Nepean - 7/9/07

SPRING IS HERE

Ah, the weather is warming and that means that those great Australian Bass are a realistic target again. Sure, you can still get them through winter but those balmy summer days when they are smashing lures off the surface are pure magic! I called Mick Munns from East Coast and we met at Tench Reserve in the early morning twilight. He had a few new lures to show me and the twin blade spinners look absolutely sensational.

The reports from the Nepean have been good but they've been from way up in the gorge and we weren't planning on venturing that far. We stuck close to the ramp and tried working the surface we various fizzers and poppers but there was no action on top today. Give the water another few degrees and I'm sure they'll come on the chew.

We switched to spinners and I tied on a small single bladed version with a purple skirt that Mick said had been working well on earlier trips. I was flicking this up the back of snags when I finally hooked up. Nothing spectacular but a solid hit and I could feel some weight on the end of the line. The line zipped right and I could feel the line rub on the submerged snags. I worked the rod left and the fish turned. Ooh, more line rubbing but I eventually get the girl out away from her hidey-hole. I finally get to see her and I'm now grinning. She healthy, fat and looks about mid forties which will easily be my PB...or so I think. As I guide her to the side of the yak she gives two big tail beats and 'TINK', the line breaks and she slowly swims out of view. Bugger...

Then to rub salt into my wounds, 20 meters downstream Mick hooks up and lands a 33cm bass on a red-skirted spinner. 'That's how you do it!' he says. This fish is also in prime condition and it looks like there could be a few really big bass caught this coming summer. Hopefully I'll be able to stay connected and bag one myself!

We continued down to the rail bridge but had no more success so we turned and slowly made our way back to the ramp. I had to leave but Mick stayed to have a lunch with a few guys from WSBB (Western Sydney Bass & Bream). They'd been upstream and between two boats they'd landed over 35 fish, with not one of them being below 30cm's.

If the fishing shapes up as good as I hope it will this summer, it's going to be hard to decide what to chase. Kingfish in the Bay, Bonitos and Salmon off the headlands, bream in the racks, flathead over the flats or bass amongst the snags. Two of my goals are to get a bass over 40cm's (ooooooh, I was soooooooo close) and a kingie over a meter from the yak. With a bit of luck and perseverance I'll hopefully get there.

I recently purchased a pair of the ST fins for the Hobie and I'll be giving them there first run this week. They should give me that little bit of extra speed and I'll give a report on how they went next week. Look out fish, here I come! Oh, and in case you missed the video of the kingfish action, here is the link again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz2deaLhwuM

Happy yakkin', everyone.

cheers,

Cid