Right river- wrong fish

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

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

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.....

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

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.

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