Episode 280: Hinze Dam Bass With Kane Rowsell

Kane’s Top Tips For Hinze Dam Bass Fishing

• It’s a mistake to go in search of bass around the standing and laydown timber in Hinze Dam. There are fish to be found in those areas, but during the spring the better and more active fish tend to school up in deeper water off points.
• The best options are usually along the outside of the tree-line, which is about 10-12 m, depending on the dam water level. Look around the many points in the dam and when you find fish at a given depth on a point look for other points with the same depth and wind direction. Usually there will be fish in those places also.
• Kane finds that days with 10-15 km/hr winds offer better fishing than dead calm, still conditions. Stable weather and a stable barometer between 1015 and 1025 is ideal, although Kane reckons you can catch bass any time in this system.
• Because of water depth around the tree line, Hinze Dam is easier to fish when it’s not full to capacity. At the time of recording the dam was 88% full, which is perfect for bass and gives that magic 10-12m depth at the tree line.

Kane’s Bass Fishing Tackle

• Kane has four baitcast rods on his boat, three of which are 3-7kg line class, the fourth is 5-8kg. These are fitted with Shimano Curado reels, 15lb braided line and 16lb fluorocarbon leader, with the heavier rod loaded with 20lb for when he’s casting into the trees and needs to control fish fast.
• On the spin gear Kane uses 1-3 or 2-5kg rods with 2500 size reels loaded with 10lb braid. A 10lb fluorocarbon leader completes the combo

Kane’s Best Hinze Bass Fishing Lures

• Spoons such as the Hot Bite Raptor (30g) or the Palms Slow Blatt (20-40g, depending on depth and conditions) are good options on Hinze Dam and are best fished on baitcast gear. The technique varies with spoons, but because the fish are generally near the bottom in this storage, it starts by casting long (beyond where the fish are holding) and letting the lure sink to bottom. It can then be worked by slow rolling, a quick burn, a few quick turns of the reel followed by free spooling to the bottom or some fast turns of the reel followed by a one or two second pause……. Mix it up until you find what’s working best on the day.
• Slider Grubs on 5/8 Berkley Down Deep or Smak jig heads allow these ubiquitous bass lures to be used at the depths that Kane is fishing in Hinze. Kane suggests casting them well beyond the fish and allowing them to sink to the appropriate depth before slow rolling them back through the school. Once again, mix it up with a few pauses and speed changes until you crack the daily code.
• When the fish are shut down an ice jig is definitely worth a try. Kane uses a 14g Damiki Ice Jig, which unfortunately is not made by Damiki any longer – though Kane reckons another company has started making the same lure. This lure is dropped down incrementally until it’s in the fish’s face, then either just left to sit or given the occasional twitch and being allowed to resettle.
• In the warmer months the fish become more scattered and harder to target, so Kane switches to a 20g Storm Biscay Shad. Cast it long, let it sink to the required depth (count down if appropriate) then slow roll back through the school of bass.
• Also in the summer, a relatively heavy spinnerbait (1/2 to 3/4 oz or more) is a good option, being relatively weedless and having sufficient weight to reach and stay at the required depth. These are allowed to sink to the bottom and are them slow rolled back, keeping them in the zone as long as possible. Be prepared to lose a few lures!