The whole concept of using creature baits for bass fishing in the UK is quickly taking off. Mostly, these lures are imitating shore crabs, which make up a large proportion of a bass' diet. However, there are also many other "creatures" on which bass feed, with one of the most ubiquitous being prawns.
The Common Rockpool Prawn, Palaemon elegans. (Image Source: https://phys.org/news/2018-06-cautious-prawns-food.html)
There are several species of prawn that inhabit the coastline around the UK, but one of the most common is Palaemon elegans, also known as the rockpool prawn. They are a prey source for many fish species such as gilthead bream, thornback rays, and of course, bass. As a euryhaline species, prawns can be found in a wide variety of habitats including estuaries. Here, they are particularly common, as there is plenty of cover for their young. However, this high abundance of prey inevitably attracts bass, which home in on this food resource.
The typical habitat in which you will often find a lot of prawns
If you start asking shore anglers in the UK about what is their favourite bass bait, it will not take you long before you find one that swears by live prawn - so why would us lure anglers not try to imitate them?
Barramundi love a prawn!
After fishing with a load of fantastic anglers over in Australia, it quickly became apparent that prawn-style lures are a massive part of their armoury when targeting a load of species such as barramundi, flathead and mangrove jack. Although none of these species look that similar to our bass in the UK, they all inhabit similar areas, and hunt in a similar manner.
Berkley power shrimp, Gulp! Shrimp and Turbo Shrimp
There are a whole range of different prawn style lures on the market, but I currently using the Berkley power shrimp, Gulp! Shrimp and Turbo Shrimp. As far as rigging goes, screwing them onto a weighted swimbait hook (such as the Savage Gear weedless BLN 6/0 hook in the image below) is currently my preference for the shallow, weedy estuaries I fish. These hooks work particularly well with the Turbo Shrimp, as the hook naturally fits between the middle two legs, allowing them to retain their subtle movement. Due to there dense profile, all these lures also cast surprisingly well.
For me, the big limitation with traditional "crab based" creature baits is the speed at which you can work them. Crabs are not exactly a fast animal, and therefore in order to create a realistic imitation, you need to be retrieving you lure relatively slowly along the bottom. These prawns on the other hand can be worked much more quickly and throughout the whole water column. This means they are a much more versatile option, and a lot better at covering water.
Berkley Power Shrimp
If you like lures with a subtle movement (something like the Savage Gear Sandeel Pencil for example), then you will almost certainly love these prawn imitations, as most produce virtually no swimming movement at all. However, don't let that put you off, as they look incredibly lifelike in the water. I have mostly been fishing them on a "slow roll" retrieve with the occasional small twitch, in order to mimic a fleeing prawn.
I have only been using these lures for a couple of sessions now, and actually have yet to land a fish on them (just one promising follow) - so they definitely need a lot more use. However, from first impressions, they look absolutely fantastic. I certainly think that they could cause a big change in how I go about my bass fishing.
