocky ground as I hate losing rig after rig and expensive peelers!! any bass I’ve kept and gutted had crab in them. Some had baitfish too but mostly crab so I reckon it has to be the bait on the rough ground marks.

Razor you would swear should work around the area what with all the razor fishing and shells up the beach but from what I hear it’s very inconsistent.

All things considered I reckon a flapper rig on one rod with single worms and then a second rod with bigger bait – crab, rag, razor/sandeel is the way to go.

Interesting to get the perspectives from everyone on here.

No probs at all. Ye cant beat local knowledge. No matter what you read or what you hear if its rag on your local mark then stick to it.
I do like the second rod idea for the tripod with a big bait cast out just to see. Big 4/0 and a whole or half squid, Razor or anything like that. Might be just that one time a lunker comes along, thats all it takes. Sept/Oct are best for the big girls. Seems to be a lot of schoolies about at the moment.

In the first set of Videos he says the biggest bass he had seen his dad catch was caught on a medium sized Wrasse..!!

I can see how bass in North Dublin would target king rag. Myself and the brother used to dig them in Baldoyle - before the road works - had to be fumigated afterwards! The largest king rag we dug was 17 inches long and as thick as my thumb. Lost what looked like bigger ones. We used to snap them off into 3 inch baits, as there was no way to keep them on even big hooks! And you'd pay real attention to which was the business end on those snakes. Used them for Pollack and wrasse around Howth...

I'd say "them were the days" but the pong from Baldoyle would last for the whole weekend and the mosquitoes down there were absolute DEET resistant b&*"££"*ds.

When it comes to bass, it's horses for courses. During the day I'd find it hard to beat large (6/7 inch) sandeel in the surf down south to be honest. Thread it on tail first onto something like a varivas big mouth 3/0, then exit the hook point at the head. Make sure it's completely straight, then wrap two half hitches over the tail and it's fully secure, no need for elastic. You can trim the tail slightly to stop it spinning, but don't take too much off as you need the half hitches to grip.

I'd only use lug if I was fishing at night (same hook as above, several good worms up the hook and onto the snood, maybe even a pennel rig) or if I was looking for a mixed bag of flounder, turbo's etc, rather than solely targeting bass, I'd scale the tackle down to a size 1 or 2 hook. When it comes to worms, for me it's rag on the east coast and lug on the south/south west coast. Never found rag to be productive for bass in the surf in Kerry for example, nor peelers for that matter. Maddies will catch you flounders all day long mind you.

Different story in mixed or rough ground, in estuaries (which are generally stuffed with crabs) or off the rocks, where nothing comes close to a juicy peeler no matter where in Ireland you are fishing.

This is all a complete generalisation of course - sometimes fish are simply preoccupied with one thing and won't touch anything else. If there's a big crab moult on for example, or rag are spawning and are swimming freely, if a storm has churned things up and the beach is awash with razors - then the fish are likely to be gorging themselves on these things and nothing else. Match the hatch as they say.

On of the reasons I love using sandeel, apart from the fact that its effective, is the freedom of a simple set up. Where there is a nice, moderate, fishable surf up, a light rod casting 3oz, a reel, a small cooler bag slung over my shoulder containing a couple of packs of frozen sandeel, a few spare weights and traces and a scissors - that's all that's needed. No tackle boxes, no rod rest. Get out into the suds and move around until you find the fish. If you find the bites and they stop, try to move with them. The simplicity of it is one of the reasons I love lure fishing too - I've hung up my bait fork and my back is all the better for it.

Reckon you've covered it all there Steve. All rings true. Good post for me and I'm sure anyone else looking to target bass.

As for the bait fork, have to admit I'm too lazy to dig..that and with a young child at home I don't really get the chance.

I'm with you on the lighter tackle end of things. Funnily enugh I've found a 2oz grip lead and a 10-60 gm spinning rod is getting my my bait out and holding in the tide a lot of the time. (when there's no surf in fairness) but I try and fish as light as I can.

I like fishing lures mostly but sometimes I find there's nothing nicer than just lobbing a bait out, sticking the rod in the rest and having a chat with someone on the beach waiting for a bite. About as relaxing as you can get bar watching a float for macks on a summers day...jesus I need to go fishing!