Wild About Bass — Tight Lines Magazine

WILD ABOUT

BASS

Photo by Scott Amon

Finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers St a rlo s ha re s a l ifet i m e o f ex p e r ie n c e s a n d d i s c ov e r ie s a c c u mu la te d w hile pu r s u i n g “ w ild ” Au st ra l ia n b a s s i n ou r c o a st a l r i v e r s : a l l t he w a y f ro m V i c t o r ia t o Q u e e n s la n d .

L e a r n a b ou t t he s e u n iq u e n a t i v e f i s h ( a n d t he i r k i s s i n g c ou s i n s , t he e st u a ry p e rc h ) , a s w el l a s w he re t o f i n d t he m a n d how t o re g u la rly c a t c h t he m o n l u re s a n d f l ie s .

WILD ABOUT

BASS

By Steve ‘Starlo’ Starling

I

caught my first Australian bass in the mid-1970s, at the age of 15. It ate a bunch of wriggling garden worms that I’d skewered onto a hook and cast into the shadow of a busy highway bridge on the south coast of New South Wales.

That fish was perhaps a foot long, at most. It came flapping and kicking out of the water and almost immediately it deeply cut the palm of my hand with its sharp gill cover spikes as I eagerly grabbed it.

Despite the pain, I marvelled at this bronze-hued jewel of a fish with its alert, dark eyes and its uniquely earthy odour that spoke to me of snaggy creek bends and shaded, secret places buried deep beneath drooping casuarina fronds.

2

Photo by Scott Amon

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

Thus began my half century love affair with a species that still fascinates, excites and very often frustrates me.

I was totally intrigued by that fish… and also besotted.

Thus began my half century love affair with a species that still fascinates, excites and very often frustrates me. I’m passionate about our wild, river-dwelling Australian bass, and I know that a lot of other anglers are, too. Hopefully, this publication will help you to better understand these wonderfully enigmatic fish, not to mention finding and catching a few more of them in the process!

Australian bass are amazing fish, and wonderfully adapted to life on our harsh continent.

RIGHT No wonder they pull so hard when hooked… that’s quite a propellor!

ABOVE

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

3

A TRULY REMARKABLE FISH!

quite difficult at times to separate the two species without resorting to genetic analysis. These genetic waters are further muddied by at least some hybridisation or crossbreeding between the two species. However, as a general rule, estuary perch tend to spend the majority of their lives in the tidal reaches of our estuaries or just above them, while Aussie bass will happily range much further upriver, until finally halted by the system’s first impassable barrier.

To those of us who love them, Australian bass are very special fish. They’re also uniquely adapted to life in our part of the world. It’s likely that their ancestors migrated into the estuaries and coastal rivers of our ancient continent from the surrounding seas many millions of years ago, making use of these watery highways to travel further and further inland, escaping predators and seeking out new sources of food as they went. But those wandering fish never lost their ancestral links to the ocean, and remained forever tied to it, thanks to their biological need to seek out brackish, partlysalty water in order to successful reproduce.

Somewhere along the way, the family tree of those ancient ancestors of today’s bass diverged into two very similar but distinct branches. Today, Australian bass (Macquaria novemaculeata) remain closely related to their near-identicalcousins, the estuary perch (M. colonorum), and it can be 4

Before European settlement of our continent, that first barrier to upstream migration typically consisted of a towering waterfall or high cascade of impassable rapids, which may have been many, many kilometres upriver from the coast and hundreds of metres above sea level. It’s truly remarkable just how far inland Australian bass once freely ranged. Anyone who’s gazed in awe at the swift rapids and numerous low waterfalls of the mighty Clarence Gorge in far northern NSW will shake their heads in wonder at the fact that bass still regularly traverse this significant natural obstacle — in both directions — especially at times of high water and flooding. Further south, bass also once ranged well up the Hawkesbury/Nepean system into the Cox’s River, far into the foothills of the Blue Mountains and what’s today regarded as “trout water”, as well as hundreds of kilometres inland along other major catchments such as the Shoalhaven and Snowy Rivers.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

Bass occupy some of the most beautifully wild corners of south eastern Australia.

LEFT

Aussie bass will happily range much further upriver, until finally halted by the system’s first impassable barrier.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

5

MAN-MADE BARRIERS Sadly, most of these impressive incursions by wild bass into the higher reaches of our coastal systems came to shuddering halt decades ago, thanks to the construction of multiple dams, weirs, barrages, flood mitigation gates, culverts, road crossings and other man-made barriers.

Today, the natural range of the Australian bass is a pale shadow of its former expansive glory.

In typical human fashion, we’ve tried our best to make up for the environmental damage we’ve wrought via the artificial propagation and stocking of hatchery-reared bass in waters above these man-made barriers, but our best efforts can only ever be short-term, band-aid solutions without a practical way for bass of all sizes — juveniles and adults — to freely move up and down these waterways.

Attempts have been made to address this critical need with various forms of “fish-ways” or fish passages, but sadly, most of them are of limited effectiveness.

6

Today, the natural range of the Australian bass is a pale shadow of its former expansive glory.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

A gorgeous, wild river bass in all its dark-hued glory.

RIGHT Stocked fish in dams are great, but can never replace our wild bass.

LEFT

Late afternoon in bass country… the witching hour!

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

7

All that said, many wonderful “put-and-take” fisheries for stocked bass have now been established in dams and lakes stretching all the way from western Victoria to central Queensland. Make no mistake: these are vibrant, exciting man-made fisheries that attract a huge following amongst recreational anglers, injecting millions of dollars into local economies, dramatically boosting the tackle industry and hastening the evolution of innovative new fishing methods in the process (not to mention reducing pressure on wild bass stocks).

A perfect little jewel of a bass from skinny water.

BELOW LEFT Bass range far inland, high into cascading headwaters.

ABOVE

Those wild populations are priceless, and deserve to be treated with the utmost respect.

These impoundment bass fisheries represent an extremely positive addition to the Aussie fishing scene.

But we need to remember that they can never replace the remnant populations of “wild” bass that still roam in parts of our coastal rivers. Those wild populations are priceless, and deserve to be treated with the utmost respect. It’s these “wild”, river-dwelling fish that this publication celebrates and is devoted to although, of course, many of the techniques and strategies outlined here are also readily applicable to bass living in dams.

8

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

All about the bass

During the 1970s, the scientific boffins made a decision to move Australian bass and estuary perch into the genus Macquaria. This is one of a number of Australian genera in the family Percichthyidae, which also includes two species of native perch from the Murray/Darling Basin: the golden perch or yellowbelly (M. ambigua) and the endangered Macquarie perch (M. australasica). Prior to this taxonomic change, Australian bass and estuary perch had been listed in the genus Percalates.

Bass have no obvious teeth and can be safely thumb-gripped… but watch out for those gill cover spikes!

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

9

Aussie bass are impressive fish at this size!

BELOW

Interestingly, results from more recent research using modern genetic analysis indicates that Australian bass and estuary perch are actually quite separate from golden perch and Macquarie perch and only distantly related to them.

As a result, some researchers have opted to resurrect the old genus Percalates. Another surprising and rather unexpected finding from this newer genetic research is the discovery that our bass and estuary perch are actually more closely related to the genus Maccullochella — which contains the Murray cod, trout cod and various eastern cod — than they are to the remnant genus Macquaria (golden perch and Macquarie perch).

1 0

No doubt the scientists will continue to argue about the finer details of such relatively esoteric things for many years to come. But for those of us who love our bass and estuary perch, it’s probably enough to simply know that they’re uniquely Australian natives that have adapted over the aeons to thrive in the south eastern corner of this vast land “of droughts and flooding rains”. However, knowing a little more about their life cycle, reproduction and favoured diet at different stages of the year can definitely help us find and catch a few more of these wonderful fish! Let’s start that process by examining the all-important reproductive cycle that drives so much of the behaviour and movement of these great fish:

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

This tiny but ambitious bass is likely just a year or two old.

BELOW Bass take us to some magnificent places.

ABOVE

SPAWN TO BE WILD Successful wild breeding of Australian bass usually takes place in mid- to late-winter and ideally requires water salinity levels between about 12,000 and 15,000 parts per million (PPM) of salt. To put those figures into some sort of perspective, open ocean waters typically have a salinity level of around 35,000 PPM, so wild bass need to seek out “brackish” waters with salinities roughly half that of ocean seawater in order to successfully reproduce. Estuary perch, on the other hand, prefer slightly saltier water of around 19,000 PPM. As a matter of interest, southern black bream (Acanthopagrus butcheri) also tend to seek out a similar range of salinity levels for spawning, although it’s likely that these bream have slightly wider tolerances than either bass or perch when it comes time to breed. It’s also worth noting that captive bass in hatcheries are usually bred at significantly higher salinities than in the wild, although their spawning is typically induced with hormones.

Bass breeding most often occurs between about late June and the end of August.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

11

While we know that bass breeding most often occurs between about late June and the end of August, exactly whereabouts in any estuary system bass might spawn in any given winter is obviously dictated by the location of water in that preferred salinity range of 12,000 to 15,000 PPM. Following heavy winter rains, this could be well downstream, nearer the river mouth itself. In drier years, it may be much further upstream, closer to the upper tidal limits.

There’s also evidence of bass actually leaving or being forced from our estuaries by floodwaters, and adult bass have been caught in prawn trawl nets several kilometres off the coast of far northern NSW after big floods. It’s not known if bass can successfully spawn in ocean waters adjacent to river mouths, or whether their fry would survive in any numbers in such a scenario, but it’s certain that fertilised eggs and newly hatched bass fry are frequently flushed from our estuaries mouths by big tides or sudden pulses of freshwater, and

1 2

it’s highly likely that at least some of these fish survive long enough to re-enter different estuary systems up and down the coast. It’s also possible that adult fish might move between systems at times. No doubt, all of this movement has helped the spread of the species over the aeons, and also continues to ensure their genetic mixing and diversity today.

It’s also worth noting that the Nepean herring (Potamalosa richmondia) — a small, silvery native fish found in large numbers in many of the same rivers as our bass — has very similar spawning requirements and tends to spawn in the same areas at roughly the same time as bass, at least in those rivers north from about the Shoalhaven, in southern NSW. One theory is that bass throughout this northern part of their range often spawn in close proximity to spawning aggregations of these abundant herring, and there’s a good chance that the juvenile bass feed heavily on the prolific juvenile herring during the early stages of their lives.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

PROLIFIC BREEDERS Mature female bass are capable of producing huge numbers of eggs each year: anywhere from 400,000 to well over a million per fish, depending upon the size of the individual female. If spawning can’t take place, or the fish are unable to travel downstream into waters of the correct salinity, it seems that these eggs are re-absorbed by the fish. This biological strategy contrasts markedly with species such as introduced trout and salmon, which must either shed their eggs (successfully or otherwise), or risk becoming “egg bound” and potentially dying.

Bass spawning certainly doesn’t take place every year in every river system inhabited by these fish. In fact, some catchments may go a decade or longer without a large-scale bass breeding event, especially during extended droughts.

This obviously has a significant impact on the overall population of these fish, and also on the spread of sizes of bass living in those rivers.

The upper tidal limits are an important area for bass.

BELOW Nepean herring may play a vital role in the survival of bass fry.

LEFT

Mature female bass are capable of producing huge numbers of eggs each year: anywhere from 400,000 to well over a million per fish.

Luckily, when optimum conditions finally do occur once again, bass spawning can be incredibly successful, with huge numbers of juveniles produced, often resulting in very strong year classes that can be tracked through the population across the ensuing decades as they grow.

This “boom-and-bust” pattern is extremely common in Australian flora and fauna, characterising the propagation of everything from gum trees to kangaroos. Our uniquely Aussie bass is certainly no exception.

Bass grow quite slowly and can live for a long time.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

13

It’s likely this south eastern Queensland bass has grown faster than its brethren living further south.

BABY BASS Bass eggs are small (about 1 mm in diametre) and transparent, slowly sinking through the water column after fertilisation, as well as drifting with the tide and current. It’s likely that aquatic vegetation such as sea grasses are therefore important to the survival of the eggs, which may settle amongst their strands at times and thus be sheltered from predation.

Fertilised bass eggs typically hatch after two to five days, but this period can vary depending on the temperature of the water. The newly hatched bass are about 2 to 2.5 mm long with semi-transparent bodies. These tiny bass quickly absorb the last of their attached egg yolks and within two or three days of hatching they begin to feed voraciously on zooplankton and other tiny organisms while seeking shelter from predators in estuarine weed beds and other protected, food-rich environments.

Within days of RIGHT A bass from Queensland’s Mary hatching, they begin to River system, at the northernmost feed voraciously… end of the fish’s range.

1 4

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

Studies have shown that very low water temperatures can cause a loss of equilibrium (balance) in juvenile bass and may ultimately result in their death. Prolonged exposure to water temperatures below about 6 or 7 degrees Celsius appears likely to prove fatal to young bass. Fortunately, such low temperatures are uncommon in bass waters by late winter and early spring, after the baby bass have hatched. However, these minimum temperature tolerances for juvenile bass probably help to define the southern and westernmost limits of the species’ range and may also explain why they’ve never been recorded in Tasmanian waters, unlike the closely-related estuary perch that was once reasonably prolific in the north of that island state and still exists in reasonable numbers in at least one north-western Tasmanian river system.

As our baby bass grow through spring and into early summer, they develop pigmentation in the form of a series of dark bars or blotches across their bodies. Later, these bars begin to fade, although dark tips often remain on their fins, especially the first dorsal, anal and pelvic fins.

No doubt this patterning helps to conceal these vulnerable little fish from their abundant predators as they dart about amongst the strands of aquatic vegetation and other cover, chasing their own tiny prey, which primarily consists of zooplankton, tiny crustacea and the fry of other, smaller fish species such as the Nepean herring mentioned earlier.

As their first summer progresses, the majority of juvenile bass tend to start moving upstream, into the higher tidal reaches of our coastal rivers. By late summer or early autumn, some will be entering freshwater, although the exact pace and progress of this upstream migration is dictated by the tides and river levels, with floods sometimes pushing them well back downstream (or even out to sea), while low water levels during dry spells can make it very difficult for them to negotiate even modest barriers such as gravel bars, sand banks and road crossings. However, the general trend of their migration throughout their earliest months and years of life is doggedly upstream, towards freshwater.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

15

GROWTH & AGE Australian bass grow quite slowly compared to many other fish and can live for a very long time. Their growth rates and life spans are dictated by many external environmental influences, but there’s also a significant natural variation in growth rates and potential maximum sizes between the sexes. As a rule, female bass grow faster, live longer and reach significantly larger sizes than their male counterparts.

For many years it was also thought that the maximum potential life span of an Australian bass was in the low to middle 20-year range, but more recent scientific studies have revealed individual bass as old as 47 years, with quite a few specimens in the 20 to 30 year age range. Contrary to what might seem obvious and intuitive, these very old bass are not always extra-large individuals, either.

In some systems, bass growth can be painfully slow. In fact, the capture of small bass from floodplain lagoons and swamps that had been cut off by drought from the Bega River on the far south coast of New South Wales during the 1960s and ’70s led to the popularisation of theories about these fish being capable of breeding in freshwater. Those theories were later proven false. It was simply the fact that some of the bass isolated in these shrinking waters were growing very, very slowly indeed.

Like so many other fish, bass tend to reach a certain length then slow right down in terms of growth, although their weight can fluctuate considerably depending on their condition (based mainly on the available food supply) and whether or not they’re carrying “ripe” roe sacs prior to spawning or attempting to spawn.

A pair of big river fish taken on consecutive casts. They’d likely be 20 years old or more.

RIGHT Prime habitat… we need to protect it.

ABOVE

1 6

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

HOW BIG CAN THEY GROW? Discussions about the sizes of Australian bass frequently degenerate into arguments of one sort or another. It seems everyone has an opinion on the subject, not to mention a story they heard from the uncle of a mate’s brother-in-law about a bloke who supposedly once caught a 14 pounder from a farm dam on a whole chicken leg. However, as the younger generation are so fond of saying on social media these days: “Photo or it didn’t happen!”

For many, many years I regarded any wild, river bass with a fork length greater than about 35 cm (14 inches) and a weight much over a kilo (about 2 lb 4 oz) as a prize catch.

To be honest, I still do, although I’ve seen and caught plenty bigger than that, especially over the last few decades.

Back “in the day” — when bass or “perch” fishers talked in terms of weight rather than length — a four pound wild bass was the Holy Grail for most of us… the one we all aspired to catch, and occasionally did. These days, the magic mark is 50 cm, although there’s a bit of a grey area between measuring to the fork of the tail and measuring to the tips. Make no mistake: a 50 cm fork-length bass is a bloody big fish! It could weigh anywhere from 2 to 3 kg, depending on its condition. I’ve personally never caught one that big in a river, although I’ve pulled a few in the 50 cm fork-length class from stocked dams. By contrast, while still very big fish, bass measuring 50 cm to the tips of the tail are considerably more abundant, and I’ve been lucky enough to score a few wild fish in that category over the years. But they definitely do grow even larger…

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

17

THE BIGGEST, BADDEST BASS The largest Australian bass ever recorded have all come from unnatural, still-water environments such as stocked lakes or dams. It seems that bass grow bigger in these waters because they have a year ’round food supply and don’t need to migrate up and down flowing rivers to spawn, burning lots of energy in the process. It’s also worth noting that the very largest specimens have all come from relatively warm south eastern Queensland dams containing healthy populations of bony bream, which are a wonderful and readily available food source.

At the time of writing, the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) listed the all-tackle World Record for Australian bass at 4.45 kg (9 lb 12 oz). This was a fish taken from Somerset Dam in Queensland by Daniel McCoy on 18 August, 2018. That exceptional bass reportedly had a fork length of 56.5 cm and was very fat (no doubt full of roe at that time of year, despite being unable to spawn in a dam).

There are occasional reports of 60 cm-plus bass from both dams and rivers and such fish definitely do exist, albeit in very small numbers. However, as mentioned earlier, one needs to be a little careful when talking lengths, as there’s a considerable variation between bass measured to the fork of the tail and those measured to the tail tips. Sixty-to-thefork bass are very rare creatures indeed!

In researching this publication, I spoke with two of the country’s finest bass fishers, both of whom I admire greatly.

I know they’ve both caught exceptionally large river bass and I was keen to seek out the details of those fish.

CLICK for Vimeo On-demand

WATCH NOW

David Seaman — better known simply as ‘Seamo’ — lives near Taree, on the mid-north coast of New South Wales, and has caught more seriously large, wild bass than just about anyone else I know. His ‘PB’ is pictured hereabouts and measured a whopping 603 mm (60.3 cm) to the fork (Seamo is a stickler for fork lengths). His second and third largest wild bass measured 58 and 57 to the fork, and he has caught plenty in the 55 cm fork range. He also told me about pulling the hooks on a fish in the torchlight right under his rod tip one night that he swears was significantly larger than his 60.3, and which may have given 65 (fork!) a serious nudge. I have trouble getting my head around a bass in that league, but I absolutely believe Seamo! He has seen enough impossibly large bass to know what he’s talking about. (By the way, Seamo has an amazing series of wild river bass videos which he sells as both Vimeo downloads and on DVDs. Find out more about these by clicking on the links at left.)

CLICK for DVDs 1 8

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

Another gun angler with very solid big bass credentials is Curtis Parker, from the upper Clarence River region of far northern New South Wales. Interestingly, his biggest river bass also came from down Seamo’s way and measured 60.5 cm to the tail tips, which would probably put it at around 57 to the fork. Again, you can see a picture of it hereabouts. Curtis has also accounted for a couple of fish in the 56 to 57 (tip length) range from the Clarence system closer to his home.

Seamo’s amazing 603 mm (fork length) PB bass!

BELOW Curtis Parker has landed a couple in this league.

LEFT

Suffice to say that the absolute maximum growth potential for Australian bass is probably in the order of 65 cm (fork length), but that such exceptional specimens are exceedingly rare. River fish of that length might weigh as much as 4 kg, while dam-dwelling bass of a similar length would potentially be quite a bit heavier, likely exceeding 5 kg.

Interestingly, the closely-related estuary perch can grow at least as large as its cousin the Australian bass and there are some fairly well-substantiated reports of commercial eel fishers in the Gippsland Lakes’ region of Victoria encountering perch up to 5 kg in weight! At such sizes, these fish truly are “the barra of the south”.

The absolute maximum growth potential for Australian bass is probably in the order of 65 cm.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

19

WHAT BASS EAT Stomach analysis of adult bass taken from tidal waters (typically between late autumn and spring) reveals a high proportion of prawns, shrimps and small fish such as mullet and herring in their diets, while those found further upstream in the freshwater reaches of rivers during summer prey heavily on insects, along with a broad range of small terrestrial creatures such as frogs, lizards, spiders, mice and so on, in addition to shrimps, yabbies (freshwater crayfish) and small fish such as gudgeons, smelt, galaxias, herring and — most likely — juveniles of their own species.

Adult bass, especially those the in the freshwater reaches of rivers, are what’s known as “opportunistic” feeders. In other words, when hungry and in the mood, they’ll willingly hit just about anything they can fit into their generous mouths, as well as occasionally having a crack at potential prey they could never realistically hope to swallow!

At the opposite end of the spectrum, bass — even quite large specimens — will happily snack on tiny insects at times. Anyone who’s spent some serious time on our coastal rivers in spring and early summer will no doubt have encountered the flying ant or termite “swarms” that often precede thunderstorms at this time of year. Many fish, including bream and mullet, will readily rise to take these flying insects when they fall onto the water, and both bass and estuary perch are also quick to cash in on such windfalls. At such times, they can be incredibly difficult to tempt on conventional lures or flies, but can occasionally be tricked with small, trout-style dry flies on No. 10 to 14 hooks. Much work remains to be done on identifying the best fly patterns for this job, and anyone who unlocks this “ant hatch” fishery on a regular basis will be in for some amazing fishing! It’s something I’ll talk about more in the section of this publication devoted to fly fishing for bass and estuary perch.

2 0

While their numbers may have been reduced in many of these systems, bass remain relatively prolific in others.

Bass thrive in small, secretive waters such as these.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

CURRENT RANGES OF ‘WILD’ BASS & ESTUARY PERCH*

AUSTRALIAN BASS

ESTUARY PERCH

*Self-sustaining populations

GEOGRAPHIC RANGE Finally, no analysis of the biology and life history of Australian bass would be complete without a quick look at the places they call home.

The natural, geographic range of the Aussie bass is listed in many books and websites as stretching from Tin Can Bay in Queensland to Wilsons Promontory in Victoria, and this seems fairly close to the mark. In terms of actual catchments or river systems, the northernmost drainage holding naturally-occurring populations of wild bass seems to be the massive Mary River, which flows into the sea at River Heads, east of Maryborough, in Queensland.

Interestingly, the Mary River is also often listed as the southernmost natural limit of the barramundi, although in reality, barra do occasionally stray as far south as the Noosa and even the Brisbane Rivers, and isolated specimens turn up further south still at times. The fact is, fish can swim, and they have little respect for lines drawn on a map, while human influences ranging from stocking and translocation to our impacts on the climate have all played a part in smudging the boundaries, as well.

At the southern end of their extensive range, Wilsons Promontory (the southernmost point on the Australian mainland) makes a handy geographic marker to delineate the bottom end of bass country but, to be honest, your chances of actually catching a bass close to the Prom’ itself are fairly slim. You’re much more likely to find the closelyrelated estuary perch here.

In reality, bass numbers begin to thin out quite quickly as we move west and south of Mallacoota, in East Gippsland, and while pockets of bass do occur in some of the East Gippsland watersheds, these fish are greatly outnumbered here by estuary perch.

As a side note, the confusingly-named Bass River, west of Wilsons Promontory, would seem a likely contender as part of the range of this fish. But it appears that, while a few estuary perch are caught from this shallow system that empties into Westernport Bay, no Australian bass have actually been officially recorded here.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

21

Interestingly, however, there’s quite a strong population of bass (including some beauties!) now living in the middle reaches of the Glenelg River, far to the west of Melbourne on the Limestone Coast, near the South Australian border.

These fish are the result of unofficial stocking and escapees from farm dams, but there does seem to be a strong suggestion that they may have established a breeding population here, well beyond their natural range.

The geographic range of the estuary perch overlaps extensively with that of the bass, beginning at the Richmond River in far northern New South Wales, but extending well west, beyond the natural limits of bass, to the lower Murray and Coorong estuaries in South Australia and across Bass Strait to northern Tasmania. Sadly, perch populations in the lower Murray and several rivers in Tasmania are extremely small or even non-existent these days, but they do still exist in good numbers in the Glenelg River, on the Victorian/South Australian border, as well as in the Arthur River on Tasmania’s rugged north west coast.

Around this extensive crescent of our continent’s south eastern corner (which, co-incidentally, is home to the lion’s share of Australia’s human population), bass can be found in almost every estuary, river, creek or coastal lake and lagoon that is fed by an accessible freshwater stream more than a kilometre or two in length. And while their numbers and spread may have been reduced in many of these systems, they remain relatively prolific in others… which is wonderful news for those of us who love to pursue them on rod, reel and line!

2 2

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

Catching big, wild bass in our rivers is an amazing experience.

LEFT A swathe of classic Aussie bush frames a deep, dark pool. What lurks in its shadows?

ABOVE

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

23

Jo with a chunky, postspawn bass encountered on its way back upstream during early spring.

2 4

A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF A BASS

The most important breakthroughs in my own progression as a bass fisher over the decades have mostly come with an increasing understanding of the seasonal movements of these fish within our coastal river systems, and the behavioural changes that accompany those movements.

When I finally began to get my head around these vital aspects of bass fishing (and I’m still very much on the learning curve!), my success rate at finding and catching these fish improved dramatically.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

But before we get into an analysis of the annual movements of bass in our coastal rivers, I need to clearly spell out that what follows is intended very much as a general guide rather than any sort of “bible” chiselled into stone.

Variations to these patterns are very common, not only from one river system to another, but also within any given system. Most often, those variations will come down to weather (or climate), which obviously changes from year to year as well as across much longer cycles. It’s also worth noting that not every bass in a particular system will necessarily follow the “rules” in any given year.

Those important caveats aside, I hope that what follows will at least give you a starting point on where (and how) to begin looking for bass in your favourite river or creek at any particular stage of the year.

By the time the wattle is in blossom, many travelling bass are heading back upriver.

BELOW

CLOSED SEASONS Another point worth making before we get started on a look at the annual movements of bass is to stress that there were closed seasons on the taking of wild bass from rivers in several jurisdictions at the time of writing. In Queensland, the closed season for bass currently runs from 1 June until 1 September, while in NSW the closed season for bass and estuary perch ran from 1 May until 1 September at the time of writing. Both of these closed seasons are effectively “no-take” rulings, meaning that if a bass (or estuary perch) is hooked in a river or estuary during this period, it must be released as quickly as possible and can’t be placed in a live well or otherwise retained in the “possession” of an angler, even for a brief time.

There’s an ongoing debate about whether or not anglers should actively target bass during this closed season or “no-take” period. Some would argue that they should be left completely in peace, and that hammering winter-time aggregations of pre-spawn bass in tidal waters could adversely impact their ability to reproduce successfully.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

25

While the evidence on this isn’t cut and dried, I personally prefer to leave wild bass alone as much as possible to do their thing across the four months of the closed season (in NSW) and to chase other species at this time, or fish for bass in stocked dams instead through winter. That said, if I happen to stumble across a patch of bass during the closed season, I certainly don’t feel too bad about catching a couple and carefully releasing them before moving on. Each to their own on this, I reckon, as long as you stick to the laws as they stand at the time.

Okay, with those comments made, let’s move on to an examination of the general trends of bass movement and behaviour across a typical year:

HIGH SUMMER During the hottest months of summer (late December, January and February), the majority of adult bass will be well spread throughout the freshwater, non-tidal reaches of our coastal rivers, ranging all the way upstream to the first impassable barrier to migration.

While I have no real evidence of this, I suspect that at least some adult wild bass may exhibit a form of “homing” behaviour, possibly returning (or attempting to return) to a favourite pool or stretch of river each summer throughout their potentially long lives. I’m also convinced that there’s something of a “pecking order” in each pool or hole, with the bigger fish taking up the best locations in terms of food and cover from predators. Typically, those “best lies” will be the first deep snag, boulder or undercut bank at the head (upcurrent end) of the pool. Such a lie will provide shelter from predators, a current break and first access to any juicy food items washing into the pool. Note that there are also often prime lies further down the pool, as well as near its tail.

While not exactly a “schooling” fish at this time of year, prime lies may well hold several bass, often (but not always) of a roughly similar size. Also, as a rule of thumb, there will be a lot more bass in any prime pool or hole than your fishing results might indicate. In other words, if you catch a couple, there are probably quite a few more there!

2 6

In summer, bass do a lot of their feeding at night.

RIGHT A chunky little summertime bass from the ’yak.

ABOVE

They spend an awful lot of their time — especially during daylight hours — holed-up deep within snags.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

The other thing worth noting about pool-dwelling bass in high summer is that they are quite “cryptic” or secretive fish. They spend an awful lot of their time — especially during daylight hours — holed-up deep within snags, lurking beneath undercut banks or deep in the shadowy clefts and hollows between boulders. The clearer and lower the water and the brighter and sunnier the day, the more they will seek out these deep, dark and well-shadowed hidey holes.

You need to get your lure close to cover during the day.

BELOW

None of this means bass are un-catchable during the day in high summer, but rather that you will need to get your bait, lure or fly right in front of them to potentially elicit a response.

Come late afternoon and early evening, as the shadows lengthen and light levels drop, those secretive, hiding fish tend to become much more active and mobile. They will move to the fronts of their hidey holes and begin to watch, listen and sense for potential prey. As darkness falls, some will leave cover altogether and cruise the entire pool, even moving up into shallow runs and rapids in search of a meal. This is why dusk, dawn and night fishing — especially using surface offerings — can be so effective at this time of the year.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

27

AUTUMN MOVEMENTS As March rolls towards April, nights lengthen and become cooler. In response to these changes, many adult bass will begin to drop downstream, particularly during any local rain events or sudden rises in river level. This movement is gradual and sporadic at first and may not include every adult bass, but by the end of April, there is a concerted downstream movement by most adult fish. However, it should be noted that not every bass will move downstream every year, nor is it always possible for the fish to easily travel downriver, especially if water levels are too low.

By May, many adult bass will be dropping into the upper tidal reaches of our river systems, often forming quite significant schools that sometimes seem to be arranged by size and sex, with smaller males and larger females tending to form separate aggregations. These schools will often hang around in moderately deep stretches of the upper tidal reaches for weeks at a time, moving up and downstream with the tides while feeding on prawns and smaller fish such as mullet and herring, or suddenly heading further down into brackish water during any flood, or even on bigger tide cycles around the full and new moons.

Male bass tend to grow more slowly than their female counterparts.

RIGHT

2 8

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

As the sun sinks, bass typically become more active.

BELOW

By May, many adult bass will be dropping into the upper tidal reaches of our river systems, often forming quite significant schools.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

29

SPAWN AND POST-SPAWN As discussed in some detail in the previous chapter, spawning (if it happens) will usually take place in brackish, tidal water during July and August. Following spawning, the “spent” fish usually begin to move fairly quickly back upstream, once again taking advantage of any rises in river level (or big tides) to negotiate shallow bars and low level barriers such as weirs and road crossings. Very often, these movements take place at night, with the fish holing up or resting in deeper stretches during the day.

These post-spawn fish are typically quite lean and light in weight for their length, and at least a few will have split fins, small lesions (sores) or even major scarring and more significant injuries. Some of these wounds are the results of impacts with obstacles on the way down or back up the river, while others tell of violent encounters with eels, mulloway, cormorants, pelicans, nets, hooks or lines.

These slightly ragged post-spawn fish are often schooledup and usually hungry and competitive. Anglers who encounter aggregations of such fish in September and early October can potentially experience some of the best bass fishing of their lives, especially if these migrating fish “stack up” below any temporary barriers represented by rapids, low waterfalls, weirs and the like.

Other years, fish encountered during this period will still be fat, fit and full of roe and milt. Unfortunately, this more often than not means that, for whatever reason, they have been unable to spawn and are heading back upstream while slowly re-absorbing their eggs. Entire year classes can end up missing from bass populations as a result of such failed spawn events.

3 0

In spring, bass may still be quite lean and a little knocked around after their spawning migration.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

Anglers who encounter aggregations of such fish in September and early October can potentially experience some of the best bass fishing of their lives.

SPRING BITE The early part of the traditional bass season — from the beginning of September until mid-November — often produces some of the year’s very best action. The fish are hungry, mobile and frequently schooled-up. They compete for food and will regularly hunt right through the day, if given half a chance.

This is also the time of year most likely to feature termite or flying ant swarms, usually on sultry evenings before rain. It’s at such times that you can gain a clearer picture of just how many bass are present in a given stretch of river as they rise to hungrily slurp these tasty morsels from the

surface. Sometimes, it’s enough to make you question your abilities as an angler — or at least the obvious inefficiency of our best efforts to fool these fickle fish!

As the days lengthen and both air and water temperatures rise, the daytime bite will typically slow and the best bass fishing action will become more tightly confined to the change-of-light and night time periods. By Christmas, flogging the water through the middle of a hot, bright summer day can become a rather frustrating and often fruitless exercise.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

31

ACTIVITY LEVELS

When the fish are shut down or inactive, you really need to get your lures or flies right back into the deepest of cover.

BELOW

3 2

Something we really need to get into our heads as anglers is the fact that all fish have varying activity cycles, and very few species feed (or are even willing to feed) all the time.

This is especially true of Australian natives such as Murray cod, barramundi, bass and estuary perch. These fish tend to spend relatively long periods in a “shut-down”, inactive, dormant, passive or resting mode, during which it is very difficult, if not impossible, to elicit a feeding response from them. At such times, they seem to have lock-jaw!

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

The more heavily shadowed bank is often a better bet during the day.

Luckily, not every fish in a given population or location will shut-down at exactly the same time, nor for the same period, so there are nearly always a few catch-able fish to be found, if you’re willing to work at it and try different things. At other times, it seems the majority of fish in a given area will suddenly “arc-up” and begin biting.

Exactly what triggers shut-downs and arc-ups amongst populations of bass and other fish is a subject on which almost every keen angler has at least one strongly-held theory… The trouble is, nearly every one of them has a different theory or set of theories to the next angler!

Consensus on this issue is hard to find.

Barometric pressure, weather conditions, wind direction, light levels, food availability, water temperature and the solunar tables (based on the position in the sky of the sun and the moon) are all cited as keys or triggers by various theorists.

There’s no doubt in my mind that all of those factors (plus others we can only begin to guess at) play a role in bass activity, but anyone who claims they have it completely sussed, or who states hard-and-fast “rules”, is frankly kidding themselves, because fish break those “rules” every day!

For my own two cents worth, I have certainly experienced some crazy bass sessions in the unstable and “electric” atmospheric conditions immediately preceding a sudden

Identify patterns that appear more productive in your waters, then do your best to repeat those successful patterns. thunderstorm (and accompanying drop in air pressure). I’ve also seen a cool breeze out of the east or nor’ east turn off a previously healthy afternoon surface bite like someone flicking a giant switch. I’ve experienced good bites during slight rises in river level, and had very tough days on stable, clear weather with a high, steady barometer. But I’m not going to hang my hat on any of those occurrences, nor use them to cite the existence of any hard “rules” for bass fishing.

My advice is simple: Go fishing when you can and, if possible, keep notes on the conditions at the time and your results in an attempt to identify patterns that appear more productive in your waters, then do your best to repeat those successful patterns. But don’t expect to always catch bass, and just because you don’t catch them, don’t assume there are none there… That’s about the best I can offer!

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

33

NATURAL SIGNPOSTS

Water dragons are a great sign when hunting bass.

ABOVE

Before leaving the fascinating subject of bass activity levels, I’d just like to make a couple of personal observations in passing about the behaviour of a few other animals that you’re also likely to see in and around bass streams.

I suspect that the presence and activity of these critters can sometimes act as a clear signpost to what the bass might also be doing.

For me, the first and most important of these natural signposts is the eastern water dragon (Intellagama lesueurii). These beautiful reptiles and their close relatives the Gippsland water dragons (I. lesueurii howittii) are

3 4

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

The powers of observation are one of the most useful tools any angler can possess… often found in close proximity to the freshwater and upper tidal reaches of bass rivers and are most active in spring, summer and autumn. I love seeing water dragons, and when they’re out in numbers and actively hunting for insects and other prey, it’s often a great time to be chasing bass!

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve hooked good bass in very close proximity to a hunting water dragon. One word of warning however: these reptiles are more than happy to leap off the bank and tackle a paddling surface lure! If accidentally hooked, they can be quick tricky to disentangle, with sharp claws, teeth and strong jaws that they aren’t afraid to use, so take care!

The presence of various kingfishers is another great sign around bass water, in my book. These beautiful minikookaburras actively hunt the small fish and other prey favoured by bass, so when you see them hunting, always check the area out. Likewise egrets, herons, cormorants and any other fish-eating birds.

Cicadas can be another clear signpost to bass activity, and strong cicada years are often extra good seasons when it comes to surface luring (or fly fishing) for bass. Similarly, days on which the scream of millions of these noisy insects in the trees is almost deafening can also be top days to target bass.

Finally, the sudden arrival of numbers of swooping swallows and swifts over a bass pool in the mid to late afternoon is a clear signal of an impending insect “hatch” or a flying ant swarm. Be on the lookout for this!

We can learn so much by opening our eyes and ears and keying into the natural signals all around us. The powers of observation are one of the most useful tools any angler can possess… the ability to not just look, but to actually see what’s going on.

Ooops! This water dragon was too quick for Starlo and managed to grab his Kneller Mouse!

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

35

Australian bass (top) and estuary perch (below) are very similar, but there are some obvious physical differences.

ABOVE

3 6

KISSING COUSINS

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

No discussion of Australian bass would be complete without at least a brief look in passing at the closelyrelated estuary perch or “EP”, as they’re often called — a species definitely deserving of its own book.

As mentioned earlier in this publication, estuary perch are similar in appearance and habits to bass, and the natural geographic range of the two species overlaps considerably, with estuary perch ranging from the Richmond River catchment in far northern NSW to the lower Murray River in South Australia. In addition, perch still exist in at least one river system in north western Tasmania.

This natural range of the estuary perch means that — between the Richmond River and the streams of East and South Gippsland — it is not only possible but highly likely

that perch and bass will be caught side-by-side at times, by anglers using exactly the same tackle and techniques. This is especially likely to occur during the cooler months of the year, from autumn to spring, when both species tend to be found in tidal, estuarine waters as part of their breeding cycle.

However, even in high summer, it’s still possible that bass and perch will occasionally be found side-by-side, especially in the higher tidal and lower freshwater reaches of many systems.

This event becomes increasingly likely south from about the Hawkesbury River, on Sydney’s northern fringes.

A trio of estuary perch taken on surface flies.

BELOW

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

37

That rusty red flush in the lower fins is quite characteristic of many estuary perch, but is almost never seen in bass.

RIGHT Overall body colouration isn’t a reliable key to identification. Here a silvery bass (top) and a much darker bass (bottom) flank an estuary perch.

ABOVE

Many anglers struggle to readily identify and separate bass and estuary perch.

3 8

Note how the EP’s scooped forehead is less obvious when its mouth is open.

But those big eyes, deeper body and reddish brown lower fins tell their own story.

RIGHT

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

MORE THAN KISSING!

SEPARATING THE COUSINS

Many anglers struggle to readily identify and separate bass and estuary perch, and it’s not hard to see why. At times, and in some waterways, their physical appearance can be extremely similar. This confusion is further compounded by the fact that perch and bass have been known to crossbreed or hybridise in systems where they co-exist.

Sometimes, the difference between a bass and an estuary perch is glaringly obvious: a matter of chalk and cheese. On other occasions, separating the two is quite tricky.

At the time of writing, it was hard to say just how widespread such hybridisation is, as there had been very little detailed scientific study done on this specific subject.

Suffice to say that it does occur, and that the resulting first-generation progeny are likely to exhibit a mix of the physical and behavioural characteristics of their parents. It’s also uncertain whether those first generation crosses can then go on to breed themselves. (Many hybrids in nature are either sterile “mules” or have very poor reproductive success.) All-in-all, it’s a fascinating subject that’s definitely worthy of a lot more study.

The more of these fish you encounter and handle, the better you’ll generally become at correctly identifying them. There have been times, in the middle of a mixed-species, afterdark surface bite, when I’ve correctly called the identity of the fish I’ve just hooked simply from the sound of its strike and the subsequent performance of the hooked fish on the line. Other times, I’ve had to look long and hard at a fish I’ve just landed before tentatively placing it in one camp or the other. (I strongly suspect that some of these “line ball” decisions have involved hybrids.)

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

39

There are a number of physical keys that can almost always be used to separate bass from estuary perch, and the most reliable one, in my experience, is the shape or profile of the fish’s “forehead” area: that part of the upper head between the top jaw and the beginning of the first dorsal fin. In estuary perch, this “forehead” profile is almost always obviously scooped or concave above the eyes, before rising fairly steeply toward the dorsal fin, rather like that of a barramundi or a golden perch. By contrast, the “forehead” of a bass is typically straight or even curved slightly outward (convex), more like that of a bream or a luderick (blackfish).

Beyond forehead profile, there are a bunch of often more subtle indicators or keys for separating the two species although, in my experience, none of them are 100 per cent foolproof.

Estuary perch are often active after dark.

(Steve Peach photo.)

4 0

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

However, while this “forehead profile” physical key is usually fairly obvious “in the flesh’’, it can be much harder to discern in photos, especially if the fish is held with its mouth wide open, with its body tilted, or is angled either toward or away from the camera. All of these things can result in difficulties readily identifying the species, and they often lead to arguments about the true identity of the catch, especially in social media posts, magazine articles and the like.

Beyond forehead profile, there are a bunch of often more subtle indicators or keys for separating the two species although, in my experience, none of them are 100 per cent foolproof. But by combining a few of these subtle indicators, you can usually make a well-educated guess about the identity of the fish you’ve just landed or are looking at in a photo.

That scooped forehead is a giveaway… the “barra of the south”!

LEFT

(Steve Peach photo.)

THE MORE SUBTLE KEYS Many sources discuss colouration when attempting to separate bass from estuary perch, but I don’t find this to be a particularly useful key to positive identification.

I’ve seen quite silvery bass and relatively dark EPs, often from the same waterway. That said, EPs are usually lighter in colour and more silver than bass… just not always!

Some books and other identification references also talk about bass having white leading edges on their ventral fins, although I’ve found that this distinction can be a little vague at times, too. On the other hand, I’ve noticed that the ventral, pectoral and anal fins of estuary perch often (but not always) display a distinct rusty-reddish flush.

While this isn’t always evident in estuary perch, I’ve never seen it in a bass, so if you encounter a fish with obvious brownish-red lower fins, it’s almost certainly an EP. In specimens of a similar size, you’ll also notice that perch have somewhat larger eyes and a slightly deeper body than bass, and that the perch’s fins are frequently (although again, not always) a little more squared-off or angular at their “corners” than those of a bass, which tend to be noticeably rounded.

Another characteristic I’ve noticed is that a perch’s mouth will open a little wider and project forward slightly further when it’s opened than that of a similar-sized bass, and that the perch will exhibit a little more of that thin, semi-transparent membrane behind the jaws that allows for this projection of the mouth to occur.

Body shape and overall build are also reasonable indicators. Perch tend to be more laterally compressed than bass. In other words, when viewed front-on, bass often have wider, fatter and more rounded bodies than EPs although, as already mentioned, perch are typically deeper through the body on a vertical plane. If both fish are in similar overall condition, a bass will often weigh a tad more than an EP of the same fork length.

ABOVE

The fins of estuary perch (left) and bass (right).

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

41

Next, there’s the actual “feel” of the fish. Perch tend to be a little “softer” in the hand than the firmer, more solid bass and sometimes, especially after dark, this is my first indication that I’ve landed an EP rather than a bass. But make no mistake: the spikes and gill cover cutters of both species are equally sharp, and I’ve actually been cut while handling EPs more regularly than I have by bass. Perch are spikey customers!

Finally, there’s the perennial question about which species fights harder when hooked. While this is an incredibly subjective debate, and often comes down to factors like tackle, terrain, the condition of the fish, water temperature and so on, I’d have to say that, in my experience, bass do tend to go a bit harder than EPs of a similar size, and are also more likely to head straight back into the cover of their home snag the moment they feel the hook. That said, perch are certainly no slouches on a line, and if you hook a big one deep in “tiger country”, you’ll know all about it!

...in my experience, bass do tend to go a bit harder than EPs of a similar size, and are also more likely to head straight back into the cover of their home snag the moment they feel the hook.

Both the Australian bass and its kissing cousin the estuary perch are wonderful native species that deserve our utmost respect and admiration… They’re truly wonderful sportfish!

A perch in the hand.

4 2

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

TO CATCH A BASS

As the old saying goes, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. There are also many different ways to target and successfully catch a wild bass or estuary perch in our coastal rivers and creeks.

Australian bass and estuary perch can be readily targeted

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

43

on baits, lures or flies using a wide range of tackle: from handlines to sophisticated spin, baitcaster or fly fishing outfits. The good news is that you don’t need to spend a fortune gearing up for bass. These days, it’s possible to put together a very workable rod, reel and line outfit or combo for a couple of hundred bucks or less. Spend what you can afford, look after your gear and it should give you many, many years of excellent service.

Let’s take a quick look at the most popular forms of tackle for targeting wild bass and estuary perch in our rivers and creeks:

You don’t need to spend a fortune gearing up for bass!

A light/medium spin rod and 2500 or 3000 size reel is ideal for bass.

ALL IN A SPIN By far the most popular form of gear these days — for chasing bass, perch and just about everything else you care to name short of full-on bluewater game fishing — is a spin or threadline outfit.

For bass and estuary perch, the ideal spinning outfit (which can be used to present both baits and lures) will typically be based around a 1.7 to 2.3 metre (5’6” to 7’6”) single or double-handed spinning rod rated for 2 to 6 kilo line and suited to casting weights from about 4 to 15 grams or thereabouts. Some makers refer to this as a light or light/

4 4

medium spin rod. Such a rod will match up very nicely with a 2000, 2500 or 3000-size spin reel (also known as a threadline or eggbeater).

Line choice for this set-up is very much up to the individual.

Today, the majority of keener anglers prefer to use skinnybut-strong braided or fused gel-spun polyethylene (GSP) main lines attached to monofilament leaders of either nylon or fluorocarbon, but some still prefer to spool up entirely with mono. The choice is yours. (We’ll look at line and leader strengths a little further on.)

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

PLUGGING AWAY Traditionally, bass fishing has been one of the great strongholds of baitcaster or plug reels in this country, and many of us (myself included) still love to fish for Aussie bass using these small overhead reels, mounted atop a suitable baitcaster or plug rod.

The old theory is that baitcasters allow for more accurate lure presentations — especially at close to medium range — than spin outfits, although I’d argue that a competent angler with a threadline outfit is at least the match of any reasonably proficient overhead caster. That said, it’s a joy to even partially master the baitcaster, and a delightful way to target these fish.

Bear in mind that you’ll likely struggle to cast lures or sinkers lighter than about 5 to 7 grams (1/4 ounce) with most baitcasters. It can be done, but it requires a certain level of skill and a high quality, well-tuned reel. Luckily, most of the hardware commonly thrown at bass weighs from 7 to 20 grams and is therefore right in the “sweet spot” for modern baitcasters, many of which now feature wonderful

Modern baitcasters are a joy to use.

ABOVE LEFT A big, wild bass taken on baitcaster tackle.

ABOVE RIGHT Most bass lures weigh between 7 and 20 grams.

TOP

cast-control mechanisms that greatly reduce the likelihood of over-runs, backlashes and associated “birds’ nests”. All the same, accurate, trouble-free casting with these little overheads under a range of practical fishing conditions does still require a bit of practice.

Suitable baitcaster rods for bass will usually fall into a similar length and line class range to those already described for spin rods, although some baitcaster aficionados prefer slightly shorter rods. Reels don’t need massive line capacities for bass fishing, so choose something small and light that balances nicely with the rod you’ve selected.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

45

OTHER OPTIONS Spincast or closed-face reels have never been especially popular in Australia, but they’re actually quite well suited to bass fishing, and especially handy for kids or new chums.

These reels sit atop the rod, like a baitcaster, with the line running through a hole in the front of a cone or dome that covers the fixed spool. A thumb-activated button controls casting. Just bear in mind that cheaper closed-face models are prone to tangling and aren’t especially well suited for use with braided GSP lines.

I’m not a fan of losing fish, and I hate the idea of leaving hooks, lures or flies in their mouths!

There’s also absolutely no reason why light, shallow-spooled sidecast reels couldn’t be used for bass fishing, although such an option is rarely seen on our rivers.

Note that the selection of suitable fly fishing tackle for targeting bass and estuary perch will be covered separately, later in this book.

4 6

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

This serious estuary perch gave the light plug gear a workout! It may well have been lost on lighter line.

LEFT

Out in open water, away from such line-cutting cover, both bass and estuary perch can be handled on light or even ultra-light tackle, and it’s certainly fun to catch them that way. However, they’re rarely encountered in such open water in our rivers, and when they’re hooked closer to cover, they’ll often make short work of light lines.

I must admit that over the years, my line strength selection for bass, in particular, has only tended to head in one direction: up! I’m not a big fan of losing fish, and in particular I hate the idea of leaving hooks, lures or flies in their mouths, potentially condemning them to a slow death.

I would much rather go out over-gunned for the “average” bass or perch that’s likely to be encountered, while still having a better-than-even chance of remaining connected to those bigger specimens we all hope to encounter.

All of that said, bass and perch definitely do reward “finesse”, in exactly the same way that every other fish does. In other words, the finer your main line and leader, the more bites you’ll get. It’s as simple as that. So, line and leader selection ultimately becomes a trade-off and a balancing act between strength and finesse.

DRAWING THE LINE Line and leader strengths for bass and estuary perch will be dictated to some extent by an angler’s personal preferences, as well as practical considerations concerning the terrain being fished and the size of the bass or perch likely to be encountered.

Make no mistake: both species are excellent sportfish.

They’re strong and fast, especially compared to most of our popular inland freshwater species (including the much celebrated trout). However, neither bass nor perch have a habit of making especially long runs. Instead, when hooked, they’re more likely to immediately power back towards the sanctuary of their home snag, undercut bank or rock pile.

These days, I mostly run 8 to 20 pound (4 – 9 kg) braid as my main line when specifically targeting bass and estuary perch, bearing in mind that most braids actually test well above their “rated” breaking strains. I’ll then vary both the length and strength of my leaders (either fluorocarbon or nylon) to suit the prevailing conditions. For example, if I was targeting finnicky estuary perch in clear, relatively open water, I might go for a couple of rod lengths of 4 kilo leader.

At the opposite end of the scale, if I’m casting surface lures for hefty bass in snag-studded country after dark, I may bump my leader’s strength right up to 10 kilos and reduce its length to a metre or less… Horses for courses!

By all means, choose the line strength you prefer to use, but if you’re consistently being busted off or snagged up by hooked fish, please respect your opponents enough to seriously consider beefing up your gear.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

47

It’s hard to beat live shrimps as bait for bass!

RIGHT Unhooking a shrimp-eater.

SOAKING A BAIT I caught my very first Australian bass on bait half a century ago, and I still occasionally enjoy soaking a bait for these fish. They respond well to a wide range of natural offerings such as earthworms, wattle and witchetty grubs, shrimps, prawns, nippers, small yabbies, mudeyes (dragonfly larvae), crickets, grasshoppers, cicadas and the like, especially when these baits are presented un-weighted, lightly-weighted or suspended under a small float. But please bear in mind that the use of some traditional bass baits — such as frogs and small native freshwater fish — is now banned in many jurisdictions, and rightly so. Check your local rules first!

4 8

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

The only caveats I’d stress when it comes to bait fishing for bass and estuary perch are that your baits should always be locally-sourced (never translocate bait items from another river system, nor use imported offerings that may carry serious diseases), and that you need to think long and hard about ways of avoiding the deephooking of fish that might be intended for live release.

Hand-holding your outfit and striking quickly when a fish bites, rather than letting it swallow the bait and swim off, will definitely help to reduce the incidence of deep-hooking.

However, an even better option is to use in-line circle hooks.

It’s important not to strike aggressively when using these

Warning: Lure fishing for bass can become a serious addiction!

A light jig head is perfect for presenting natural baits.

BELOW

THE LURE OF BASS unusually-shaped hooks. Simply tighten or lift into the weight of the fish as it swims off and crank the reel. That way, the hook will almost always find its mark in the corner of the fish’s mouth, allowing for easy unhooking and release if so desired.

While relatively few anglers seem to chase wild bass on bait these days, doing so certainly can teach you many valuable lessons about these fish, and it also represents a great introduction to the sport for youngsters, non-fishing partners or new chums. We should never look down our noses at those who prefer to soak a bait. Done well, it’s an art form in itself.

Warning: Lure fishing for bass can become a serious addiction! If the bug bites, you may find yourself the owner of multiple trays and tackle boxes crammed full of lures in all manner of shapes, sizes, colours and styles, yet still constantly scanning websites, magazines and catalogues for the next “big thing”… It seems that a serious bass fisher can never own enough lures!

Lures (and flies) are effectively “artificial baits”. They attract the attention of the target fish by either imitating a real food source, or by triggering a level of curiosity and/or aggression that results in a predator “investigating” the object in question.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

49

It’s worth remembering that fish don’t have hands, so if they wish to check something out that has piqued their interest, they must take it into their mouth to do so. This helps to explain why a lot of incredibly outlandish-looking lures that really don’t imitate anything that ever swum, crawled or flew are regularly struck by fish such as bass and estuary perch. Spinnerbaits are a particularly good example of this!

Lures for bass and perch can be broken into two very broad groupings: sub-surface and surface. As those terms imply, sub-surface lures are intended to operate somewhere down in the water column, while surface lures do their best work right on that critical interface between air and water.

Just to confuse the issue, some sub-surface lures float at rest, and some surface lures sink! Their classification into those categories has more to do with their intended behaviour when actually retrieved and given some action.

I’ve opted to look at half a dozen or so of the most traditionally popular styles or families of bass lures in this section of the book, while devoting the following chapter to a more detailed examination of some newer options that have changed the face of the sport across the past decade or two:

Floating/diving hardbodied plugs are proven bass catchers.

ABOVE

FLOATING/DIVING PLUGS: These would have to be the most “traditional” and recognisable of all the bass lure “families”.

Fifty years and more ago, they were represented by such classics as the French-made Rublex Flopy, the Swedish ABU Hi-Lo, the American Heddon Deep 6 and the true-blue Aussiemade Southam Bellbrook, to name just a few star performers.

Over the years, those old-fashioned classics have been joined or superseded by literally thousands of newer floating/diving plugs and minnows from across the globe and around the nation, all of them capable of appealing to bass and estuary perch.

5 0

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

Some are made from timber, others from hollow plastic and some from expanding or “blown” foam. What most have in common is a plastic or metal “bib” or diving lip at the nose, which acts like a paravane to make the lure dive beneath the surface and wriggle seductively when retrieved. How deep they dive and what swimming action they exhibit is dictated by the size and angle of the bib and the shape and density of the lure’s body. Anglers need to choose one that suits the depth of water where they’re fishing.

Floating/diving plugs have caught hundreds of thousands of bass across the decades and will continue catching them for as long as these fish inhabit our rivers and creeks. Every bass fisher needs a few of these time-proven lures in his or her kit (or maybe a few boxes of them!).

SINKING MINNOWS: Sinking plugs and minnows are a little less common than the floating/diving variety, but definitely have their place in the well-stocked bass fisher’s arsenal. They look a lot like the floaters but, because of their density, they sink (usually fairly slowly) when not being retrieved. This can be useful for working deeper banks, weed bed edges and drop-offs.

Once you establish exactly what rate your sinking minnow descends at, it’s possible to “count it down” to a specific depth before commencing your retrieve. This can be rather handy at times.

Fish don’t have hands, so if they wish to check something out that has piqued their interest, they must take it into their mouth to do so.

A beautiful wild river bass taken on a traditional deepdiving plug.

LEFT

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

51

LIPLESS CRANKBAITS: Also known as “LCBs” or vibes, these are sinking lures that are usually constructed of hollow or solid plastic and often fitted with internal rattles. For the purposes of this exercise, we can also lump the metal blades or vibes into this category, as they have similar actions and applications.

Spoons come in a huge range of shapes, sizes, colours and actions. They sink at rest and have a fluttering or wobbling action when retrieved, imitating a small fish or some other critter. They remain rather underutilised on wild bass waters, but definitely have a place in the well-stocked bass angler’s tackle box.

Lipless crankbaits, vibes and blades are generally more popular with impoundment bass fishers than those chasing wild fish in our rivers, but they definitely have valid stream applications as well.

SPINNERBAITS: Consisting of a rigid, wire coat-hanger assembly with one or more metal or plastic spoon-shaped blades spinning on one arm and a “dressed” jig head fitted with a hook or hooks on the other arm, spinnerbaits were virtually unknown in Australia before the 1990s. They went from zero to hero in a decade or less and are nowadays regarded as a “must-have” lure in the kits of most anglers chasing Australian bass (as well as Murray cod).

These lures sink at rest, often quite quickly, and have a tight, vibrating or shuddering action when jigged or retrieved. They’re most often fished with a lift-drop or stop-start presentation and can be very effective fish-catchers, although they are also quite prone to snagging up or fouling in aquatic vegetation.

SPOONS: Metal and (less commonly) plastic spoons or “wobblers” have been used for centuries to catch all manner of fish in both fresh and salt water. They’re especially popular amongst anglers chasing trout and salmon, but they work well on river-dwelling bass, too.

Spinnerbaits first came to prominence on the US bass fishing scene, and they are equally effective on our homegrown Aussie bass. They’re sinking lures that descend or “helicopter” down when not being retrieved and then tend to rise at varying angles through the water column when cranked. Their action, optimum speed, flash and running

Compact spinnerbaits are deadly on bass!

5 2

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

depth varies depending on their weight and the shape and size of their blade or blades.

Because the single, upward-facing hook is effectively shielded by the wire coat-hanger arms in front, spinnerbaits are surprisingly snag and weed resistant, allowing them to be worked through dense cover and vegetation with relatively few hang-ups. This helps to explain their amazing effectiveness on species such as bass and cod.

As a general rule of thumb, more compact spinnerbaits with relatively short arms tend to work extra well on our bass (and, to a lesser extent, estuary perch). Many anglers also fit a trailing “stinger” hook to the standard single hook found on most spinnerbaits and while this definitely pins more short-striking fish, it also makes these lures less snag-resistant.

Perch love plastics!

Adding a beetlespin arm can make a good thing better.

RIGHT

BELOW

SOFT PLASTICS: While they’ve been around since the 1950s, soft plastic lures didn’t really take off in any meaningful way here in Australia until more recent times. Barramundi and flathead fishers embraced them from about the 1970s onwards, but anglers chasing other fish took a little longer to realise just how effective they can really be. Australia’s abiding love affair with soft plastics finally kicked into gear during the first decade of the new millennium.

Soft plastics can be rigged and fished in many different ways, and are often added as “trailers” to spinnerbaits, chatterbaits and skirted jigs, but in Australia the most popular strategy is to simply rig them on a jig head, with the hook fully exposed. This works well on bass (in both rivers and dams) and extremely well on estuary perch. In fact, there is probably no better tactic for catching estuary perch than to cast a jig-head-rigged soft plastic close to a snag or drop-off where perch are schooled up and either “hop” it back across the bottom or “slow-roll” it through mid-water. Perch are absolute suckers for softies!

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

53

Catching a solid bass on a surface lure is one of fishing’s greatest thrills!

A bass taken on a Kneller stick bait.

RIGHT Timeless classics — Heddon’s Torpedo (top) and Crazy Crawler.

ABOVE

SURFACE LURES: This is a huge category, and one well worthy of a chapter on its own. Suffice to say that surface or “topwater” lures come in all manner of configurations, including poppers, bloopers, paddlers, crawlers, fizzers, critters, wake baits and stick baits, to name just a few of the more popular and well-known styles.

All of them are intended to swim, gurgle, wriggle, paddle, pop, churn or slide across the surface, imitating a terrestrial critter such an insect, reptile, amphibian, small mammal or bird that has fallen or dived into the water, or perhaps an injured, disoriented bait fish.

it the slightest of twitches, then pausing again. Often, the more patient you are and the longer you’re willing to wait, the more explosive the strike will be when it comes.

Think about teasing a cat with a tuft of wool tied to a length of string and you’ll be on the right track! Other days, of course, your lure may well be belted the moment it touches down, or at the very first sign of movement.

Whatever the case, there’s no denying that catching a solid bass on a surface lure is one of fishing’s greatest thrills!

Surface lures can be worked or presented in a huge variety of ways, from a constant slow to medium-paced retrieve to a stuttering, stop-start action. In my experience, however, many bass anglers fish these deadly lures far too quickly and don’t keep them in the strike zone long enough. It’s often all about the pause. Don’t be afraid to let your surface lure simply sit there, motionless, for a good 30 seconds after it splashes down before giving

As a very rough rule, bass tend to key into surface presentations best during low light levels and when water temperatures are relatively high, but don’t be sucked into believing that topwater action for these fish is confined solely to balmy, mid-summer’s evenings! The next bass or estuary perch to smash a surface lure in the middle of a cool, September day certainly won’t be the first to do so… nor the last!

5 4

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

Surface fishing options come in many forms.

LEFT

OTHER OPTIONS: Of course, there are many, many other lure styles and families that will appeal to bass and estuary perch on the right day and when presented in an enticing manner.

In the next chapter, I examine several exciting and relatively new options that are already changing the face of Aussie bass fishing: in both rivers and dams. No doubt the tackle and tactics for this fishery will continue to evolve in coming decades, just as they have across the past century… who knows what the future might hold?

A chunky EP fooled with a simple, jig-rigged plastic.

Never ignore the basics!

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

55

OUTSIDE THE SQUARE

5 6

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

Lure fishers are creatures of habit... it’s time to break free!

A gorgeous wild bass tricked with a skirted jig “pimped” with a pair of aftermarket metal blades.

LEFT

Many keen lure fishers (myself included) have a tendency to become creatures of habit. We find a favourite lure, or small selection of lures, that works well for our chosen target species, and we stick doggedly to those “proven” patterns, trip after trip. This innate stubbornness or lack of willingness to experiment feeds a cycle of self-fulfilling prophecy: we choose a certain lure because we have faith in it, we catch fish on it, so next time it’s the first option we reach for… and thus we catch fish on it again. Over time, this pattern of repetition can create the strong impression in our minds that those are the only lures that work really well on the particular fish we like to chase. More often than not, this is a completely false belief.

Anglers who regularly chase barramundi in out tropical, northern waters are arguably the worst offenders when it comes to this “creature of habit” syndrome, but I’ve got to tell you, bass fishers aren’t all that far behind! And it’s a trait we really need to break free from more often.

Biting the bullet and trying something new or different can be refreshing and also a heap of fun. Remember the old line about a change being as good as a holiday? Even more importantly, a willingness to try something new may just turn up an option that works at least as well or even better than your traditional favourites. In addition, it’s worth bearing in mind that many populations of fish

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

57

— especially those living in waterways that attract a high level of angling pressure — do seem to “wise up” to popular lures over time. Throwing an occasional wild card can sometimes bring these “smarter” fish undone and boost your strike rate accordingly. This is very true of bass in rivers, especially where those waters are relatively close to population centres and therefore fished on a frequent basis.

ENGINE OF EVOLUTION

Beetle spins work...

THIS IMAGE … as do spinnerbaits.

ABOVE

Anglers chasing wild bass in the coastal rivers from Bundaberg to East Gippsland are a group who’ve traditionally tended to get onto a good thing and stick to it… doggedly. Maybe that’s why some of us still own battered old Jitterbugs and Crazy Crawlers that are longer in the tooth than a lot of the people reading these words! They work, so why change?

On the other hand, wild river bass fishing has always been a powerful engine of evolution in Australian angling.

Some of the earliest baitcaster reels and bibbed lures ever seen in this country were used by cutting edge fishers

5 8

chasing “perch” — as they were often known in those days. Ground breaking pioneers such as Vic McCristal, John Bethune, Dick Lewers and Jack Erskine regularly borrowed tackle and technologies from the American bass fishing scene and applied them with outstanding results: first to Aussie bass, then to our inland natives and later barra, jacks and a host of other home-grown species. It’s therefore only fitting that some of the current lure advances are also occurring on our bass waters.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

THE SPINNERBAIT ERA When I began bass fishing in the mid-1970s, I relied on just two lures: a medium-sized, French-made Rublex Flopy diver, and an American Heddon Crazy Crawler surface lure. Later, I discovered Arbogast Jitterbugs and various bibbed offerings from Shakespeare, Nilsmaster and other companies. My bass luring collection slowly grew… very slowly!

But change was coming. By the 1990s, John Bethune and others had really helped to put spinnerbaits squarely on the map as bass and cod catchers. By the turn of the new millennium, Aussie freshwater fishos had developed an abiding passion for these weird-looking whirligigs, and I’d hazard a guess that some Murray cod and Australian bass living in hard-fished waterways today have seen as many of these contraptions as I have!

These days, my short list of “go-to” wild bass lures includes spinnerbaits (especially compact, short-armed, quarter and five eighths ounce models), chatterbaits or “mumblers”,

ABOVE

Beetle spins appeal to estuary perch, too.

lipless crankbaits or vibes such as the classic Jackall TNs, a handful of floating/diving minnows and plugs, various soft plastics, and a gaggle of surface lures: poppers, walkers and stick baits. However, my trays of “B-team” players have multiplied considerably, driven mostly by the explosion of impoundment bass fishing over the past 20 years or so. Tail spinners, ice jigs, chatter baits… the list is extensive and grows monthly. Some of those less common impoundment bass offerings also get a regular run these days on wild bass in our rivers — often with excellent results.

Let’s take a close look at handful of particularly interesting lure styles that have increasingly found their way into my wild bass collection over the past few years. Some you’ll probably know (and maybe even use yourself on a regular basis). Others may be new to you. But they’re all definitely worthy of further consideration.

BEETLES FANS According to some pundits, American tackle company Johnson produced the first commercially-made Beetle Spins well over 50 years ago, although others claim that the concept dates back even further: to Virgil Ward’s Bass Buster company of the 1950s. Whatever its exact origin, the idea has gone on to be copied and modified by so

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

59

The addition of a beetle spin arm to a jig-rigged soft plastic can greatly enhance its appeal to both bass and estuary perch.

ABOVE & RIGHT

Beetle spins work extremely well! many other manufacturers over the subsequent years that “beetle spin” has gradually become a generic name, although you’ll also hear these devices called Betts Spins (referring to yet another brand) and jig spins.

Regardless of the name used, the core concept remains largely unchanged: a little “coat hanger” style wire arm with a free spinning blade at one end, a clip at the opposite end, and a line attachment eyelet in between, at the apex of the coat hanger’s ‘V’. Most modern beetle spins feature a single Colorado or Indiana style blade in either gold or nickel silver, with your choice of a smooth or hammered finish.

6 0

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

While originally sold pre-rigged, with a jig head and a short, plastic twin-tail grub attached, these days beetle spins are more commonly encountered as a stand-alone item.

The idea is that these devices can be added to a plastic- or fibre-dressed jig head of your choice to enhance its appeal, although some clever anglers have also caught fish by adding beetle spin arms to vibes, blades or even minnows and plugs.

Beetle spins provide a level of flash and vibration very similar to that produced by a small spinnerbait, and there’s a line of thought that these clip-on arms may have actually led to the development of modern spinnerbaits during the early 1960s.

Unlike spinnerbaits, beetle spins offer the advantage of being able to be quickly and easily clipped onto almost any style of lure. As mentioned, they’re most commonly attached to a jig head rigged with a soft plastic tail. The only potential downside of this set-up is that the hinging or articulation of the finished rig makes it a little less snag- and weed-resistant than a more conventional, rigid spinnerbait. It’s worth bearing this fact in mind if you’re throwing them into serious tiger country.

Whatever you call them, chatterbaits work!

This is a Hell Yeah model with a Keitech trailer.

ABOVE

Although reasonably well known here, beetle spins represent an option that’s still overlooked by far too many Aussie bass fishers; in both river and dam environments.

I’ve done extremely well at times using beetle spins clipped to my soft plastic-rigged jig heads, and I know plenty of other anglers who regularly employ this approach with outstanding results. For some, it’s a definite “go-to”.

THE CHATTERING CLASSES

Beetle-spin-rigged jig heads can be worked in a number of ways. I like to helicopter mine down the faces of snags, boulders or defined weed bed edges, hop them off the bottom a couple of times like a standard soft plastic, and then slow roll them back to the kayak, boat or bank, just like a spinnerbait. They can and will get hit at any stage of this three-part retrieve, but be especially on the lookout for what are sometimes quite subtle pick-ups on the drop.

The other lures I never leave home without these days are what’s commonly referred to by many anglers as “chatterbaits”. (It’s worth noting that “ChatterBait” is actually the registered trademark of one particular luremaking company which has become quite aggressive in its pursuit of others using the title, so I’m not exactly sure what we’re supposed to call this lure family nowadays when it’s produced by other manufacturers!)

The bottom line is that beetle spins work extremely well, and these days my river bass box always holds at least a few.

Also known in some Aussie circles as “mumblers”, these deadly lures consist of a jig head with a hook attached and an articulated metal plate in front that carries the tow point to which your line or leader is connected. When retrieved at slow to medium speed, this plate vibrates, causing the jig and any skirts or soft plastic trailers it carries to shimmy and wriggle very seductively.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

61

The combination of flash, vibration and action offered by this style of lure is extremely attractive to Aussie bass and estuary perch and it has become one of my absolute favourites in recent years. I particularly like the Aussiemade ones produced by Steve Hamilton from Wee Waa, in northern inland NSW. His aptly-named Hell Yeah models carry an articulated, wide-gape worm hook and, when rigged with a suitable soft plastic, they are not only reasonably snag and weed resistant, but also incredibly effective. I love the fact that they can be “helicoptered” down the face of a steep undercut or snag, hopped a few times off the bottom and then slow-rolled all the way back to the rod ABOVE Chatterbaits or ‘mumblers’ tip, staying nice and deep if you wish them to. Conversely, feature an articulated plate that you can also keep your rod tip up, crank a little faster provides action. This Hell Yeah and run them in the surface layer. Very versatile lures! model has a swinging worm As with the Beetle Spins already discussed, always be on the ball for hits “on the drop” with these lures, as well as any time throughout the remainder of the retrieve. In my opinion, they’re another “must have” option for bass: in rivers or dams.

6 2

hook to reduce snagging.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

THE JIG’S UP Lead or tungsten headed jigs with shredded rubber or fibre tails, and usually fitted with a brush-style weed guard of some sort, are most often referred to in American bass fishing literature as flipping, pitching or punching jigs. Over there, they are a popular choice for chasing largemouth bass and other species holed up in very heavy aquatic vegetation. These jigs are either fished as they come in the pack, or with a trailer of some sort fitted: a soft plastic, or a shaped piece of real or artificial pork rind (a combination known as a “jig ’n’ pig”).

Gangster Lures Beetle Bait is a hybrid spinnerbait/beetle spin.

BOTTOM Skirted jigs can be effective, with or without added blades.

TOP

The use of these skirted jigs has taken off to some extent in Australia over the past few seasons, thanks largely to their growing popularity amongst tournament anglers chasing stocked bass in dams. A few switchedon freshwater fishers targeting golden perch or

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

63

yellowbelly in our dams have also done extremely well on them for a few years now. Glen and Murray Stewart and Dean Hamilton are a trio of golden perch specialists who readily spring readily to mind as jig maestros.

These jigs can also be deadly on wild river bass in the right place and at the right time. I’ve experienced very promising results with them, both while crawling and hopping these lures slowly along the bottom, and also fishing them slightly more aggressively. I usually run a shortish soft plastic trailer and sometimes a stinger hook, but I’ve also been known to dress them with small willow leaf spinner blades on a flexible nylon arm, of the type offered by American tackle company Zappu.

Skirted jigs work!

BOTTOM Spy baits or spin baits are another option.

TOP

To be honest, I’ve usually pruned back or even totally removed the stiff, bristle weed guards found on most of these jigs, but in very snaggy situations I’ll occasionally leave the guards on, copping a reduced hook-up rate in return for being able to work heavy cover without constantly hanging up… Horses for courses.

Quality flipping and pitching jigs were notoriously hard to source in Australia until the arrival on the scene of a newish local operation called Pro’s Factory, who are now importing quality jigs and offering them via mail order. Check them out on Facebook, or search on line for their website.

SPY V SPY Spinbaits (better known as “spy baits” in most American and Japanese bass fishing literature) are another sleeper lure that you’re likely to hear more about over coming seasons.

At first glance, you could be forgiven for thinking that these lures, with their small propeller blades at each end, are some form of surface fizzer. But if you purchased them in that belief, you’d be bitterly disappointed, because spinbaits actually sink!

Spy baits or spinbaits are an “ultra-finesse” sub-surface lure. The good ones shimmy very slightly from side to side as they sink at a controlled drop rate, allowing them to be effectively counted down to a very specific depth.

Then, when cranked slowly and steadily on relatively light tackle, they tend to maintain that starting depth throughout a lengthy part of the retrieve, with their tiny propeller blades spinning and their minnow-like body

6 4

“listing” or rocking gently back and forth from side to side, along its lengthwise axis. Apparently, a big part of their appeal is the trail of slightly disturbed water they leave in their wake, called a “plume effect”. Fish are said to detect and follow this vague plume of turbulence, which supposedly mimics the disturbance trail left by a baitfish. Maybe that’s all marketing hype, but for whatever reason, these lures do seem to attract fish.

Don’t expect strong actions or positive feedback through the line from these extremely subtle lures. In Japan, the art of spy baiting is also known as the “technique of silent capture”, simply because these sinking minnows are so damn sneaky

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

and subtle in the water. That’s possibly their strength, and perhaps also why they seem to appeal to heavily pressured, shy or shut down fish, especially in very clear water.

Duo, Jackall, Megabass, Tiemco, Storm and a few other companies all make spinbaits, although they’re not particularly easy to find in our local stores. That may change as more anglers twig to their benefits, and not just for bass. So far, spy baits have mostly found favour with impoundment bass fishers in this country, but they also have river relevance.

BUZZ OFF “To infinity and beyond!” is cartoon movie character Buzz Lightyear’s catchcry, and it might also be a good line to describe another American bass lure that remains surprisingly under-utlised by Aussie fishers: the buzz bait.

Buzz baits are designed to be used on the surface, yet they sink at rest, which may be one reason local anglers have struggled to come to grips with this bit of offbeat Yanky ingenuity.

At first glance, buzz baits look vaguely like some sort of mutant spinnerbait. However, buzz baits feature a two- or three-bladed metal or plastic “turbine” style propeller blade at the end of their squared-off wire frame or hanger, instead of the more conventional cupped spoon blades of a standard spinnerbait.

If you keep your rod tip high and crank steadily at a medium to reasonably fast pace, these lures will run right up in the surface layer with their prop churning and sputtering noisily and their hook-carrying jig head just beneath the water.

Obviously, this retrieve style doesn’t allow for a lot of finesse or variation. If you slow down or pause, the lure sinks. Buzz baits are intended to be fished quickly, as a “searching” lure to cover lots of water fast. They tend to induce what the Yanks (and an increasing number of younger Aussie anglers) refer to as a “reaction bite” from any switched-on fish in the area. In other words, an instinctive rush of blood.

I used buzz baits years ago in North America to catch pike and largemouth bass, but apart from having dabbled with them here a few times on Murray cod, I’d never really given these oddball lures much of a run until quite recently. However, feedback from gun bass fishers like Dean Wagner made me rethink that situation.

It turns out that buzz baits can actually be extremely effective on both wild bass and their dam-dwelling brethren.

Surprisingly, they will even trigger topwater strikes at times when these fish are less willing to rise to a more conventional surface lure, including much later in the morning or earlier in the afternoon than you might expect. As a bonus, these strikes tend to be super aggressive and often result in a solid hook-up, especially if you run a stinger hook in the lure’s skirt.

Like most of the other left field offerings described here, buzz baits are still hard to find in local tackle shops. I’ve been getting mine from an Aussie mail order outfit called DreamFish. You’ll find them via Facebook and on line.

So there you go: a handful of lure groups or families you may not have considered or used yet on Aussie bass, but which are all well worth a second or third look. And there are, of course, still others I haven’t even mentioned, such as the swimbaits (another story for another time!)… So, will this be the year you challenge your long-held beliefs and choose something from outside the box?

Buzz baits are an interesting surface lure.

LEFT

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

65

BASS ON FLY

Neatly pinned on a Double Bunny rabbit fur fly.

6 6

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

Bass and estuary perch are especially well suited to fly fishing. One of the neatest things about this pair of natives is that they can be targeted on “trout-weight” fly gear of exactly the sort that many keen anglers already own, so there’s really no need to outlay big bucks in gearing up for them. An 8 or 9 foot long #5- or #6-weight fly rod with a weight-forward or double-taper full floating line to match will get the job done in many, many situations. This is exactly the sort of tackle most trout fly fishers already own. Reel choice isn’t particularly important, either, as the reel is only there to store the line and a small amount of backing. However, if the fly reel you already own is primarily intended for freshwater applications, be sure to give it an

Hooked up solidly on fly in tiger country...

RIGHT … with a successful outcome! (Pics by

extra good wash down and thoroughly dry it after use in and around brackish, tidal waters.

All of that said, if you’re actually gearing up specifically to target bass and/or estuary perch on the fly, I’d seriously consider buying yourself a reasonable quality #7- or #8-weight rod. The main reason for this step-up in rod weight is to facilitate the casting of bigger, bulkier or more heavily-weighted flies. Chunky flies of the kind that so often appeal to bass, in particular, can be something of a challenge to cast on lighter, trout-weight gear.

Because a lot of your casting will be done at relatively close range and often while using these bulkier flies, I’d also

ABOVE

Steve Peach.)

Bass and estuary perch are especially well suited to fly fishing.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

67

suggest a more “aggressive” weight-forward fly line design, with a taper that carries the bulk of its mass in the first 10 metres or so of the head. A lot of anglers (myself included) also find some advantages in “over-lining” their rods by one weight in these scenarios. In other words, running an #8-weight line on a #7-weight rod, for example. However, this is really a personal choice, and it may not be necessary with some of the modern fly line tapers that are specifically designed for this style of work.

The other piece of advice I’d offer to fly fishers gearing up for bass and perch would be to purchase a spare spool or perhaps a second fly reel and to fill it with an intermediate, sinking or sink-tip line, for those times when you might need to get your fly down a little deeper in the water column. Sink-tips are especially handy for this job. Most feature a dense, relatively fast-sinking tip that can measure anywhere between about 3 and 5 metres in length. This sinking portion then transitions into a floating line for the remainder of its length. These sink-tip lines are very handy on bass and perch water.

6 8

LEADER LORE When it comes to leaders, it’s again possible to use the shop-bought, trout-weight, tapered leaders you may already own (or which you tie up yourself ), but steer clear of those with fragile, ultra-fine tippets. Personally, I’d never go lighter than about 4 kilos (9 pounds) on bass and perch, and I often run 6 or even 8 kilo tippets for them. These fish aren’t especially leader shy, and you’ll sometimes need every bit of that extra stopping power around the snags!

Similarly, you won’t need super-long leaders, unless you’re trying to get a weighted fly down deep off a floating line. For most scenarios, 9 feet of leader is plenty and sometimes — especially when casting bulky surface flies in low light conditions — I’ll cut right back to a 6 or 7 foot leader, as this

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

CLICK BELOW TO WATCH

Casting surface flies after dark is a blast!

LEFT But you’ll catch fish in the day, too. (Pic by Steve Peach.)

ABOVE

Gun fly angler Steve Peach shares with us his anticipation ahead of a new bass season...

seems to help with accurate placement of the fly. Similarly, when using a sinking or sink-tip line, it’s often possible to reduce your leader length, and this will aid in getting a sinking fly down into its target area. However, even at these shorter length, it helps to have some taper in the leader, especially to turn over those air-resistant surface flies.

Start with a fairly fat leader butt (the bit that connects to the fly line) of, say, 20 kg mono, with a couple of stepdowns to your 4 to 8 kg tippet. Such a simple, tapered leader with perhaps just three or four sections is easy to construct yourself, and if you want to get technical about it, there are some great fly leader formulas available on-line.

A floating fly line does the job in many scenarios.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

69

1. Floating shrimp pattern.

2. Cicada imitation.

3. Weighted “Homer Shrimpson”.

4. Slow-sinking fur fly.

BELOW

It’s worth remembering that fly fishing is simply another form of lure casting.

2 1

3

4 7 0

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

Fly casting from a kayak. (A Steve Peach pic.)

FLY SELECTION It’s worth remembering that fly fishing is simply another form of lure casting. The only significant difference between fly fishing and conventional lure casting is that it’s the weight of the line rather than the lure (or fly) that allows us to make the cast… that’s really all there is to it!

Understanding the very close similarities between lure and fly fishing helps greatly when it comes to fly selection.

Basically, you’ll do best by choosing flies that behave in a rather similar manner to successful lures when they’re pulled through the water or floated on the surface.

To simplify this fly selection process even further, think about what it is we’re attempting to do with a fly (or a lure): to either imitate something that the fish sees as a potential meal, or to excite its curiosity and/or aggression to a level where it grabs our offering in an attempt to find out what it is… or perhaps to kill it!

Just like lures, flies intended for bass and estuary perch can be divided into two broad groupings: surface and sub-surface. As in lure fishing for these species, we tend to choose between one approach or the other (surface or sub-surface) based on our perceptions of the activity levels and likely feeding behaviour of the fish, as well as what

natural prey might be available to them at the time. So, if we think they’re hunkered down deep in the water column and perhaps not all that active, but potentially eating minnows, gudgeons or shrimp, we might choose a weighted, sinking fly pattern. Conversely, if we suspect the fish are up and about and actively hunting prey such as fallen cicadas or moths at or near the surface, we might choose a floating fly. There’s really not much more science to it than that! Try something, see if it works and, if it doesn’t, try something else.

The very best fly patterns for bass tend to either look quite life-like or have a lively, seductive action when pulled through the water. This is greatly enhanced by the use of soft, natural materials such as rabbit fur and marabou feathers, or synthetics that mimic those materials.

Hooks used in bass and perch flies run the gamut from the tiny sizes more familiar to trout fishers right up to serious 1/0 and 2/0 hooks (or even bigger) in big surface bugs and poppers. As a rule of thumb, however, hooks from about No. 4 up to 1/0 will cover most needs — just make sure they’re strong enough not to bend or straighten if you need to hang on and go hard against a rampaging 40-centimetreplus bass hell bent on diving back into its snaggy home!

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

71

THE FLYING EDGE One of the really neat things about fly fishing for bass (and estuary perch) is that this method lets us put our “lure” of fur and feathers into a specific spot, let it sit or work it for a short distance, then lift it off and either re-cast it into the same area, or re-direct it into a completely new nook slightly up or downstream from the first. To do this with a standard lure on conventional gear, you’d need to crank in all your line before making another cast. Because of this ability, really good fly fishers can actually cover water far more efficiently than lure casters, picking their fly up and accurately putting it down again in a succession

7 2

Join Starlo as he fly fishes for bass from his kayak in the dying light of a summer’s day.

CLICK TO VIEW

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

of likely hidey holes… However, don’t expect to develop that level of skill overnight. It takes time on the water.

Another potential advantage of fly fishing over lure casting is the ability it offers to imitate food items that are much smaller (and therefore lighter in weight) than any readily cast-able conventional lure… things like beetles, moths, grasshoppers, crickets, bugs and ants. Make no mistake: bass eat lots of these smaller morsels at times, and fly tackle allows us to “match the hatch” in a way we could never hope to do with a spin or baitcaster outfit. All of which brings us to one of the most exciting (yet often frustrating) occurrences you’re ever likely to encounter on bass or estuary perch water: a termite or flying ant “swarm”.

The author with a cracking fly rod estuary perch.

Good fly casters like Steve Fly fishing for bass Peach can really cover some water. is great fun!

ABOVE

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

73

As the shadows lengthen, bass activity increases.

TERMITE TIME!

(A Steve Peach pic.)

Flying ant or termite “hatches” are a reasonably regular event on many bass and estuary perch waters, especially during the unsettled months of spring.

These “hatches” or swarms are actually massed migrations of the flying stages of the termite, as they spread out and seek to establish new colonies.

Termite or flying ant swarms typically happen late in the afternoon or early in the evening, especially on warm, humid, potentially stormy days, and often when rain is threatening. A combination of several successive days of above average temperatures followed by light rain almost always triggers at least some swarming, especially during late September, October, November or early December.

Large numbers of these flying insects inevitably fall onto the water, and fish such as bass, estuary perch, bream, herring, grayling and mullet absolutely love them. In fact, they go crazy over them! All these fish will begin eagerly slurping fallen termites off the surface, usually refusing any other offerings while these tasty ants are on the water in large numbers.

Bass and perch are notoriously difficult to catch when they’re keyed-in on fallen termites. It’s almost as if they can’t see other food sources. Trout fishers call this “selective feeding” and there’s lively debate about how real the phenomenon actually is, but I can tell you from many frustrating experiences that bass and perch feeding hard on termites will rarely strike any of the lures and flies we most regularly throw at them.

Very occasionally, it’s possible to fool these “selectively feeding” fish with a smallish (No. 12 or thereabouts) dry fly that resembles a termite. I’ve personally had some limited success using trout patterns such as the Iron Blue Dun and Light Cahill Dry fished “dead drift” and with no drag on a relatively fine (3 kg) tippet, but I’m still a long way from working these fish out when they’re locked onto fallen termites… Anyone who truly solves this puzzle will no doubt tap into some of the most exciting fly fishing available anywhere in the country!

7 4

Litte trout dries sometimes work during termite swarms.

ABOVE

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

Photo by Scott Amon

Structure and bass go together like a meat pie and tomato sauce!

Like most of our native fish species, both Australian bass and their close cousins the estuary perch are strongly “structure oriented”. In other words, they spend a good deal of their time in very close proximity to obvious and significant structural elements such as snags, rocks, undercut banks, weed beds and the like.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

75

This is certainly not to say that both fish won’t be encountered at times well away from any obvious, physical structure. This is particularly true when they run downstream into tidal waters to spawn during the winter months, as well as when they’re stocked into man-made lakes or impoundments. In both of those scenarios, it’s not uncommon the find schools of bass or estuary perch suspended at various depths out in relatively open water, well away from any obvious structure. However, further upstream in rivers, and for the rest of the year apart from that late winter spawning period, finding and catching bass and perch is mostly about identifying the forms of structure most likely to attract and hold these fish.

As already discussed, adult bass tend to migrate upstream through the spring months and by high summer they’ll be well spread out through most of our south eastern coastal systems, ranging upstream as far as the first impassable barrier, if stream heights and flow rates allow them to travel that far.

In these summertime freshwater habitats, many bass tend to adopt “home pools” and even “home snags”, often not moving very far from those sanctuaries during daylight hours. However, as the shadows lengthen and light levels fall through the late afternoon, many bass will begin to venture beyond the sanctuary of these home bases to cruise the pools and even enter shallow runs and rapids, actively seeking food. They may leave and return to their home lairs several times throughout the night, and are frequently very active again (particularly in hot weather) as the first glow of dawn lights the eastern sky. However, by the time the sun clears the horizon, most of them will be back “on station” in their daytime hidey holes.

Of course, some phenomena will bring bass out of hiding during the day. Heavily overcast weather and sudden storm fronts generally makes them feel safer and more comfortable and may lead to active daytime cruising, as can any significant hatch of insects such as a termite or flying ant swarm. But, for the most part, the majority of bass living in any stretch of river will tend to be “holed up” tight to structure during daylight hours.

7 6

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

Australian bass and their close cousins the estuary perch are strongly “structure oriented” fish.

Success on bass during daylight hours is most often about getting your lure tight to cover.

PECKING ORDERS Exactly what form of structure any bass chooses as its temporary or longer term home base is dependent on many factors, including the size of the individual fish, the density of bass in that particular stretch of water, and what structural elements are actually available for the fish to use as cover. As a rule, however, adult bass will generally try to seek out a lair that’s deep enough, sufficiently dark, or has enough overhead cover so that the fish can remain invisible from above.

There’s also usually something of a pecking order or hierarchy at work, with the biggest bass in the pool taking over the best locations, and so on down the line until the smallest fish are often forced to make do with shallower, relatively open stretches of water. As a rough rule, the deepest, darkest and most attractive snags or undercuts towards the head of the pool will hold the larger fish, although there can be many exceptions to this pattern and there’s often also a prime piece of bass real estate near the tail or outflow of the pool.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

77

Many of our bass rivers with earth banks (as opposed to rock) have distinctly undercut banks. It’s often difficult to imagine how significant and widespread these undercuts are unless you see the river running at a very low level during severe drought, or are willing to pull on a diving mask and jump in for a closer look. If you do, you’ll find numerous deep, dark clefts reaching well back under the banks in many areas, often with tree roots from above protruding down through them. Not surprisingly, these secretive undercuts are a favourite hang-out for bass, as well as the freshwater eels, catfish and other species they share their rivers with.

7 8

During the day, bass will hold quietly beneath these shadowy undercuts, peering out into the main stream, watching for potential threats as well as any easy meals that may pass close enough to be seized without spending too much time out of concealment.

Where undercuts are not available, tangles of timber, dense aquatic vegetation and even man made structures such as bridges, pylons and culverts can provide suitable shelter for holed-up bass, while in stretches of rivers and streams dominated by rocks and boulders, there are always clefts, overhangs and caves that serve the same purposes.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

ROOT BALLS If there’s one piece of structure I’d rate above most others when it comes to providing bass with prime shelter, it’s the exposed root balls of big trees that have fallen or washed into the river during major flood events. These large trees almost always end up oriented parallel to the bank, with their trunks and crowns angled downstream, while their root balls face into any current at the upstream end.

Once all the soil has washed from the root ball, it provides a densely tangled network of dark, twisted hidey-holes with plenty of well concealed places for a bass to hold. Any root ball with a metre or more of water depth surrounding it is almost certain to be home to at least one bass during the summer months, and sometimes root balls in much shallower water than that will also produce fish. Never ignore them!

Undercut banks…

BELOW … and root balls. Prime bass real estate!

ABOVE

Be sure to thoroughly probe these root balls from various angles with your lures or flies, but don’t put your first couple of casts too close to the tangle of roots, or pull your line right across the front of the mass. There are often big fish hanging out in these structures, and after grabbing your offering, they’ll attempt to dive straight back into cover, often with disastrous results! The further you can make them come from their gnarly lairs to grab your lure, the better your chances of keeping them clear of trouble.

Only if these more cautious, probing presentations fail to draw a response should you place your casts progressively closer and closer to “ground zero”… but be prepared and set you drag as tightly as you dare!

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

79

IN THE SALAD Many anglers underestimate the propensity for bass to hang out in lush beds of aquatic vegetation, especially during the warmer months. Some rivers are characterised by abundant weed growth, and these waving tresses of water weed provide great cover for bass. They’re also loaded with life and food in the form of water snails, insect larvae, crustaceans and small fish… Bass love them!

Concentrate your efforts on the more defined edges of the weed beds, any channels running through them, and on isolated pockets of clearer water within the beds. Sometimes, a hole in the weed the size of a kitchen sink will hold a big bass, although getting your lure or fly in there cleanly and then dragging a hooked fish out can be a challenge!

If you fish a lot of heavily weeded terrain, it’s well worth considering the use of various snag-resistant and

8 0

“weedless” lures, flies and rigging options, many of which employ weed guards or partially concealed hooks to reduce fouling. You’ll definitely miss a few strikes on these “weedless” rigs, but they also allow you to probe areas where more conventional offerings would be fouled up or snagged almost immediately. For this reason, they’re another great string to have in your bow.

The other point worth noting about bass in weed beds is that water depth seems less important here than it is with some other forms of structure. Bass will sometimes hold in weed growing in just half a metre (or less!) of water, even during bright, daylight hours.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

Weedless rigs work!

You’ll miss a few fish, but also catch many that would otherwise have been out of reach.

BELOW Never ignore a shadowy nook, even on the shallow side of the river.

OPPOSITE

INSET OPPOSITE

This shallower, more open side of any pool can also be a happy hunting ground after dark, especially when throwing topwater lures or floating flies.

THE SHALLOW SIDE While many bass fishers understandably concentrate the majority of their daytime fishing efforts on the deep, treeshadowed side of any pool or hole and carefully probe every likely nook, cranny and snag along this “prime bank”, it can definitely pay to keep your eyes peeled for any likely piece of bass real estate over on the shallow, more exposed side of the pool. These often hold fish, and don’t tend to receive anywhere near as much attention from anglers as those on the deeper side. As a bonus, they’re often surrounded by relatively barren, open and shallow water, meaning that any fish in the vicinity are likely to be concentrated right on or under the single, isolated root ball, tree trunk or relatively small jumble of rocks. Often, one cast is all it takes…

This shallower, more open side of any pool can also be a happy hunting ground after dark, especially when throwing topwater lures or floating flies.

Finally, be especially attentive to watch out for any midstream snags, boulders or rock bars. Sometimes, these are deep enough to be very difficult to detect from above (unless you have a depth sounder), but they nearly all hold fish at some stage, as they represent prime spots for predators like bass to hole up just out of the main current, but with ready access to any passing food. A decent mid-stream snag can be like money in the bank for us bass fishers!

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

81

Snagging up in a tree on the opposite bank sucks!

8 2

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

BANK, BOAT OR KAYAK?

Like so many other anglers, I caught my first Aussie bass from the bank, and for several years thereafter, that was how I continued to chase these fish: by walking, crawling, scrambling, falling, climbing and often wading or swimming to get into position to make a cast.

Be under no illusions, bank-bashing for bass can be a tough game at times. These fish rarely live in stretches of river or creek flanked by manicured parks traversed by walking and cycling paths (although there are certainly exceptions, especially on the fringes of some of our cities).

For the most part, getting to halfway decent bass water on foot is a hard slog. Over the years I’ve picked up my fair share of cuts, scratches, scrapes and bruises doing it, not to mention having far too many encounters with snakes, spiders, ticks, leeches, stinging nettles, barbed wire fences and irate land owners. Yet, all of these trials and tribulations aside, I still love grappling with bass from the bank — even now, in my 60s!

Be under no illusions, bankbashing for bass can be a tough game at times!

There’s something incredibly rewarding about getting down and dirty and going hand-to-fin with these toughest of Aussie natives, armed with nothing beyond your rod and reel, apart from a stout pair of boots and a small backpack crammed with the bare essentials: water bottle, lure box, leader material, scissors, pliers and perhaps a camera.

Often, I didn’t even bother with the water bottle, choosing instead to slake my thirst straight from the bubbling stream… although, finding a rotting ’roo carcass in the water just a few metres upstream from the source of your last drink can make one question the wisdom of that practice!

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

83

In some places, bank bashing is really the only way to get to grips with bass living in tiny, overgrown streams. However, when I became the proud owner of my first fibreglass canoe in my late teens, my bass fishing horizons really began to expand. Across the subsequent decades, I’ve caught bass and estuary perch out of everything from inflatable float tubes to glittering, imported US bass boats worth considerably more than the average family car… but I’ll admit that I still don’t mind getting back on the bank now and again.

Starlo with a big EP from his trailer boat.

RIGHT A boat makes a great platform for fly casting.

ABOVE

(Pic by Steve peach.)

SHORE BETS Perhaps the two biggest drawbacks of bank fishing for bass are those frequent occasions when you spy a wonderful snag pile on the far side of the pool that you simply can’t reach with your longest cast or, worse still, when your prized lure sails all the way across to that far bank, only to hang up solidly in the trailing branch of an overhanging tree or vine… That hurts.

In my younger days, I regularly overcame these hurdles by simply swimming back and forth across the pools to seek out better casting positions or recover errant lures.

8 4

On some hot, summer’s days, I literally spent more time in the water than out of it. I must admit, however, that such activities are now slowly slipping into the rear view mirror of history. Increasingly, I find the water too cold and too deep to be appealing, or the sheer inconvenience of constantly stripping off and re-dressing a deterrent. These days, I’m a little keener on my creature comforts, and probably also a little softer! If I can’t cross over at the next set of rapids by wading or hopping from boulder to boulder, either the fish-catching opportunity or the lure is generally lost.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

On foot is really the only way to fish this sort of tight water.

LEFT & BELOW

FLOAT YOUR BOAT Once we make the move to kayaks, canoes, boats and other vessels as platforms from which to chase bass and estuary perch, we take the first step on a slippery slope with no bottom. Many of us then spend the rest of our lives searching for the “perfect” watercraft for the job at hand.

But, despite these drawbacks and limitations, I would definitely urge every keen bass angler to spend at least some time hiking the back country and exploring tight water on foot in search of these fantastic fish. It will not only teach you plenty about bass, it will also give you a deeper appreciation and respect for the wild, untamed places they inhabit.

Handy tools for this sort of back country exploration are a good set of topographic maps and/or access to a quality online mapping and satellite imaging program such as Google Earth or SIX Maps… These are worth their weight in gold!

The truth is, such a mythical beast doesn’t exist. It’s a fact of life that all boats are a compromise, and that’s as true in bass fishing as any other on-water pursuit. A vessel that’s ideal in the small pools and narrow upper reaches of an overgrown creek may well be found wanting — or even totally unsuitable — out on the broad expanses of an upper tidal estuary.

Over the years I’ve tried them all, and I’m still to find a craft that ticks every box in every possible bass fishing scenario. I really don’t think such a vessel exists.

Early in the bass fishing season, when the fish are still moving back upstream after their winter foray down into the salt, I’ll often run as far upriver on my local systems (in southern NSW) as I can in my 5-metre fibreglass trailer boat chasing them. Some years, this is extra tricky,

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

85

especially if the sand bars and snag piles have been significantly re-modelled by winter floods. Even in a good year, I need to keep a close eye on the tides and be aware of how much their times lag behind those shown in the tide charts as I range further and further upriver. You really don’t want to get stuck up there! By late October, however, I’ve usually switched to my pedal kayak and am hitting the fish higher upstream, in non-tidal freshwater.

I’m still to find a craft that ticks every box in every possible bass fishing scenario. I really don’t think such a vessel exists.

On bigger river systems such as those found on the NSW north coast, this caper can be a lot easier, and a trailer boat will give you access to many kilometres of great bass water throughout the summer. Even where these systems become tighter, it’s still often possible to man-handle a lightweight car-topper powered by a small outboard or electric motor down the banks and explore a series of pools during a session. It’s a matter of horses for courses.

Overall, however, I reckon canoes and kayaks are arguably the most versatile and useful watercraft for exploring a wide range of bass waters and for that reason, I’ll devote most of this section of the book to looking at them in much more detail.

Early and late in the season, good bass are often accessible from trailer boats.

8 6

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

87

CANOES AND KAYAKS After serving my apprenticeship scrabbling along the overgrown banks of various bass creeks, I finally graduated into a small, one-person canoe, eventually moved on to larger, two-man “Canadians” and then ultimately got into kayaks — both sit-in and sit-on. All have their plus and minus points, so let’s look at them in a little more detail: Open canoes are wonderful tools for adventurous bass fishers, and I’ve had some of my best bass trips over the decades using these versatile watercraft. In particular, I have very fond memories of extended, multi-day camping trips down extensive stretches of bigger bass rivers, with a vehicle left at each end. These expeditions often offer access to water that receives very little attention from day-trippers, and the fishing results can be spectacular at times.

However, my biggest gripe with traditional, paddle-powered canoes and kayaks is the constant need to pick up and put down those blasted paddles while fishing! Invariably, the moment you put your paddle down, a puff of breeze or a lick of current swings the vessel at an awkward angle for casting, forcing you to swap the rod for the paddle yet

8 8

again. It’s a never-ending game of swapsies and, in the process, you’ll inevitably bang either the paddle handle or the rod butt against the gunwale or hull, making loud, fishscaring noises in the process. It’s far from an ideal scenario.

In a two-person rig, it’s often better if one occupant stays on the paddle while the other casts, taking it in turns to work the water. The person in the stern typically has more control over the craft, while the one up front gets the best angle on every new snag, so you may even need to swap positions periodically to make this system work. Conversely, you can use a small anchor or even an electric motor to control the drift and angle of the craft, although this involves carrying lots more gear and tends to impact on the mobility and simplicity that are meant to be a key features of canoe fishing.

Not surprisingly, kayaks — especially one-person ’yaks — have tended to take over from canoes as the favoured

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

vessels of serious bass fishers in more recent times. For several decades now, kayak fishing has been one of the fastest growing sectors of the angling scene. Sales of kayaks and related paraphernalia have boomed, marking this as one of the strongest niches in the marine and boating industry. It’s not hard to see why.

Jo pedals her Native Watercraft while trolling a lure between spots.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

89

Starlo’s Native Watercraft Ultimate FX. BELOW Another bass from the ’yak.

BOTTOM RIGHT Kayaks open up so much water.

LEFT

GO THE ’YAK! The small watercraft known as kayaks originated in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. Inuit, Aleut, Ainu, Yupik and other “Eskimo” peoples have used narrow, partially-enclosed, double-ended vessels made from animal hides stretched over wooden or whalebone frames for at least 4,000 years while hunting, fishing and travelling.

Recreational anglers were quick to realize the effectiveness of kayaks as fishing vessels, and these paddle-powered craft were being widely used as sport fishing tools by the early 20th century. Through the second half of that century, the designs and construction materials utilized in these lightweight boats began to develop rapidly. Aluminium and fiberglass or GRP (glass reinforced plastic) quickly replaced canvas and timber strips or planks, before being superseded by modern plastic polymers, carbon fibre composites, Kevlar and various other space-age materials.

Specialised kayak designs intended for niche purposes such as ocean touring, racing, white-water descents and slalom competition also developed, along with specific fishing kayaks. These fishing ’yaks were typically wider and more stable than “traditional” kayaks, and were often fitted with rod holders and other accessories. Today, the most advanced fishing ’yaks are extremely sophisticated vessels, and many users trick-up their boats with all manner of onboard electronics and other accessories.

9 0

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

<CLICK TO VIEW Watch a short video of Starlo fishing from his ’yak.

SIT-IN OR SIT-ON-TOP? Originally, kayaks were designed to seat one or more occupants inside the hull, with their upper bodies emerging through an opening that was often partially shrouded with a canvas or rubberized apron in order to limit the amount of water that could enter the hull, even if the boat was briefly capsized.

In more recent decades, so-called “sit-on-top” kayaks have become very popular, especially amongst anglers. As their name implies, the occupants sit atop these vessels, which typically feature hulls with sealed, watertight chambers.

<CLICK TO VIEW Here’s a brief review of one of Starlo’s favourite fishing kayaks.

LONG AND THIN OR SHORT AND WIDE? Kayaks that are relatively long in relation to their width or beam are much easier to propel, have faster top speeds and tend to steer better and track straighter (especially when fitted with a rudder) than shorter, wider vessels. However, long, thin kayaks are also inherently less stable and lack storage space or load carrying capacity. By contrast, shorter, wider ’yaks are considerably more stable, offer greater load carrying capacity, but are harder to propel and more difficult to steer; with or without a rudder.

Most modern, sit-on-top fishing kayaks are wider in relation to their length than traditional sit-in ’yaks. Choosing the length-to-width ratio of a fishing ’yak always involves some form of trade-off or compromise. Think carefully about where you’ll be fishing, the distances you’ll need to paddle or pedal, and how much gear you wish to carry before choosing a ’yak design.

Sit-on-top ’yaks offer a higher seating position, better visibility and generally a drier ride, at least in calm water.

Some of these fishing kayaks are also stable enough to stand up in or on while fishing, at least in calmer waters.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

91

The greatest single benefit of the propeller propulsion system made famous by Native Watercraft is its ability to instantly switch from forward to reverse thrust.

The Jitterbug is a classic bass lure!

BELOW

FLIPPERS OR PROPELLER? The two competing propulsion systems currently used in pedalpowered kayaks each offer their own plusses and minuses.

The flipper-style, step-motion system made famous by Hobie is fast, efficient and able to operate in surprisingly shallow water, by virtue of the fact that a more experienced operator can easily flatten out and then “flutter” the flippers close to the underside of the hull.

On the downside, until quite recently it was impossible to reverse or back up using the flipper system. While this significant drawback has now been addressed, switching from forward to reverse — or using a combination of forward and reverse thrust to hold position in current, tide or wind — is still nowhere near as fast, intuitive or effective in these flipper-driven craft as it is in propeller-driven ’yaks.

The greatest single benefit of the propeller propulsion system made famous by Native Watercraft is its ability to instantly switch from forward to reverse thrust, and to use a combination of forward and reverse pedalling to hold position on the water. By contrast, the biggest drawback of existing propeller systems is their inability to function in very shallow water. Typically, the propulsion leg and propeller must be lifted clear in water shallower than about 50 cm and a paddle used to traverse these shallower areas.

PADDLE OR PEDAL? One of the greatest advances in fishing kayak technology has been a gradual shift away from the standard, singleor double-ended paddle as a primary means of propulsion.

Sails, small outboard motors and various electric engines have long been used to push kayaks, but it was the advent of pedal-powered flippers and propellers that really freed up anglers’ hands to fully engage in the fishing process.

Many ’yak fishers still happily use paddle-powered craft to pursue their sport, but an increasing number have switched over to these modern, pedal-propelled versions.

There are two primary, pedal-powered systems in use today: a step-motion design powering penguin-like flippers (developed and made famous by the Hobie company), and a circular, bicycle-style design driving a small propeller (first developed by the Native Watercraft company). Both propulsion systems have their advantages and disadvantages.

9 2

When deciding between the two rival pedal propulsion systems, carefully evaluate the amount of shallow water work you are likely to undertake, your preference for either circular (bicycle-style) pedalling or step-motion, and your need for instantaneous reverse or spot-holding.

FLOAT TUBES Finally, no examination of handy watercraft for bass fishing would be complete without a quick look at a unique little tool known as a float tube, float boat or kick boat.

These are inflatable craft intended for a single occupant.

The original designs, which date back to at least the early 1970s, were built on truck tyre tubes fitted with an apron and crutch support or rudimentary seat. The occupant basically hung through the middle of the tube and propelled his or herself using flippers. This meant you were wet up to the chest, unless wearing fully waterproof waders.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

Over the decades, float tubes, float boats and kick boats have evolved and become much more sophisticated in their design. Today, there are models where the angler actually sits above the water and can use a combinations of short oars and flippered feet to move around, as well as others where the occupant still hangs a little lower and inevitably gets wet up to at least the waist.

Fishing from a float tube is great fun, and these “minimalist” craft can be really handy for exploring isolated pools and backwaters that are too small or inaccessible to suit other vessels, and too difficult to fish from the bank.

The drawbacks are that the best float tubes and kick boats are reasonably heavy and bulky and must either be carried to the water already inflated, or pumped up when you arrive. They’re also not especially quick or mobile, and covering more than a few hundred metres of water in one can be both time consuming and rather tiring. There are also important safety and comfort aspects that need to be carefully considered. All of that said, I do own a float tube, and for the half dozen or so times I might use it each bass season, I find it really handy and heaps of fun. Think hard about whether you need one, or will use it enough to justify the cost and, if possible, borrow someone else’s for a trial run before forking out your hard-earned bucks.

LEFT

A bass from the float tube.

Float tubes are heaps of fun!

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

93

THE FUTURE OF OUR WILD BASS

9 4

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

We all need to work together.. to protect bass waters.

BELOW If little fish like this…

BOTTOM Are to grow into bigger ones, like this.

OPPOSITE

While our wild Australian bass are not listed as threatened or endangered, there’s no denying the fact that their natural range has been shrinking over time. Nor is there much doubt that their overall numbers — as well as both the average and maximum sizes of these wonderful fish — have declined in some waterways. Bass and the habitats that support them have copped a fair amount of pressure across the past century or so.

The good news is that there are still plenty of bass living in many south eastern river systems — all the way from southern Queensland to eastern Victoria — and that these hardy, resilient natives remain reasonably abundant, even on the doorsteps of major cities and towns. However, we should never take their continued survival for granted.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

95

One from the archives: a Clarence River bass in the ‘90s. How healthy will our bass waters be in another 30 years?

In many ways, bass and estuary perch represent the “canaries in the coal mine” when it comes to monitoring the health of coastal river systems in the south east of the Australian mainland — albeit fairly tough canaries! Any sudden declines in regional bass populations should always be viewed as a potentially dire indicator of severe issues with their local habitats.

Fortunately, overall water quality and community concern for the welfare of our rivers and other waterways has actually improved across my lifetime. So, I remain optimistic about the future of wild bass populations. With a little care and a lot of love, there’s absolutely no reason why those populations shouldn’t continue to thrive.

There’s nothing wrong with keeping a very occasional bass to eat, within the rules.

OPPOSITE PAGE

9 6

EATING BASS? In my personal opinion, catching and killing a wild bass, cleaning it, wrapping it in aluminium foil and cooking it in the glowing coals of a campfire beside a softly murmuring river that’s flowing seaward under a canopy of impossibly bright stars is a justifiable rite of passage for any serious bass fisher. I’ve done it myself in the dim, distant past, and I reserve the right to possibly do it again in the future, so long as I’m allowed to by law.

Having said that, on a day-to-day basis, I regard bass as a sport fish rather than a table fish. Don’t get me wrong, they’re tasty enough, especially when prepared as I’ve just described. But they’re simply too special and under too much pressure from environmental change, climatic variation and other threats to be thoughtlessly “harvested” on anything like a regular basis. I tend to feel the same way about estuary perch these days, although I happily ate quite a few of them in the past.

I like to think that today, I know a little better.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

The good news is that there are still plenty of bass living in many south eastern river systems.

RULES & REGULATIONS

Within the framework of the law, decisions about whether to kill or release a bass — or any other fish, for that matter — should always remain the informed choice of the individual. We surrender our right to occasionally take home a meal or two of self-caught seafood at the peril of our pastime. But we also have an abiding responsibility to fish sustainably and to carefully consider the future.

Fortunately, wild bass are nowadays extremely well protected from over-harvesting in every Australian jurisdiction where they occur naturally. They’re no longer a legitimate commercial target species, and their take by recreational fishers is governed by strict size and bag limits. This is exactly as it should be.

In NSW, at the time of writing, an angler was allowed to keep just two bass and/or estuary perch per day (it’s a combined species limit), only one of which could exceed 35 cm in overall length. There was no minimum legal length in NSW. Queensland had the same bag limit of two per day for bass from rivers (in contrast to five from stocked dams), as well as a minimum legal length of 30 cm. In Victoria, there was a combined bag limit for bass and estuary perch of five fish per angler each day, no more than two of which could be bass, plus a minimum legal length for both species of 27 cm.

Queensland and NSW also have closed seasons or “no-take” periods, aimed at protecting wild bass during their winter spawning aggregations, although the duration of these closures varied between the two states at the time of writing.

These rules all seem quite fair and reasonable when viewed in isolation. However, to be honest, I’d love to see a little more uniformity across the three states where bass occur naturally.

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers

97

Measured quickly on a wet mat before release.

LEFT

Something like a blanket two fish per day limit, perhaps, within a “slot size” between, say, 25 and 35 or 40 cm. This would arguably be easier to remember and enforce than the current mix of rules. I also see no reason why all three states shouldn’t share the same winter-time “no-take” closure of either three or four months, to protect spawning fish.

There’s already been a significant degree of cross-border cooperation between these three mainland states over Murray cod regulations in recent years, and I see no reason why this couldn’t be easily extended to include bass (and estuary perch, where applicable).

FISH FOR LIFE Our Australian bass and their close cousins, the estuary perch, are truly magnificent native fish. Pursuing them transports us into some of the most pristine, wild and breathtakingly beautiful parts of the country, yet both species can also be caught in the busy suburbs of cities and towns, often against a backdrop of intensive industrial or urban development.

These fish can be caught from the bank with a worm on a hook attached to a simple handline, or targeted with the most sophisticated of modern lure and fly fishing tackle, from expensive boats bristling with state-of-the-art, satellite-connected electronics. They truly are a fish for everyone, and for every taste, and pursuing them is a passionate pastime woven deeply into the very history, tradition and evolution of sportfishing in this country.

Let’s celebrate the Aussie bass, and do everything within our power as anglers to ensure its bright future.

9 8

WILD ABOUT BASS — finding & catching Aussie bass in rivers