The Start

The start of a season is always a tenuous affair, where to fish? what lures to use? will the water be warm enough? will the bass 'in the mood'?... the questions start well before opening day and can last until that first bass is landed , photographed and sent on its way taking with it all the doubts and questions.



Such was the start of my season this year, the lack of decent rainfall meant that the bass would still be low in the systems, but how low? We started in the mid to low fresh on opening day but drew a blank, laughing it off with “oh well we had to fish opening day didn't we?” I was convinced at that stage the water was just too cold and the bass would not be active for at least another month or so.



I lasted a few days before reaching for the phone to see if a venture to the brackish was a good idea? A plan was hatched and the brackish was fished but still no bass where found. Some nice flathead clearly indicated that the brackish was too brackish and the bass just were not in the mood yet......


By late the next day I was no longer overly convinced that I was too low, so another phone call, another theory and another plan to give the brackish one more go......A few more flatties, a freak Golden Perch and no bass later I was convinced finally that the bass were just not interested and I would have to wait another month.



Next day, our morning coffee conversation as always turned to bass and the quandaries of when, where, how and who would catch the first bass for the season. Such questions were the seeds for 'plan E' and an arrangement was made for that evening to test the theories.



The next two nights the season ‘started’. I can't remember who caught the first bass and we kind of lost count of how many somwhere in the low 20’s, I do remember that my last bass went 47.5 and at that point I was pretty happy and in no doubt that the season had begun.