This is the third Marc Cowling bass fishing book I have reviewed on here - Book 1 review here, Book 2 review here - and I happen to think that this one is easily his best. It’s absolutely bloody brilliant in fact, so if you want to save yourself some time on a Bank Holiday then I would urge you to skip my review, click here, and buy a copy. In my opinion there is nobody writing in the English language about modern bass fishing who comes close to what Marc is putting out, and his new book “Bass Lure Fishing – A Guide’s Perspective, Volume 2” is going to help so many anglers with their approach to chasing these fish we all obsess about so much………….
I have always thought that there are a good number of good anglers around, and then on top of that category sits what I would tend to call seriously good or natural anglers. There are far fewer of them around, and then far less again is the number of natural anglers who can and/or are willing to collate their thinking and their knowledge and put it out there. Marc has chosen to distill his bass fishing skills onto the pages of a self-published book like this one we are talking about today. Not only is the guy a seriously good angler and of course a professional bass fishing guide, but he is a serious thinker with an ability to write really well AND he chooses to share. Respect all round from me. Yes Marc is a mate, but if I didn’t get much out of his books I would tell you honestly. I like to think that I am an okay angler who thinks a lot about fishing - really? - but the amount of stuff I have learnt and which has got me seriously thinking about from this book is staggering.
I don’t care how good or bad you are at bass fishing - you will catch more bass if you buy this book, read it from cover to cover, and then put into practise the information you have absorbed. Trying to outwit the natural world can never be a sport of definites, but you can’t argue with the thoughts and findings of a natural angler and professional guide who thinks so deeply about what he does and who is meticulous in his record keeping. Not for one second will everything that Marc has written apply to your own fishing, but his thoughts and opinions are not there to be followed slavishly. Take those thoughts and opinions and findings and then think about your own bass fishing and how your approaches and locations might mirror at least some of what Marc talks about.
There is no point in me banging on about what Marc covers in this new book when he has laid it all out in his blog post here. Some particular favourite parts of “Bass Lure Fishing – A Guide’s Perspective, Volume 2” are when Marc talks about targeting bass in murky to very coloured estuary water, full moon tactics when night fishing, and a bit at the end about something we found out that we had both been thinking about recently and ended up talking a lot about it when we fished together the other day - creature baits for specific estuary based opportunities. Another thing that really got me thinking in this new book is when Marc talks about why he would choose specific types of soft plastics at night. In some respects I do a bit of my own choosing as Marc describes, but the difference is that Marc has really thought deeply about it and come up with his own (very logical) theories. As I said, some people have the gift of being able to break down and translate what they do.
There is only one thing about Marc’s books which I could possibly raise a niggle about, and that’s purely because I have been lucky enough to work on a few books with some large publishing companies. When I say “lucky” though, my sleep has never been the same since I worked silly hours on the second fishing book I was involved in. For sure it taught me a lot, but I basically didn’t see my family for six months and my alarm went off at 5am every single morning because there simply weren’t enough hours in the day to do what was required. Anyway, I digress. Whilst I admire the hell out of Marc for the huge amount of work he does with self-publishing these bass fishing books - it’s also a not insubstantial financial gamble to go down this route - I would love to see what could be done with all his material when combined with a serious team of designers and editors. Marc does a brilliant job, and of course you retain all control when you self-publish, but a part of me would love to see how his incredible knowledge and thinking could be potentially designed and laid out to be even more impactful than it already is.
This isn’t even really a book review I guess, mainly because it’s so easy for me to write - Marc’s new book is outstanding, and I genuinely believe that any angler who has any interest at all in lure fishing for bass should buy it and then read it multiple times. Marc’s other two books are available as well, all details at the bottom of his blog post here. I don’t care how good you might be at bass fishing, indeed I can think of some really good bass anglers I have come across who are very good at what they do in their local waters - but I bet you any money they could think outside the box a bit more and get even better. We are never going to come close to knowing it all, but by buying this book you will end up learning a whole lot more. Huge credit to Marc Cowling of South Devon Bass Guide. You all have a good Easter weekend and I will catch up with you next week.