Diagnostic features: The males are usually smaller than the females. They are easily confused with the estuary perch, but they can be easily separated by the forehead profile, which is straight or slightly rounded in the bass. Depending on where they are caught they can have a beautiful green to bronze tinge in their colouration.

 

Habitat

Bass range from Fraser Island and the Mary River and the coastal drainages as far as the Gippsland Lakes system in Victoria. They can also be found in many impoundments in Queensland, NSW and Victoria.

 Life History: Australian bass must be able to swim into saltwater to breed, but they will survive in most freshwater river and creeks off the east coast of Australia. They will and can live in the upper stretches of the saltwater rivers and creeks as well.

Common Names:                   Bass    

Baits: Worms, crickets, lizards, whole prawns, crabs, poddy mullet, whitebait, frog mouth pilchards, beetles and grass hoppers.

                                               

Lures and Lure Techniques:

Spinner baits: Are can be a combination of a spinner, a fly, bucktail, metal or lead head on a piece of  “V” shaped wire. There are many uses for spinner-baits; they can be used as a fish finder, deep water bait, shallow water bait, a bait that covers a lot of area in a short time, you can drop it like a worm or speed it up like a rattle trap. All these uses allow you to make it one of the most flexible baits in your tackle box. A Bait that you could just about fish exclusively on a fishing trip and catch a good stringer of bass with day after day. The key to this is to understand what a spinner-bait emulates in the water and how to make it perform like you want it to.
If you can imagine a baitfish in the water, erratically swimming along the top, bottom or in the thermo-cline you basically understand what this bait emulates. Now that we have established this, the next thing is to understand that bass are predators, and they love to strike what appears to be wounded, it’s kind of like the class room bully, they always pick on the ones that look like they can beat or win. Well a bass acts much the same; if a baitfish appears weak it will strike it in a heartbeat. So the key is to make this bait appear erratic in the water, act wounded, play hurt or just plain loud so it aggravates Mr. Bass.

If you can do this the sky is the limit on ways you can make this bait work, look or act in the water. So this is why this bait can be so versatile, you can fish it in shallow water by ripping it along the top of grass or structure. You can go heavy ¾ to 1 oz. And fish it in 10 to 15 ft. of water by just slowing down the retrieve and let it tick the structure at the bottom. You can make it act erratic by stopping, dropping and speeding up your retrieve.

Surface poppers: These are mainly a floating (can be at times a sinking) lure that can have either a hollow or a cupped face, that can also be at an angle face. As they are retrieved with short sharp cranks the lure will dip just under the surface of the water, while at the same time push water out in front of the lure creating a noise, bubbles and a splash. Some of these poppers can be jointed, giving them a bit more action. Not all poppers will lay parrel to the surface of the water. Many surface poppers now days will sit at an angle to the surface. This can be anywhere between 90 to 10 degree to the surface of the water.

Use them at night and in the mornings before the bass move to better cover or deeper waters then use them come the heat of the day! The heat of the day can bring bass from deep water or cover to get an easy feed. I start out during the heat of the day running them fast then move to a very slow methodical way. This allows the bass to find the bait and with slower more deliberate twitches gives the bass time to decide on the lure. Plus in heavy cover during the heat use them slow and natural and even toss one very high in the air so to make a large splat on the surface .This again allows the fish to find the lure.

You can always try letting the lure sit for at least until all the rings disappear and a little longer is even better. Work slowly when popping it back towards you and sometimes just barely moving it in between pops will draw that strike.

Some anglers mistakenly believe that surface lures are to be used only when the conditions are flat calm, but a popper works best when the sea is a little lively.

Surface disturbers: These floating lures can be fished with a stop-start action while being either slowly retrieved across the water or sped up to make them skitter. Some of these lures have been designed to imitate cicadas, mice or other creatures that were unfortunate enough to fall into the water and have to try a swim to safety.

Chasing bass on the surface with stick baits using the walk the dog technique is great fun. It is the type of fishing that will have you on the edge of your seat in suspense of the bass will strike. A couple of basic techniques are, keep your rod tip down, use short jabs with the rod tip, while having a little bit of slack in the line so as to really snap the lure as the line comes taught. It may take you a while to pick up the rhythm, but after a while and it’ll become second nature. Most of the lures on the market are tail heavy, which helps in some ways but hinders in others. Tail heavy lures tend to straighten and point back to the rod tip at rest. Meaning you have to use a more constant retrieve, but they are easier to pick up the technique. Lures that float horizontal at rest can be snapped 180 deg and left to pause without straightening back toward the rod tip so quickly, you can almost sit them in the one spot and just flick them from side to side at any rate you wish.

Shallow and deep divers: When at rest, this type of lure will float and then when retrieved the lure will swim down to the (recommend by the manufacture) depth that is stipulated by a number of things, two being the angle and shape of the bib. These lures can either float back up after stopping the retrieve or stay suspended.

When this type of lure is at rest it will float on the top of the water, and then when it is retrieve back to you it will dive down to its working depth. If you are fishing from the shore this will mean that you can cast out as far as you can and then start a slow retrieve back to where you are standing; only stopping if you feel that the lure is up against a snag. This is when you would stop your retrieve and allow the lure to rise up over the snag. Once it is over the snag you can start you retrieve once again. If you are in a boat you can work your lure back down against the slope of the bottom, once again allowing the lure to rise back up slightly if you encounter a snag.

Sinking hard bodies: These lures are very much the same as shallow and deep divers, but they sink. Try using quick, crisp snaps is one of the overall best ways to use it. Predators will often hit the sinking hard body lure as you twitch the rod tip. This is because of the erratic action it has when snapped. You never know what it is going to do next. The lure may from side to side, and next it will go one foot to the same side, then all of a sudden, shoot a little higher up or dart down. The fish may think that this is the real deal, and they better grab it now or they won’t be able to grab it at all. Indeed, that type of action causes strike-triggering results with any predator species, big or small.

Another technique is to use long pulls and pauses. This will allow the lure to slowly sink and hopefully get a response from the bass.

Suspending hard bodies:

In my early years using hard bodied lures I use to think that all you need to do was cast the lure as possible to where you thought the bass would be and then start your retrieve. Now days I can’t get enough of the cast the lure, work it down to the required depth and then stop the retrieve allow it to suspend in the water column. I will then just make the smallest twitch with the rod tip to make the lure move only slightly. Then keep repeating this process back to the rod tip.

Soft plastics: There are so many different techniques that you can use to get those plastics working and it would take a number of articles to cover them all. So what I am going to do is give you a few that will get you started and it is from here you will have to experiment and expand your own ideas.

Cast and a hard retrieve: select the area that you wish to cast to and cast as far as you can and allow it to hit the bottom. You will know this when the line goes slack. Once this has happened you will need to wind in the line so that you have no slack line on the water and the tip of the rod is near the water. Then it is a matter of jerking the rod back towards you fairly hard. This will make the jig head and plastic rocket off the bottom.

This is repeated over and over again until you have reached the boat or you are hooked into a fish.

Lift and twitch: after you have cast the plastic out and allowed it to sink to the bottom, you will need to only slightly twitch the rod tip, so as to only move the plastics millimetres off the bottom. This will take a lot of time and patience and the bite might only be a slight tensioning of the line or what you may think is a small fish nipping at it. When this happens you will need to lift your rod tip slowly until you feel the weight of the fish. Once you feel this weight you will need to strike hard to set the hook.

These techniques can also be carried out as the plastic is falling through the water column.

Shaking: You will need to cast out pass either where you can see or think the fish are holding up and then start a very slow retrieve, while at the same time moving the rod tip so that the plastics will shake itself through the water pass where the fish are. If you get a follow and the fish doesn’t take it, you could try stopping the plastics and allow it to sink slightly and then start the retrieve again.

Non-retrieve while drifting: this is a great technique when fishing for mulloway, kingfish and snapper. All you need to do is let the weighted plastics sink to the bottom and then wind it up a 3 to 5 turns of the handle. Stick the rod in a rod holder with the drag on and wait until a fish takes the lure. You could also have to plastic directly on the bottom as you drift, but do it over a reefy area, as you will surely get snagged.

Jigging: this method can be used when fishing beside wharfs, pylons, drop-offs, reefs, and other vertical structure. Just drop the weight plastics down beside the vertical structure. Once it has reached the bottom, you will then start to jig the plastics back to the top. Only stoping to take up the slack line.

Surface retrieve: instead of rigging the plastic with a weighted jig head, put a worm hook into the plastic. This is then cast out over or near the structure the fish are holding up at an. Once it has hit the water you will start your stop start retrieve, just like you would with a surface popper. This is a very good technique to use when fish over oyster leases.

Blades: When using blades I would recommend that you remember to keep an eye on the following; allow the vibrating bait to fall on a semi taught line, always watch your line, most strikes will be subtle, where the lure will stop falling or the vibration will just disappear, be ready as sometimes the fish will practically jerk the rod out of your hand, letting it fall with too much slack will allow the hooks to get caught in the line and too much slack in the line will make it harder to detect a strike.

Places to try using a bladed lure would be, deep of shore structure, ledges, bluffs, channel breaks, humps and points, bridge pylons, submerged timber, stumps, grass, rocks, gravel, schooling fish, boat moorings and anywhere you come across bait schools.

Remember to mix it up a little. You can double pump the blade by using a smaller range of motion with shorter hops. Sometimes you may have to slow down your retrieve and take more time between hops. There are times when you might even need to allow the metal vibrating lure to lay on the bottom and just twitch it slightly. You can also fish it using a steady retrieve.

Edibility:                                 5 to 6 out of 10                       

Australian Record:                3.780 kg’s

Tackle Requirements: If you are bait fishing for bass off the shore in a creek, river or dam you will need to have a medium to fast tapered rod between 1.8 to 2.1 metres in length fitted with a threadline reel. Line class would be between 3 to 6 kilos.

Suggested outfit:

Rod – Berkley Dropshot Generation Four DS 4681-35

Reel – Pflueger Supreme 8035MG

Line – Trilene Sensation in Clear

When fishing from a boat I would usually use a medium to fast tapered rod somewhere between 1.5 to 2.1 metres in length that would be fitted with either a threadline reel. Line class would be between 3 to 6 kilos.

Suggested outfit:

Rod – ABU Nanotech Nexus NNSP610LM

Reel – ABU Orra SX20

Line – Berkley Fireline Exceed and Sensei Fluorocarbon leader

If you are casting small lures or soft plastics a rod length of between 1.8 to 2.1 metres in length would be ideal. Fitted with a 25 to 40 sized threadline reel and 3 to 5 kilo line.

Suggested outfit:

Rod – ABU Nanotech Nexus NNSP610LM

Reel – Pflueger Arbor SW 7430

Line – Berkley Fireline Exceed and Sensei Fluorocarbon leader

You could also try using a Baitcaster rod and reel outfit when bait and lure fishing for bass.

Suggested outfit:

Rod – Pflueger Trion PLFT-CA641L

Reel – Pflueger Patriarch 64WLP

Line – Berkley Fireline Exceed and Sensei Fluorocarbon leader