Client Catches – Big Bass! On Small Lures…

Client Catches – Big Bass! On Small Lures…

What I could have added to this title is the phrase: “in water barely covering their backs!” as this accurately describes the ridiculous depth to the watery surrounds that all of the four 60cm plus bass depicted in this post were hooked, landed, and as always, released.

Soft Plastic vs Surface

Soft plastics first then. I am sure that I’ve written this before, and apologies if I haven’t as I would like to think that it’s rather helpful. Very simply, although I and we have caught bass on surface lures in exceptionally mucky water conditions, overall I would say that if I can’t see the seabed in water that is 12″ deep, then I will generally attach a soft plastic (SP) of some variety.

Expanding on the above, the size of the SP will depend on the depth of the water I am fishing within, as well as the actual clarity in question. Generally speaking, the deeper and murkier it is then the larger, and more colourful the lure. Often, and in conjunction with this will be the strength of the current, as this will determine whether I head down the subtle twitch bait route, or the full-blown thumping paddle tail.

Onto the surface sliders we have utilised during this and previous seasons. I do love a surface lure with a transparent body and/or an internal flash plate, as I truly believe this gives the bass lure angler an edge over their quarry. In regard to size and pattern, my decision process will be driven by the sea state and indeed the depth of the water.

Another consideration associated to surface lures, especially within the estuary systems we frequent, is that if the current is too strong to effectively ‘work’ a slider, then a popper (that can be left to drift at precisely the same pace of the tide between ‘pops’) will be clipped on – with a better than average size bass always a realistic possibility here.

I hope the above paragraphs help.

Paul’s 64 and new PB

When a 3 Day Package client has informed me that “he has never caught a bass” I see this a wonderful opportunity to assist someone to fulfil a dream. And in addition to landing his first ever bass of 50cm on the 2nd session, he followed it up on the following day with the beautiful 64cm specimen in the image above.

But it was the way that Paul caught this fish and the tactics I asked him to employ that made this moment and memory all the more special. A remote creek, during a series of tides with a vast tidal range saw my clients chucking their respective lures into what was, in all intents and purposes, a relative puddle of water in comparison to what I believe many anglers would consider fishing within.

However, from the moment we arrived at this venue I could see immediately that there was not one, but two bass prowling around, chasing miniature mullet presumably in the uber-shallows. The water was very murky (as I’d expected) as the last dregs of the tidal flow left a slick of mud in the channel we were targeting today.

Mistake

My brief to Paul involved casting a 120mm Pirate Lures Teaser (in the Pink Cheek pattern) rigged onto a weedless 4/0 2g hook with the basic instructions being to cast at anything that ‘moved’ before him in the ankle-deep sludge. Moreover, I added that because these fish (what is quite possibly a larger female and a smaller male) are up here to eat something, sooner or late one of them will make the mistake of chomping the lure, often very quickly into the retrieve and immediately following the splash.

And guess what, pretty much on low tide the brute in the image below made this remarkably fit, 73 year old man’s day, month, and year. Just brilliant.

Richard’s 63 and new PB

To say that Richard has come a long way since he first enjoyed a guided session with me some 5 years ago now is an understatement. Indeed, the blog post that I wrote last year in regard to what was his previous PB of 60cm (Client Catches – A Classic Culmination) summed up the exponential increase in his abilities as a bass lure angler.

Fast forward another season, and with a lovely bass already in the bank for 2024 (that I wrote about here: Client Catches – A Flick of The Wrist) the moments leading up to Rich’s new PB were completely his doing – not mine.

Essentially, I’d left him behind in the nicest possible way! You see, with a long stretch of disgustingly muddy foreshore to navigate and with a sore foot to contend with, Rich was more than happy to remain 600m further up the creek as I headed the opposite way with the two other guys on the 3 Day Package.

The only slight issue with this plan was that Rich would completely run out of anything to fish within for around 40 minutes – the 20 minutes either side of low water. However, the good news is that this would enable him to fish within the very final slither of water (where the fry congregate and the bass hunt for a very, very easy meal) as well as the first head of water once the tide turned…

The call

I could see Rich, but he was too far away to be heard should he wallop into something. Therefore, I’d asked him to call me on the mobile if he landed a bass over 50cm – my photographic benchmark.

Checking in with him towards low water, he confirmed that he did indeed have nothing but mud and gravel before him, but that he was enjoying the ‘sit down’. Excitingly though, he was, as we chatted, watching a number of what he presumed were bass striking sporadically at the remnants of the white bait that had been forced up here on the previous spring tide.

The water had been very clear – which is why I’d suggested that he remain fishing with a small surface lure (a Patchinko 100 or Fishus Espetit 95. But again, as I’ve come to expect in these types of environments, it had become exceptionally turbid over the tide’s nadir. It was for this reason, that as the flood commenced, and the water began to creep up the creek (and with it the bait fish and bass) that Rich decided attach a tiny paddle tail lure that I had never heard of before – the Spro Iris Pop Eye Shad.

There was an inevitability about the call… “Mate, high 50, and really fat” said the voice on the other end of the phone. Therefore, I began the jog as Rich, as briefed, kept his prize in the water and I puffed my way along the slippery shoreline – my first bit of real exercise since the bout of bloody COVID I had to endure back in mid-September.

Even with most of its body in the water, I could see immediately that Richard’s bass was an easy 60! And as you can see on the tape below, his bass did in fact measure 63cm – an absolutely stunning capture, achieved on a 10cm lure, retrieved in water that was, again, only around 8″ deep.

Mark’s 63 and new PB!

Onto the surface lures then, and two of the marvellous bass that my clients have pulled out on one of the best lures you could ever purchase for use within the estuaries in my opinion – the Patchinko 100. As mentioned earlier in the post, when the water is clearer, even if it is still exceptionally shallow (I’m still talking about sub-12″ here) then if the lure is worked correctly and in the right place it will often be smashed into next week!

I really did enjoy this capture, as it was a culmination of perseverance from my client, patience in the venue, and ultimately, confirmation that I theory I had about when the bass may ‘turn up’ on it that combined to place yet another client PB in the net.

If you can imagine a triangular section of weed, where the current is forced to split/separate around the tip of it, then you know that any bass moving through will need to make a decision – go left ,or go right! Therefore, what I asked Mark to do was to very simply spend five minutes casting towards the tip of the point, and extremely tight to the weed from one angle, and then swap over in order to attack it from the other, opposite side as the tide flooded quickly across the adjacent mudflat.

The bend that this immaculate bass placed into the prototype Westin W8 88M rod when it swiped Mark’s lure and bolted for cover had me literally sprinting across the foreshore to get to him! And yep, she had hammered the Patch 100 right in the very precise location that I’d asked him to cast – a real case of waiting for a bass to take up residency at its personal dining table, and being ready to scoff something!

Dave’s 60, and also a new PB!

There are most definitely times when I am fishing myself or guiding my clients when you really do need to ‘ring the dinner bell’ with regards to attracting the bass to your lure – with one of these periods is when the current/tide is flowing either out of, or into a channel that is snaking through the mudflats.

If there is some kind of cover, be it rocks or weed, or even better, some sort of blockade that deflects or causes the current to deviate around it then great. But what if there isn’t any kind of intrinsic feature to stand on or aim for? And of even greater significance, what if the seabed is barren, and the water is both very shallow, and on the clear side?

Gulp

Quite simply, this is when a 70mm-100mm surface slider such as an IMA Chappy 80, IMA Pugachev Cobra, Fishus Espetit 95 or Patchinko 100 , or a petite Popper such as my current favourite, the Fishus Ubuntu 70 become your friend. Once again, like most things bass lure fishing related, when you get the chance to actually scrutinise (yes, I do this a lot!) why a bass has ‘taken’ a lure, more often than not it actually makes A LOT of sense.

So here’s my theory…. When a bass is ‘shadowing’ a small surface slider/popper, I believe the bass in question (which could be one or more tracking it) think that the lure is a collection or huddle of bait fish buzzing on the surface, whereby they take a gulp and a bloody great mouthful! Note, that I do not believe they ‘think’ they are eating one fish in this scenario.

I think this can account for the vicious, blink of an eye, smashes that occur. What’s more, it may also explain why some, and not all, breath-taking bow waves such as those I recently wrote about here do not always culminate into a ‘rod bending’ moment. The longer they follow it, the more ‘wary’ they often become being the operative word/phrase…

2025 and 2026 Availability

After a highly successful first season of ‘some weekends only’ guiding, my 2nd Guide Joe (who you can read about here) has recently released his 2025 Availability which you can find here. Note that these dates (especially his 3 Day Packages) are getting snapped up quickly.

Furthermore, within the next fortnight I will also be releasing my remaining 2025 (literally half-a-dozen dates) to the wider public, alongside my confirmed 2026 Availability – all of which encompass my 3 Day Package Dates, Guiding Days and One-to-One programme. You can find the Prices and Information Page here.

So, if you would like to be kept informed of all of the above please do complete the Contact Form on my homepage here, or you can fill out the form below and I will respond as quickly as I possible can: