Dane Pryce

Tournament Bass Champ

Dane grew up fishing the Lake Macquarie area, but in 2017 started to develop a passion for targeting bass from a kayak. In late 2017 he started fishing some amateur bass comps and by 2019 was fishing serious comps, winning the ABT Bass Grand Final in 2019, bass open in 2020 and ABT Bass GF in 2021. 

    

Dane’s Top Tips For Glenbawn Dam Bass

• The summer of 2021-22 has so far been fairly mild, with lots of overcast days. This has resulted in topwater bites on Glenbawn Dam that start at dawn and continue right through the day.


• The summer months usually see fish getting more aggressive due to the warmer water. It’s a great time to test lurs and techniques and Dane often throws bigger lures than normal, or unusual lures to see how the fish react.


• Fish the edges weedbeds, standing or fallen timber first thing in the morning as the fish will often be in the shallower water at this time of day.


• Once the sun gets up, try heading for deeper water and keep an eye out for shadows where the fish can hide. Casting well beyond the trees and shadows and working the lure back through is a very good strategy.


• Dane prefers glassed-out days when he’s casting topwater lures and jerkbaits, but doesn’t mind a bit of wind when he’s casting crankbaits and other styles.


• Bass don’t mind a bit of muddy water. In fact, they’ll actively gravitate to the “souplines” of muddy water along the shoreline where wind or boat wake action creates a line of muddy water.


• If the fishing is tough it can pay to slow everything down, letting the lures pause for longer and linger in “the zone” a bit more. Adding a bit of Berkley Gulp scent to your lures isn’t such a bad idea, either.

Danes Preferred Bass Fishing Tackle

• Like many tournament anglers, Dane has quite a collection of rods and reels. One of his favourite baitcast outfits is Millerods Switch Freak UL coupled with a high speed baitcast reel, 15lb braid and 10-16lb leader. This is perfect for throwing some of the heavier lures and for fishing around structure where fish need to be turned quickly.


• For throwing lighter lures like topwaters or unweighted plastics a 7’ medium action spin rod, 2000 size reel 10-15lb braided line and 6-8lb leader is a good option.

 Danes Top Bass Lures For Glenbawn Dam

• Vex Performance Lures jigs in black or brown are perfect for imitating yabbies and are deadly on bass. They should be cast beyond where the fish and structure are, ten worked back very slowly, simply trundling them along the bottom. These lures are quite snag resistant and with some experience you’ll learn to discern bites from the lure bumping along through rock and timber. Bits are usually a “tap, tap, tap” and when detected it is important to strike firmly to overcome the resistance of the weedguard.


• Suspending jerkbaits in the 50-100mm size range are great in Glenbawn and can be fished through shadows or along weedbeds where bass are holding. The trick with these lures is to work them in short pulses and have the discipline to let them sit motionless between pulses (can be a challenge in a tournament where time is of the essence). It’s important to have enough slack in the line during the pause that the lure hang naturally, but not so much that you can’t set the hook if a fish takes it. Experiment with the timing and duration of draws and pauses, fish can respond differently on different days.


• A deeper diving hard body such as the 60mm Daiwa Double Clutch is worth having in your arsenal. These should once again be cast beyond the structure you’ll be fishing, then worked back. A couple of sharp rips get the lure down to depth hen a slow roll or twitches and pauses can be used to bring the lure past the fish.

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