Saturday, November 20, 2010

Movember Bass

The 5 pm phone call was the indicator that Peter’s wife was away with work and he was keen for a fish. He picked me up at 6.30 and by 7 we had the boats blown up and sitting on the bank of a new section river that we had been scoping for some time.



It was certainly a gorgeous bit of water, strewn with structure and over hangs. In the bottom of a steep bit of country it was well protected from the wind to the point that it reflected the Casuarina clad hills that guarded this bass fishermans dream.



We wasted no time getting onto the water, Peter headed down and I up. I was casting well, firing my Cicada fizzer tight to the structure and up the back of deep overhangs. It seems a good recruitment year has refreshed the rivers population of juvenile bass and they all came out to play. I am very happy to see the river has bounced back after so many bad years when I doubted its ability to ever recover.



A perfect cast to a tight corner drew a large boil and I came up tight to a good fish finally, it was a brief encounter and I came second, the bass earned its freedom burying me into a tangle of branches.



Chuckles and splashes from downstream indicated that Peter was also being plagued by the youthfully exuberant mini bass.



I fished my way along the pool fringe with a steady rhythm, the fishing was kind of slow but I was content to drift quietly and watch the platypus and birds in such a beautiful place.



As the sun set and the moon rose, it cooled and the fishing slowed to single half hearted boils here and there.



In the diminishing light we made our way up the river a little, more to explore than to fish but Peter still managed a sleek wild bass of a touch under 35.



Shortly after and with a switch of lure I finally landed a 'respectable' fish also, holding off a technical skunking.



The fishing had been slow, perhaps it was our dodgy Movember Mo's that put the bass off, but as always it was a joy to be on the water.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Into the night

An early start and a day on the tools cutting rafters for my house had me feeling pretty hot and tired, I could feel it building to an afternoon storm. I was hoping it would hold off until later but by 3.30 it dumped putting an end to my plans to work through to dark. What to do with a free evening......



The pressure dropped and it cooled, leaving the evening still, slightly cloudy and perfect for a flick of surface lures. Fishing my local is predictable, the bass where were they should be and took to our surface presentations on queue.



In the last light of the day I was plagued by small bass up to about 30cm, a great indicator for the seasons to come but not what I was after. I must have landed 10 or soo small bass then the surface action came to an abrupt halt prompting a switch to what has proven a very productive technique so far this season.



The bass were hitting really hard on the SB's, taking them on the drop along the structure lined pools requiring some heavy handed extraction to prevent being buried.



These lovely wild fish were in fantastic condition, my best bass for the evening went 42.5 but she pulled well beyond her size, I am never disappointed with a well conditioned fish though.



It is certainly a wonderful thing having such consistent fishing within a few minutes drive of my farm; it allows fishing the prime times and plenty of opportunity to play with different lures and techniques.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Remote South Coast Fishing

Living on the far south coast of NSW affords access to some of the best bream fishing water in the country. This stretch of coast abounds with small wild estuaries that see very little pressure outside the peak holiday periods.



Fishing many of these estuaries often involves 4 wheel driving, mountain biking, hiking, kayaking, and pack-rafting or a combination of these transport modes to access the fishing. Such was the case last weekend when regular fishing companion Peter and his mate Dave joined me for a walk in trip to one of my favourite systems.



It was a brief overnighter, with the hope of targeting some of the many bream that inhabit the system. As always with such trips some consolation prizes were awarded by way of numerous Estuary Perch, Silver trevally and Flatties.







The cool crystal clear water revealed the big bream to be present in numbers, but they were totally uninterested in the vast array of hard bodied and soft plastic offerings made. To say the bream were tight lipped is an understatement; despite our best efforts not a single bream was caught.




A lone dingo paid a visit in the middle of the night leaving the evidence in the sand. The Yuin people believed that when the last of the South East Dingos disappear then we will cease to exist.





With only 8 pairs left in the area I am hoping they got it wrong.

Monday, November 8, 2010

7 Days Gone

7 days had come and gone with the passing of the full moon and despite the glorious weather and still nights the week for me was pretty ordinary. I put in many hours and tried various techniques and locations but had trouble getting results. Friend in night time adventures, Jeff, managed a couple lovely 40+ fish on a few of our outings but I remained fishless for 5 outings in a row, possibly a new record.



As always my mate 'Lucky' Peter managed to come good with the goods, opening his bass season with a plump 40+ on a Betts.





I finally removed the filthy skunk that was riding my back with a dark coloured bronzy off the surface.





Perhaps it is old age creeping upon me but I find I would rather spend my Saturday night quietly tossing surface lures for bass than hitting the bright light of town (yes there is only one light...)





but with fish like this why wouldn't I! one of five taken in the session. A great end to a tough week with persistance paying off again.

New PB for Jeff

Went out for a quick sunset session this arvo, it was fairly quiet but the conditions were pleasant and warm, we saw a few platypus and the boofs came often enough as we pressed up a short stretch of creek.



Both Jeff and I got a few 30 ish cm fish each off the surface. I hooked a better fish that I only managed to stay connected to for 10 seconds before we parted company. A few more good boofs and the sun knocked off for the day.

As we made our way back down to the car Jeff tied on his default night time lure for a final flick....several casts later he produced a new PB of 44cm.



A fit and thick set wild creek bass.



Congratulations on a new PB Jeff.

More Wild Exploration

Strapped on the back pack and boots again last week with my comrade in adventure Peter and spent a few days walking, packrafting and fishing in the wilderness looking for some unfished bass water, with some insurance of the brackish section bream and EP's.

Sadly there was not enough fresh water in the area we explored to sustain bass populations, in fact we had to really scrounge to find enough fresh water for drinking in the dry coastal landscape.

Overgrown spiky bush bashes, ticks, snakes and scorpions, lack of water, several very windy days, cold nights... we had a fantastic trip worthy of recount for years to come.

Despite the hollow promises of topo maps and Google Earth and failure to find bass water, we still managed to land some richly coloured bream and EP's from the tannin stained brackish waters.





The impenetrable Teatree cladding guards the water’s edge but offers an endless amount of structure to pepper with surface lures . Packrafts are the answer for the access in these situations .



Such places are very wild and remote, not a place for inexperienced or ill prepared.

You are very small in such big places, but such perspective is very humbling and that is the essence of the attraction.