While predominantly a night fish, the Australian Bass is highly active during the day when found in deep lakes as it’s free from the harsh sun light and free to hunt various baitfish.

 

Depth here is a relative term as bass go deep to escape the harsh sunlight and seek cooler temperatures. We’re using the term lake here loosely as they’re not natural lakes, but lakes created behind dams as most of the rivers and streams along the south-east coast of Australia have been dammed.

 

Fishing in these dams finds similarities between Deep Water Techniques used throughout the year.

 

If you’re fishing a shallow dam, use a sonar device to determine if the fish are active and if not, try using lures that appeal to their territorial sense, creating noises and flashing light in order to elicit a strike out of anger. If they’re active, use lures and baits that appeal to their sense of hunger.

Trolling

A good technique to use when fishing the shallow dams is to troll up and down in the same pattern you’d use to mow the lawn. In the summer months they can often be found congregating in schools so a fish finder is an excellent tool to help find them.

 

When trolling, bass lures that work best are the Predatek Boomerang 65 in purple or black.

 

We recommend using deep running lures in 4.5, 5.3 and 7 meters (15, 17 and 23 feet). This lure can also work when fishing in shallow streams, but other than picking up a shallow running version, choose colors that closely resemble real bait fish.

 

When fishing dams, both shallow and deep, the preferred food for the Australian Bass are local baitfish. However in some areas, ants replace baitfish as their primary food preference in spring and summer.

Fly Fishing in Australia

Fly fishing is an excellent method near the shoreline around shallow dams and wide, slow moving rivers during the spring and fall months.

 

Try the Teeny T-300 or T-400, the Lefty’s Deceiver with the big eye and the Dahlberg Diver on a strong 3/0 hook all work very well. This recommendation came to us from a recent trip to Australia by one of our forum members.

 

Australian Bass are continuously hungry and require a large amount of food to thrive. They strike at aquatic insects, insects that fall into the water, shrimp, crayfish, blood worms, small fish and frogs.

Australian Bass like Surface and Deep Diving Lures

Many experienced anglers claim that success with lures is not as high and requires more skill than using bait. However combining live bait with spoons and spinners can prove to be something the Australian Bass simply can’t pass up.

 

If you’re going to be using lures, try diving plugs. These tend to be very effective.

 

Surface and deep diving lures, diving plugs, minnows, poppers, crawlers, spinners, spoons, spinnerbaits and soft plastics lures are all popular. Local anglers have proved these highly successful at catching the ever hungry Australian Bass.

 

These lures are available online

 

Australian bass lures