The builders mate

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.

These lures obviously rang the dinner bell,  scoffed!!

A few 40's

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

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

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

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

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

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