Episode 200: Boondooma Dam Bass With Dylan Mott

Dylan’s Top Bass Fishing Tips

• Boondooma Dam is a relatively large expanse of water, but Dylan reckons autumn bass fishing is made a little easier by the fact that the fish will congregate just above the thermocline, which often forms at around 20ft deep at this time of year. Once you know what depth they’re holding at, there are limited placed the fish can be
• It’s important to be observant and keep thinking. Falling into a routine of casting the same lure, using the same retrieve and not trying to crack the code can result in poor catches even when good numbers of fish are located.
• When fish are schooled up near the bottom it often means that they aren’t feeding and can be difficult to tempt. Try using the electric motor To move over the school with the sounder on, then slowly move the boat to deeper water. Often the fish will follow the sounder into deeper water and once of the bottom will bite more freely.
• If you’re getting bites but not hooking up, try switching lures, cutting down a plastic or using a more subtle retrieve. Often once one fish is hooked the rest of the school will start to bite more freely.
• Sometimes bass will bite on subtle lures like plastics and if someone on the boat throws a noisy lure like a spinnerbait it can shut the school down. Once you find fish, start with subtle lures and then progressively use more noisy, aggressive lures until you find what is working.
• The old adage “Don’t leave fish to go and find fish” doesn’t hold true when bass fishing storages like Boondooma. If you’re on a school of fish and they’re not responding to any of your lures or different techniques it’s time to go look for a different school. There are plenty of schools and sometimes one will fire when others are not.
• Bass fishing is a year-round pursuit in Boondooma, although the peak times are autumn and spring. The middle of the day is usually a quiet time to fish, but Dylan reckons there are frequently bite windows mid-morning and mid-afternoon.

Dylan’s Bass Fishing Tackle

• Like many experienced anglers and tournament guys, Dylan like to have multiple rods on his boat with different characteristics depending on the lures he’ll be using.
• If you’re looking for a single rod that will cover most applications he recommends purchasing a medium to fast action spin rod in the 2-4kg line class and around  7ft in length. He couples this with a 2000 size reel, 8lb braid and a rods length of maximum 12lb fluorocarbon leader.

Boondooma Bass Fishing Lures

• A white slider grub on a on a 5/8oz Smak Jig Head is Dylan’s #1 choice for bass fishing almost anywhere, at any depth and will work year-round at Boondooma. To fish this lure, cast it long over suspending fish, count the lure down until it reaches the required depth (around 12-14 seconds if the fish are at 20ft), then slow roll it back through the school. If that doesn’t work, try cranking the Lure hard for a few turns then stopping for a second or two, repeating this all the way back.
• A 5/8 oz Smako spinnerbait is another versatile bass lure and again can be counted down and then rolled through the school. These lures are more subtle than a standard spinnerbait, which seems to suit the Bass.
• A 12g Smak Ice Jig is a good Lure choice when the fish are sitting on bottom but isn’t too effective if the fish are suspended. Simply drop the lure all the way to the bottom, then jig it vertically once per second