X-Stream Fishing

The builders mate

2011-12-06T02:50:00.000-08:00

At the moment my time is filled with trying to finish building the first section of my house before Christmas, fishing has sadly taken a back seat to owner building. A phone call and offer from my good mate Tim to give me a few days labouring if I took him fishing was exactly the deal I needed to get a pass.

Good to his word Tim turned up and got on the tools with me for a few days, it was a great help and we got heaps done. A deal is a deal so I was 'obliged' to hold up my side of the deal, backpacks were packed, Alpacka rafts thrown in and we were off for a few days fishing with my other mate Peter in tow.

Tim seldom gets away fishing so he was pretty happy to get a new species with his first ever EP. He managed a few more over the evening on poppers, nothing too big but he was pretty happy with the surface hits and spirited tussle of the little EP’s.

It was only a matter of time until a bream found his popper and kissed it off the top, once again he was very happy as it was a PB bream on lure for him and his first off the surface.

Not to be outdone Peter got in on the surface action and landed a nice bream from amongst the small EP’s.

Things pretty much shut down on top with a large moon rising and lighting up the estuary so we retired for a feed around the campfire. A few hours chatting and joking and we hit our tents only to be woken by thunder and torrential rain an hour later. The rain lasted right through the night and first light saw it still bucketing down. Tim was up and off to fish the flats though despite the appalling conditions. By the time I dragged myself out, Tim had landed a few silver trevally, a few whiting, a squire and a few more bream. Seemed the fish didn’t care about getting wet, nor did Tim, he was having a ball.

We fished on for a while , got a few more whiting, but it was starting to get quite cold and we were all soaked through so decided to walk out early and head home.

I managed to sneak in a quick Bass session with him before he went home , he only managed one rat bass but as usually was pretty stoked with it

The weather and the fishing disappointed me but Tim claimed it to have been his best ever estuary trip and he could not wait to visit again and help me with the building if I’d take him fishing again, what a great mate to have !!

Scoffed.

2011-11-29T03:54:00.000-08:00

These lures obviously rang the dinner bell, scoffed!!

A few 40's

2011-11-20T15:47:00.000-08:00

The bass season is proving to be a good one thus far, many of the bass I am getting at the moment are in the magic 40 Plus size range. I have been smoked by several XXXL bass which has promted a switch to 4 kg line and a heavier than usual drag, I am thinking it is only a matter of time before I crack 50 for this season. In the mean time enjoy these recent fit bass.

Cow turds and 40 cm bass

2011-10-16T05:35:00.000-07:00

Fishing at night in dairy country has one major downside - cow turds are hard to see in the dark.

The tell-tale slide of my boot was all I needed to know that I had been ‘cow turded’, the stink had me thinking it was a bad omen and I should probably just go home and forget about bass.

The first three casts I put across the deep dark pool drew a blank, not good. I was a more than a little disturbed by the odour of digested Kikuyu that was rising from my left boot. Fourth cast got monstered and for a few seconds the rod loaded and drag sang a little song of protest, it was too brief, the bass was gone and the smell of cow poo returned.

A few casts later the smell disappeared about the time my fizzer was again monstered, this time the hooks found their mark and the little Stradic sang its song of protest again. The song played out and a strong low 40's bass was lifted for a photo. Strangely I could no longer smell cow poo.

It was only a few casts later that the fizzer was again eaten and my drag got to preform once more. Another low 40's bass and the air was smelling very fresh.

A good ten minutes passed without much action and I had begun thinking about the downside of night fishing when a fit 34cm bass distracted my sense of smell. Sadly that was the last bass for the evening and the smell was making a comeback, wafting its bovine stench once more. Time to head for home and hose my boots.

Looong Weekend

2011-10-16T04:32:00.000-07:00

I never realised that the "Long" in Long weekend related to slow fishing but that is exactly what we got on the far south coast. We had plans of greatness but a week out the weather looked bad and our plans where rationalised.

Jeff and I fished a two sessions, joined by my mate Gus for the morning session.

The predicted bad weather went to other way and produced perfect fishing conditions for us, calm with light cloud/fog cover and a barometer rising to 1024…no one told the fish that it was good conditions and they should have been on the chew.

For a total of about 7 hours solid fishing we only managed to raise 4 bass, gently fished deep Bettspins accounting for 3 and a cicada fizzer the last.

The fish hit hard and fought well for their size but we just struggled to find them, I guess that is just fishing sometimes, perhaps we are spoilt and have become acustomed to always catching bass.

Some times the bass just don’t play even when they should, that is when we make noises about how great it is to be on a beautiful river with good mates and how it is better than working…..I would have still liked a few more fish.

First 40

2011-09-25T05:49:00.000-07:00

The wind was blowing, the temperature was struggling to get past 15 degrees and misty rain spats fell most of the day. Looking out the window one could be forgiven for thinking that bass fishing on such a day would be a waste of time.

Peter and I had planned to walk in and fish a more remote section of a nice little freestone creek but the weather threw doubt on our plan. As we drove, a plan B switch saw us on some 'easier' water drifting in misty rain, casting at structure.

DespIte the less than ideal conditions it was pleasant to be on the water, the bellbirds piping, platypus drifting lazily, us casting and retrieving small surface lures. A good 45 minutes passed before I got my first fish, a wild and dark little bass.

A few missed hits followed before I got my second, a slightly better fish that pulled well beyond its size. It was pretty much dark by this stage, and under the cover of darkness the bass seemed to switch on briefly. Peter landed 3 low to mid 30's in quick succession. The drizzle was getting heavy and the cold air was sinking onto the river. Peter had taken his Alpacka out and was making his way up the hill to the car as I shot out my last cast, Boof and miss... bloop bloop bloop pause, nothing... I continued to bloop and pause my lure back for another 20 feet and was thinking of a hot shower and dinner when another big boof saw me connected to my first 40 of the season.

Some days you just luck it.

Therapy Works

2011-09-21T16:38:00.001-07:00

I have been very busy and in desperate need of a relaxing fish for the last week or so. Monday and Tuesday looked to be the best days of this month for an EP session with the tide hitting bottom an hour or so after dark.

I planned my very busy working days around being on the water by 6pm and the plan went well. Sadly though, nature conspired against me and both days got completely blown out - strong winds and finesse surface fishing are not happy bedfellows.

By Wednesday night the low tide was into the evening and less than ideal, still the possibility was there and I needed it. My felling was that the EP's would soon begin their dispersal up and through the system, a change of approach would be needed to catch them in numbers then.

In the afterglow of sunset a few boils indicated the EPs to be on the chew, within a few casts my lure was attended to, a small EP was landed, photographed, then sent on it's merry way.

This process occurred a few more times over the next hour or so before things slowed and the boofs became too far apart to hold my attention. The clear star filled sky; sounds of the night birds and distant break lulled me into a relaxed and contented state. I found I was no longer desperate to catch another EP, I was pretty happy, therapy works.

North, South and Other adventures

2011-09-16T00:10:00.000-07:00

My good fishing mate Jeff has kindly allowed me to publish this report that he wrote, it is a ripping good read with some fantastic photos, X-stream fishing!! Thanks Jeff

I’ve been thinking about the incredible fishing period I’ve had during July to September 2011 (with only half of September gone!), squeezed into a NE Arnhem Land holiday, crazy travel with work, and late night early season bass and EP trips post the kids being in bed! It’s a story, or series of stories, I thought you’d like to hear and see.

My bro, Anthony (aka Ant), has been in the Territory for 10 years and in that time, I’ve managed 3 trips up there. This latest adventure was an awesome family trip, with fishing mixed in. But we managed 5 dedicated barra trips and an awesome epic camping at an offshore island. Just to prove you don’t need all the latest gear and big boats, I have very modest fishing gear (relatively speaking) and we did it all in a 4.1m trusty Allycraft rhino with a 30hp Yamaha 2-stroke as the donk. A corroded and temperamental but working Watersnake bow mount 44lb rounded out the boating hardware.

So, 14 July to 25 July saw us all fly out to a remote nearshore island in north-east Arnhem Land, me with secret plans to chase the Bass of the North. And this is the tale of a few of the fishing adventures that unfolded.

First morning, we grabbed 5 hours and launched the tinny at the “barge hole” (where all the supplies for the community are landed about 2 times per week). The tides were not going to be huge, but according to Ant, enough movement to hopefully get some barra interested. My snapper and bass-come-barra gear was a Shimano Jewell spin rod (8-10kg I think), 3000 Affinity with 30lb braid and 60lb leader. The casting outfit was my pride and joy, brand new Curado 200E5 (actually my new bass casting reel), trusty Raider Barra rod, 30lb braid, 60lb leader.

Man did it take me a while to get used to casting heavier lures on heavier gear! Back south, my main targets are bream, bass and EPs on light spin gear. As we used the electric to edge towards the first good looking snag, the anticipation levels were so high I was shaking! Tried about 4 casts to get the lure into the slot. It was frustrating, but I started to get it after a while. Next cast was on the money. A couple of turns of the handle and some aggressive action to the lure and BAM, I was on. Not a huge fish, but a 70cm odd barra landed and my first for the trip!

We ended up with 14 for the day, with a few cod, foul-hooked queenie and others thrown in as bycatch.

Next two days we saw the sights of a remote Aboriginal community and the people were great. Friendly, happy etc and my girls were a huge “hit” with all the 5-8 year old kids. But the dogs! Wow. There are way too many and some quite aggressive. Anyway, on the fourth day, we loaded the mums and kids into a charter plane. They flew out to an even more remote offshore island with lots of our gear and food for 3 nights. The bro and I then shot back to the house, hooked up the tinny and went via sea instead of air, the ultimate prize being a 40km boat run and fishing on the way! Only thing against us were the 35km+ trade winds. Oh well, it was going to be a wet trip…

First stop was a rock bar with tide flying over it. Anchored up and tied on a cheapish Bomber style shallow diver. As I did, I can’t believe I thought “those rings look a bit weak, I should replace them – oh well”. First cast the inevitable happened. Hooked up to a really nice barra. A few jumps and solid runs and pop – lost it. I thought the hooks had just pulled but sure enough, the middle hook was missing altogether! No! Why didn’t I change those rings! Another harsh lesson on fishing up north rubbed in. I knew it, but was lazy and forgot the power of 5kg plus fish like barra!

I tied on a Bomber 17A with more appropriate hardware and fired out another cast. It got crashed immediately, but it was a smaller fish.

We never managed to hook and land another big fish off that rock bar. We also had over 30km to go, and 10km of that in fully open water so, with the wind picking up, we headed to the next stop off on the journey to our offshore island.We stopped at another rock bar on the other side of the island we were driving around and first casts, we both hooked up. I landed an 86cm fish. Man these barra are versatile! Upper tidal reaches deep in snags one day, offshore islands the next, and still the barra are smashing our lures. I was in Bass of the North heaven!

With the wind picking up still and families to meet on the destination island at 12 noon, we had to keep moving (after loosing the Bomber to a marauding big queenie that grabbed said lure near the rocks and peeled 30lb braid off with ease to do me up between some underwater boulders).

We shot into the open water for 10kms and were drenched, buzzing by a few turtles and seeing something free jump ahead of us as we cruised, or slapped across the tropical seas. As we approached the destination island, a small school of northern blues were torpedoing out of the water, trying to savage poor baitfish. We tried them for about 15mins but the action was very slow. They only came up briefly once more and we still had 8km to get to the landing beach.

What a shame. On our way again, we "had" to troll 4-7m depth water along the edge of a distinct ledge forming the outer barrier of the island. BAM! Damn, just a barracuda. Whack! "That’s a bit better, yep, that’s a decent fish…"

By now you may see the resemblance of Ant (bro and myself)!
A nice little Coral Trout later (part of dinner – yum), and we were around the rocks and cruising for the landing beach.

Being the only people on the island, it was an amazing and slightly haunting experience. So remote, so much history of traditional use over the years. My middle daughter of 5yrs declared she’d like to be a Palaeontologist, as she pieced together turtle bones from the long abandoned remnants of a camp fire. Over the next 3 days, we just chilled out, cooked fish on open fires, played games, got dirty, experienced life together. It was a special time for me, to be there with Ant, his wife and 6 month old, and my wife and 7, 5 and 2 year old girls! Oh, and the fishing was, well, unbelievable!!!

A “secret” reef we found, 500m from our beach, produced cricket score numbers of HUGE fish simply dropping large plastics or Raiders down below. Things like this (we found the reef by accident on the sounder and trolled it first, which produced Ant’s monster Golden snapper aka Fingermark on the first run! And yes, that is a Halco Laser Pro 190mm in that fishes mouth!)…

After that it was a lucky dip of Golden Snapper and what we think were Brassy Trevally. In any case, they were mean, angry and strong!

Ant had new BlueChart software for his handheld GPS, which showed a reef coming up from 17m on one side, to apparently 2m!! It was 15km from our beach and north into open water, but the threat of 35km+ winds could not hold us back. We woke early, and headed for the spot. On the way, we had to head past a small island and sure enough, the fish were ready. This time plague proportions of queenfish.

After about 20 odd catch and release efforts on raiders, poppers and even hookless lures (to get hit after hit right to the boat), we “tired” of that and headed for the elusive reef. Things were bumpy, but the wind hadn’t got too bad, so we pushed on. The reef seemed miles out and we were in open water big time. As we approached, we couldn’t see anything obvious. But, sure enough, as the trusty GPS confirmed we were real close, there she was. A “banana” shaped reef, clearly visible in about 3 foot of water, with current ripping into the drop-off.

This smacked of GTs (our target), so I picked up my heavy outfit (Rovex 10-20kg spin rod, V-system 80 reel and 50lb line, 100lb leader) and punched out the huge Williamson popper (a loner from Steve actually!). Second cast and 3 handle winds into the retrieve and BANG, the lure was monstered! My god, I couldn’t believe it. But why did I doubt it! The fish ran like only a big fish can, stripping line off the reel at the same time as me nearly being pulled overboard in the rockin and reelin tinny at Banana reef. I was a bit lucky, the fish went to deeper water and slugged it out. I finally landed my biggest fish to date, an estimated 15kg+ of remote NT GT!

As I struggled to lift the beast for a pic (maybe it was 20kg plus), I realised how big it was as it spanned the beam of the tinny! The release of that fish was one of the most satisfying of my fishing “career”! It was great to see it swim off into the depths and hopefully live to fight another day.

The wind was picking up and it was hard to stand and cast, so we trolled around for a while, getting smashed then sharked on about 3 consecutive occasions! One that didn’t get away was another decent Coral Trout. It was one, of the 2 fish each day, that we kept – it was destined for the rustic open fire oven!

Unfortunately, we were forced from Banana reef much too soon. The wind was picking up. Time to head back, relax with the girls, and cook up our dinner of fresh fish and potatoes.

Leaving that island was sad, but knowing we’d have the memories for life from that once in a lifetime opportunity felt great. We got everyone and the gear back to the “hidden runway”, as my girls dubbed it (it is accessed via a rough track and in the middle of the island, in the bush). No mean feat - it was 2km away on crude track. Then, they were gone, off in the little charter plane back to the main island, leaving Ant and myself to do the 40km journey back by boat.

Immediately, the anticipation levels were again heightened. And for good reason. Although we didn’t connect to our other target species (Spanish Mackerel) for the whole 3 days, we still managed some good fish on the way home, including more trevally at “Secret reef”, and cod and barra from a few rock bars on the inside of an island…

We were lucky enough to get two other dedicated barra trips in before it was time for the family and I to head back to Darwin and home to the south. Unbelievably, on the last evening and then actual morning of having to leave, we caught over 20 barra, 5 over 90cm.

91cm (x 2)…

92cm...

93cm, and FAT...

Then the highlight! My PB Bass of the North of 94cm. This great fish was caught casting around the entrance of a large feeder creek to the main river, and just monstered my lure, tore about 40m drag, jumped and did everything such an iconic species should do! Most importantly, it was boated, snapped and released like all of the other awesome animals I had the privilege of experiencing on those 2 last trips in the NT!

Now, before you start thinking that planning a trip to remote Australia is what’s necessary to experience unbelievable fishing, think about your own backyard. All too often in the past I’ve found myself going through long periods of no fishing when work is flat out, family life challenging, sickness around or options seemed limited. In recent years though, I’m thinking more that its’ about attitude, and creating the opportunities and the experiences themselves, that is important. I’ve caught some great fish since that July NT trip, both in my home waters of the far south coast, at what some would consider unorthodox times AND by creating some very obscure opportunities. Some examples:

1. EP sessions at night (for up to nearly 20 landed and released) after the kids are asleep.

2. Early season bass at night after the kids are asleep, starting fishing from 8pm to 10pm and going for 2-3hrs (a few more snaps in Steve’s reports above). By the way, these have NOT been epic sessions, but more typical early season Bass forays. 2-3 hrs solid fishing, 1-3 fish landed a session type scenarios. Patient and concentrated casting, with a bit of philosophising with Steve (when he’s there) thrown in. My best this season is 35cm last night, Steve of course got a 39cm last night…

3. Opportunistically “seeking out” equally enthusiastic fishing buddies on work trips. In Aug/September, I’ve fished Broome jetty for bream, batfish, and floated out a live bait that was monstered at 9.30pm (fight lasted 5 seconds, but what did I expect on a 50lb handline, bought at the local tackle store because no rods or gear were taken?), targeted bream on lures in the Canning River in the middle of Perth, fished Kalbarri for a beautiful landed tailor and a run (but no hookup) on suspected Jewie (Mullaway over there)

4. Quality time with family – My eldest daughter got a little trevally in NT, and I landed a nice bluenose bream after floating around in the canoe with my dad on a leisurely Sunday late afternoon in late August (do NOT overlook Cormorant roosts!).

I reckon Ausbass is bloody great. I love reading your stories so thought I’d share mine. Keep em coming, all of us, to learn, reflect and enjoy. Practice catch and release. Smell the cool early morning air. Notice the Cormorants ****ting in the water. Go forth respectfully and aware. Tune in, and the rewards and experiences of fishing will continue to be profound, well beyond the catching of the fish themselves. Most importantly, enjoy planning for and chasing the barra of the south, the aussie bass we love and spend way too much time on (with EPs coming a close second)!

I think we have to thank technology too. The new lines, lures and hardware available in recent years has completely changed our opportunities and approaches (though I often turn to the old wooden production and homemade lures for chasing bass!). Mind you, it doesn’t have to cost the earth either! My current modest outfits for bass, EPs, bream and flatties are a Penn pin point tournament rod picked up for $99, a Rovex Aureus 1500 and 6lb Sunline PE. The other outfit is an old model Daiwa Exceler 2000, new “splurge” on a Raider 3 piece travel spin and 4lb Fireline. My aim is to better my bass (48cm FL) and that infamous EP (52cm FL) PB’s from an epic last season! I'll keep you posted!

Happy and safe fishing experiences! :)

Jeff

Avoiding The Moon

2011-09-15T16:21:00.000-07:00

I have not fished much for a week or so because the moon has been out and bright on the water most nights, I seldom find good fishing in such conditions. We watch for good cloud cover on the big moon nights, the cloud obscures the moon and gets the bass out and about. A mid afternoon text from Jeff had me looking upward; a good cloud cover meant a bass outing was on the cards. When I pulled up at the river Jeff was already fishing, 3 casts for nothing. It was about a dozen casts later and his Koolabung cicada fizzer was boofed of the top, line peeled off and the little drag sang to the tune of a thin 35.5cm bass.

It was not long after that his Koolabung was hit again, this time a better fish but sadly the hooks pulled as the fish made the drag sing yet again, the language was not fit for print. I decided to switch to the Cicada Fizzer and was rewarded with a hook up shortly after which was also dropped. A good 15 minutes later no more surface action forced a change to the ever-reliable black spinner-bait, the response was immediate and a fat 39cm bass belted me, my largest for the season so far.

I was rewarded again with a smaller 32cm 5 minutes later, a fit and fat little bass.

Jeff switched to a spinner bait about this time and shortly after hooked up to another good fish but once again it was dropped after the initial burst; once again the language was not fit for print. About 2 minutes later the moon appeared from behind the cloud cover and the fish activity stopped. We fished on for a little while but without a touch so called it a night. A few nights earlier we had a similar night with only one fish landed and several dropped until the moons emergence shut the fishing down.

Hopefully the cloud cover will block the moon again tomorrow night and allow us a few hours bassing.

EP Addiction

2011-09-09T09:07:00.000-07:00

Fishing is horribly addictive and my mate Jeff and I are a hopeless pair of Junkies. One would think that we'd have been happy with a 20 fish session but only two nights later we were back for another hit.

We returned to the location we had fished a few nights earlier and within a few minutes found a school of mid sized EP's. Their response to our surface lures sounded out in the still quiet of the cold night.

Schools shut down after a few fish have been released so we would move on and find another, C & R a few fish then move again, it never gets boring.

Unusually the bright moon was not upsetting the fish feeding but subtle surface presentations were needed or the lures would be ignored

After a few hours we had landed 15 EP's, we were once again happy so called it a night, the fish will be there when we return in a few nights time for another fix

Claytons Bass

2011-09-04T16:41:00.000-07:00

The far south coast is always slow to get moving in regard to early season bass fishing. The water is still chilly and weather still cool, so despite having some minor success on opening day, the season does not really start in full for us until October when it warms a little.

The lack of fishing over winter leaves a terrible itch that desperately needs scratching. For Jeff and myself EP's offer the most viable target until the bass become more active. They seem to be more active in the cooler water than bass and offer some fantastic fishing at this time of year.

Jeff was given a fathers day gift of 'fishing time' so we took full advantage and hit the water a little before dark. It did not take long for our surface offerings to gain the attention we wanted.

Gentle retrieves of surface lures with subtle actions seemed to attract boisterous takes. Anything noisy or with too much action was ignored, they seemed to be in cold water prawn mode, striking only on the pause.

By the time the run out tide came to a stop and shut the fish down we had landed just short of 20 EP's between us with many in the high 30's and the best a whisker under 40cm.

EP’s are really the Claytons Bass, the bass you catch when your not really catching bass.

WInter Exploration

2011-06-19T21:21:00.000-07:00

I am not a man that likes to remain still for long, so I find winter a painful seasonal event with its confining weather. After a few weeks I itch to start walking, rafting and generally exploring spots that I intend to fish next season, "new territory" as my mate Peter calls it. We are addicted to new territory but I often don't want to gamble good summer fishing conditions on the unknown so...winter is the perfect time to explore my hunches.

A rare perfect winters day on Sunday allowed me a day to explore a small creek that was accessible via a tangle of rough 4x4 tracks and short beach walk. I had my eye on this one for a while and knew it well on Google Earth and topographic maps.

Like many of the small creeks I fish this one appears to flow tidal as the exception rather than the rule. Glass smooth, tannin stained waters where chilly even through my neoprene booties.

Suffice to say I was happy with what I found, a delightful snaking creek with ample bankside cover. By the time I had covered a km or so I was content to put it on my trip list for next season as it would hold EP's and bass. It was certainly nice to be in a raft and paddling some new territory. Can’t wait to return with a rod next season.

Last bronze trip for the season

2011-05-30T23:09:00.000-07:00

The first of the cool weather a month ago and subsequent drop in the water temperature signalled an end to what has been a difficult bass season on the far south coast.

The bass turned and began their journey down stream to look for like-minded bass to make little bass with; I like to leave them in peace to do this.

As an addict, I look for a different buzz to get my fix. EP’s in this part of the world are a month or so behind the bass and as such offer an extension to my fishing adventures, albeit only for a few weeks.

About the time the first proper frosts ice the valley floor, I leave the EP’s to the important business that is essential to their continuity and search for a new buzz to see me through the winter. This time is very near.

With the prospect of a few months void of bronze coloured fish, I take the last weekend of the ‘season’ as a last chance opportunity for a trip.

We could fish locally, but the added bonus of some walking and camping in solitude draws us to lesser-frequented systems.

The company of two of my favourite fishing companions makes for a really enjoyable adventure.

With time and observation certain predictability to fish behaviour is evident, this trip bore that out with EP’s taking our surface offerings in all the likely holds. Like bass, EP’s are structure based ambush predators. In a healthy system you can almost guarantee a fish from decent structure with a bit of tidal flow past it.

Fishing takes me to such beautiful places, this has led to a different appreciation of it nowadays; the landscapes, water, weather, ebbs and flows of nature all get noticed more.

I am lucky to live in a part of the world that abounds with places that are just beautiful to fish. The fishing in these locations can be spectacular but I would still travel there regardless of whether the fish were there or not.

I am sure the distractions of nature mean I catch less fish, it does not seem to matter though, it makes me a worse fisherman but a better person.

So, another season of chasing bronze coloured fish is over and I will now chase bream until the frozen months pass. No doubt the cold nights spent pouring over google earth and topo maps will lengthen my already long wish list of trips for next season, but three months is such a looooong time.

Season change Bonnies

2011-05-07T07:59:00.000-07:00

Well the days are cooling as autumn takes hold and the daylight hours get shorter. The bass are no longer worth the effort of chasing, as they no longer look upwards in search of dinner. EPs are beginning to school up to breed and the big blue nose bream are heading up into the creeks, I will begin chasing some trophy estuary fish soon.

At this time of year the coastal currents have finished heading south bringing warm water and pelagic fish to the far south coast. In a few weeks the currents will turn and head north taking the fish with them. In the mean time some excellent surface fishing is to be had with schools of big bonito cruising the inshore waters smashing baitfish schools.

The usual haunts such as washes and inshore current lines are the obvious place to start throwing baitfish imitations for these speedsters but watching the birds is an easier way to ensure you find them. Diving birds are a sure fire indicator of pelagic action and more often that not a guarantee that you'll get fish casting slugs or flies.

As the day progresses it my be necessary to sink your lure or fly down deeper to find fish. Trolling a deep diving minnows along the rocks is a good way to locate schools. Once hooked up it pays to cast back over the school as often mulitple fish can be taken.

Bonnies are a great sport fish; they take a range of slugs, flies and trolled minnows and are easily targeted by the inshore angler. Occasionally Stripped Tuna, Kingfish or Autralian Salmon are also chasing the baitfish and make for great by catch.

Time you enjoy wasting

2011-04-28T03:43:00.000-07:00

Bertrand Russell said: "The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time." Sometimes fishing adventures can be exactly that, time you enjoy wasting.

Easter is such a time for me, with the southern bass season all but over, I head off for a walk, some camping, some time just sitting quietly enjoying what nature has to offer.

My expectations at this time of year are not great, EP's provide some entertainment until the wintery winds bring a stop to my coastal adventures.

I can waste hours on the flats; exploring, walking and searching for evidence

I watch the movement of the tides, finding perfection in the patterns left by the passage of the day, the movement of water.

I ponder the similarity of the sand and rock; a day to shape one, thousands of years to shape the other, such a contrast in the passage of time.

Like the sand and rocks, the melaleuca trees take character by the interaction of wind, sun and water.

beneath the trees eyes scour upward, searching, looking, taking it all in. Sometimes I see myself in those eyes

being in such beautiful places is a privilege

Lucky EP's, they live in such places

Wilderness Exploration

2011-03-07T16:06:00.000-08:00

From the comfort of my home I peered down from outer space at the molten dark green of the forested coastal range. The deep valley was clearly evident but zooming in just made a pixelated mess of what I hoped was a navigable creek. Google Earth has it's limits and there comes a time when you just have to gamble that there will be water when you get there.

I had crossed this creek higher up a few years early and it was nothing but rock. I was really hoping that the rain of the last few years had increased flows downstream in the section we were heading to. Thankfully after descending a ridge through thick scrub we found what we had hoped for.

Unsure as to what we may find we had allowed 3 days, this was not so much a fishing trip but rather an exploration adventure. Backpacks were loaded with all the usual toys that make such trips possible, notably our packrafts and of course bass gear.

The blur of green on Google earth where the creek should have been was the full canopy of water gums that covered the deep long upper pools. Every bank was a tangle of bass cover, it was difficult to pick an obvious target to cast at, it was ripe with potential.

As we worked our way downstream the canopy opened up and gave glimpses of the surrounding hills that protect this hidden gem of a creek. Pretty much the only way in was the way we had walked and the only way out was downstream a day or more to our 'out point'.

Despite the amount of cover and appearance of being bass heaven, the bass proved difficult. Hundreds of cast to snags that would normally be a guarantee went untouched, perhaps it was the cold water, lack of insect activity, bad casting….. As is often the case though, persistence paid off, the Storm Hopper Popper and Koolabung Cicada Fizzers proving a temptation to great.

These were fat wild fish of great tenacity. They fought hard, barrelling through the messes of fallen timber, pulling the little Alpackas in circles with deep dives and lunges.

This was an amazing place with some of the oldest and largest Water Gums, giant Yellow Stringy-barks and huge Forest Red-gums I have ever seen. A truly primordial landscape, it is a gift to travel through such places.

The steep nature of the banks and heavy riparian vegetation made camping almost impossible. We were lucky to find a small 'island' that was essentially a pile of debris that had accumulated to the edge of one pool. It made a wonderful camp for the evening, surrounded by towering rock faces, a sky full of stars and the sounds of the water, it made for a peaceful nights sleep.

The creek turned out to be a series of pools connected by shallow rocky rapids that had to be walked. This made for fairly slow going but we still managed to travel the length of the creek by late the second afternoon, albeit a little bruised and worn

2 days paddling on a wonderfully wild creek, we discovered that the real earth is better than the Google one.

Australia Day

2011-01-28T14:52:00.000-08:00

A pictorial account of an Australia day spent fishing up a local estuary into the fresh and back again.

No fishy tail

Drifting

Greedy Perch

Black water EP

Creek blurr

Toothy Bycatch

Sadly the bream remained tight lipped as did the bass up in the fresh but still a great day out

4 Afternoons - No Donuts

2011-01-21T18:09:00.000-08:00

The New Year saw me on the tools and back onto my never-ending house-building project. Duncan (The Knave) kindly ventured down the coast to lend a hand for 5 days, the promise of 4 afternoons fishing may have been the deal clincher.

In the cool of our first afternoon we hit a stretch of creek not too far from home. A few fish in the low to mid 30's and one mid 40's kept us amused until the days toil, need for dinner and a beer sent us home. Sadly my trusty camera let us down, note to self - batteries need charging if they are to work....

Following afternoon we hooked up with Peter and hit a lovely section of river with high expectations.

It was a real Alpacka packraft gathering with all three of us in our little blow up toys, They are well suited to the tight waters and stealth approach and it was not long before the first boofs came.

The afternoon was a little cooler than I would have liked and the fishing was a little slow but it was pleasant being out, chatting as we cast our way along the cover.

A tight bit of casting produced a good surface hit for Duncan. The little bass played hard and pulled above its weight. On closer inspection it had a deformed lower lip unlike any I have seen before.

A few more fish came our way, nothing huge but enough to keep us fishing into the dark, always hope of bigger fish.

Peter had paddled upstream a little and had just landed this little bronzy when I caught up with him. As always he was pretty stoked.

Satisfied with a few bass and a pleasant arvo we headed home for a feed, a few beers and some shut eye before facing another day building and fishing.

The usual Christmas family obligations had meant that Jeff and I had gone a few weeks without fishing together so Jeff’s email titled "PB-EP" stood out amongst work stuff and offers of Viagra.....it had this pic attached and a few scant details.

A true stonker and brilliant capture for Jeff, suffice to say there was a desire to chase EP's the next afternoon.

We hit the water late afternoon and within 10 minutes I pulled my first EP from deep down in the water column. Another fish followed a few cast later, nothing huge but I knew I was in the ballpark and the game was looking good.

Duncan nailed a decent flathead bouncing a Berkley soft vibe down deep then shortly after headed up the creek with Peter to explore a few snag sections with the hope of a big EP. It was almost dark, Jeff and I had switched to surface and where casting at a snag that the last flood left. A boof and miss, then I hooked up on a fit 42cm.

Not to be out done Jeff nailed a similar fish a few casts latter. The action pretty much stopped after that so shortly after we called it a night.

We had really wanted to get into the upper reaches of one of my favorite creeks but the cooler weather, bit of a drive and walk pushed us to fish a lower section on foot as we thought our efforts would not be rewarded.

As predicted it was a little slow, but again it was pleasant to walk the banks, watch the birds and platypus and get some casting in.

Duncan and Peter where getting amongst a few fish here and there on surface lures.

My mojo was a little shot after a dodgy cast saw me leave a Sammy 65 up a giant Cassurina tree. I then proceeded to drop the only 2 fish that I had hooked, one of them felt a decent fish and pulled a little line (I usually fish pretty locked up)

Duncan had gained the nickname "Duncan Donut" on past trips owing to...well... it is kind of self-explanatory.... he had however redeemed himself by landing fish every day for the last four days. By the time it was getting dark I was looking at taking his "Donut" title, so a solid hit on my 'after dark spinner bait' saved me the indignity.

We finished getting the last of my rafters up onto my roof the next arvo and Duncan headed off back to the big smoke. We'd had a really enjoyable week despite the fishing being a bit slow for this part of the world, although on my past experience fishing with Duncan we could have had a donut.

Last fish for the year

2010-12-29T16:13:00.001-08:00

Apart from too much ham and beer, Christmas means I get to head out for a fish with my mate Gus whilst he visits his family here on the south coast. This year was no exception.
The masses that flock to the south coast over the holiday period usually drive us to seek a quite corner for a fish.
I have know Gus for a few years now and in that time we have seldom discussed anything but fishing, it is a simple reltaionship but it works and we enjoy fishing together.
We usually target bream but are happy to just be on the water and will adapt to take a shot at any fish silly enough to swim by :-).
and it is often the case we end up with a variety of species,
Thanks for another great days fishing Gus, see you next christmas.

Contemplative fishing

2010-12-20T21:46:00.000-08:00

I have been obsessed with fishing since I was three years old, that's almost 43 years now.... but I still sense the same boyish excitement with every trip.

The extension of my fishing adventures to include exploration travel has led me to a different appreciation of it nowadays; the landscapes, water, weather, ebbs and flows of nature all get noticed more.

I am lucky to live in a part of the world that abounds with places that are just beautiful to fish. The fishing in these locations can be spectacular but I would still travel there regardless of whether the fish were there or not.

Although I never go off bushwalking or rafting without a rod, the fishing is sometimes a distraction. I often find myself drifting about, calm and contemplative, just listening and looking, the chase forgotten.

I am sure the distractions of nature mean I catch less fish, it does not seem to matter though, it makes me a worse fisherman but a better person.

I feel with some unease that we are going down the path we are on for the last time and to experience peace and tranquility is becoming increasingly a rare experience. Fishing gives me such experiences.... and the occasional fish

Movember Bass

2010-11-20T05:22:00.000-08:00

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.

Into the night

2010-11-11T04:28:00.000-08:00

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.

Remote South Coast Fishing

2010-11-09T20:04:00.000-08:00

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.

7 Days Gone

2010-11-08T06:35:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-08T06:29:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-08T06:13:00.003-08:00

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.

Reflections

2010-10-10T07:49:00.000-07:00

The wet backs of bass reflect the habitats that they are caught in.

Blue sky and clouds.

Horizon backed bass.

Eucalyptus tatts.

Right river- wrong fish

2010-09-22T09:38:00.000-07:00

Fishing th upper brackish section of my local system for bass the other afternoon I was very surprised to have my deep fished vibe hammered by this Golden Perch.

The fish was in pretty good condition, fought well. I would think it was a farm dam escapee from the floods earlier this year as they only live in western flowing water systems normally, perhpas he was lost!

Personal Bests

2010-09-22T09:16:00.000-07:00

Late in the afternoon, and with expectations chasing the rising barometer upwards, we hit a short but promising piece of water that fed the coast. Lure choice was by default surface. The water was clear but holding the chill from the transition of winter to spring, cover abounded and it was only a matter of passing time with patient casting.

The wait was long, too many casts had almost exhausted my faith but I could tell by the smile on Peters face as he paddled toward me he'd landed a PB...

Some days the fish don't play and others you catch a PB.

The Start

2010-09-19T15:22:00.001-07:00

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.

2 outings, no bass yet.....

2010-09-09T06:33:00.000-07:00

The far South East had missed all the rain and floods of the last month. So with that in mind Peter and I hit the lower section of our local system thinking the bass would be queued up waiting for a flush to get back up the river on. A perfect place to pop our new season cherry and put a few nice bass on the board.

The usual surface lures drew a blank, mid water drew a blank, so the bottom of the holes seemed the obvious place for the next barrage of lures.

I half expected the hit when it came but I knew straight away it was no bass. A good strong fight with head shakes and some good runs had my little Stradic singing my favourite tune. I had done the sums and worked it out then from the depths came a big flattie, confirming my suspicions. I jabbed my thumb into its mouth and lifted her for a few quick pics before letting her swim off.

A few minutes later Peter giggled and announced he was on to another flattie. The fish towed him about in his new blue packraft, his Stradic singing the same lovely tune.

It was a PB flattie for Peter so a few pics where snapped for the album and she was sent on her way.

I went on to get another 3 flatties but sadly no bass, not the start I was hoping for but I can't really complain as we both went home smiling and feeling better about the world. 2 outings, no bass yet....

Northern Thugs

2010-09-06T00:36:00.000-07:00

Every other winter I meet up with a group of like minded fishing mates in the remote wilds of Arnhem land for a few weeks of fishing. It is a pleasant escape from the cold weather and subsequent reduced fishing opportunities back home on the NSW far south coast at that time of year. This is no fancy mother ship or lodge type holiday, more a self guided back to basics, bare bones outpost camping holiday. Logistics are difficult. distances travelled are great, facilities are basic, but the rewards are big with an unspoilt wild fishery with boundless possibilities.

The rewards of far flung travel

The size and species available in such places is often boundless and on the water the plethora of species about can make targeting one species difficult but the sporting prowess of the Giant Trevally put them high on my list of favourites.

One of the hardest fighting fish your ever likely to catch - Giant Trevally

As a structure based fish, they love small reef areas, shallow rock strewn flats, fringing coral, bommies and the like. Fishing prominent headlands early in the mornings with fly, plastics and poppers is almost a guarantee of a GT.

A typical spot to start looking for Trevs

Popper fishing is particularly good for rat GT's in the 3-4kg range. Conventional gear is an efficient way to cover structure but fly rod poppers can be used to great effect also. I often find larger fish prefer the small fly rod poppers.

A horse of a GT taken on a 2 inch fly rod popper

Another flyrod GT on a small popper

GT's can often be found hanging around turtles or Manta rays also, a popper dragged past will almost always get a big surface hit.

These little 'school' GT's in the 3 or 4 kg range provide a lot of fun on fly, plastics or poppers.

Trevally are such tenacious fish and the really big models are seldom landed. One particular morning we got totally smoked on four fish fishing deep plastics on 8kg tackle with locked drags. The same morning I lost about half a #12 fly line to the reef trying to extract a decent GT.

GT's do have a ridge of spines along the side of their tails so a glove offers protection from being spikes whilst handling fish

My good friend Sonny Potiki with a typical Northern Thug.

They are not all huge but they do all pull hard and provide great sport on all tackle.

Wild Creek Exploration

2010-05-06T19:41:00.000-07:00

The search for adventure, wild environments and fishing are happy bed fellows that have taken me to many missed and forgotten corners over the years. A propensity for exploration and discovery sees me 4 wheel driving, hiking, rafting, kayaking etc into some remote areas. I do not seek huge fish or even large numbers of them, I seek the adventure of finding fish and the beauty that one finds in wild places.

I have had my eye on this inconspicuous little creek system for a while, I traveled it on Google earth, poured over it on Topo maps, quizzed my bush walker mates that had been in the area and came to the decision that I needed to explore it.

The access like all good potential creeks was impossibly complicated and arduous… but kinda doable…albiet only just. A very long initial hike/portage with heavy packs and my awkward sea ski saw us hit the creek a little bruised and tired on Friday.

Plan was to explore the creek downstream, then portage out again from lower down on the Sunday arvo.

As is often the case with such trips, the combination of weather and the window of opportunity clashed and a low pressure weather system moved in closing down our chance at landing a bass in the freshwater section of the creek.

We tried the full range fishing techniques but failed to interest any fish in the fresh, the scenery made up for it and just travelling through such country brings it's own rewards. By the days end we had traversed the freshwater and over a small waterfall that divided the fresh and saltwater.

We eventually found some fish in the mid estuary section, went on to land some nice Estuary Perch which at the time was not a common catch for me.

We camped by the lower estuary section, walked the sand flats, fished the beach and adjoining rocks and generally chilled out in this wonderful wild pocket, the difficulty of getting there makes it all the better.

The Australian Salmon seemed to be in plentiful numbers on the flats and off the beach, they had a taste for Clouser flies and in many instances could be sight cast. Hooking hefty 'Sambos' in the skinny flats water made for excellent sport.

If the story ended there it would be a happy ending, the walk out however, was what could only be termed as a shocker.

5 kms of steeply undulating rough track lugging a 28 kg sea ski plus my camping and fishing gear. The 5km's took us 2 hours to walk but it was about the hardest 2 hour walk I had ever done. By the time I reached my trusty Landrover, I had vowed to get an Alpacka Packraft and never lug the sea ski again.

3 Mates - 3 Days Fishing

2010-05-06T18:40:00.000-07:00

Work had kept me from my bass fishing early this season, so on arriving home from a stint of work in Canberra I was keen to hit the water.

First day I planned a walk in trip to a small system that would offer a few options in the ordinary conditions. A cold and wet snap saw the water high, cold and tannin stained. The bass elluded us but my fishing mate Peter and I managed a few EP's and other estuary dwellers.

one of four EP's

Peter with a small EP from the rubber duck (note the raft camo colour)

Another species on the Bettspin - Silver trevor.

Another Bettspin victim the humble tailor

A few days later I hooked up with another south coast mate Craig on the lower section of a local creek to see if I could get a bass on the board for the season. Conditions looked promising but it was fairly slow fishing generally.

Craig with a typical south coast bass (just before he cooked up a bonza pasta for dinner!! I gotta fish with Craig more often).

Check out the silver colour of this fish, we figured it was not long back from the saltwater?

My first litlle bass for the season. After dark with a boof off the top.

Third day saw me hook up with my good mate Jules for an afternoon session on yet another local creek with the flyrod. It was a cracking afternoon and the bass came out to play. We landed several fish each off the surface in the last few hours of the day.

A nice little creek bass on my new 4 weight.

Jules with a fly munching south coast creek bass.

So the season started for me, as the season progressed the weather warmed and I spent many of my afternoons poking about the creeks chasing bass.

Black Sea Bass in Canada

2010-05-05T19:44:00.000-07:00

This year I skipped my winter escape to the NT and went for a bit of a trip to Canada and then onto Belize with the aim of targeting some salmon and then bonefish and anything else that happened along in the meantime. Whilst out chasing sea run salmon we discovered these "Black Sea Bass" on the kelp forest edges. They pretty much ate any fly put in front of them and the habit of schooling up in vertical colums meant that you could fish down a school pulling off the top fish with sucsessive casts. Like most bass, they pulled like a train and made for some great sport. We caught a heap of them, so ....if your missing your Aussie bass fishing next winter, I am calling these as a very suitable substitute.

A typical Black Sea Bass

Kinda familar head shape

My good mate Gav with another average fish

Bloody ugly with a big mouth, the fish ain't too pretty either...

Eye like bass

As you can tell by my down jacket it was pretty cold despit being summer over there, water temp of 14oC!!! Call that a bloody summer. Belize was another story altogether , but no bass there....

Smallmouth Bass

2010-05-05T19:09:00.000-07:00

Last winter I headed off to Canada for my good mate Gavins wedding. After the wedding we spent a few days in the 'Cottage Country" and I got to spend an afternoon chasing small-mouth bass, a similar fish to our Australian bass. I fished the less than ideal 'mid afternoon' and had to leave as the fish started moving but still enjoyed landing a new species of bass. I had only taken fly gear with me on this trip, I may have fared better with a light spin stick and a few bettspins. They are pretty much the same as Ausbass by way of fishing techniques, habitat, fight.

Pretty lakes and full of water!!

There seemed to be an abundance of these little bass, they loved a slow fished Wolly Bugger.

This was the largest fish I could manage

The only 'Large-mouth' seen

Skinny Water Tailor

2010-05-04T06:53:00.000-07:00

Whilst fishing a remote estuary system for skinny water bream I hooked another lucky by catch, a big tailor pinned in the corner of the mouth. I was lucky to land this fish, it went very hard in 1 foot of water on 4lb, with razor sharp teeth they usually bite me off before I land them.

Check out the business end of this bad boy, all teeth and attitude.

Summer Floods

2010-05-03T21:04:00.000-07:00

Well it never rains but it pours......too true, we got up to 300mm of rain in parts on the far south coast over a few days in february of this year. Much needed rain that caused a lot of local flooding, great stuff!!. I slipped out one afternoon to have a look at my local creek, took a rod just in case.

This is usually a calm pool!!

The river was pretty much unfishable but I did pull this little fella out of a back eddy. Had a few boofs but it was tough fishing. Still...very stoked about the rain and intrested that I could still pull fish out of the flooded mess. Back eddies are productive bits of water in such instances. I have fished the Clarence river in full flood and found some really productive fishing in the back eddies.

It is a little restrictive as you are forced to fish around the heavy flow a bit to find the 'pocket water'. It is not unlike fishing a fast flowing trout stream really.

Back eddy rewards.

Variety Is The Spice of Life

2010-05-03T20:28:00.000-07:00

The fishing was pretty cosistent this summer in the system I fish most and I have been fortunate enought to be able to spend a bit of time on the water. The bream have been a bit slow but a range of other species are getting in on the act, some days I am geting 6 or 7 different species, variety is the spice of life!!. Heres a few different pics of the various species all from the one short system.

I would estimate over 90% of the fish I caught this summer took surface lures. I put this down to the fact that surface is my 'go to' choice so I spend more time fishing them but perfecting the various retrieves has really paid off in terms of fish numbers and variety.

RIP - Black Velvet 1960 - 2006

2010-04-21T18:57:00.000-07:00

Many of you will be sad to hear of the tragic loss of 'Black Velvet' my favourite vintage Jitterbug. It was taken suddenly in a vicious attack by a large bass whilst swimming on the fringe of a water lily patch in Clarrie Hall early last week. It will be sadly missed by myself and all those that fished with it over the years. It went they way it would have wanted, doing what it loved best – catching bass. I hope it’s up there blooping across the big bass pond in the sky, its little barbless hooks straight, shining and sharp and its bib no longer loose.

RIP BLACK VELVET
1960 - 2006

The coroners report is citing a dodgy knot as the cause of loss. Police will be conductiong further inquiries.

The Ghost

2010-04-21T18:51:00.000-07:00

I have read and heard of many old cedar-getters (who often relied on bass for food) and early recreational anglers fashioning crude 'perch' or bass lures from bits of Australian Red Cedar (Toona ciliata). These early lures were whittled from timber that grew tall in the valleys of the eastern flowing water shed where bass live. Despite their crudeness they would have accounted for some of the largest bass ever caught, albeit in the days before habitat destruction and other pressures sadly reduced our bass fishery to what it is today. I reckon no other lure fishing style more uniquely represents east coast fishing. I look at the hard and soft plastic lures that fill my tackle boxes to overflow and it inspires nothing of that great era and the almost lost 'do it yourself' mentality, this makes me sad. In sympathy of such lost tradition I felt the urge to start making a few cedar lures of my own. Here's what I hope will be the first of many, a small cedar popper I call The Ghost.

I dip coat them with 2 coats of marine varnish (thinned down). It is a crude but effective wood coating, the thirsty old cedar soaks it up, seals well and floats nice and high. I have made them out of Huon pine also (they look really wild) but the darker colour of the cedar seems to 'profile' better against the dark banks of the creeks I fish (read as - I get more fish on the dark colour).

At the moment I really just make them for myself as a bit of fun but I am thinking of doing a range of surface lures this winter when I have more time to play. I am getting some better stainless hardware, barbless hooks etc, I hope to be selling some by next spring.

Right Lure - Wrong Fish

2010-04-21T18:34:00.000-07:00

Over the years I have tangled with a few strange fish that have eaten bass lures.

A Tailor that ate a Bettspin

Same day as the above, a silver trevally on a betts, perhaps too much salt water....

One of many flatties I have taken, this one on a small spinner bait in a fallen tree snag that should have held bass

EP's

2010-04-21T18:12:00.000-07:00

Many of you would know that the bass fishing on the far south coast has suffered badly due to the continuing drought that has decimated many of my regular bass creeks. In my search for new fishable bass water I have begun fishing what I would consider 'fringe water' in the lower sections of my usual bass systems. A few bass have been found but my EP by catch has gone through the roof. My best day thus far saw 18 EPs landed in a morning session. I love EP's, they are a tad angrier than bass, consistently take surface lures and they live in really beautiful places - pretty much like bass I guess. Here’s a few pics featuring myself and a few of my mates that explore with me (and EP by catch of course)

A typical little EP

Gus with a nice 42cm model

Sammy 65 from Lucky Craft is a top 'walk the dag' style lure for EP's

Peter getting in on the EP surface action with a nice fish.

Mat with his first EP, he went on to nail numerous fish that day.

The EP's big night vision eyes get used a lot

Double hookups are not that uncommon, here Mat Hedger holds up a pair taken whilst sharing 'The Rubber Duck'

Beneath The Giant Casuarinas

2010-04-21T17:58:00.000-07:00

The giant Casuarina trees stood bathed with crimson light, the air was still and the water mirrored the world upside down. It was just the kind of afternoon one would expect the bass to look upward and examine the menu above to see what tasty morsels might be had for tea.

Peter and I made our way quietly along the lower section of the huge pool, probing the overhangs and protruding structure in search of bass. The bass were there, tell tale swirls and boils in all the likely lies but they were only half hearted, not in the aggressive mood we found them in on our last venture to this stretch.

As the western horizon drew the sun down, the bass became a little more game in their taunting of the little surface lures, a few rats took it too far and found themselves hooked. These little bronzed tusslers were not the size of fish we wanted but we were content to be on the water and anything was better than the skunking we'd had the previous evening on one of our secret waters.

As darkness neared, my bevy prop was slammed by a good weighty fish, without pause it ran hard and fast, the song from my Stradic ended abruptly as the bass buryed me into a fallen wattle branch and earnt its freedom before I had time gain any hand.
Not five minutes later Peter let out his catch cry "Go you good thing!” His little Packraft was doing donuts in the middle of the pool, he chuckled like a school boy, the quite hour before had been forgotten.

A few shots of the lovely bronzed 37 and it was on its way home none the worse for an encounter with a Bubble Pop.
I had barely paddled back to the snag I was on when a loud "Go you good thing" drew my attention back to Peter, the louder chuckles and increased number of circles indicated a better fish. A fat healthy 40cm, Peter was stoked.

Another half hour passed without enquiry so we paddled quietly back down the pool with only a sliver of moon, the stars and a passing satellite to light our way. The quite of the night leaves us with a peace that clears the head and soul, perhaps that's why the giant Casuarina trees live so long.

Wild Exploration

2010-04-21T17:39:00.000-07:00

I just spent a few days with the backpack on wearing a hole in my old Redback boots whilst checking out a few remote creeks to see if they held bass.

As always on such exploratory trips my packraft was stashed into my pack with my minimal ultra light camp gear. Many of these creeks are not easily accessible by foot and paddling in is often the only way to access the freshwater reaches.

In many of the smaller systems the demarcation between fresh and salt can be as little as 100 meters with a clear 'line' between the two; One can catch bream, EP's and Bass within cooee of each other.

This particular system had a good long stretch of fresh water that looked like it should hold decent bass.

Likely looking snags were covered with a variety of lures but the fish were reluctant with only a few decent boils under surface offerings, golden sides hinting that a bass was not far off. A cicada fizzer eventually worked its magic and an explosive strike saw me hooked up and loosing line to a good fish.

When I finally got colour it was the tell tale golden flanks that had me thinking I was into bass...then up came the scoped head. big eye and bucket mouth of a 41cm EP.

Sadly that was the only fish I could hook in the fresh water stretch. I will have to return and fish higher when time allows me the few extra days it would require. I opted for the consolation prize of 11 EPs and a brace of surface munching bream...it pays to be adaptable

Skinny Pop Jr from Zipbaits has to be one of the most effective surface lures around.

Like their freshwater cousins, night time is prime time for the EP's.

The Local

2010-04-21T17:34:00.000-07:00

For a bass fisho living in a small rural community, one huge benefit is knowing the gentle easy going farmers that own the land each side of certain bits of 'hard to get to' bass rivers.

Things don't happen to quick in the country but we eventually gained permission to access a good stretch of water that we had our eye on for some time. It turned out to be a long stretch of deep shaded pools with plenty of cover.

I have almost fished the entire length of this river now and this was one of the deeper pool sections thus far.

Suffice to say the stretch produced some fit and fiery little bass.

The soft Cicada Fizzer has become my new fav lure of late

Peter (second day out) is beginning to think bass fishing is a bit easy....spoilt bugger

Sadly we could not stay later to fish on but we ended up with about 9 or 10 bass for the evening between 30 and 35cm. As always with a new location it will take a few return trips to work out the hidey holes. It is only 15 minutes from my place so plenty of opportunity.

A New PB Bass - 57cm

2010-04-21T17:17:00.000-07:00

Recent decent rains have really improved the local water levels and hence my thoughts have once more turned to bass. My good friend and estuary fishing partner Peter had never caught a bass, so he was keen to give it a go. Sunday arvo was looking good so a plan was hatched and we hit the water at what I considered the perfect time. An even cloud cover, no breeze and a slight build up ahead of a change had my expectations high. Once at the waters edge we inflated our Alpackas and slipped into the water.

We had not gone more than 100 yards when there was a boil beneath Peters lure. I threw my Koolabung Cicada Fizzer to the opposite side of the snag, halfway back it disappeared into a gently boil, I struck and came up hard..... very hard... and very heavy, suddenly I was losing a lot of line in a hurry. The bass barreled through the surrounding weed beds like an underwater bulldozer. Paddling as well as one can with one hand, I got over the fish and managed to lift it free of the deep weed only to have it barrel off again. This game went on for what seemed an eternity until I eventually got the upper hand and lifted 57cms of solid bronzed bass. I was totally stoked.

One very fat bass

The Cicada Fizzer was bent into an L shape, but it held

After we had settled back down, Peter threw to the location of his first strike and was almost immediately smacked by a solid bass. A similar fight ensued and he landed his first ever bass, a plump and fit 42cm model. He was one very happy fisherman.

It must have only been three or four casts later and I was on again to a similar fish. Again it was a fat and fit bronzed fish of 42cm.

By this stage I was thinking it could not get any better than this, a PB for me, Peter landing his first bass (and a beauty at that) and another 40 plus for me...then I heard Peter, as another bass smacked his popper. I knew it was a good bass by the way he was being towed at speed out form the edge (hollering like a boy). The bass surged deep and did several powerful runs peeling line. In the clear water Peter had her beat by the time I caught him up in time to see him lift a 50.5cm bass

I did mention to Peter that he may have ruined his bass fishing career, getting a 50 plus on ones first outing sets a few expectations that may not be easily met

It has been over ten years since I landed my previous PB of 53cm, with my new PB @ 57cm I am wondering how long before I get another PB......

South East Wilderness Trip

2010-04-21T17:06:00.000-07:00

The bumpy dirt road to our launch site climbs and winds up and over spectacular forested peaks that allows glimpses all the way back to the coast. Gus and I shout at each other over the noise of the Landrover as she rattles along throwing a shroud of dust over Duncan following behind in his trusty rusty Japanese wreck. I had literally pushed a canoe down this remote stretch of river once before, I caught some good bass but it was the toughest trip I had ever done and I vowed to return when water levels gave me easier access. 5 years later...

We were to spend 3 days paddling and fishing the river, exiting some 25k's downstream. The mandatory car juggle sees us on the water as the last of the morning mist drifts gently upward and then suddenly disappears.

The top section of the river is essentially a series of grade 2/3 rapids, so nerves kick in as we face the first of the white water. Fear of losing expensive fishing rods is soon forgotten as adrenaline takes over.

The morning is quickly consumed shooting white water. With only small fast flowing pools, very little fishing is done; the pace of the water dictates rapid fire casts into cover with bettspins.

As we head further downstream, calm deep pools become more common. The towering hills, giant casuarinas and dark tannin stained water add to the grand scale of the landscape.

By mid afternoon we are in a steady rhythm of shooting rapids and leapfrogging each other along the edges of the pools throwing at every likely bass hold.

The fish are not playing at all, it could be the cold water or perhaps they headed downstream on the recent floods to take the opportunity to meet like minded bass, share some brackish water and some loving'.

The sun sets on the first day. The warmth and smell of a fire in the wilds under a billion stars is hard to beat, even dehydrated meals taste good out there, dark chocolate and nip of port taste better. Sleep comes easily.

As we head lower down we finally find fish, no monsters but they are thick set tenacious fish, a deep rich bronze colour that only really wild bass get.

The river begins to slow, less steep drops and more running riffles, paddling and fishing are easy and relaxed.

The fishing remains difficult; snags that really should yield fish are not giving them up. We try everything with only minimal success. We all love catching fish but it does not seem to matter as just being on a river like this is enough

Time looses relevance in these places, the flow of the river dictates the pace you go, the day passes slowely; there is a lot to see but little to do. Cast retrieve, drift, cast, paddle, cast, yawn, drift....

So another day passes, not so many fish but it ends with another star filled sky, humorous banter and comparison of dried menu items. There are blokes in the cemetery that would like our problems.

The final stretch to the out point is pretty uneventful, the fish continue to be shy, the river continues to be beautiful and we continue to chill and relax. By the time we reach the car our collective souls are cleansed, the worries of the world are gone and the next half dozen adventures are already being planned.

We only landed 4 bass in 3 days but what I learn from these 'fishing' trips is that fishing is not so important, it's the other stuff that it gives us that is.

Here is a bit of video footage of the whitewater sections of the trip which made for an intresting trip by itself.

Cow Paddock Bass

2010-04-21T16:53:00.000-07:00

For a while I had been meaning to fish a section of creek on a nearby farm that the farmer assured me held some 'perch'. Now remember this is Cheese-World I am talking about, the land where cows walk through rivers, bank side clearing has been the norm, the lower stretches of rivers are heavily silted with sand and pumped near dry to irrigate superphosphate rich paddocks .... you get the picture, not the sort of place you expect to find many 'perch'.

I was short on time but the creek in question was very close to home, so with a degree of cynicism and only half my heart in it I decided to go for a quick flick. Thinking it would be an open shallow creek I opted for the fly rod, a box of flies and a head torch.

The creek was everything I thought it would be; surrounded with cow poo and 'improved' pasture, irrigation pumps humming and reducing the depth to a few feet at best.Not much cover on the bank side, the odd stand of resilient Casuarina trees and a willow here and there.

It was almost dark so I focused my efforts on the deeper pockets under the casuarinas. I was not expecting anything so the first boil on my fly was missed by a long way... A recast to the same spot produced an instant hit and this time I made no mistake. Bass in shallow water can certainly go hard.

Under the cover of darkness the bass ventured out in the shallow water to investigate the source of the blooping noise that usually meant dinner.

The bass were not huge but what they lacked in size they made up for with attitude climbing all over the ear-plug popper with the reckless vigour of 5 year old boy full of red cordial.

As I climbed into my old Landrover and rattled along the cow pat paved dairy road to the gate, I shook my head, smiled and muttered to myself 'bloody cow paddock bass, who would have thought'. I marvel at the tenacity of bass.

Eagles, transfer cases, tomatoes and bass fishing

2010-04-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

What do Eagles, transfer cases; tomatoes and bass fishing have in common?? I had one of those days today......

Even before breakfast a bloody great Eagle managed to get into our eagle proof chicken coop and was making a breakfast of our chickens when my wife turned up to get the eggs. My wife is scared of angry Eagles trapped in chicken coops so I'm called in; “you're always on about catch and release, catch and release that bloody big Eagle". Slightly outside my area of expertise, I quickly search for an Eagle friendly C & R tool. The only Eagle C & R tool I can muster at short notice is my prized vintage prawn net. The angry Eagle is not at all happy with the idea of being in a prized vintage prawn net but it is eventually liberated back to the wild to harass some other poor hippie’s chickens. Prized vintage prawn net is no longer suitable for prawning.

I gather the remnants of my no longer prized vintage prawn net and climb into my vintage Land rover to drive up the steep hill to the building site we call home. 'Best stick her in low range' I think; clunk grrrr clunk ping...mmmm nothing,…. clank bang clank bang...nothing , mmmm no low range. Land rovers are very reliable, they break down once a week without failure, and you can rely on it. Martin, my mechanic, knows me well, he smiles and books another holiday to Fiji every time the Landie rolls into his rustic workshop. Sadly for me Martin wants two holidays in Fiji to fix the Landie. "What the F#@K happened to ya prawn net Steve?"asks Martin as I write out another cheque to Bega Travel World.

In the building site we call a home, the fishing rods (weapons of bass destruction) are stored in a cupboard with my wife’s collection of preserved bottles of veggies and fruit. Now I was unhappy with my wife’s decision to store these potentially dangerous goods with my collection of fine tackle. I recall at the time she asked "what's the worst that could happen?". What I should have said was “a toxic mess of tomato sauce could ferment for weeks in glass bottles then explode showering all my fishing gear with toxic tomato compost like stuff that really stinks" Ahhhh the benefit of hindsight. Nothing that a good old fashion garden hose and 25,0000L of tank water couldn’t fix. Soooo....with my bass fishing gear all clean I got to thinking…days preety much rooted may as well tempt fate and go bass fishing....

I know what you’re thinking, he fell in the river, got bitten by a snake, broke his Gloomis in 2 places and hooked himself in the arse with a barbed treble………sorry to disappoint bad things only happen in threes

It's not Fiji but....there are bass in there

Fishing With Gus

2010-04-21T08:10:00.001-07:00

I first met Gus through the Ausbass website, our mutal intrest in all things bass fishing and his frequent trips to visit his folks that live in the district meant that it was only a matter of time before we hooked up for a fish.

The phone call from Gus was all it took to get me to down tools for a spot of bassing that particular day. An exploration of some promising Google Earth proved fruitless so we were forced to shift to Plan C which involed wet wading my local freestone creek for an hour or so through the peak period just before dark.

Gus with the first fish for the day.

We ended up with 5 bass for our brief session but they where all lovely little bronzed wild fish that pulled hard in the cool clear flow of this magic little stream. I seldom share my favourite fishing places but I really enjoyed wading the stream with Gus, chating and tossing little lures, he is a fine fisher with a real appreciation for bass and the places we find them. On such afternoons the bass are a real bonus.

And another..

Koolabung Cicada Fizzer take yet another bass

The best fish for the afternoon, a fine healthy Aussie bass.

Final fish just on dark.

Gus and I have since become good mates and often fish together; this trip was kind of the start of that friendship and many adventures.No doubt there will be many more as we both share a love of X-Stream Fishing.