Top 10 Tips to Catch More Australian Bass
Updated: Sep 20
The 2026/2027 Australian Bass Season officially reopened as of 1 September 2026. Australian Bass are one of the most loved endemic fish species to Australia. They are known for crunching lures off the surface and for fighting well above their weight class, so it is no wonder Australian anglers want to tangle with one!
This article will give you my top ten tips to help you catch more Australian Bass. It is a must read for everyone from beginners, through to more advanced anglers!
Learn To Read The Water:
Our first tip is a big one! Learning to read the water is one of the biggest things you can do to catch more Australian Bass. This tip is more about maximising your fishing time. If you learn to pick apart a water system and know the most likely spots the fish will be waiting eagerly for a feed, it will no doubt increase the number of fish you catch. If you spend more time putting casts into the more likely zones, you will get more eats! If you spend less time fishing ‘dead water’ it will naturally see your catch rates increase.
Much like fishing for trout, fishing for Australian Bass in wild rivers has some predictability in where they will hold in the river to feed. Back eddies and deeper shaded banks with lots of structure (timber or overhangs) are key to fishing skinnier sections of river. Learn to pick what is good fishable water and you will be well on your way to catching more fish!
Master Lure Selection and Technique:
Lure selection can be key to targeting Australian Bass. Select the right lure and you can have sessions where you catch cricket scores of Bass, but select the wrong lure, and the bite can feel shut down. Lure selection and when to fish a certain lure can be the difference between catching fish and going home with a donut. Don’t get suckered into fishing ‘topwater’ baits at all times of the day or else you might forego your chance at a good subsurface eat during the middle of the day.
My top fishing lure styles for topwater are:
Bibbed Surface Lures;
Crawler Lures;
Fizzers;
Pencils;
Buzz Baits; and
Frog Imitations.
My top fishing lure styles for subsurface are:
Crankbaits;
Jerkbaits;
Chatterbaits/spinnerbaits;
Football jigs (rigged with a trailer);
Weedless plastics; and
Swimbaits (if you are feeling adventurous).
Focus on fishing topwater imitations during the ‘prime time’ bite windows of first and last light. Bass feed heavier during low light periods of the day and they will be much more willing to eat a surface offering during low light, so once the sun comes up and the shadows on the water retreat, focus on throwing your subsurface offerings. If a lure isn’t working, change it and mix it up until you find the pattern of what works on the day.
Fish Low-Light Periods:
I mentioned that Bass will be much more willing to feed off surface during low-light periods. That is for good measure! Over the years, I have caught most of my fish off surface during the low light periods of the day. Fishing during dawn and dusk is key to getting more eats off the top. If you are chasing that ‘boof’ off the top, the low light periods of the day will be key to get the eat! So, if you are wanting to maximise your chances of catching a good fish off the surface, you will want to be on the water early, or off the water late!
If fishing early morning, you want to be on the water at the most likely zone, right as the first light starts to filter through, and then same goes for fishing into the evening – you want to be on the water fishing right up until it is dark (and you can even fish into the dark if you want)! The Bass truly come alive in the low light periods!
Go Light To Get The Bite:
This tip is one I encourage across all aspects of fishing for our Australian Species! Go light to get the bite! Fish can be leader shy and so the lighter your leader, the less likely it is that the fish will see your leader in the water and the more natural your lure presentations will look. This results in more eats! I have recently converted to fishing much lighter on my bass setups than I previously was. It allows you to get more casting distance which is a big factor in why I opt to fish so light! Just be mindful, you will have to put the hurt on good fish if they are in tight structure, but I am yet to lose a good fish, so I highly recommend you give it a go. In the modern era, you can pull unbelievably hard on light line so the setups below will be more than enough to pull fish out of cover if needed (albeit it will be a little less forgiving).
My go to Australian Bass setup is:
A 2500 reel;
A 1-3kg rod;
8lb – 12lb mainline (braid); and
10lb-12lb leader.
I will put a caveat on this tip – if you are not an experienced angler, opt to go a bit heavier than my above recommendations because otherwise you might get towelled up in tight structure. If you are just starting out, I recommend 14-20lb mainline and 14lb-20lb leader!
Make Your Casts Count – Casting Accuracy:
Casting accuracy is so important when it comes to targeting Australian Bass. If your lure is not hitting up against the bank, most days it will just not get eaten! You need to hit as close to the structure/bank as possible. Bites will come very tight to the structure, so the closer you get, the more chance you are of getting a bite. Practice your casting accuracy and learn to master it because it will help you catch more fish!
Maximise Shadows:
Once you start fishing outside the prime-time low light periods, fishing the shadows will see you catch fish late into the morning and into the afternoon. The fish will hold in the shadows of the overhanging structure/tight on the structure in the shaded pockets. If the river has shadows on the water in the deeper pockets, this can be a great location to target Australian Bass, so focus your efforts here.
Old Versus New Shadows – this is a key thing to understand. When the sun rises, there will be one side of the bank that the sun casts a shadow on as soon as the sun comes up, and then as the sun moves past 12pm (sun above), the shadow will begin to be cast onto the other side of the bank. You will want to focus on the bank which has been in shade for the longest part of the day (old shadow) – this is the type of shadow where I find the Bass are located the most! Try this tip and you will increase your catch rates!
Don’t Get 'Surface Tunnel Vision':
No doubt, the best way to catch Australian Bass is by casting a surface lure and then waiting for the almighty ‘boof’ to come, but once the sun is up, the surface bite will slow down so you need to be adaptable. Remember, surface is not the only way to catch Australian Bass so try your best not to get ‘surface tunnel vision’. Once the sun is up, fish can be readily caught on subsurface so don’t be afraid to do away with the surface offerings and throw subsurface. Crankbaits, jerkbaits, chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, football jigs, and weedless plastics, are all great options to convince a Bass to eat during the middle of the day! I urge you to give subsurface a go more frequently!
Use Barometric Pressure To Your Advantage:
This tip is simple – learn as much as you can about Barometric Pressure and how it impacts the world of fishing!
Over the course of my 2025/2026 Australian Bass Season, I unpacked my catch rates against several metrics, one of which, was against Barometric Pressure. The results undeniably had a reoccurring pattern. Most of my fish were caught between 1003-1012hPA which might be in conflict to the famous fishing saying, “1020 fish are plenty”, but for those willing to understand the data, there was a big correlation as to why!
I have written an in-depth article on Barometric Pressure and how it affects Bass Fishing, so be sure to check it out! However, in short, the results of unpacking the data were that a dropping barometric pressure brought on by a change in weather increased the chance of a bite (incoming storm)!
If you learn how changing weather conditions affect Barometric Pressure, you can then plan your fishing trips around the pressure/your predictions of what the pressure is likely to do, and this will see you have a lot more success targeting Australian Bass!
Use Google Maps To Find More Remote Untouched Zones
Google Maps is one of the best things ever invented for the landbased angler. No doubt, if you landbase fish enough, you will have found accessing the ‘primo’ looking sections of rivers difficult. In Australia, a lot of the best-looking rivers are fenced off by property boundaries, which makes finding good fishable locations a struggle and this can quickly frustrate the keen angler. However, with the use of Google Maps, it can help you find less pressured fishing waters and gives you the best chance to implement a good ‘game plan’ before heading out for a fish. Google Maps really has been one of the best inventions in the past couple of decades to help anglers catch more fish – you just need to know how to use it effectively to find access points.
So, this tip is: learn to master Google Maps to find less pressured fishing locations.
For more information on how to use Google Maps to your advantage, read our other blog titled “Fishing Fishing Spots with Google Maps: The Complete Guide”. This article will teach you all my tips and tricks to use Google Maps to get your ‘fishing advantage’, so be sure to check it out!
Have A Sense Of Adventure:
The biggest tip I have for you if you are a keen Australian Bass angler is to have a sense of adventure. Australian Bass can be a species that you can catch readily if you put in the work, but they frequently require you to hike or paddle into some rugged and remote locations. Having a keen sense of adventure and a ‘what is around the next bend of the river’ mentality will truly help you find more fish. And what is better, is that you will find yourself in some truly scenic and spectacular country. Remember, Bass can be prone to fishing pressure, so the more work you put into finding more remote and unpressured locations, the more fish you will likely catch. With a keen sense of adventure, it will push you outside your comfort zone to see what is around the next bend, and trust me, this will result in you catching more fish!
Summing Up:
Australian Bass season has arrived and if you are an Australian Angler, odds are, you will spend some time over the coming season chasing them! If you implement some of the tips on this list, it will increase the number of fish you catch over the 2026/2027 Australian Bass Season. There are plenty of fish out there to be caught this season and I hope there is a trophy sized Australian Bass out there waiting for each and every one of you!
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