Bass Fishing Newbie

[Yogi65]

I am considering giving bass fishing a go in Wivenhoe and Sommerset and I think my bream gear would suffice but I was wondering if anyone could give advice on what size braid and leader to use.
Also what hard body lures and soft plastics i should be looking at.

Thanks Yogi

[Hardb8]

G'day Yogi,
Welcome aboard m8 :) .Your standard Breamin gear will be fine,As it is much the same as Bass tackle.

As for braid sizes,This can vary with regards to timber,And open water,Etc,Etc.

Anything from 4lb to 20lb will get you onto fish,I personally fish at about 8 to 12lb mainlines most of the time with good success.

Leader size for me is 16lb when there are decent fish on offer,But this can also either be scaled up or down to suit the fish and the terrain present.Look at a minimum of 8lb,And a max of 20.

Lures that work for Bass are plentiful,It will again depend on what style of fishing you planing on doing,Eg :- Casting,Trolling,Or jigging.Rattlin traps are prettty effective as they can be used for all three styles,And there is a lot available out there that will do the job.A very handy lure type to have in your Bass arsenal.

As my name suggests,I can't really help ya with soft plastics.The closest I come is a Jackall Mask Vib.;)

They (Plastics) are very effective though,And I'm sure someone here will be able to help more in regards to this.

No doubt you'll hear somethin like :- 1/8th oz jighead and a 3" Rockstar Ghetto Pimp Shad with Smelt Scale and Green Glitter ;D .........I can't keep up ::) .

Cheers. B8.:)

[Pete62]

They (Plastics) are very effective though,And I'm sure someone here will be able to help more in regards to this.

No doubt you'll hear somethin like :- 1/8th oz jighead and a 3" Rockstar Ghetto Pimp Shad with Smelt Scale and Green Glitter http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/../yabbfiles/Templates/Forum/default/grin.gif .........I can't keep up http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/../yabbfiles/Templates/Forum/default/rolleyes.gif .

Ah, B8 that's funny, true though it does get confusing.

Yogi, mate u will get heaps of info from the guns here, very helpful, but in my neck of the woods, there is nothing better the a Feddy Abogust jitterbug on the surface just on dark, as my mate said when he was introducing me to Bass fishing "Pedro, he calls me Pedro, mate the strike is like someone throwing a minibar fridge in the water" may be a bit of a stretch but hey, got me fired up.
Cheer's Pete.

[Little grey men]

Bass will eat just about any plastics put in front of them but the standard would be a 2 to 3" paddle tail grub. Slider grubs are a good plastic. Swim these on a variety of jighead sizes to suit the terrain.
Don't forget about the good old spinnerbait as well. Bass love them, attach a stinger hook with a small soft plastic to increase the chance of a hookup.
Bass short strike spinnerbaits a lot and the stinger hook will have them racing around on the end of your line in no time.
Good luck.

[big schlong]

hi yogi , plasticswork good at both , we normally just use slider grubs in the baby bass colour and smoke with yellow core...1/4 to 1/2 ounce heads , locate your schools and stick with them for a while , also try tailspinners and lipless......good luck mate :)

[flairj]

No doubt you'll hear somethin like :- 1/8th oz jighead and a 3" Rockstar Ghetto Pimp Shad with Smelt Scale and Green Glitter ;D .........I can't keep up ::) .

Cheers. B8.:)

Funny and true but if you told him he needed a "Megabass Live X Margay Stepcat Killer Kawaguchi Custom" it might be just as confusing.

Ten bucks says B8 knows exactly what that is ;D ;D ;D

[Hardb8]

Funny and true but if you told him he needed a "Megabass Live X Margay Stepcat Killer Kawaguchi Custom" it might be just as confusing.

Ten bucks says B8 knows exactly what that is ;D ;D ;D

LOL.....Sad :( but true ;D .

Cheers B8.:-[ :) ;)

[breamqueen]

If your looking at some surface work go the R2S rover. 75mm i think.
Vibes are always good, Jackalls and ecos. If you can get onto some knols native 50s youll be set. 3" Bass minnows are also a must.
I use 4-8lb braid, any over 8 i feel like its overkill, theres not much of a fight with 20lb in my opinion. unles of course you get tiny diametre braids..
leader 8lb is good.

[struktcha_man]

What I have done ok with.

spinnerbaits in pink and black or purple.
black bubble pops in the afternoon at dusk.

Just bream gear yeah, nice little spin outfit.

I have only caught them in the Hinze, But I know for a fact that Purple spinnerbaits are very popular in NPD and other places, I would definitely have a purple spinnerbait in the tackle box.

Don't overlook the surface work in the morning or afternoon around shallow snaggs and flooded grass flats/reed beds, if they around they will hit a crawler or popper like a tonne of bricks.

Cheers