Our creature bait success has been well documented of late. Consequently, before I embark on a run of spectacular captures achieved over the past week for our South Devon Bass Guide clients via this method, I wanted to highlight two other contrasting ways to hoodwink a quality bass from out of an inland, estuarine creek.
After spending his life fishing for anything that swims, my client in the featured image (Ryan) is relatively new to bass lure fishing. Therefore, his recent experiences on one of my 3 Day Packages serve as the inspiration for this post.
As an aside, I will be describing the next memorable Client Capture via the Audio Clip format that so many of you have very kindly mentioned you enjoy. Look out for that post and those the subsequent posts if utilising these ‘creatures’ interests you, as there are some seriously cool catches on the Megabass Sleeper Craw, achieved within some pretty austere surroundings I must add…
Hard or Soft, Surface or Sub-surface
Outside of using a creature bait (which I know is a soft plastic) deciding whether to use a hard or a soft lure is a question you need to ask yourself whilst potentially trudging through a quagmire of sticky and stinking mud as you near your chosen mark.
As you may have read here, until more recently, if the water is choppy and/or if the current is flowing in the opposite direction to the wind, or most definitely if I am fishing in darkness or the water is coloured up, then a weighted (if necessary) soft plastic will very often be utilised over a hard, surface lure.
Here, the overall aim will be to retrieve the lure at the same pace as the tide, and just quick enough to be able to sense its vibration through the rod tip – if its a paddle tail. Furthermore, the ‘platinum solution’ will also be to allow the lure to occasionally tap the seabed – a classic ‘Manual Trigger’ that can make all the difference in my experience.
And make the difference it most certainly did as you can see above and below, courtesy of the 60cm bass that Ryan latched into on the brilliant little 3″ Sawamura One-Up Shad, immediately after (I suspect) it touched the muddy seabed and ‘puffed up’ a cloud of dirt to appear even more appealing.
A ‘Clear’ Sign
During the following day of this 3 Day Package (one in which Ben landed the 70cm ‘animal’ that you can read about here), although we found ourselves within a very similar environment to the previous daylight session, the sea state during this tide was decidedly clearer as the tide began to flood – a period incidentally that has proven to be extremely consistent for my clients and I this season.
It was for this reason, in addition to the fact that there copious levels of ‘bait fish’ within the margins being sporadically preyed upon by our spikey friends, that I asked Ryan to attach the famed Patchinko 100 – the thought being the bass were clearly hunting by sight at this juncture.
Honestly, over the next couple of hours, although Ryan landed the 50cm bass below, he was snapped off by what we all thought was huge bass as it smashed the lure at the rod tip, plus they also hooked, but failed to land a further four good bass – the ones that got away eh…
Books by Marc Cowling
(Including my LATEST RELEASE: The Lure of The Bass – The Revised Edition)
To learn more about how to catch bass on lures, and how to choose which lure to attach over another within all of the environments and conditions in which you will encounter this spellbinding species, my three books will undoubtedly help.
For stock levels, purchasing options (BACS or PayPal) and for more information in regard to the specific contents of each of my respective publications, you can follow the links to my sister website (Marc Cowling – Bass Lure Fishing) below:
The Lure of The Bass – The Revised Edition
Bass Lure Fishing – A Guide’s Perspective (Volume 1)
Bass Lure Fishing – A Guide’s Perspective (Volume 2)
Remaining 2025 and 2026 Availability
(2nd Guide Joe and Marc Cowling)
All Information and Prices, plus the remaining 2025 Availability for my 2nd Guide Joe can be found here.
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Thanks for reading
Marc Cowling
South Devon Bass Guide Ltd
South Devon Bass Guide Ltd 