Welcome to My Personal Catches in 2025 – Part 3. The two previous parts can be found here:
Part 1 – Describes the phenomenal period with the Creature Baits between January to March.
Part 2 – Covers a more all-encompassing approach in regards to lure types and tactics.
September – More Selective
As expected, during the warmer months, in daylight, the surface lures generally out fished anything and everything else, even more so within the estuaries where I continued to concentrate my efforts. But with my personal fishing time at a premium, I was only able to sneak in a few hours here and there, sometimes even immediately after a guided session and late into the night!
Of note however, and as I wrote within the ‘Our Guiding Year in Review 2025’ post from my South Devon Bass Guide website/blog, when the rain, wind, and lower temperatures finally arrived after what was a lovely beautiful spring and summer in late-August/early-September the bass became a little fussier…
Maybe I was over thinking things? Perhaps I was just being a little unlucky? Or maybe I should have just stuck to the same marks that had produced for me year-after-year (such as in the case with the beautiful bass below). However, I knew the additional effort to visit places I’d only fished a couple of times previously, but with ‘new-found information’ as it were would pay dividends – and it certainly did going into October and November!
They were being selective – that’s the best way I can describe it as the end of September neared. But with the small bass that had been prevalent throughout the spring and summer also disappearing (oddly and earlier than usual) at least I knew that when I received a ‘take’ it was likely to be decent – something that was most definitely occurring on the guiding front!
October – An Assortment
In terms of the weather and what it meant for the fishing, September was more like how October usually is, and October was more like September! So with the more settled regime during a month when the Storms arrive in earnest, although our clients were catching some absolute behemoths on the creature baits (and the OSP Dolive Sticks) my own selection of lures was given a bit more of a rotation and a workout.
Each of the bass above took a different lure type, including the Patchinko 100 and 125, Megabass Sleeper Craw, OSP Dolive Stick, and Savage Gear Gravity Stick Pulse Tail. But it was another favourite of mine, the 4.5″ Keitech Easy Shiner that produced my next 60cm+ bass as it was ‘trotted’ down in the flow – see below:
Honestly, if I could design a lure through my consultancy work with Westin Fishing that one day rivals the inimitable and seemingly irresistible Patchinko 100 then I will be a happy man. Indeed, it was while armed with one of my staple bass slayers, aimed and delicately retrieved along and parallel to an inviting weedy ledge that the ‘animal’ below struck.
November – Floodgates Opened
If you listened to my Audio Clips associated to my ‘Creature Bait’ captures between January to March then you would have heard me talk about whether the Sleeper Craw would be a ‘winter only’ vocation – primarily because of the amount of sea lettuce or salad on the seabed during the warmer and sunnier months.
Well, with a lack of sunshine throughout September (and to a lesser extent October) to keep regenerating this process, the opportunity to essentially ‘drag and pause’ these crustacean imitations along the seafloor (there is a lot more to it obviously!) meant the floodgates kind of opened with regard to my own catches as well as our clients whenever we attached one!!!!
That four of my clients (Baz here, Ben here, Dave here, and Neil here) were able to join the ’70 Club’ by virtue of using a Creature Bait during the mid-autumn period tells you what a marvellous time of year this is. And with one of Joe’s clients (Brian) also landing what is the largest ever for the company at 74cm here on a Dolive Stick (a fish that he saw swim into his immediate zone) I could tell that normal service in regard to their regular hunting grounds had been resumed as the nights drew in.
As well as being able to ‘sight’ a number of bass, some of which I managed to subsequently catch, again, either with a Megabass Sleeper Craw (such as the 61cm fish above) or with a Dolive Stick, it was evident that the bass were feeding with their head down (looking for crabs) or were occasionally slinking into the more turbid margins to gulp down (not thrash at) the mullet fry.
Below is another Gallery of bass from my November haul, all of which were, again, hooked and landed on contrasting lure types ranging from Westin Fishing prototype Surface Poppers and Surface Sliders that I have designed, through to Paddle Tails, Pulse Tails, and yep, you guessed it, the Sleeper Craw:
Towards the end of November, and what was a very enjoyable segment of the season, I managed to sneak out to a very special area that I only fish early and late in the season (again, so not to be spotted in my Westin clobber and with Bertie the Border Terrier in tow!). I landed four lovely bass that afternoon, with the largest being the extraordinarily dark bass below at 61cm – my 18th over 60cm in 2025, and yet another that snaffled ‘The Craw’ from out of the margins.
Not to be outdone by a rubber ‘Squat Lobster’, during another wonderful afternoon of personal fishing out with Bertie, following a lull in proceedings, the Patchinko 125 kept winking at me every time I opened the lure box. And would you believe it! First cast, out into a notable ‘crease’ in the current (a line denoting the faster water and the inside of a tidal eddy) and BANG, yet another 60cm bass (the19th of 2025 ) was soon thrashing at my feet!
By now, the predetermined decision to spend over 90% of my fishing time within the estuaries of south Devon in 2025 was clearly bearing some serious fruit! What’s more, with the weather playing ball at precisely the period in the season that I was praying it would, I would have been slightly perplexed had I not caught whenever I was able to venture out.
In addition to the stunning fish above, the gallery below contains some of the smaller bass that I landed in November. Could December continue in the same vein…? And could I add to that tally of 60cm+ fish? I’d have to balance my fishing with my snooker practice and bloody Christmas getting in the way, but yeah, I did pretty well!!!
December – Duly Delighted
If I didn’t catch another 60cm bass in December I honestly wouldn’t have been too disappointed. What I’d learnt, where I’d caught them, and just as importantly, how I’d caught them over the previous 12 months will stand me in good stead, not only within my solo endeavours, but also going forward with my South Devon Bass Guide activities of course.
Stalking bass, and then hoodwinking them. This was an area of my personal lure fishing that required improvement – something that I admitted within the ‘What The Future Holds’ chapter of Bass Lure Fishing – A Guide’s Perspective (Volume 2) where I discussed the impact sight fishing with creature baits could have on my/our fishing.
I have worked hard on this aspect, with the culmination being the capture of the splendid 61cm bass below – one that I spotted, watched, and worked out a way to fool it with a Sleeper Craw. Oh Yes!!! That ‘tap’ that reverberated up through the rod when it took the lure was special, because only a few months ago I probably wouldn’t have caught her through being too clumsy!
After guiding my early-December clients onto bass during each of the four sessions I completed (with my client Nathan landing bass of 60 and 61cm during one session to take our tally of 60cm+ Client Captures at South Devon Bass Guide to a quite remarkable 31) I was confident of landing a few more big ones before The Bells rang in 2026.
Again, it was a combination of understanding and appreciating precisely where a bass could be ‘positioned’ in relation to the sunshine, the power of the current, and the topography of the seabed that convinced me to attach a Westin prototype soft plastic paddle tail that I believe will really surprise people (in a good way!). So yes, I was duly delighted to catch my first bass on the latest version of this lure, and the fact that it was a 61cm fish made my Christmas Eve sip of red wine all the sweeter…
A wind in the East during the autumn and winter is what dreams are made of for me! Why? Because they rarely bring any substantial rain to the shores of south Devon, meaning the estuaries aren’t overflowing with very cold freshwater that runs off of the Moors. This means that the crabs remain alive and active, which in turn means the bass stay fixed on eating as many of them as they can – making hay while the sun shines quite literally.
Reverting back to actually sight fishing for bass, and one of the major advantages to this is that even if you do not manage to deceive the bass you see, you will at least be able to observe how it, or others in the vicinity react to the lure. Consequently, the more you see, the more you will be able to pre-empt where it is they are more likely to be positioned, and at what angle to approach them, both in person and with the trajectory of the cast and retrieve.
I mention the above because where I landed my final bass of 2025, the bristling 63cm stunner above and below, is a mark where I have spooked numerous bass in the past. However, if you check out the sea conditions behind me, you’ll notice that the water is somewhat ruffled.
I believe it was applying an element of watercraft into the equation, via placing the lure (a 3″ Sawamura One Up Shad) into the requisite zone in a manner that the the ‘holding and sunbathing bass’ wouldn’t see my shadow or that of the braid. This is what made the difference on this occasion, that and ripple on the surface later that would have disguised the splash made by the fairly small and light lure combination entering the 2ft of water – perhaps this also served as an attractant.
In Summary
My decision to focus on wringing every conceivable amount of knowhow associated to how bass feed, hunt, and traverse our upper estuarine environments was a prudent one. Overall, in 89 sessions, I manged to land 23 bass over the length of 60cm (5lb) which is a feat I have not achieved before within a calendar year.
Moreover, the creeping around, and above all, the way I was able to observe my quarry more than ever before has enhanced my overall ability and skillset – something that drives me and that I am determined to consolidate and build upon in the seasons ahead. We never stop learning when it comes to this very special, and spellbinding species of fish.
Plans for 2026
I hope you enjoyed Part 3 to My Personal Catches in 2025, as well as Parts 1 and 2. I welcome any feedback. So what are my plans for 2026? Well, I have decided that between April through to early-September, I will be returning to the open coastal arena sea state permitting. The white water, the reefs, the rocky nooks, and the isolated coves that are off the beaten track will be my haven and my heaven, both by day and by starlit night
I think Bertie will enjoy it more than the stinking mud and fallen trees! Added to which, I firmly believe that what I have learnt over the past 18 months in regards to way bass will conceal themselves within the more brackish environments, will assist me greatly within the rocky gullies, and idyllic coves and inlets that south Devon is adorned with.
There might just be some surprises for you too, in the shape of a totally new direction……..
My Books
(Including my recent release: The Lure of The Bass – The Revised Edition)
Whether you are a complete novice in regards to bass lure fishing, or indeed if you are at the stage where you are looking to up your game or gain an additional advantage over these most mercurial of creatures, there is something within all of my books to assist you.
For stock levels, purchasing options (BACS or PayPal) and for more information in regard to the contents of each of my respective publications, you can follow the links below.
The Lure of The Bass – The Revised Edition
Bass Lure Fishing – A Guide’s Perspective (Volume 1)
Bass Lure Fishing – A Guide’s Perspective (Volume 2)
Thanks for reading
Marc Cowling
Marc Cowling - Bass Lure Fishing 