Fur Feather & Fin
Bass fishing product showcase and feature
Selsey Bill, May 2022
Brief: Photograph new fleet of gear specifically for bass fishing to use in a new magazine x catalogue. Authentic and aspirational images the key outcome.
Services offered: Moodboarding, photography, video, copy writing and more.
Project completion time: 3 days.
Product brands included: Simms, Guideline, Snowbee, Scott Fly Rods, Yeti, Vision, Leatherman, Fishpond and Waterworks Lamson.
To combine this new collection in a showcase article took an immense amount of planning, while remaining careful to execute a vision of an authentic bass fishing trip. Also, each brand required at least a selection of focus images for promotional use in the Magalogue to illustrate the article – see the extract below – plus use on the website and on social media.
“When you travel abroad for a saltwater fly fishing trip, you can almost predict how your days will unfold. Sun, sea, beers, monster fish, and lots of them in equal measure. And if the weather gods destroy your plans of delicately presenting Gotchas in front of tailing bonefish, a good guide will no doubt find you something else to target at the drop of a hat. Even if that means swapping your beloved fly rod to something unsightly and swallowing a few mouthfuls of sick in the process (yes, I've been there).
A DIY fly fishing exploration on the UK coastline, on the other hand, is a whole different beast. It’s highly unpredictable. There’s almost 8,000 miles to go at. And it requires a balance between research, experience, persistence, common sense, and a whole lot of luck... and even when you think the weather, tides etc. are perfect, there’s no guarantee you’ll catch anything. But when you do get it right on your own instinct – especially when in pursuit of bass – I don’t think there is a more fulfilling and visual experience to be had, often before most people have had their morning coffee.
...
It was a beautiful evening as I arrived at the new Fur Feather & Fin showroom in the Lavant Valley, to rendezvous with Peter and replenish some of my old saltwater gear.. Unfortunately, so well stocked the showroom is, a few more £££s were spent on river gear and even a new Härkila shooting vest too.
An hour or so later, Peter and I were setting up rods on the pebble shoreline and discussing tactics over a cold lager. The evening was warm and still, and the tide was about an hour off the high-water mark. Directly south of the point we could see a shallow bay over which the tide was breaking before settling into a channel which swept into a considerable, choppy cross current which went right the way around the point to the east. We were to start in the shallow channel which could be waded a decent way out and then head around the point to fish the deeper water, using piers and groins to get further out if needed, where decent bass had been reported to be landed the previous week.
After a couple hours of thrashing the water and being unexpectedly plagued by weed, we came up empty handed and moved to the deeper water. Less weed, but still no fish. As the horizon turned a deep red with marbled tones of honey and turquoise to the west, we called it a night, headed back to base and set our alarms for just a few hours’ time.
Despite the shrill 4:30am wakeup call, we were both eager to head back into the water before sunrise, convinced the low-tide would provide the answer and avoid us a blank. Anyway, with much more haste than we’d have liked at this hour, we quickly made for the shore and started in the spot where we left off the night before. Sure, the state of the tide looked good, and there were enough features for bass to ambush our flies from, but I never felt confident. I thought back to the braking waves over bar from the night before and was adamant that, given the severity of low and high tides caused by the Moon, that it was likely to be uncovered, possibly even reachable by wading. And so, we hurried back to the car, strapped the rods on top and drove to the spot.
When we pulled into the carpark, Peter remarked how he’d never seen the bar so uncovered, creating a peninsula the size of a football pitch at least. Without delay, we crashed our way across the channel, barely reaching thigh-deep water on our way to dry land. But on we went, splashing over the recently uncovered pebbles and rocks until we met the open sea again, the chalky white rocks of the Isle of White visible on the horizon. After about 40 mins the tide had started to come in, at which point I’d grown nervous about getting cut off and pulled into the cross current... and that’s when we spotted them. Dozens upon dozens of common terns were circling the very point where the tides whipped around the peninsula and converged. The longer we watched, the more terns arrived and began crashing into the water feeding on sand eels. With a little confidence restored, we headed closer and cast our Clousers as far into the choppy current as we could.
Moments later, Peter was into his first ever bass, of about 2lb, putting a great bend into the new Snowbee Prestige G-XS SW rod. And in a short while I was into a schooly too, succumbing to a fast, roly-poly retrieve. A feeding frenzy of bass and terns unfolded before us like neither of us had ever seen before. It was epic. Within half an hour the tide had forced our retreat to shore and out of reach of the terns.
In pure elation of completing our challenge, we headed back for breakfast, Peter three bass landed to my two. Sometimes, fishing is all about being in the right place at the right time, and using your natural instinct. But if ever in doubt, follow the terns.”
A selection of low-resolution examples below.
