With mild fishing conditions, the bass reports have kept coming on strong, especially from anglers using hardbodied lures.

This season has been a little different to last season for the same time of year, which has given us Gippy anglers who are new to the bass scene a little more knowledge.

Last year by now, we were smashing plenty of bass on surface lures with the many hot nights we had. However, this year, the weather has been mild and the surface action hasn’t been as crazy. Anglers have still been catching plenty but mostly by using hardbodied diving lures.

The faster flowing areas are fishing well and it’s worth throwing a 35-60mm skinny shallow diving lure but in the deeper sections, 50mm hardbodies lures that dive to 1m+ have been sensational.

The average size of bass has been a little better as well, and we are seeing a lot more bass of around 25-30cm.

The lower Macalister has been a standout location to fish for land-based anglers and anglers are catching plenty of bass during the evenings on hardbodies and vibes.

The surface lures are working on certain days but it’s best to see the fish rising before putting on surface lure.

In Glenmaggie itself, there have been good numbers of bass to 25cm caught in the upper sections of the lake via boat or land-based, however last month the lake was dropping and access to this region is getting tougher.