STORMY WEATHER BASS
MY FAVOURITE RADIO programme is the Shipping Forecast. The names of the sea areas are so evocative: Rockall, Malin, Hebrides, Bailey, Fair Isle... I’m happiest of all when the bulletin begins with the words, “There are warnings of gales”. I feel guilty smiling at the prospect but storms mean bass.
Mostly a heavy blow’s about good fishing. This may seem obvious but it’s worth asking why. The other week I popped into the village shop after an early morning outing in a wet Force 5 or 6. The owner was surprised I was daft enough to stand around in a horizontal monsoon. “Perfect conditions,” I told her as I dripped rainwater and flecks of seaweed on to her floor.
The bass population doesn’t increase when the barometric pressure drops. It’s just that the fish are more concentrated, grouped in smaller browsing areas close to the shore. Rough water pushes baitfish about on rock marks and makes them easy meals for predators. And a roaring surf drags flotsam on to beaches, as well as treats like dead and crippled fish,
