Australian Bass are one of Australia’s premier freshwater fish, renowned for their tremendous fight and are often referred to as the Barramundi of the south.
They can be targeted by lure and bait but due to their status as a treasured Australian sports fish they are most often targeted with lures, fitted with barbless hooks, which allows for easy release. They are taken predominantly on minnow pattern hardbodied lures but are also taken frequently on spinnerbaits, surface lures and soft plastics.
The best bait for Australian Bass fishing is whatever they are eating. This can include bugs, worms, shrimp etc. Always use live bait.
An Australian Bass in their favoured snaggy habitat.
The preferred environment for Australian Bass is around underwater snags such as fallen logs, sunken boats/machinery and seaweed. Be careful when fishing these areas as a little callousness can lead to a lot of lost gear, especially considering the bass is known to drag your lure or bait right back into the snags they live in.
During winter there is a no take policy on Australian Bass due to this time being when they head towards brackish waters to make a spawning run and can be caught in huge amounts without much difficulty.
During long hot summer days bass fishing can be done using surface lures including poppers, jitterbugs, stickbaits and unweighted soft plastics. They can be targeted at all times of the day but for lure fishing as with most other fish, early morning or late afternoon are considered the best times to target bass.
Australian Bass are extremely predatory and are often hooked when flanking lures, which is more of a territorial attack than them attempting to eat your lure. They are then hooked in the side or gills, which can be tricky to de-hook as they are armed with some very sharp gill rakers.
