[colin rutter]

Hi all i have my own boat based in north devon and do a lot fishing on the drift. To fish on the drift succesfully you really need a chart plotter/fishfinder,find the features and you will find the fish.Drift over the mark when you have gone over the feature or stopped catching repeat the drift,another tip is to watch the birds they don't have to be actually feeding ie diving sometimes they are just sat on the water,i have motored over where they are sitting with no suface activity at all and the bass are underneath them,how they know is amazing but they sure do,this can also apply when fishing from the shore, has anyone else experienced this when out fishing.

 

[Gary Evans]

Colin,
I have seen this situation at times over the years, one always pays attention to birds like Gannets and Terns diving for bait fish but you will also come across a line or large flock of Herring gulls just sitting the water as if they are resting but as soon as you start fishing amongst them you start catching fish this is not always the case but it does happen.

One thing I do look out for where I fish are gulls stationary but facing into the tide again in a flock plucking bait fish out of the water you can bet there are some Mackerel or Bass pushing the bait fish to the surface.

 

[Nick Anthony]

Garry,

I also fish from a boat but the only real success I had is close into the shore. What sort of depth do you find you need to structure in? On birds have seen very few birds to follow except cormorants!

 

[Retired]

Hi all i have my own boat based in north devon and do a lot fishing on the drift. To fish on the drift succesfully you really need a chart plotter/fishfinder,find the features and you will find the fish.Drift over the mark when you have gone over the feature or stopped catching repeat the drift,another tip is to watch the birds they don't have to be actually feeding ie diving sometimes they are just sat on the water,i have motored over where they are sitting with no suface activity at all and the bass are underneath them,how they know is amazing but they sure do,this can also apply when fishing from the shore, has anyone else experienced this when out fishing.

Oh yes, for sure, but don't tell anyone, they'll never believe us. LOL

 

[Gary Evans]

Nick,

The area I mainly fish which is the Menai Straits is a varied stretch of water with Sand bars, Gullies, Kelp & Jap beds ,Rocky reefs and Deep holes, the depth of water I fish at can vary from 6ft-80ft depending where I am fishing, if I decide to go out to the open sea the same structures are out there and the same observations regarding the birds apply.

When you say that you only catch fish close in, have you observed any Admiralty charts for Reefs or obstructions in deeper water ? these would be places of interest regarding locating fish, one good tip I can give you if you know any commercial fisherman go and have a word with them regarding marks such as offshore Sand bars and Reefs as these guys are out there on a daily basis and know the ground and movement of fish better than anyone.

 

[Mick Ward]

I was in a car in Belle Ile about a year ago with two french anglers that I really respect, as we drove past a beach there were a load of herring gulls just sat on the water, Yannick, one of the French chaps said to me that is a good sign and more often than not there are bass below them. He said chasing small groups of feeding Gannets can be a wild Goose chase, but feeding Terns are always worth a cast between. The gull thing interested me as I see it alot, and this year we have had some good catches between resting gulls. Interesting that gulls do this from France to Wales and beyond. Good thread.

 

[Retired]

The French handliners off Raz du Sein use the flocks of black back gulls there as a barometer for the fishing. When they lift of the rocks and start scouting the tidal races it is time to get the lines out.

Are there any bird colonies on Portland? Feathered that is... well actually not just feathered in case the weathers bad. But I don't mean Cell block H!

 

[colin rutter]

Garry
Stucture/features can be in 100ft of water or 7ft,the depth is really not that important what is important is the tide.I have found that the fishing is always best on rising tides as opposed to falling tides wether 5 miles out or in the estuary.Garry i fish mostly the Taw and Torridge estuary and also off baggy point and clovelly,the place is alive with sea birds but if there no reason for them to be out there they simply vanish ,equally they appear from nowhere and in numbers it sometimes vertually impossible to fish surface lures because the gulls continually attacking the lure.Garry where do you spend your time fishing ,estuary/coastal etc.

 

[colin rutter]

Sorry i posted the reply to Garry when it was a reply to Nicks question

 

[Gary Evans]

Garry
Stucture/features can be in 100ft of water or 7ft,the depth is really not that important what is important is the tide.I have found that the fishing is always best on rising tides as opposed to falling tides wether 5 miles out or in the estuary.Garry i fish mostly the Taw and Torridge estuary and also off baggy point and clovelly,the place is alive with sea birds but if there no reason for them to be out there they simply vanish ,equally they appear from nowhere and in numbers it sometimes vertually impossible to fish surface lures because the gulls continually attacking the lure.Garry where do you spend your time fishing ,estuary/coastal etc.

The Menai Straits is a unique piece of water where you can have several estuary,s located along it, so regarding where I spend most of my time the answer would be estuary.

Regarding the tides....It really does not matter on whether it,s a Spring or a Neap tide if the fish are there you will catch them but one thing I have noticed on Spring tides is that the fish are tighter together on certain marks, holding in the tide in tight shoals and moving off at certain stages to other spots, they can be in an area the size of a family car and this makes it hard to find them but once you have located that hot spot it can be a bit hectic, on the Neap,s they can be more spread out on marks making it a bit easier to find but this is only an observation on my fishing marks.