An Introduction to CLEATUS:
CLEATUS is an elusive 50cm bass, but before I dive into the story behind CLEATUS and what he means to me, I first better tell you where my bass fishing journey first started.
I had fished for Aussie Bass less than five times in my life before the 2023/2024 season. Other than that, I had only fished in the saltwater where I would chase everything from flathead in my first tinny in Lake Macquarie, all the way up to targeting Giant Trevally on the Great Barrier Reef. So, for me, freshwater fishing was not something I was well versed in.
September 2023 rolled around, and I happened to be working in a suburb where I had to drive over a bridge to get to work. This bridge had some good-looking water under it. One afternoon after work, I had my rod in my car as any fishing obsessed bloke does, and so I headed off to Hot Tackle to suss out some knowledge from the boys. I found myself looking at some bent minnows and I was wondering if they were going to be too big for a humble Bass. Little did I know what was to come. Despite my doubt that a Bass would eat such a big lure, I picked myself up a 75mm bent minnow and headed back to the creek to give it a go to see if there were any Bass in the creek. First cast and bang - I had a 20cm Bass have five goes at my lure before it found the hooks. From that moment on, I was hooked!
"CLEATUS is an elusive 50cm bass!"
The next day I was at work and was telling a mate about how my session had gone and what I had found. After some excited storytelling, I was off working alone thinking of fishing. I was thinking of Bass when an idea jumped into my head.
I had recently restarted my fishing Instagram page and anyone that knows me personally knows:
1. How much I love fishing; and
2. How much I love to talk.
So, I had an idea “what if I started a series on my Instagram story where I posted content chasing the elusive 50cm Aussie Bass”. I explained my idea to my mate and we both laughed and then the name came into my head. CLEATUS!
Many people have since asked me “why CLEATUS?”. The answer is two-fold. The first being I saw an Instagram reel a week or so before having my grand idea, which was of an American talking about his names for all his big largemouth bass and CLEATUS was one of those names. The second reason being that my dad and uncle both call each other CLEATUS which is from a movie reference. In my head, CLEATUS was a very fitting name for such a beast of an Aussie Bass. So, the name CLEATUS was born. Once I had the name, I uploaded a poll on my Instagram page asking people whether they would like to watch me talk some bulk bulls**t whilst Bass fishing. With a resounding “yes”, the CATCHING CLEATUS series was born. With my CATCHING CLEATUS series gaining quite the following, my love for Bass fishing and catching the ever-elusive CLEATUS only grew more intense from there.
The reason why I am chasing CLEATUS is something that is hard to put into words, but I think every serious fisherman knows why we chase big fish. We all want to catch that fish of a lifetime. As fishos, we dedicate our lives to chasing fish, both big and small. It is a spiritual feeling when the fish you have worked so hard to catch comes along and finds your hooks. Every fisherman can remember their catch of a lifetime and for me, CLEATUS is my catch of a lifetime. I cannot wait to check that box off on my fishing journey.
The day I catch CLEATUS will be a day I will never forget because it will be one of my biggest fishing achievements. I can honestly say I have never worked as hard or put in more time and effort into targeting one singular fish. Throughout Bass season 2023/2024, I was fishing four to six afternoons a week. I would finish work at 3.30pm and then I was sometimes driving an hour and a half away from home to chase Bass and often I would do so for no reward. I have spent countless hours on google maps scoping out fishing spots and new zones to fish. If anyone ever steels my phone and looks at Google Maps, you will see all the red dots pinning my bass spots. All this work and hours spent will be what makes catching CLEATUS so damn special.
"The day I catch CLEATUS will be a day I will never forget because it will be one of my biggest fishing achievements."
The Struggles Of Catching CLEATUS:
Where do I start. The struggles have been endless, from leaf litter, snakes, spiders, kayak mishaps, fishing from foot, losing lures to snags, too much water, not enough water, poor water quality, access to spots, not knowing what a spot is going to look like without going there, filming myself, snapping rods, flipping the yak, drowning my phone, dehydration, early mornings, late nights, going to work exhausted when you want to be fishing, sunburn, wind, and river flow/current.
Without these struggles, fishing for wild Aussie Bass would not be what it is, and I definitely would not be as addicted to it as I am. The best part of fishing for Aussie Bass is the adventure of it all and so I have grown to love the struggles which come with it. As a fisherman, I find myself constantly working to ‘figure it out’. Whether that’s figuring out a new zone, what the fish are eating on the day, or what the rain is going to do to the creeks and rivers. I love the thousands of variables that come into play when Bass fishing because it makes it so much more rewarding when you finally start to put the puzzle pieces together. Piece by piece, catch by catch, I am putting my puzzle together and someday soon I will reap the rewards of my efforts and be holding CLEATUS up for a cheeky picture.
"As a fisherman, I find myself constantly working to ‘figure it out’. Whether that’s figuring out a new zone, what the fish are eating on the day, or what the rain is going to do to the creeks and rivers."
Is CLEATUS A River Or Dam Fish:
River fish versus dam fish is an interesting topic for me and one that divides the Bass fishing community. There are a lot of bass fishos doing one type of Bass fishing or the other. Personally, I prefer to fish for wild Bass in creeks or rivers over targeting dam fish. Although I have only fished a dam twice for bass and have loved both times, for me, there is nothing better then kayaking down a skinny creek casting surface lures at snags and watching a wild Bass come charging out and smashing your lure. Where I am from, wild caught 50cm Bass are elusive and so you cannot help but to have a healthy respect for them. With me having such a healthy respect for any wild Bass making it to the 50cm mark, it is only fitting for CLEATUS to be a wild caught fish.
A Story Of My Most Successful Bass Mission:
I had a few Bass sessions from last season which I now look back on fondly. The first being a trip out to a local impoundment where me and my best mate managed to bang 31 Bass all on topwater. That session is something I will never forget.
My most successful wild bass session came in early December 2023. My good mate Hobbsy (Instagram: hobbsys__hooked) and I set off in the early hours of the morning to a zone about an hour’s drive from my house. We put the kayaks in and with neither of us ever having fished the zone before, we were excited to see what it had in store for us. Getting there on sunrise, we both threw surface lures. We slowly made our way through the first pool with only one fish falling victim to the trusty Tiemco Soft Shell Cicada (40mm).
The first two hours rolled by and we still only had the one fish between us so we both started to get the feeling it was going to be a tough day on the water. I then set myself a challenge, to catch a bass on a chatterbait on my baitcast setup which I was yet do seeing as I was still very new to the Bass scene. Thirty minutes went by, and I cast under a nice-looking snag and started my slow roll. THUD! My lure just stopped. My initial thought was I had hit a rock seeing as I was fishing a rocky bottom. It was not until the rock I had hooked started swimming in the opposite direction when I realised, I had hooked a fish. Job done! First fish captured on a chatterbait.
We then pushed up three pools and the sun was well into the sky so it was probably around 9.30am. Eventually after dragging the kayaks through a few small rapids, we reached a point of parking up and continuing on foot. No phones or gear; just the one lure we had tied on and a rod each. Hobbsy quickly pulled a 40cm fish out of a nice back eddy and I soon followed with a slightly smaller model. We waded into the water up to our chest at some points, casting from in the drink and we were still catching fish. It was nearly a fish a cast at one point. It was almost like the fish were waiting for the sun to come up to start chewing. We ended up with over ten fish between us in quick succession which was special because we were just out there giving it a crack and living life. That day, we put a few of the puzzle pieces together.
"Thirty minutes went by, and I cast under a nice-looking snag and started my slow roll. THUD! Job done! First fish captured on a chatterbait"
Gear Used:
I use two setups when chasing our native Aussie Bass.
My main setup is a one piece 7-foot Shimano Zodias 4-8lb rod paired with a Daiwa Caldia 2500, spooled with 8lb j-braid and 10lb leader.
My second setup is an Abu Garcia Revo 4 S paired with a 23 Tatula 702MHFB medium-heavy 7 foot 5-9kg rod, spooled with 30lb mainline whilst running anywhere between 14-16lb leader. This setup gives me the extra backbone needed to throw bigger baits.
Lures Used To Try And Catch CLEATUS:
In my pursuits so far to try and catch CLEATUS, I have found the best lures to target our Aussie Bass natives are:
3in ZMan DieZel Minnow in a natural colour rigged with a gold beetle spin. I run this either on a standard jig head when I know there is not too many submerged snags, or I change it to a weedless hook when I know the stretch of river is snaggy. My jig head weight varies from 1/8oz in shallow water to 1/4oz in faster flowing deeper water. I find this to be quite a productive lure. Being able to throw my beetle spin into tight structure and not get snagged is always a bonus. I find fishing beetle spins to be a very good prospecting lure when trying to work out a new system or if the fish are not fired up.
Bream cranks or chubbies. These are one of my favourite lures when fishing a zone that I know has lots of fish. The Bass cannot seem to resist them. Being that cranks and chubbies are only roughly 30mm long and have six hook points, you have a very high hit to capture ratio, which on some days is very helpful to avoid the dreaded donut sessions.
Chatterbaits. I fell massively in love with chatterbaits after having a hot session using them. From my first chatterbait fish, I was hooked! I now know our Aussie Bass can’t resist a chatterbait. My go to chatterbait is the Jackall Derabreak 1/4oz with a green coloured skirt. When I fish a chatterbait, I like to run a trailer to give it a bit more action. I like to run the Zman Baby Goat in green. Slow rolling chatterbaits over rocky bottom or through snags has seen me get my best results.
"When I fish a chatterbait, I like to run a trailer to give it a bit more action!"
Surface frogs. In my books, surface fishing is the most fun style of fishing for Australian Bass. Bass love sitting deep in the snags so a weedless rigged presentation can help you get your lure right in the zone. My standout surface lures are either the Zman Finnesse FrogZ or the Mintoss Skip Frog. You can belt these frogs deep into cover and with a steady medium paced retrieve, you are sure to produce some unreal surface eats. In my opinion, frog surface presentations are the most snag proof surface lures on the market and so they are a standout choice.
Cicadas lures. Bass being the garbage guts they are, love to eat insects and anything that falls into the water. Summertime brings out the cicadas and with that, comes the red-hot surface fishing. When the cicadas are humming, slow rolling a cicada lure is something the Bass can’t resist so it makes for a very effective way to target them.
Big LURES! Later into my Bass fishing journey, I have started venturing into throwing bigger lures. Remember my first trip to Hot Tackle where I doubted whether Australian Bass would eat a 75mm Bent Minnow, well boy was I wrong. Our Aussie natives can eat some truly large presentations. After seeing a couple of guys on social media catching massive Bass using massive lures, it made me live by the old saying “if you want to catch a big boy fish, you have to throw a big boy lure”. Since coming around to throwing big lures, I have spent hours casting a 6inch three-piece jointed rat hand-made by a Newcastle local @breadbaits (Dave Kimber) but I have had no luck with it just yet. I still love throwing this large lure and can’t wait for the day a solid bass engulfs it off the roof. What a sight that will be.
"If you want to catch a big boy fish, you have to throw a big boy lure!"
Tips For Getting Into Bass Fishing:
Google Maps is your best friend when it comes to finding places to target Bass. Start by zooming out on Google Maps to where you can see the areas that are within an hour’s drive of your house. From there, set your maps to the ‘default’ setting. The maps will then show you blue lines and those lines are creeks, rivers, lakes, and ponds. Australian Bass are freshwater fish and the majority of all creeks and rivers on the East Coast of Australia within 3 hours of the coast will flow east towards salt water so they will hold Bass. Start in the salt and follow the water West and you will find likely spots. If in your head you think, “the water would be fresh, I’ve gone far enough inland” then there is a very good chance there will be bass. From there, it’s just about finding public access to the creek or river without trespassing on someone’s property. Locating bridges is a great way to access freshwater creeks without trespassing. For more information on trespassing, read our blog article titled “Are Fishermen Trespassing In NSW?”.
Sunrise and sunset are the best times of day to target bass. Bass have large pupils in their eyes and so they are very sensitive to light. Fishing during lowlight periods will massively increase your chances of catching a fish so make sure you are on the water during low light periods. Shade is a massive factor in bass fishing too, so target shade pockets during the day. Casting into shaded pockets under trees and overhangs will produce fish.
"Fishing during lowlight periods will massively increase your chances of catching a fish so make sure you are on the water during low light periods."
The best time for surface fishing is during low light periods of the day. The first hour of the morning and the last hour of the day are when you will have the best luck with a surface lure, so be sure to tie on surface at the start and end of the day.
Liam Hughes showing off a well conditioned Australian Bass. Insta: flicken_with_hughesy Fish the structure. Bass love structure and love sitting deep under overhanging tress or rock ledges. Cast your lure as close as you can to structure, and it will help you increase your capture ratio. There is a saying, “if you are not scared of losing your lure, then you are not casting close enough to the snags” and that saying rings true. So if you are not catching fish, odds are your lure is not landing close enough to the snags and you might want to start getting riskier with your casts.
Practice and time on the water is your best friend. The ability to cast accurately is huge in creek and river fishing. You need to spend time practicing controlling your casts and getting your lure to land exactly where you want it to. Doing so will help you catch more fish. Trust me, I have lost count of how many lures I have lost because of bad casts, so learning to cast better will not only save you money on replacing lost tackle, but it will also increase your fish capture ratio.
"You need to spend time practicing controlling your casts and getting your lure to land exactly where you want it to. Doing so will help you catch more fish."
Summing Up:
Although I am yet to tangle with CLEATUS, the thrill of the chase keeps me coming back. I will continue the grind in my attempts to catch the ever-elusive CLEATUS, all while filming the experience. The day I catch CLEATUS will be the highlight of my Bass fishing journey, but something tells me I won’t stop there!
Written by Liam Hughes and Edited by
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