Scintillating Start to The New Bass Season 2024

Bass Season has started It’s been a while since I wrote the last newsletter but fishing had been non-existent, especially for bass. 

We have only been a handful of times since last years bass season. But luckily we’ve been fortunate enough to find a few bass on those occasions. And because it’s only March what a bonus.

Last Years Bass Season Started Awful

We normally have a fair run of blanks at the beginning of the bass season so could this be a sign of good things to come? 

Our debut session did not produce any of those beautiful bass. That particular venue we fished is normally a banker for catching bass. One solitary Dogfish for me but two for my fishing mate Steve Wood. I would go as far as to say I can’t remember not catching at least one bass bait fishing at that venue.

It’s been a while since the last newsletter but fishing had been non-existent, especially for bass. 

Lucky To Find Some Bass

We have only been a handful of times since last year. But luckily we’ve been fortunate enough to find a few bass on those occasions. And because it’s only March what a bonus.

We normally have a fair run of blanks at the beginning of the season so could this be a sign of good things to come? 

Big Fat Blank First Time Out

Our debut session did not produce any of those beautiful bass. That particular venue we fished is normally a banker for catching bass—one solitary Dogfish for me but two for my fishing mate Steve Wood. I would go as far as to say I can’t remember not catching at least one bass bait fishing at that venue.

With the crabs peeling earlier than usual we figured that the bass would be there for sure. But like I mentioned very poor and only 3 Dogfish. Normally that venue is plagued with Dogfish. This was a big tide too so we were left scratching our heads…strange.

We discovered last year that we didn’t catch those pesky Dogfish when the water was smashing into the sea wall due to strong northerly winds. I had lost two crackers Bass fishing this type of scenario and not one Dogfish. Perhaps they just don’t like the rough seas close to the sea wall.

In the first session, we managed our first bass of the year. We were fishing a bay so fishing over the sand and light rock. This was another big tide so the water was out quite a way. This exposed a fairly rocky terrain but not that snaggy. There were channels and gullies exposed so this would be the perfect bass ground.

We fished for about 3 hours with dog after dog. We felt that the bass was just not here yet. Then would you believe it? Steve Wood landed his first bass of the year. Jammy git, I was calling him all the names under the sun (in jest) when all of a sudden my rod was arched right over while I was taking a picture of his fish. I struck and it was fish on. The bass was roughly 3lb and put back to fight another day.

Lure Fishing.

So after our bait fishing success, we had a very small window of southerly winds and the sun had been out too. This is March so happy days. So on my taxi travels I decided to randomly check on the water at one of our nighttime high tide venues. What a surprise the water was fairly clear, not ideal for night fishing with lures but had to be worth a go for our first lure trip of the year. 

As we were fishing we kept listening for those big splashes that normally tell us that the bass are around, especially at this venue. Peering down into the water it didn’t look as good as it did earlier at all. Then just as we were about to throw the towel in bang! Steve Wood was into a fish. Ironically he had just clipped on a brand new Momo lure which is a copy of a Shimano Assassin lure. So that was him off the mark this year for a lure-caught bass. Like I mentioned earlier we blanked on numerous occasions before we got off the mark last year. This year we’d caught an amazing first time. 

That was it after that wray of hope we buggered off shortly after that, debating on whether it was worth going the next night. Daytime fishing would have been a much better option condition-wise, but work gets in the way…again. That’s life.

The next night the temptation was too much we just had to give it another crack. This time I had taken a lot more lures with me. Interesting though, normally chart or plain yellow lures seem to do the most damage at this venue but Steve Wood had caught his bass on a natural-looking lure the night before.

TBH what the hell is a bright yellow lure meant to resemble? 

The night dragged on pretty much the same as the previous night. Because it was such a crappy tide we were both mindful of the lures we’d been using. Even though we were fishing off the sea wall and well above the sea level I still occasionally got snagged and could feel the lure catching the rocks on the retrieve.

Eventually, right on the high tide, I stuck the IMA Hound Glide 125 on, the bone chart one. This was a good lure for me especially last year after losing my yellow Sonic. That lure seemed to crush it at this venue.

The funny thing is the Chart Bone looked the same bright yellow in the picture when I bought it off eBay. Then to my utter horror, it was bone colour when it turned up. But funnily enough, it worked well last year so on it went.

After a few casts BANG! Fish on! And it felt a good fish – stripping the line off my reel right from the off. This was a powerful fish. Then eventually we landed it in the drop net. The fish was a healthy fat thing and what a great start to the season. Happy days.

As usual, the condition changed again, and the water returned to mud. For us, it’s all about that window of opportunity you must try and take it when you can. Another couple of cast and I hit a snag and lost that battered hound. I went down the next day low tide to see if I could find it but no luck.

The Next Session The Bass Keep On Coming

As we previously mentioned our ever-changing conditions are a proper pan in the arse. But on this occasion, there was a small window in the weather. I’d done a daytime high tide water clarity check and it was fairly good. But not great. But the tide would be going out and coming back in again. So with the sun shining it could be game on.

What A Surprise In Store

So we ventured down to one of our nighttime venues at about 10 o’clock. It wasn’t the biggest of tides but the water was fairly clear but certainly not 100%.

We started fishing and after about 10 minutes Steve Wood was into a fish. Then before you know it, the bass had got off. Frustrating I know, to me, it looked like a good fish. Then sure enough, bang I was into a fish almost straight away. There was a shoal coming through but how long they would stay is another story. This fish was drop net material I wasn’t taking any risks this year. Knots and leaders checked after every fish. Losing lures is an expensive pastime.

We landed that bass, with no problem, coming in at a respectable 57cm. The only problem was the treble hooks and the fish were tangled up in the mesh of the drop net. As for productivity, this is something we need to revise the fish may not stick around. We don’t want to waste time mucking about. Eventually, the fish was back in the water free to fight another day.

Boom! Steve Wood was into a fish, hopefully, this one will stay on and that’s exactly what it did. Another one for the drop net. As we peered over to see the fish we realised this fish wasn’t worth risking reeling the bass straight over the prom.

More aggro though, the hooks had got tangled in the mesh again. Now it was Steve’s to to wrestle with the fish and the nightmare treble hooks tangled in the net. What’s more frustrating was the fact that you’d get one treble out only for another to get stuck in the mesh – again! Arrrrggghhhhh!!!!! Too much time being wasted.

After those two fish things seemed to slow up a few takes and that was it. Pondering on the drop net issue we decided to move to another spot.

Two Tips For Using A Drop Net

Tip 1: If you are using treble hooks go barbless. That way if you do get tangled up in the mesh it will be ten times easier to get them out.

Tip 2: Use Single hooks it’s a lot less hassle.

When we arrived at the new venue I decided to have a change in tactics (Tip 2). Yes, on went the Mishna Eel. Now with the exposed hook on the Mishna Eel, I wouldn’t risk using it fishing over the gnarly rocks from the previous mark. Yes – you could retrieve faster but I seem to have better success with a dead slow retrieve, especially at night.

The last bass season I had forgotten about the Mishna eel. But one night while we were fishing some deeper ground further around the coast I had a random idea about how I would fish. I stuck the Mishna Eel on and cast it out. The lure had hardly hit the water and I was onto a fish. What a result. I managed to get the fish in but the lure had split so it went back in the box.

Then I obviously ordered some more but the one that split had turned a yellow colour where it had been stuck in the lure box at home for so long.