Water temperature and the arrival of Bass/Mullet

arrowloopboy said:

I presume that a lot of Bass are currently off shore,and deep in wamer water ,at what temperature (on the shore) should we expect the arrival of shoals of Bass,its currently about 9 degrees on the s/e coast of Ireland ,have the Bass arrived in Jersey yet,where I presume the temperature is probably higher than 9 degrees.
Anyone a view on this ?

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Hi, not sure about Ireland/UK but Bass have been around the Jersey coast all winter. In winter they may be concentrated in large shoals of schoolies up to about 3lb with the odd decent one turning up. Not many Jsy divers spearfish in the winter, mainly due to winter storms affecting vis. We usually get a seasonal influx of much bigger bass from around the end of April but the spearfishing season seems to pick up from mid May. 13c seems to show an increase in bass numbers, but IMO it will usually need to be about 16c before inshore bass numbers are in full swing. Water temp is currently 11c (on my watch). I have had three dives this year but not yet seen a bass. Conditions (vis) have been moderate to very poor. Some of the inshore netters have had a few good hits with bass, so the fish are there. FYI, amazingly for April I saw a local netter with a small gilt head bream! he also had red mullet, bass to 7lb, black bream, scad, mackerel, pollack, sole, doggies and wrasse!

I guess he hit his 2 max bass with that haul then.