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Sea bass fishing around the seaweed beds
In estuaries, but also on the coast, seaweed is a favored habitat for sea bass, which come to seek their prey in this shellfish-rich seaweed.
In some cases, it's not always possible to spot sea bass when they're hidden in clumps of seaweed, or when the light is poor.
By using shrimp imitations, it's possible to get them to come out of their hiding places and grab our flies. You need to look for favorable areas between the seaweed, where the holes are larger, while staying out of the water. Or, on the contrary, go into the water and cast your imitation along the outer edge of the seaweed to flush out the sea bass along these protective, food-rich algae.
In shallow areas, a floating line extended by a 3.5-metre leader will be well suited. The tip will depend on the size of fish and obstacles, but 28° is a reliable base. An intermediate line could be used in certain deeper areas or on the outer side of the seaweed, especially at the end of the flood tide, for example.
Surface fishing above and along seaweed beds
When sea bass are active, it's also fun to bring them to the surface and out of the dense algae.
Whether with small floating shrimp or pop-shrimp imitations, or gurglers (surface flies), bass are often quite receptive to this kind of imitation.
The attacks are often very explosive and provide a great thrill!
You should give it a try from time to time, as it's a very pleasant fishery, even if the catches are less regular than with a sinking shrimp.
A 28°/30° tip will allow you to restrain the fish a little and get them out of the wrack.
Sight bar search
Of course, sea bass love to come under the seaweed to look for crabs camouflaged in the vegetation that serves as their hiding place. But shrimps and small fish also like to come here for the same reasons.
When the tide comes in, the seaweed lifts off the bottom and the sea bass wriggle in to dislodge their prey. You can spot them on sight and present them with crab or shrimp imitations.
Sometimes at the end of the flood tide and at high tide, sea bass come to inspect the seaweed tufts from below, looking upwards for the little crabs hidden there.
In this case, the bass are sucking from below and can be heard from quite a distance. This characteristic sucking noise is easy to recognize once you've heard it several times and observed that it's sea bass making the noise. In fact, it lets us know that a sea bass is nearby and active. If you can spot it, sometimes you just need to put your crab imitation next to the clump and let it sink to the bottom like a crab that's been unhooked, which must happen regularly. Sea bass know this and will confidently grab them in open water during this phase. It's important to keep a close eye on the sea bass's behaviour so as not to miss this great moment of fishing.
On these clean, shallow bottoms, a 25° fluorocarbon leader will be perfect. If the areas are very dense with seaweed or the fish are large, don't hesitate to switch to 28° or even more.
In any case, be sure to stick to these seaweed-rich habitats, as sea bass love to hang out and forage there. If you spend a little time there at different times of the tide and keep a close eye on them, you'll see some pretty sea bass marauding. And with these tips, you'll certainly be able to catch some!
