Hedge your bet's with bait and tackle selection

I can Safely say that Bass are my primary target fish. Once you have the Bassing bug it can stay with you a lifetime and for many angler's-it has.

One thing all anglers should always be aware of, especially when you expect the fishing for your target species is likely to be slow, is what other species are likely to be on your chosen mark and then making slight changes to you usual tactic's. Of course you need to keep "what if i hook into a biggy" in mind so you don't want to go silly but a shorter cast, a drop in hook sizes or a drop in bait sizes can result in a fish you didn't even know were there.

On the beaches that me and my buddy fish there are plenty of other species to think about.

Turbot are common, though it's rare to catch a good size fish from the beach. The better Turbot generally come from deep water headlands. When targeting Bass using sand eel on a beach there is always a chance of a turbot and the bigger hooks don't usual deter them and they only tend to appear when it's a little flat. If I'm looking for a turbot I'd fish slightly longer traces then i normally would, cast a little further, drop down from 5/0's to 3/0's and cut the head and tail off of my sand eel to make slightly smaller bait. This then gives you a better chance if there are any Turbot on the beach but you will still quite happily catch Bass.

Plaice / Sole / Flounder are also reasonably abundant on the North coast beaches at certain times of year. I've grouped them together as they all tend to be caught when using Lug. Me and my fishing buddy have a blanket ban on using Lug worm from beach. It certainly results in more bites but catching bigger Bass on Lug worm is rare. Again, you'd want to drop a couple of sizes on your hooks to maximize you chances on the flatties but still be able to land a Bass. Maybe try using a strong 1/0 instead of a 3/0.

But for me the primary species to hedge your bet's for are small eyed ray. These shark descendants are hard fighting and can often go on spectacular runs. But more then tackle the primary thing to consider is location rather then tackle. There are certain beached that seem to hold Ray and others that don't. I don't know why but that's what i have found. My own opinion is that the topography of the bigger beaches, with there stronger tides and rip's must just suit them better. Unless your lucky your going to have to find these venues yourself but fishing any of the North coast's big, flat beaches would be a good start. I slightly hedge my bet's on tackle in that i would use a short 40lb trace as opposed to 30lb and stick with one rod on eel. Where possible i would try and use a plain lead as Ray's are bottom feeders and can spook from a bait if they feel the grip wires but you'll have to suck it and see with that. Personally i have done better on the bigger tides when there is a bit of sea running so using a plain lead is impossible. Using a Pyramid lead is a viable alternative though. The main thing is that Bass also like large eels so you've got just as much chance of catching a big Bass as you do that ray. In fact my PB bass (8lb 2oz) was caught on a night i was hedging my bet's whilst my fishing buddy had a lovely ray on the same bait, rig and tactics.

Last night was a great example. We went to a beach that, with the tides and conditions we had, we knew there was a good chance of Ray as well as a Bass so instead of fishing all out for the Bass with squid on both rod's we both upped our usual traces to 40lb, slightly shorted them and stuck with large eel on one all night. This resulted in 5 small Bass around 2lb between us and this fantastic Small Eye for Woody that tipped my digi's at 10lb 11oz and was safely released to swim another day after a superb fight.

So give it a try. Have a think and see what you can change.