How I caught my Personal Best bass in 2025

I've slept since my great morning yesterday when I broke my PB once again in 2025. I didn't think I would have beaten my 69cm bass in May, but I did yesterday with a 72cm once again lure caught bass. After my morning walk this morning i thought id share my catch with you all and reflect on both PBs this year and see if there are any similarities. 

So firstly, lets talk about yesterday. I'll set the scene. So in general, December has been pretty good at the times I've been out. I've caught all my bass on small paddletails, and yes i have been using creature baits alot. Now you're all probably thinking I must be dragging my soft plastics along the bottom. Actually, no i haven't. Most of the bass I've caught have been swimming the soft plastics quite quickly but not the way i would normally swim them. I'd say the majority of the bass I've caught this month have been when the lure is dropping after the initial splash of the cast. Im not sure if it's the splash or the drop but that initial nose dive of the lure has caught the majority of my bass this month. As this has happened quite a few times this month, I've been retrieving all my lures on a slight sink and draw method. I've had all the other bass also on the drops of the lures literally when they hit bottom and everything goes tight. Thats the way I caught my PB yesterday. 

So onto the lure I caught it on. We have been making 4" split shads for quite a while now, but have only decided to sell them now because we made a few improvements with the mould to allow us to sell them on our website. We call it the locals lure because the lure has accounted for more bass than any other soft plastic we use. Black has been really effective in the summer at night with a bright moon and clear water.

White was so effective on the opencoast last year for my mate Steve, capturing a really fat 67cm in Oct. 

Pic of Lure:

Yesterday was the turn of the Motor Oil "Castrol GTX" colour named by Ian Ingram after him and Robin Bradley. Another name they came up with was for our Cornish Snax, they call them Pasty Snax, which we love. 

So, onto the similarities between yesterday and May when I caught the 69cm. No, we didn't catch them on the same lure because we caught the 69cm bass on a Creature Bait. The one Major factor to both PBs was when we went. It was a falling spring after a new moon, called a waxing crescent and the moon had risen. Either side of spring tides are the building tides and the falling tides. These tides can be very productive as they are not huge nor are they small, but i am sure the bass know that meals may be more plentiful at this time, and they might be venturing into a quieter spell, therefore they may"go for it" more, maybe. It's been very productive for us and we will always try and fish a building or falling tide. Water temp was 11.5c and it was 100% cloud cover. Air pressure was 1015. I know all of this because we use a cool app called Tight Lines. It automatically downloads your where, when and what conditions just from a picture. It's really good and has helped me lots in gaining records. 

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Tight lines

Matt and the Crew at Bass Lures UK.