The Australian Bass is one of the great native sportfish of eastern Australia, and one of the easiest fish to fall in love with if you're new to lure fishing. They hit hard, fight harder than their size suggests, and they live in some of the most beautiful freshwater country in the country. This guide is everything you need to catch your first one.
We've written it for people who haven't caught a bass yet. If you're a 30-year veteran, the gear talk will be obvious. If you're starting from zero, every term that might trip you up is explained the first time it appears. No gatekeeping.
What is an Australian Bass?
The Australian Bass (Macquaria novemaculeata) is a native freshwater predator found along the eastern coast of Australia, from the Mary River in southern Queensland down through New South Wales and into the eastern parts of Victoria. They are not the same as American largemouth or smallmouth bass, those are introduced species that don't live wild in Australia. Aussie bass are their own thing, and they fight like fish twice their size.
Most bass you'll catch will be between 30 and 45 centimetres long. A 50cm fish is a very good capture. A 55cm+ bass is a trophy and the fish of a season for most anglers. They're dark olive on top, fading to a creamy belly, with a small spiny dorsal fin (the fin on top of the back) and a notched tail.
The thing that makes them special: they live in stunning country. Bass water is forested rivers, rocky gorges, and big stocked impoundments, the kind of places you'd want to be even if you didn't catch a fish. They are also primarily a catch-and-release species in modern Australian fishing culture. Most experienced bass anglers don't keep them.
Where to find Australian Bass
Bass live in two types of water: natural rivers and stocked impoundments. Each fishes differently and has a different season.
The natural rivers
In the wild, bass live in coastal river systems from the Mary River in Queensland down to about Wilsons Promontory in eastern Victoria. They spawn in the lower brackish (slightly salty) sections of rivers in winter and move back upstream into freshwater in spring and summer. Famous wild-bass rivers include the Manning, Hastings, Macleay, Bellinger, Nymboida, Clarence, and Tweed in NSW. In Queensland, the Brisbane, Mary, Logan, and Albert.
Wild river bass are spookier and harder than impoundment bass. They are also smaller on average. Most experienced anglers cut their teeth on impoundments and graduate to rivers later.
The impoundments (this is where you start)
Stocked impoundments are large dams stocked with bass fingerlings. They're the easiest place in Australia to catch bass. The water is open, the fish are concentrated, and you can usually fish from a boat or kayak without needing local knowledge of every snag and bend. Start here.
NSW impoundments
- Lake Glenbawn (Hunter Valley). The most famous bass impoundment in Australia. Big fish, big tournaments, plenty of public access.
- Lake Lyell (near Lithgow). Smaller, beautiful, accessible from Sydney.
- Lake St Clair (Hunter region). Lots of fish, good kayak water.
- Tallowa Dam (Shoalhaven). South-coast option.
- Lake Brogo (far south coast). Quieter, productive.
Queensland impoundments
- Borumba Dam (south of Gympie). Queensland's premier bass dam.
- Maroon Dam (Scenic Rim). Close to Brisbane, lots of fish.
- Hinze Dam (Gold Coast). Good for first-timers, easy access.
- Lake Wivenhoe and Somerset Dam (SE Qld). Big water, big fish.
- Cressbrook Dam and Lake Moogerah. Productive options.
Most impoundments charge a small permit fee that funds the stocking program. A few dollars per day. Always check the local rules before you fish. See NSW DPI Fisheries and Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.
When to fish for bass
Bass are most active in the warmer months. The classic Australian bass season runs from October through to April, peaking in the hottest months when the water sits between 22 and 28 degrees Celsius. Outside this window the fish are still catchable but slow down significantly. They are also off-limits in many wild rivers during the May to August spawning closure.
Within the season, the time of day matters more than the weather. Bass are low-light feeders. The two best windows of any given day are:
- Dawn. First 90 minutes of daylight. Fish move shallow and feed aggressively, especially on surface lures.
- Dusk. Last 60 minutes before dark. Often the most reliable bite of the day.
Overcast days extend these windows. A grey, drizzly afternoon will fish better than a bluebird midday. A glassy calm dawn after a humid summer night is bass weather.
The basic setup, what you actually need
You don't need an arsenal. One rod, one reel, a single spool of line, a leader spool, and a small selection of lures will catch you fish. Here's what works.
Rod
A 7-foot light-to-medium spin rod, rated for 2 to 4kg or 4 to 8lb. "Spin" means it's set up for a spinning reel (the kind that hangs underneath the rod). Avoid baitcaster rods until you've fished bass for a season, they're harder to learn.
Reel
A 2500-size spinning reel. Daiwa, Shimano, and Penn all make solid options under $200. Match the rod weight.
Line
Braid in 6 to 10 lb breaking strain. Braid is a thin woven line with almost no stretch. It lets you feel everything the lure is doing and set the hook hard. It's the modern lure-fishing standard.
Leader
A "leader" is a section of clear monofilament line tied between your braid and your lure. Bass aren't leader-shy like bream, but a leader still helps because braid is too visible and too abrasion-prone for the snags bass hide in. Use 8 to 12 lb fluorocarbon, about 1 metre long.
Lures
You only need five categories of lure to cover almost any bass scenario. We'll explain how to use each one in the next section.
- Surface walker or popper. For dawn and dusk.
- Hard-bodied minnow (deep diver). For working timber and ledges.
- Spinnerbait. For fishing around structure.
- Soft plastic on a jighead. The do-everything option.
- Vibe or blade. For deep schooled fish.
A starter kit covering all five categories costs about as much as a single rod. We'll be linking our own Australian Bass collection here as soon as the first products ship.
Five techniques that catch bass
1. Surface walking, the dawn special
Cast a surface walker (a floating lure that you twitch along the top of the water) toward likely structure. A fallen tree, a weed edge, the shadow of an overhanging gum. Let it sit for two seconds. Then twitch the rod tip down sharply, twice, with a half-turn of the reel handle. Pause. Twitch twice. Pause.
The hits are explosive. They look like someone dropped a brick on the lure. Your job is to not strike too early. Wait until you feel weight, then lift the rod into the fish.
2. Cast and retrieve with a hardbody
Cast a hard-bodied diving lure past your target structure and start a slow, steady retrieve. The lure will dive 1 to 3 metres depending on its bib (the plastic lip on the front). Vary the pace. Slow it down, give it a couple of twitches, pause for a second. Most strikes come on the pause.
3. Spinnerbait around timber
A spinnerbait is the safest lure to fish around heavy timber. Its arm and skirt help it bounce off branches without snagging. Cast it tight to a snag, let it sink for a count of two or three, then start a slow steady retrieve. The flash of the spinner blade triggers strikes.
4. Soft plastics on a jighead
The most versatile technique in fishing. Rig a soft plastic minnow or grub on a jighead matched to the depth (lighter for shallow, heavier for deep). Cast, let it sink to the bottom or to mid-water, and "hop" it back with small lifts of the rod tip. Bass usually hit on the drop. Pay attention to your line.
5. Vibing for schooled fish
In the warmer months, bass school up over deep water, usually 4 to 8 metres down. Use a sounder (fish finder) to locate them, then drop a vibe (a small dense lure with a paddle tail) straight down. Lift the rod tip up to about eye level, then let it flutter back down on a tight line. Most strikes come on the drop.
Rigging, the only knots you really need
Tie your braid to your fluorocarbon leader using an FG knot or a double Uni knot. Both pass through guides smoothly. The FG is stronger and slimmer. The double Uni is easier to learn. Watch a YouTube video. Both are 10-minute skills you'll use for life.
Tie your leader to the lure using a loop knot (such as a non-slip mono loop). A loop knot lets the lure swing freely on the end of the line, which makes it move more naturally in the water. Bass care.
Rules, ethics, and looking after the fishery
Bass have minimum legal lengths, bag limits, and closed seasons that vary by state and by water type (river vs impoundment). These rules change from time to time. Before you fish, check the current regulations for your state:
Most modern bass anglers practise catch-and-release. Wild bass populations are recovering from decades of overfishing and habitat damage, and impoundment fish are stocked for sport. Hold the fish horizontally in wet hands, take your photo quickly (10 seconds is plenty), and put it back. Bass are tough and recover well from gentle release.
You also need a recreational fishing licence in NSW and Victoria. Queensland does not require a freshwater licence. Check the relevant link above before you fish.
Now go fishing
The fastest way to get good at this is to spend time on the water. Start with a basic setup, pick one impoundment, fish dawn or dusk, and put a lure where you can see structure. You'll catch a fish.
We built Harson because we wanted fishing to feel less like a wall to climb and more like a thing you can just start doing. If this guide helped, the rest of our species guides will cover Flathead, Bream, Murray Cod, Whiting, and a dozen others. Same format, same accessibility-first approach.
Captain Baker, Harson Outdoors