The Year in Review 2024 – Client Catches

The Year in Review 2024 – Client Catches

What a brilliant, brilliant season it has been! With the headline being 21x bass over 60cm landed and successfully released, countless personal bests, and an immensely satisfying number of ‘first ever bass’ proudly achieved. It was a very ‘different’ season from 2023 it has to be said, as unlike last year, I would say that the weather was extremely kind to us.

And as such, it has allowed me place our exceedingly receptive clients onto my favoured marks, in the conditions that are conducive to catching the big ones as you’ll read in the following paragraphs. Do you know, I think this has been my most pleasurable guiding season to date!

In conjunction with describing the client captures month-by-month, I will cover the lure types, methods, tactics, patterns of bass behaviour, any themes, and anything else that I believe has been noteworthy in regards to how, when, and where we’ve caught, and happily released these very special fish.

And this is where I would like to take the opportunity to sincerely ‘Thank’ the clients – as it is them holding the rod, and retrieving the lure, and routinely putting in some serious effort, alongside levels of perseverance that I am constantly in awe of. Respect!!! The updated 2024 Gallery contains some of the more significant moments.

A mention for my 2nd Guide

Ah My, or should I say ‘Our Clients…’ Because ‘South Devon Bass Guide Ltd’ now encompasses my 2nd Guide Joe as well as myself in case you missed it! Yep, after taking the decision to reveal my plans to expand the business (that you can read about here: South Devon Bass Guide Ltd – A New Era Begins) I officially introduced Joe’s involvement with his first significant client capture here: Introducing the 2nd Pro Guide at…

Appointing Joe, who has completed professionally guided bass lure fishing sessions for me over some weekends only from late-April, has proven to be a resounding success. A military instructor, a former client of mine, and someone who became a friend, I recognised early on that he had the credentials to be a fantastic fishing guide.

Indeed, his 2025 Availability (that is being gobbled up!) that I released in conjunction with a blog post dedicated to his and his clients’ successes (who’s positive feedback I have added into the narrative) can be found here: My 2nd Guide, and his Clients Catches so far this season. Have read, and peruse his available dates.

Straight into it then…

April

A slow burner…

Although it had been relatively mild in March (when I had guided two lovely blokes onto a surface-lure-caught bass apiece on the 21st March) a heatwave it most certainly wasn’t throughout April. And with suppressed daytime temperatures, in tandem with the lack of sunshine courtesy of only the odd dry day among the almost continual wind and rain over the previous 6 months, ‘things’ as in the sea, the rivers, the clarity, the bait fish and crab numbers recovered very, very slowly.

There were a lot of small bass landed by my early-April clients, more particularly in the estuaries. Yet it was on the open coast, around the mid-month period when and where the first significant bass, and a beautiful one at that of 60cm/5lb, was hooked on a Seadra Spitta V2 surface lure (a Patch 125 copy) by its very happy captor – Andrew (below).

As has been the case during the past two ‘chilly springs’ the open-coastal beaches seem to fish well at night until the Sun’s strength and the warmer currents ignite the sand eel population. And this was precisely the case when I guided a local chap (this doesn’t happen very often nowadays!) during a cold and soggy evening, out on one the remotest beaches I have in my portfolio…

The walk there and back warmed us up to a degree, but it was just as the rain cleared through and dusk set in, that a move to my favourite corner of the beach resulted in the rod hooping over! Some movement to the water, aided by the decreasing light levels and my suspicion that any bass in the area would be hunting for a small pout or pollack was right on the money, as Jon (below) saw his IMA Nabarone 125F grabbed as a larger swell washed through.

May

Tiddlers. On the menu…?

I cannot recall unhooking so many immature bass within a 3-4 week period than during the second and third weeks of May. At times, I asked my clients to change over to a larger surface lure or soft plastic in an attempt to deter them! However, it didn’t take long for me to ‘twig’ that with this many hand-sized ‘meals’ around the larger predators, happy to eat their own, could possibly be lurking beneath. And I was right!

As you can read in the mouthful that is my blog post from May (Client Catches – A Cannibalistic, Clear Lure, Murky Water Capture) a switch to a lure I devised with Tacklewave Ltd (a 80mm 100% Transparent IMA Chappy 80 MC1) resulted in a spectacular explosion on the surface as my client (Mark) commenced battle with the 68cm brute below:

Once the bass are routinely ‘looking up’ for their breakfast, lunch, dinner, and supper, then all manner of surface lures begin to account for our catches. Furthermore, as the air and sea temperatures warm, and the water remains consistently clear, the bass can become a little more fussy in regards to what they’ll happily hit. More on this below…

Depending on what they’re looking for, and how it moves on or close to the surface, can often determine what ‘style’ of surface lure I/we will attach. Splashy, snakey, subtle, waking, or a flicker, swimmer, or skipper – the blog post I wrote titled ‘Client Catches – The Swimming Surface Lure‘ depicts my decision making process when choosing which top water lure to clip on, in addition to highlighting the virtues of a lure I love – the IMA Chappy.

With my guiding season in full swing, and my 2nd Guide Joe settling into his initial sessions, there were some utterly insane evenings out on the open coast once the sand eels started shoaling up. Moreover, as the crabs began to shed their shells, although I could tell they were somewhat reluctant to shift from what they really wanted, the bass were responding well to the surface lures whenever the tide turned, the light levels dimmed, and the wind dropped out rather interestingly. The slideshow below covers the more significant client captures:

June

Night and Day

As I’ve written in previous ‘Yearly Reviews’ (just type “Year in Review” into the ‘Search’ facility on the bottom right of my website to find them all) once I get to mid-June various patterns begin to emerge. For example, certain types of marks start to fire in set conditions, specific marks start to hold fish more regularly, and proven techniques and methods come back to the fore.

If ever there is a period in the year when the bass become more predictable it is very early into darkness, 3 weeks either side of the longest day/shortest night. It takes an age, but when you realise it is actually dark and the stars have appeared, it is uncanny how many times you feel that inimitable ‘whack’ reverberate through the blank. I love it – and witnessing my clients enjoying that magical moment is even better!

Big ones lost… Urrghhh (but it happens and evens itself out…)

The surface lures, such as the brilliant Patchiko 100, 125, IMA Chappy 80 + 100, Pugachev Cobra, and what was a new one on me (the Fishus Espetit 95) were accounting for most of the serious bass that you can find in slideshow below. Included in this gallery is the seminal moment when Joe guided one of his clients (Chris) onto his first ‘red-letter’ day capture of a bass in the 60cm/5lb range. I was so, so chuffed for Joe, and I remember shouting “Yessssss!!” when the image appeared on my phone.

The excitement was dampened a little by the (Joe’s words) “easy 70!” that the second client that day hooked, very close to him, and that he was bringing ashore when one of the split rings on the brand-new Patchinko 100 he was using bent out… Gutted, but a reminder to us and everyone to swap out the hooks and split rings on a new lure – especially the Patchinkos that do take a hammering!

Losing big ones comes with the territory of course, and it is unrealistic to think that you’re going to land every fish that you hook. Thankfully, I console myself in the notion that we often lose them in batches (two or three in a week), but also that over the course of a season or a year things even themselves out. Plus we do land some absolute whoppers that we really had no right to land. Indeed, I’ve lost count how many times the hook has fallen out as the fish has hit the net or dry land!

New ideas, and lures…

I hope that my passion for teaching nice people how to catch these magnificent fish manifests itself in my writing. Yes, I’ve achieved other things over the 7 years that I’ve operated as a professional guide (lure designs, three books. rods!) but being out with my clients and catching, seeing, holding, and safely returning bass is what drives me.

Secondary to this, but something that benefits you as the reader/follower, is that there are always one or two occasions over the year when a lure inside someone else’s lure box takes my fancy. Often it occurs after I’ve asked them the question: “Is there a lure you have the most confidence in?” And they pull it out, I advise them on how I’d work it in the situation we’re in, and they catch, and ultimately I learn too…! A win – win you might say.

In tandem with this, is that alongside meeting some really great people who share my passion for all things spikey and silvery, is that I get to tap into their thought processes, their lure choices, tactics and methods – plus I get to use their set ups for a few chucks when they take a break!

July

A tale of two halves

My goodness, the contrast between the first half of July and the second half could not have been starker. But then, as I wrote a few paragraphs above, things even themselves out and therefore, as a Pro Guide you have to take the rough with the smooth…

At times, on certain marks and at some exceedingly specific periods in the tide, the fishing was off the scale in early-to-mid-.July. And as expected, it was the Patchinko 125 that was accounting for the vast majority of the bass – many of which were in the 50cm+ and 60cm+ range – the slideshow below doing what was a fabulous period justice I hope.

As a brief aside, following a number of queries about their effective use, I wrote a blog post titled ‘Client Catches – A Mention For The Tension‘ that covers precisely how to get the best from a surface lure.

Bait fish driven… And fighting through the small ones!

There is always a risk that when the sea temperature is at its warmest, and when the metabolic rate of the bass at its greatest, that they will potentially simply ‘follow’ whatever is they want to prey upon. Moreover, and I am purely speculating here, if they have been chomping on bait fish all day long, then they aren’t overly keen to move into the shallows to feed at night – most probably looking to digest their meals instead.

Things become more ‘bait fish driven’ in essence, which in turn means the bass will often deviate from their regular patterns of behaviour, which in turn means I have to attempt to narrow the odds as much as possible. Another factor to mid-summer bass lure fishing is that the smaller bass very often ‘get’ to the lures first by virtue of being hungrier, faster, and less experienced at spotting danger than their older and wiser cousins.

August

Weeded up…

Overall, it was a very windy spring and summer, with south-westerlies blowing in pretty much continuously. This wasn’t a major problem, and was actually a welcome relief from the bizarre weather patterns we experienced in 2023 – a year that undoubtedly expedited my guiding prowess as the buggers kept me guessing the entire year, and were never, ever there on consecutive tides or days.

Now, although I do place a huge amount of emphasis on the pre-planning for our sessions (both Joe’s and I, plus my/our personal fishing sessions) and the subsequent note taking and scrutiny of why we did or didn’t catch, from a mark selection perspective I do like to keep things simple!

In a nutshell, if I/we are fishing/guiding at night, or when I am heading into one of the many estuaries, I prefer the wind to be at my/our back (I seek shelter essentially). If I am out in daylight on the open coast, then more often than not nowadays we will be launching prominent surface lures out in the flow surrounding a headland or rocky promontory – providing the sea is calm of course!

Do I fish and guide from the rocks in rougher sea conditions? Yes, but you are far more likely to find us in the corner, or at the extremity of a beach in these instances, the reason being very simple – safety. A further element for consideration in 2023 and 2024 (since I commenced my 2 Person, 8 hour Guiding Days) is that with at least two clients always with me between May to November, the fact that it has been so windy the past two years means that swathes of the exposed open coast have simply been ‘weeded out’, with the more sheltered areas reserved for lure fishing in the dark.

September

Still no bait fish invasion. But…

If you wind back to 2020, 2021 and 2022, when the springs were sunny and mild, the bass lure fishing was excellent from the get go in April (May in regard of 2020 due to COVID of course). But for the past two years, although the autumns have been exceptionally mild, the following April and May have been on the cold side. For this reason, the second half of the respective 2023 and 2024 seasons have seen more bass landed, and better ones too.

But to be completely honest, although November and even December are personally my favourite months, if you were to pin me down and ask which month sees the most consistent fishing, I would have to say September. May and June are excellent, but only if the weather behaves itself in April, with some real warmth an essential ingredient in my book.

With the sea temperature at its peak in early September, if we haven’t already experienced it in July or August, the invasion of sprat and the following mackerel gives the bass lure fishing a shot in the warm – as the bass will eat both of course. But, and this was a weird one, for whatever reason it just didn’t happen here in south Devon in 2024.

In a funny way though, I think this worked to our advantage as, like I mentioned earlier in this post, when there isn’t an abundance of shoaling bait fish to snaffle at will, I think the bass slip back into their predetermined routines, and as such, become slightly more predictable in nature.

Most certainly, in contrast to 2023, if we caught one or more 55cm+ bass within a certain locality during one tide, unless the sea and weather conditions changed markedly over the ensuing days, there would be a very good chance that we would bag up again. The slideshow below highlights just how good the fishing was in September 2024 – the latter stages of which I had to push through whilst suffering a bit with the old COVID.

Biggest of the year

Bar the bass in caught in darkness, all of the catches above were achieved on a surface lure of some description – be it a popper or a slider. Indeed, one of the incontrovertible components to 2024 being so successful was that the ‘poppers’ made an impressive comeback. Supplementing their effectiveness, I firmly believe that designated popping surface lures do in fact attract a larger than average-size bass – something I wrote about in detail within my blog posts: Client Catches – So You’d Like To Target The Big Ones…? and Client Catches – Once You Pop, You Just Can’t Stop.

You would have seen from my ‘10 Items of Equipment that I recommend from 2024‘ post that the Fishus Ubuntu 70 featured within my personal catches (‘My Personal Year in Review 2024′ post will be released in the coming days). But the popper that caught by far the most bass, including the wonderful 70cm beast above and below (our 2024 guiding seasons’ best for my client Tim) was the Tackle House Feed Popper 100 22g.

October

Diverse Devon!

October is the time of year here in south Devon when the small bass begin to dissipate and almost disappear! And despite having a theory on most things bass related, I have absolutely no idea where they go. What I do know is that we are essentially left with a better stamp of fish overall, with both the open coast and estuaries on equal footing in the ‘chances of pulling out a monster’ stakes! Honestly, if I were to design my ‘dream location’ to operate a professional bass lure fishing and guiding service, I don’t think it would differ very much from what presently surrounds me.

To briefly summarise the lure choice associated to the catches during the autumn and early winter period. If the water was relatively calm and clear in daylight, then the bass would hit surface lures with gusto. Yet, if it was murky or turbid, or we were fishing in darkness then the soft plastics were attached – more especially if there was a strong lateral flow to the current. In regard to the hard diving minnows, I/we saved those for when the waves were crashing over the rocks or up the beaches.

Another factor that I always add into the equation, especially when the sea is still warm and the water potentially clear for weeks if not months on end here in the South West, is that their search image (yep that again!) can be extremely defined and refined at this stage of the year.

What this means is that to garner some serious attention, you often really do need to place something in front of them that is looking like, and acting like something they are specifically looking for at the time. And with huge numbers of squid attacking our lures over the autumn it was almost inevitable that what I believe mimics a squid or cuttle (the Needlefish) would account for a very decent bass. How I utilise them can be found in my blog post here: Client Catches – ‘Getting’ The Needle…

So Many Potential Triggers

I’ve talked about the diminishing numbers of the smaller bass, the remaining warmth to the sea, the potential prevalence of a number of readily available prey items, and the fact that a wide variety of lure types can, depending on the conditions. be successfully utilised. But something else that, I believe, places a few more of those odds in favour of the fisherman in the autumn is that the environment ‘changes’ more frequently – even within an 8 hour session.

It is for these reasons that when I am planning a guided session for Joe or I to complete, I will ‘fill it’ with as many ‘natural triggers’ as I possibly can – elements such as:

• The turn of the tide
• Twilight
• Dusk into darkness
• Darkness into dawn
• A period when the wind speed or direction is forecast to change
• The ‘middle hours’ of the tide, when the current is at its fiercest
• When the Moon is due to rise or set

In conjunction with the above, lots of different types of environments will hold bass at this time of the year: shallow sandy beaches, steep shingles shores, estuary mouths, creeks, tiny inlets, headlands, reef systems – the lot. Additionally, their overall numbers (I’m thinking the 50cm+ fish here) are most probably at their peak. With all of the above in mind, below is a slideshow of the more noteworthy bass my clients landed in October:

November

Excitement building… Alongside the size of the bass!

Every single time that I head out fishing or guiding I get excited. You might not believe that considering how often I do it, but it’s the truth. I love lure fishing for bass, and assisting others even more. And when November comes around, if the weather and sea state are basically ‘normal’ for the time of year (and not extreme after extreme) then I just know that, with the marks, methods and tactics I have discovered and honed, we are going to catch a lot of very, very nice bass…

My 2nd Guide Joe was first out of the blocks with his client (Andy) who landed 2x 57cm bass on what was a blissfully tranquil moonlit night, when the silhouette of a black Savage Gear Gravity Stick Paddle Tail did the business. A bright, high Moon and a dark lure is 100% the way forward…

November just got better and better! And any slight niggles, like a sore Achilles I endured at times this year (I’m getting old!) were banished with some ibuprofen and the anticipation that every time my clients and I hit the water we could pull out something very special.

I wrote a blog post depicting the short stories of 4x 60cm bass here: ‘Client Catches – Big Bass – On Small Lures‘ and I felt bad about writing it and ‘shoehorning in’ what were Personal Bests for each client. But the truth is I could have added a Part 2 to these accounts as the 60cm barrier and PB bashing just continued as you can see from the slideshow below. My congratulations to Mark and Paul in particular, whose fish meant an awful lot to them.

Towards the end of November, I could sense that the bass were beginning to alter their patterns of behaviour and feeding habits in line with the cooler air and sea temperatures. We were still catching some splendid fish on the surface lures, more particularly in shallower water when I gather less energy is required to snare it.

But practically overnight, their attention had shifted to items hard on the seabed. It was ‘Creature Bait’ time, proven in the first ‘client capture’ by what appears to be a somewhat polarising method that you can read about in my blog post here: ‘Client Catches – A Client Creature Bait Capture‘

December

Saving the best until last…

People used to laugh when I’d tell them that December can see some exceptionally good bass lure fishing! But without a shadow of a doubt, on an annual basis we experience an influx of ‘fresh run’ fish here in south Devon – often beautifully conditioned bass that are migrating westwards, back along the English Channel feeding and breeding hard I believe. The stunning bass below for Pirate Lures Owner Dave Major is a case in point.

Something else that is close to confirmation in my mind, especially if the onshore Gales really stir up the sea, is that an increasing number of mature bass will look to seek refuge in the inner confines of our estuaries. And while they are there, it seems highly plausible that they will feed up on crabs and prawns (which is one of the reasons why the creature baits work so well I believe), plus the remnants of any sand eel, sprat, and mullet fry shoals prior to heading out, or heading deep in order to make ‘baby bass’.

It is extraordinarily rewarding, guiding a client onto a lure-caught bass in winter, and I really wanted my 2nd Guide Joe to experience the buzz of it. Therefore, I was so, so happy when I suggested an area to him where I surmised there could be a few ‘crab hunters’ shuffling along the weedy margins. And wow! What a session his clients had! All of the bass, including two that measured 58cm, hoovered up a Megabass Sleeper Craw in the slideshow below, and Joe told me that they could have landed a few more that day too!

Positioned in another one of south Devon’s finest waterways that same day, I hint of guilt compelled me to rearrange a guided session with another great bloke called Andy. The weather forecast was excellent, and after we’d had to curtail an earlier session (during which I landed a good bass on a creature bait while testing a new Westin W8 88M 9-35g lure rod!) I suggested I take him ‘Creaturing’ on what was a gloriously sunny afternoon. Second cast, after talking him through the method, he went and walloped out the largest ‘December bass’ that I have guided someone onto at 64cm – amazing!

With the sea temperature still in the 12^oC range, I suggested to Joe that, based on the sea conditions, a guided session to a location where I essentially taught myself how to catch bass as a teen would be a good idea…

Dusk, coinciding with the top of the tide worked an absolute treat. Armed with a weedless, weightless paddle tail (the Sawamura One-Up Shad) gently slithering through the ‘salad’, it was utterly nailed tight into the undertow – just brilliant.

And it got even better a few days later, from a similar open coastal location as the wind swung round, and a flooding tide peaked early into darkness. A change of angle to the cast and retrieve, so that lure appeared to be swimming with the current accounted for yet another client PB for Joe’s esteemed client (Geoff) that you see below:

Summary

So there you go! Having landed an utter ‘hog’ of a bass measuring 68cm this morning, and now finishing up this mammoth post (I imagine a few intervals will be required to read it too!) I am a very happy man this New Year’s Eve. I hope by the time many of you read this the hangover is under control, and the 2025 New Year’s dinner has gone down a treat.

20% Off 2025 Vouchers…

Look out for my ‘My Personal Catches Yearly Review 2024 in the next few days. Plus, I will be promoting something I haven’t done for a while early into 2025: 20% Off 2025 South Devon Bass Guide Vouchers with my 2nd Guide Joe. Only 20 of these will be available. Therefore, to register your interest please complete the Contact Form at the bottom of the page.

My Books – An Update

As revealed a few weeks back, ‘The Lure of The Bass – ‘Revised Edition’ is due for release in April 2025. I will be updating and amending the narrative, images, and graphs of the original book (that has sold upwards of 3500 copies) and bringing it up to date by supplementing the content with a further 100+ pages dedicated the estuary fishing, night fishing, how I decipher my notes, and how I plan and coordinate my personal and guided sessions. Please do complete the Contact Form at the bottom of the page if you would like to be added to the Pre-Order or Waiting List.

In the meantime, I will be commissioning another print run of my second title: Bass Lure Fishing – A Guide’s Perspective (Volume 1) in late-January. Therefore, if you would like be added to the waiting please also complete the Contact Form at the bottom of the page.

My 3rd, and most recent publication: Bass Lure Fishing – A Guide’s Perspective (Volume 2) is IN STOCK and available to purchase via the PayPal below. Alternatively, if you would like to pay by Bank Transfer please contact my via: marccowlingblf@yahoo.com

2025 and 2026 bookings

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, I will releasing my Confirmed 2026 Availability, encompassing my 3 Day Package Dates, 8 Hour Guiding Days, and 8 Hour One-to-One dates NEXT WEEK.

You can find the Prices and Information Page here, and 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: