just love it when you get your lure in the perfect position, give it a twitch or two and
BOOM. Any angler that’s seen a big bronze flanked fish succumb to a well twitched
artificial will agree its blue ribbon angling.”
I
fishingworld.com.au | March 2015 | 81and undercut banks. It should only be a matter
of time before you encounter a fish. Long, thick
dead trees, known as “laydowns”, can be a bass
billboard so never ignore these spots. Cast as
close to the start of the tree’s stump where it
enters the water and run your lure slowly from
the bank to the deeper edge. It’s vitally
important to stop your lure every few turns of
the reel. This stop/pause retrieve is deadly.
Coupled with the amazingly realistic topwater
lures out there these days, it mimics the look
and action of an insect or terrestrial creature
that has fallen into the water. It’s actually quite
common to see fish charge out from under the
stump and clobber lures. Always focus on
keeping your lure as close to that main stump
as this area of cover is where bass will be
residing. The more moss and vegetation
adorning these deceased trees, the better.
Think of it as being much the same as an old
oyster encrusted boat hull for bream; it’s an
active part of the food chain that draws in
bigger predators from afar.
Another fantastic spot to concentrate on
involves dead “brush”. We tend to call
anything that has very tightly packed twigs
as brush type structure. If you can find this
stuff jutting out from the bank and hanging
over the water you’re in luck. Beetles, cicadas
and even lizards and small snakes love this
stuff so it’s only natural that bass will
congregate under these food sources. Skip
cast a surface lure under the hanging twigs
and you’ll often get whacked almostinstantaneously. If you don’t get an instant
hit, keep the lure in the strike zone for as
long as possible. Let those ripples pulse out
from slight rod twitches. After 10 seconds or
so begin a slow and steady retrieve. If your
lure didn’t get any initial attention, a retrieve
can sometimes trigger a strike as predatory
bass will think their breakfast, lunch or
dinner is escaping.
As a side note, certain native bushes f lower at
this time of year and attract masses of
swarming bees to their nectar soaked f lowers.
Trees don’t necessarily need to be dead in order
to hold a couple of bass lurking below. Red
wattles in particular can be a bass magnet and
smaller profile lures that imitate a bee or similar
often won’t last long under these places.