Plug fishing for Bass

N+G

Thanks for comments - regarding bass fishing, its the same as any fishing really, there is quite a lot to it depending on your objectives - how far do you want to go?

Regarding your current equipment - whislt theres nothing wrong with it as such, you have identified a basic problem - size and weight. Its simply too much for the type of fishing involved.

For instance a 11'-0" rod designed to cast 10-70 gram lures is in my opinion complete overkill for bass fishing. Firstly its casting wieight is across a very wide spectrum and secondly its too long and hence probably heavy, bet it feels a bit like a stick. No matter who makes it. Try casting a 10gramme lure with it and you'll see what i mean.

then try fishing with the rod with a 10 gramme lure!

Drop you line size too - as little as 8kgs is perfect.

You need to fish for long periods without feeling tired - hence the gear needs to be good

The 'light' fishing gear that is use and sell is very specific - and before the debate ensues that you must spend a long time landing a fish with light gear and hence stressing the fish, there is a difference between 'light' gear and balanced gear.

The rods are short 8'-0" and sometimes less - and the they are composed of a high modulus (85 million) carbon/boron and kevlar content.

They are lure range specific and extremely light often less than 150 grammes, but very powerful.

In other words their ranges are 10-20 grammes, 15-25 grammes, 25-45 grammes, and their lengths suit their application for the lure type and size.
I am building a resource on web-site and all this and more details will be there on.

Regarding mullet i only fly fish for them - I know a few experts who use coarse gear to deadly effect so i cant really say too much about the equipment.

other species to target with lures in the sea in Ireland

bream, seatrout, pollack, garfish, mackerel, wrasse, flounder, mullet, on and on..........

Jim, i assume you are using tiny lures such as mepps for the mullet?

me and a friend have had success on small streamers and fry patterns for the mullet round here. on the fly of course.

FM

I do have a special lure and technique for mullet fishing. its needs a specific set of conditions and food presence for it to work but work it does -I have used it successfully in Cork, Waterford, and Wexford.

i'm afraid its not a mepps with ragworm.

see special article Irish Angler possibly summer 2008.

best

i will have to buy that issue.......

any chance of sending me a pm or is it top secret. i wouldn't mind seeing if it worked up here.

Alex

jim please can you show me a rod is designed 10 to 70 gramme
i need that rod :D :D :D :D

N+G

Thanks for comments - regarding bass fishing, its the same as any fishing really, there is quite a lot to it depending on your objectives - how far do you want to go?

Regarding your current equipment - whislt theres nothing wrong with it as such, you have identified a basic problem - size and weight. Its simply too much for the type of fishing involved.

For instance a 11'-0" rod designed to cast 10-70 gram lures is in my opinion complete overkill for bass fishing. Firstly its casting wieight is across a very wide spectrum and secondly its too long and hence probably heavy, bet it feels a bit like a stick. No matter who makes it. Try casting a 10gramme lure with it and you'll see what i mean.

then try fishing with the rod with a 10 gramme lure!

Drop you line size too - as little as 8kgs is perfect.

You need to fish for long periods without feeling tired - hence the gear needs to be good

The 'light' fishing gear that is use and sell is very specific - and before the debate ensues that you must spend a long time landing a fish with light gear and hence stressing the fish, there is a difference between 'light' gear and balanced gear.

The rods are short 8'-0" and sometimes less - and the they are composed of a high modulus (85 million) carbon/boron and kevlar content.

They are lure range specific and extremely light often less than 150 grammes, but very powerful.

In other words their ranges are 10-20 grammes, 15-25 grammes, 25-45 grammes, and their lengths suit their application for the lure type and size.
I am building a resource on web-site and all this and more details will be there on.

Regarding mullet i only fly fish for them - I know a few experts who use coarse gear to deadly effect so i cant really say too much about the equipment.

jim please can you show me a rod is designed 10 to 70 gramme
i need that rod :D :D :D :D

Mike Ladle Surespin (10-60g), some of the Shimano range (cardiff, 20-70g), ...

Just making the point (badly) that its not possible for a rod to carry a casting range of (10-70 grammes) that will fish/cast efficiently at such a broad spectrum of weights.

Mike Ladle sure spin is 15 to 50 gramme and to be fair a very poor plugging rod at that ,,,,got no backbone for our wexford Bass i have a a shimano aspire 20 to 50 i still need a rod that will do 10 to 70 if i could sort that one i would be a millonare

BS90-BG

http://www.swlures.fotopic.net/p40321404.html

(18-70) with a very highly designed blank of low and high modulus mix, and graphite/kevlar components with quality build and rings. Used and proven worldwide. Of course its different than traditional 'spining rods' and suitable for lines of 10lbs to 30lbs.

for many years now been struggling with an appropiate rod for the Bass around our coast ,,
i would like to see this one
gee

jim ,,
like to test the mid range rod some day

cheers gee

honestly i dont found many specific rods around....its funny sometimes when we are a bit ancient when its come to lure fishing gear here in uk and eire, i have to build my own rod for this purpose from scratch....i sometimes found its kind of funny looking at people using rods that not intended to be use for lure fishing.....modern specific tackle....specific gear for specific use....to maximize your pleasure in fishing..you cant have one rods for "do it all" kind of fishing.....when its come to modern days fishing tackle....most tackle shop staff dont even have an idea of it....even on a simple question regarding action,power and taper....even a mainstream fishing magazine sometimes is giving an old expired not up to date info and even sometimes a confusing and wrong info to the reader....even with a pic of star angler using big reels and big rods.....

Nice one Jim....hope u can write more to share with us....its better than an article from most lure fishing article on mainstream mag when the summer arrive....

*Rule of the thumb on buying lure rods:
Know the weight of lure that ur going to cast.Make sure the lure weight that ur intend to cast is in the range of it casting weight.My favourite is 3/8oz-3/4oz(12g-21g) or 1/4oz-3/40z(7g-21g).Most of the plug i cast is 11g,12g,14g and and odd few of 16g and 20g(very seldom).

Mike Ladle sure spin is 15 to 50 gramme and to be fair a very poor plugging rod at that

I think that's the 4 piece version. The 2 piece is 10-60. I've no experience of the rod, so it's not a recommendation.

I'll be changing from another 10-60g rod to a more specific lure rod in the near future (ahem, *cough*, Jim!).

honestly i dont found many specific rods around....its funny sometimes when we are a bit ancient when its come to lure fishing gear here in uk and eire, i have to build my own rod for this purpose from scratch....i sometimes found its kind of funny looking at people using rods that not intended to be use for lure fishing.....modern specific tackle....specific gear for specific use....to maximize your pleasure in fishing..you cant have one rods for "do it all" kind of fishing.....when its come to modern days fishing tackle....most tackle shop staff dont even have an idea of it....even on a simple question regarding action,power and taper....even a mainstream fishing magazine sometimes is giving an old expired not up to date info and even sometimes a confusing and wrong info to the reader....even with a pic of star angler using big reels and big rods.....

Nice one Jim....hope u can write more to share with us....its better than an article from most lure fishing article on mainstream mag when the summer arrive....

*Rule of the thumb on buying lure rods:
Know the weight of lure that ur going to cast.Make sure the lure weight that ur intend to cast is in the range of it casting weight.My favourite is 3/8oz-3/4oz(12g-21g) or 1/4oz-3/40z(7g-21g).Most of the plug i cast is 11g,12g,14g and and odd few of 16g and 20g(very seldom).

joe,,
i do agree with you that jims articles are very imformative giving us all no excuse to become experts on the shore,,
but i would say the target fish is the main factor in the purchase of a lure rod,, may i say i have seen all the modern 2,4 and 6 piece rods just lock up under extreem pressure from some fish out there this and previous years,,
with their owners very disgruntled with their choice of rod as i do agree with you that these rod do not do what it says on the tin as ads in mags and shops say it is a minefield out there where bass lure rods are concerned ,,in my opinion years behind beachcasting rod technology

honestly i dont found many specific rods around....its funny sometimes when we are a bit ancient when its come to lure fishing gear here in uk and eire, i have to build my own rod for this purpose from scratch....i sometimes found its kind of funny looking at people using rods that not intended to be use for lure fishing.....modern specific tackle....specific gear for specific use....to maximize your pleasure in fishing..you cant have one rods for "do it all" kind of fishing.....when its come to modern days fishing tackle....most tackle shop staff dont even have an idea of it....even on a simple question regarding action,power and taper....even a mainstream fishing magazine sometimes is giving an old expired not up to date info and even sometimes a confusing and wrong info to the reader....even with a pic of star angler using big reels and big rods.....

Nice one Jim....hope u can write more to share with us....its better than an article from most lure fishing article on mainstream mag when the summer arrive....

*Rule of the thumb on buying lure rods:
Know the weight of lure that ur going to cast.Make sure the lure weight that ur intend to cast is in the range of it casting weight.My favourite is 3/8oz-3/4oz(12g-21g) or 1/4oz-3/40z(7g-21g).Most of the plug i cast is 11g,12g,14g and and odd few of 16g and 20g(very seldom).

joe,,
i do agree with you that jims articles are very imformative giving us all no excuse to become experts on the shore,,
but i would say the target fish is the main factor in the purchase of a lure rod,, may i say i have seen all the modern 2,4 and 6 piece rods just lock up under extreem pressure from some fish out there this and previous years,,
with their owners very disgruntled with their choice of rod as i do agree with you that these rod do not do what it says on the tin as ads in mags and shops say it is a minefield out there where bass lure rods are concerned ,,in my opinion years behind beachcasting rod technology

minefield out there where bass lure rods are concerned ,,in my opinion years behind beachcasting rod technology

I agree...but only in this region and market....why???because not many exposure and promotion to this kind of fishing here....most mag will only give a highlight on beach fishing....since not many that really into it....its seem that theres gonna be no market for tackle shop to bring in a good gear on this kind of fishing....and most of the owner and staff know nothing bout them.....as for the technology....they maybe ancient here...but not in other parts of the world specially japan....as i stated before....use the right tools for the right application......species is varied....but theres an application that can be use to catch more than one species.....and still u can use the same gear intended for the application to catch other species too with same application and tecnique, and of course there is a few exception in that.....but for local use here in irish coast i dont think most of the exception will applicable.Remember....theres no specific industrial rating for rods....each manufacture have their own rating on action,power,tapered etc...and can be varies to the other manufacture....and theres even a few product that is underrated or overrated.....choose wisely....just my 2 cent

For those of you who fly fish you will be familiar with the AFTMA system- this is an organistation that standardises the equipment within the fly fishing industry.

The details of this are extensive and are worthy of a thread by itself - people who are not familiar with the system it goes a bit like this simplified version....

When casting a #8 fly rod you should use a #8 fly line - a number eight line effectively weighs the same from any manufacturer, ie Rio, SA, Snowbee. Similarly a #8 rod across the world is designed to cast #8 lines specifically, it is possible with modern rods to go up or down one step. For example a #8 rod can cast a #9 or a #7 line.

It is not advisable to cast a #10 line with a #8 rod - it 'overloads' the rod whilst a #5 would 'underload' the rod. However it is possible like all things in fishing to do this if you wish!

The #'s are related to the application and the size of fly you wish to cast - dry fly fishing with a #4 is different to saltwater fly fishing with a #9. Each has its own demands and is a challenge to the angler.

In order words a half inch fly is presented to fish differently than a nine inch fly in and requires different equipment or setup depending on species and location etc.

Casting a number 12 fly on a #10 outfit is possible but would probably be an example of mismatched gear to species or application - ie you wouldnt generally fish for brown trout with a #10 line. You also wouldnt normally fish for bass on a rocky shore with a #4.

This is the finesse that is involved in fly fishing - you match the rod and line to you requirements and neccessary applications and presentations. Travelling light (one fly rod and reel, two fly boxes, tippet, and a pliers) you hunt your quarry on the move anywhere in the world !

With modern lure techniques it can be a bit like this but without the AFTMA system there isnt as much/any regulation regarding the line/lure rating. Shimano ratings do not neccessarily match Shakespeares.

So youre choices are much narrower in what traditional spinning rods offer in terms of weight ranges and designs of blanks are often very cumbersome and without the 'finesse' of fly fishing.

Bass are strong fish, in a current they are stronger but they are not bonefish or jacks and are not terribly demanding on gear IF the angler is capable- the best way to enjoy them and the sport they offer is to balance your gear to match the presentation you are making to the size of fish you expect to catch.

This does not mean 'long play times' or 'overstressing' on light lines and small lures - its angling skill matched to the species specific requirements with effecient, enjoyable and practical tackle.