Australian Bass River Fishing
In shallow rivers, you’ll have better luck fishing for them at night when they’re more active and are very hungry.
The river techniques for the Australian Bass are not that different from the techniques used in summer and fall fishing. In winter they migrate downstream to the estuaries to spawn. And in the spring they move from the brackish estuaries back inland until spawning begins the next year.
Their placement in the estuary depends on how dry or wet the season has been as the bass search out the correct salinity in order to spawn.
Where to Fish After Their Spawning Season
Outside of the spawning season, look for Australian Bass during the day hiding by, under and around underwater structures that allow for them to ambush their prey while staying away from the sun and other predators.
- Cast your bass lures and baits towards these structures with any of their popular foods. If you don’t first succeed, don’t give up. Before trying another spot, try the same spot about 3 or 4 times. Cast into a slightly different location each time, about 5 feet from the last spot.
Popular Australia bass baits depend on the season and whatever’s in abundance at the time. Although pretty much any food will work as they’re not overly picky.
General recommendations for seasonal fishing are here.
Freshwater Fishing Tips
- Insects and insect flies work best in the spring
- Bait fish work better in summer and autumn
- For winter it’s all about annoying the bass by appealing to their instinct to defend their territory.
If you’re fishing along the bank of a river, and there are a bunch of willows on the bank, the bass will likely snap after insects that fall into the water. Insects are out in force in the late spring and early summer.
Aussie Fly Fisher
Fly fishing is an excellent river method for catching Australian Bass near the shore line. While it’s a popular method in North America, Australians use different kinds of tackle, preferring to cast surface and deep diving lures, diving plugs, minnows, poppers, crawlers, spinners, spoons, spinner baits and soft plastics lures.
If you’re going to take on fly fishing, we recommend the same flies and techniques that are successful for catching the Redeye Bass. The Lefty’s Deceiver with the big eye and the Dahlberg Diver are excellent flies and work well on a 3/0 hook.
Note: In shallow rivers, you’ll have better luck fishing for them at night when they are more active and are very hungry.
Lures for Bass
If you seek them out during the day, use lures that appeal to their sense of territory. This means use lures that make noise and sound in order to elicit a strike out of anger.
At night, fish with shrimp, crayfish, blood worms, small fish and frogs. Combining live bait with spoons and spinners can prove to be an irresistible treat.
Night fishing along the river can prove very successful if you fish the baits that are normally present, otherwise, just try changing things up.
The Australian Bass may climb all over surface lures one night and the next they’ll jump at spinners and spoons. Remember that they operate out of instinct and there’s not a lot of variations in how they respond.
- They feed on hunger, but will strike out of an instinct to defend their territory or their young and will flee if spooked.
Remember these instincts when fishing for them.
One last night time technique for novice anglers, make a full moon your first night out and don’t forget to perform a daytime analysis of where you’ll be fishing, taking into account top structure locations and the top places for snags.
Fishing Limits
As a result of low bass fish stocks, the government has stepped in with legislation to prevent anglers from keeping fish during the winter months from June to August. The restrictions are reduced to a 2 fish limits starting September, 2009. These restrictions are likely to remain until fish levels rebound. However, due to the increased damming, we don’t expect levels to increase for some time. Check this link for restrictions in Queensland
