[Dave Irving]

Well many of us will fish in areas with river mouths and tidal rivers. We know bass love to run these tidal sections to take advantage of the various food sources available there.
So how do we go about fishing for the bass in tidal rivers??
Generally I have had more success fishing WITH the current than against it. Cast upstream and retrieve just fast enough to impart some action. Works with plugs and surface lures.
A couple of things on my list to try this year, are the Drift technique. Basically subsurface stickbait dead drifted with just tiny twitches, this might take some practise to get the hang of picking up the slack line at the right speed to stay in contact with the lure. Another thing I want to experiment with is rolled or trotted soft baits.

So how many of the members actively fish tidal river sections for bass?? How do you do it?? and what do you look for??

 

[Dave Irving]

I hadn't thought about it, but I guess fishing tidal rivers is just a bigger version of what you do when fishing the gutters in Jersey. Penny drops all of a sudden.
I have tried down and across, swinging the lure using the water pressure. But I have had VERY limited results-a couple of small schoolies to be precise.
Dead Drifting does interest me, a very successful way to catch trout. And I have taken bass on fly tackle with this technique. But fly patterns have some much more "action" on the drift, materials like marabou or bunny strip "breathe" even on a dead drift. My problem is how to reproduce that with hard or soft lures.
Induced take is something again I know from trout fly fishing, I think using a soft plastic on a jighead with a step and hold technique should allow me to work alot of the river.
I will be out working of this form of fishing as much as possible this year, I know there are alot of decent fish running the rivers in my area. So fingers crossed it could prove successful.
If I fail, looks like a booking or two for the Jersey Guides,.

 

[Dave Irving]

Thanks Marc,
Lots of useful information in that thread- I have read and re-read some of those comments, as you say excellent advice.

 

[Dave Irving]

Keith,
Totally agree, time on the water is worth so much more than even the very best written advice. Even just the chance to watch someone fish who knows what they are doing can reveal so much if you pay attention. Some things like touch/feel are so hard to describe, and yet sometimes can be taught in minutes, with hands on experience.
As for how long can I fish-did 72 hours straight at the Derby one year, albies and blues all day and stripers all night-stopped because I started to hear voices!!!

 

[Dave Irving]

Kevin,
Funny how you can keep going when there is fish around, but the moment you stop. It hits you like a freight train. The trouble is out there, there is just so many fish to catch.

Keith,
What the hearing voices bit????

 

[Dave Irving]

The Dockside Dinner's (in Edgartown) all night coffee during the Derby has kept me fishing many times. Fantastic place to meet and chat to the hard core striper guys-just don't exspect them to tell you where they fish!! Coffee in hand it can be a laugh to catch tinker mackerel, fluke, and squid off the dock too.

 

[Dave Irving]

Tim,
Funny enough the ebb seems to be better here as well, the bass take up positions and allow the bait to drift towards them. I have seen them smash stuff off the top. Look for areas where there is an edge between flowing and slack water. Or rocks or any structure that the bass can tuck in behind and avoid the main current. Work the lure close to the fish holding areas and you should find them.

 

[Dave Irving]

Hope so Tim,
One reason I am so interested in the rivers this year, is they don't receive any pressure. No nets etc. I know of a few very good fish being taken. Won't be easy as there is a hell of a flow in our local rivers-but it should prove interesting.

 

[Dave Irving]

Well was up and out before dawn this morning, checking out local rivers. The closest to me has been straightened and dregded to hell. So mental fast flow on the drop, and almost no features on the 3 miles I walked.
However just been out and looked at another river, that I have fished in the past for sea-trout (caught a few bass while flyfishing for the sea-trout so I know they are there), looks much better, loads of bend, drops in the bottom, bottlenecks, undercut banks and some large rocks on the bottom that break up the flow. So I think I have a new venue for this summer. Oh and even better, meet a couple of guys who were setting up their crab traps for the first time this year. They had found a couple of peelers on the river in the last couple of days. Spring is coming guys-honest.