RIPPING IT UP
The fishing method I’m going to detail in this article is how to efficiently fish with soft plastic lures from an anchored boat. With patience and attention to detail, if the bass are there and feeding, results are almost guaranteed. It evolved over the last two seasons to cope with some of the problems we were facing at Ramsgate. For the last decade we were getting good bass catches, with several doubles each season, using either live baits or mackerel sections.
The last few years, however, has seen huge amounts of dogfish which have been a problem with bottom fished baits, so live baits became the first choice. Last year the mackerel started showing in late May but by June catches became more and more difficult and catching even enough for live baiting was becoming a problem. Time for a re-think!
Baits on the bottom will always catch bass but with the dogfish hordes, they invariably won the day. Keeping the baits off the bottom using a French boom rig showed some success using frozen sandeels, dead baits or long strips of cuttle. The water off this part of the coast is invariably fairly coloured so it’s reasonable to think that natural baits with good smell will work
