After spending most of the pandemic lockdowns watching US bass fishing videos on YouTube I was chomping at the bit to actually get fishing and try out the various bits that I’d learned.
Although we don’t have any freshwater bass species here in the UK, there are lots of parallels with HRF techniques and our own rockfishing for Ballan Wrasse. In fact, on a number of occasions I noted that the Smallmouth Bass that I was watching being caught in The States, had a striking resemblance to some Ballan Wrasse in their standard camo colours.
It’s well regarded that HRF techniques borrow heavily from freshwater bass fishing. Texas rigging, offset hooks and creature baits being some of the most obvious hand-me-downs that pioneering, Japanese rockfish anglers adopted as the new style emerged.
So with that in mind, I’ve been hitting the wrasse pretty hard in 2022. I’ve really fallen for the Free Rig, which in turn has rekindled an old love of throwing creature baits. My collection seems to have swelled even further with a number of new lures from American brands. Another lasting effect of Lockdown.