My name is Marc Cowling. I provide fully insured, shore-based, professionally guided lure fishing for bass, from the majestic south Devon coastline through my company: South Devon Bass Guide Ltd. Alongside managing and overseeing this operation (with my 2nd Guide Joe from mid-2024), I also administer a sister website and blog that details my personal fishing endeavours, in addition to highlighting my publications, consultancy work and further services. All of this information can be found at Marc Cowling – Bass Lure Fishing.

Born and raised in glorious south Devon, I have fished the ‘South Hams’ for bass, wrasse, rays and pollack since I was 9 years old. However, upon witnessing the capture of a stunning, 6lb silver bar in my early teens, the mysterious bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and its battling elusive qualities has, and exclusively so, been the target species for the past 35 years – with lure fishing in particular the method of choice.

Inspired by bass angling legends such as Mike Ladle and John Darling, it took me a number of seasons thereafter to hook my first bass (on an original Rapala plug) which subsequently ran across a finger of rock, resulting in the line parting – I could have cried! Since that pivotal moment, it has been my mission to learn as much as possible about the when, where, why and how to catch, what is, in my humble opinion, the most sporting sea fish in UK waters.

‘The Dream…’ Realised

There are so many captivating elements to these wonderful creatures: the wild, often remote, and beautiful locations we find ourselves whilst pursuing a bass, alongside the fact that in attempting to catch them, you will never stop learning… I vividly recall how daunting it was to be at the start of my bass lure fishing journey, which is why, following years of hard-won knowledge and all the accumulated personal experiences, I decided to follow my dream, and to become a professional guide.

Within months of releasing my first blog posts and commencing my first full season of guiding commitments, I had the great pleasure of becoming a feature writer for both Sea Angler and Total Sea Fishing magazines respectively. And it was the culmination of these articles, in conjunction with the numerous posts detailing the frequent personal and client catches we achieved that led me to writing my first book in 2018 – titled: The Lure of The Bass.

Fastidious in my preparation, attention to detail, and note-taking. Coupled with an insatiable thirst to achieve and continue learning how to catch (and of course release) the enigmatic bass, my follow up titles: Bass Lure Fishing – A Guide’s Perspective Volume 1 (released April 2021) and then Bass Lure Fishing – A Guide’s Perspective Volume 2 (released April 2023) build upon, and convey, page by page and chapter by chapter, the artistry and intricacy required to consistently catch these beautiful, and all-inspiring predators.

For me and now us, the only thing more satisfying than catching a bass on a lure is teaching, assisting and witnessing one of our clients achieve a goal that is far from easy to consistently accomplish. We take immense pleasure from facilitating these sessions, be it the One-to-One’s, our Guiding Days, or the exceedingly popular 3 Day Packages, all of which are conducted from a multitude of diverse locations that I have at my disposal.

I/we genuinely look forward to every session, and get excited every single time I/we step out onto the shoreline. Over time, my/our clients and I have caught bass in all weather conditions, times of day and night, states of tide, and from an extremely wide-ranging array of environments. And it is this hard-earned expertise that will provide a fast-track to your own success, learning, and happy memories of catching this supreme predator.