- Vic Fisher's sea angling journal - http://www.vicfisher.co.uk -

Seaford Bass on Launce

I’ve been eager to have another experimental session targeting bass at Seaford beach using only sandeel / launce for bait, so last night, armed with some large Ammo frozen launce, I headed off to see what I could achieve. I got to the beach at about 7pm, unloaded the car and walked across the shingle to a spot between the Beachcomber and West View. I was greeted by a mainly moderate sea with a bit of a swell which resulted in some nice wave action. Wind was minimal and when mild gust did come, it was from the West.

I set up the ‘experiment’ rod with a long lead link, running ledger with a 6′ trace terminating in a 4/0 pennel. I mounted the launce on the hooks and lobbed it out into the waves. I had brought another rod to see if there was a codling about, so set this up with a DVice on a running ledger baited with lugworm and squid. I cast this out before returning to hold on to the bass rod.

First fish of the night came about two hours before low water and was a nice fat whiting of about a pound. This was soon followed by another of identical size. While dealing with this second fish, I heard the other reel give two sharp tugging runs but by the time I got to it, there was nothing there. On retrieval, the sandeel had been absolutely smashed and was in tatters. Both rods were rebaited and cast out again.

At low water, I felt a huge take on the bass rod and lifted into a fish. as it it slid through the waves, I could see that it wasn’t the expected bass but a decent sized whiting. From then on, it was a long succession of whiting, some were good table size.

It wasn’t until about 3 hours before high water that the bass seemed more confident and were hitting the launce hard with long, ragged runs. None were huge, all being in the 2-2½lbs range but good fun all the same. all were taken just behind the first breaker in the turbulent water, no more than 10 yards out. I missed several runs through not being attentive or when I left the rod in the rest while dealing with the other road. Now I know that when bassing, you should only use one rod and that it should be held at all times but I can never resist the temptation to have another rod out for anything else that may be around. If you play it this way, you will pay the price and may miss THAT fish.

By 2.30am, I had run out of bait and so with a couple of hours of the flood and hour of the ebb tide left, I had to call it a night. It was not an amazing night but it was enjoyable one with a total tally of five bass and many whiting. Next time, I’ll make sure I have enough bait to see me through.