Bassin' the Nepean - Dec 2010 or Jan 2011..not sure of exact date

As stated last week, Terry has been getting into a few bass and he sent through this report that covers a trip he had a few weeks ago...

With all the rain we had in the last few weeks, I was begging hard for it to blow out to sea.
As each day this week I was watching the weather very closely & hoping to get a line wet.
Sure enough today was the day, I couldn’t resist, the humidity, the stillness & those cicada’s (don’t ya love em) buzzing in my backyard, gave me an indication to have a crack at dirty bassin.
Although the barometric pressure wasn’t favourable (not that I look at it) I set off to my local river .

It was a late start at midday, water was coffee, overcast, not a ripple in the water (mirror finish)& insects everywhere (looking good just how we like it). As I paddled along & looking at the sounder WOW the water temp was 26degrees.

Well out came the surface lure , just love my surface action so visuial. I pulled up to a great looking snag, timber everywhere, sure there's gotta be a bass here .

As the lure landed tight against the snag & the ripple disappeared BLOOP BLOOP 10 secs later BLOOP BLOOP nuthin , not even a tap, mmmmm.

I fished with surface lures for half n hr for no result even in places you think to yourself, how did i get that lure in there with all that overgrown branches where bass love to hide.

I looked in my tackle box deciding on what lure to tie on next , the stumper jumper was it , have had some great success over the years with this lure & it wasn’t before the line wet tight , drag peel’n off , WHHHOOOO , this felt like a descent fish , as he was racing back for cover, still no colur, as it was trying to snag me up.

After a great tussle & the fish landed & measured 380, my blood was pumping, a quick photo & the fish was swimming away.

By this time it was 1pm & I didn’t have much fishing time left.
As I flicked into the shadows & retrieved into the depths , was on again how good is this ( thats how fishing should be ) another well condition fish was landed it measured 350. The next half hr was just awesome fishing , it surprised me with all the rain & run off we’ve had, it was worth giving it ago in dirty water . I ended up with 9 bass ranging from 270 – 380 mm. Its only going to get better from here. Happy bassin'.

Great report, Terry. Thanks for sharing with us.

And this weekend (sunday, 23rd January) sees the next round (no. 5) of the Daiwa ABT/Hobie Kayak Bream tournament kick off in Victoria at the legendary location of the Bemm River! Last year the bags were massive (24 anglers from a field of 38 had a weigh-in bag of over 2kg's for three fish!!!) and there is sure to be a strong turnout for this one.

More info is available here: http://bream.com.au/abt/2010/Bemm10.pdf and if you can only do one tourny, this would have to be high on the list. Hopefully the yakkin' fraternity haven't been hit too hard by the floods and they can still make it to this premium event. Good luck to all attending, I know I wish I could've made it... Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,
Cid

Popping for Botany Bay Kings - 7 & 9/1/11

It's been a while since I'd been to the HWO off Kurnell and honestly, I haven't caught a fish from there the last 5 or so times I'd been. I think the dredging for the pipes across the bay really stuffed it up as it was almost a sure-fire spot for getting a few tailor and maybe a king or two right on sun-up. But I hadn't even had a hit there lately but I'm not ready to give up on it yet, so out I go again in the dawn gloom, hoping to have my arms stretched.

There was one boat casting large poppers at it when I arrived and I decided to flick out the 6" Mojo stickbaits for something different. I gave it a good going over for 15 minutes and once again, not even a touch. The same result went for the boat who eventually packed it in and shot off to the other side of the bay. I gave it another couple of casts and decided to head out to the Sticks to see if I could get a bream or two. I'm sure that the HWO still fires at times but it's definitely quieter than it used to be.

On the way out to the Sticks, I saw a few boils ahead of me, 'Maybe Bonito?' I thought and flicked out a small metal slice and cranked it back at high-speed. After a few casts without a touch I switched to the Mojo. Nuthin'! They were still boiling up, nothing wild though and I reached for a new Ecogear popper I have, an orange and black TP88F. First cast and it's snaffled off the surface. And then the drag starts screaming! Oh yeah, this isn't a bonito.

Strong determined runs and then down deep it goes, slugging it out. Now this is more like it. I soon get colour and it's my first Kingie for a long time. Into the net and onboard but it's just short of legal at 62cms so it's back into the drink for this guy. The boils had stopped by now so I continued to the Sticks and started with a blade.

I'd been blading for about 10 minutes and had landed one small pinkie and a 33cm bream when 20 meters away there's a bit of a bust up on the surface. A quick switcheroo of rods and out goes the TP88F again. It's hit 3 times before the hooks stick and I'm dragged away by what feels like a good fish. By now a few boats have seen me hooked up and are slowly creeping closer.

I get colour again and it looks like a twin of the first King and at 63cms, it almost is. Aaaarrrgh, so close to legal, but back this one goes, too. I scan the water, searching for more bust ups but the boils have disappeared for now so I go back to the blades.

But it's not long before they're back on the surface and to test them out, I switch to the Mojo again. Still nothing. So I downsize to smaller squidgy flickbaits but again they are ignored. I even cast the blade out and landed it right in the middle of the school but to no avail. So back to the popper and it's instant action again. I pulled the hooks on two fish before I finally get a solid hook up and this guys goes deep straight away and gives me a good tow.

When I eventually drag him aboard I'm only 20 meters from one of the boats and the guy yells out 'What are you getting those bloody Kings on?' I return with 'Are you using Soft Plastics?' 'Yes', he says. 'Well I'm not getting them on those,' I say with a smile. I flicked my lure towards them and said 'Try a popper like this.' I hope he managed to get into a few.

As fortune would have it, this one is a smidge over 65 cms, so hallelujah, there's dinner. My time on the water was now up so I left them biting. Man, I hate having to do that.

Of course, after a good session like that, I was keen to have another go so on the sunday I headed out into the overcast slightly drizzly morning which at least kept the boat traffic down. The fish were a bit shyer today and again I could only get them to take poppers. The TP88F (see right) worked again, as did an NW Pencil and also a River 2 Sea popper which promptly had the light gauge hooks completely straightened. Silly me forgot to back the drag off. D'oh!

So I ended up hooking 5 and landing 2 but the biggest was only 60 cms, so none of them came home with me this time. But gees they're bloody good fun! Let's hope there are a few more sessions with bigger specimens involved over the next few months.

On a different note, Tezza has been getting into a few bass lately and will send me a few photos with a report to go with them, so I'll get those up within the next day or two. Happy yakkin, everyone!

cheers,
Cid

Cooks River - 28/12/10

So from all reports the Bonito were going off their proverbials in Botany Bay, especially around the Port Botany area. A plan was quickly hatched late one night to go out and get a few as they are one of my favourite fish to eat (filleted, rolled in sesame seeds and dried chillies, seared in a pan for 30 seconds and served with soy and wasabi and pickled ginger...perfecto).

And thus Tezza and I stood at the ramp on Foreshore Rd at 5am, looking into a 20 knot southerly. A guy in a half cabin cruiser was also there at the ramp, looking at the chopped up water. 'Fugg that', we thought, and decided to skip the Bonnie chasing and head to calmer waters.

Next closest place was the Cooks, so we set off to get a few bream although the rods we had were a tad heavier than we'd normally use. At least the ramp was nice and quiet. Bouncing a TT switchblade along the side of the freeway wall saw me come up with one bream of 27cms fork length within five casts and I left the next stretch to Tezza and moved onto the boats out in the deeper water.

Hop, hop...hop, hop and boofo! Ooh, this doesn't feel like a bream. I could feel a decent weight on the end of the line and off down current we go. He took me on a bit of a run and we danced around the anchor ropes with there being one moment when I thought it would all end in tears. He was going the left hand side of an anchor rope when he suddenly veered off and went the right side. I quickly tried to turn but there was no way I was going to make it to follow him and suddenly I felt the line rubbing against the rope. There was nothing else I could do, so I flicked over the bail arm and free spooled him praying that he'd stay attached. As I rounded the anchor rope, I frantically wound in and yes, he's still there.

The runs weren't as strong now and I knew that with patience and a backed off drag, he'd be mine. Up he came and into the net (it just fitted) and our plan B turned out to be A-ok! Ha, who needs Bonnies when you can catch these brilliant fish? He was hooked right in the side of the jaw and the fluoro didn't even have a mark on it. Luckily it must've been the braid that rubbed against the rope. Sometimes ya gotta get lucky, I suppose. 78cms total length and only 4cms short of my best one from the yak.

Tezza was keen to get his own now and from the distance I hear 'I'm on!'. I can see his rod doubled over but he's right near an anchor rope too and when I catch up to him it's all over. On the hook up, this brute shot straight between the front of the boat and the anchor rope which didn't give Tezza any chance at all. Next time, buddy, next time.

To round out the day we picked up some great whiting and a few more bream, but nothing was going to top that jewfish. Well, maybe a bigger one I guess would've done it...

And sorry, but I don't have time to get the Kings on Poppers from Botany Bay report up today but it WILL be up tomorrow. Happy yakkin', everyone.

cheers,

Cid

Another Dubois starts her fishing adventure - 24th Dec 2010

Firstly, let me start with hoping you all had a very merry Christmas and a happy and safe New year. Fingers crossed you got out a few times and landed some fish and hopefully santa brought you what yopu really wanted.

A couple of years ago I took my son out on my old Hobie Sport and we had a ball landing bream in Oyster Bay. My daughter, Danielle, asked me 'When can I go fishing?' and I thought if you're old enough to ask, you're old enough to go. So we loaded up and set off for the same spot as I took Lachlan that first time.

The tide wasn't quite right (it was a bit too low) but she was really keen, so on with the type 1 PFD (much to Lachlans protestations: Hey, that's mine!) and up the front of the Outback she went and we started trolling an SX40 and a River2Sea baby vibe. She loved being out on the water and giggled with glee as we bounced over the wakes from the other boats zipping about.
We'd been trolling for about ten minutes when the River2Sea is smacked! 'Here, Danielle, hold the rod, no not like that, like this, that's it now wind like we practised, no, the other hand, wait lift the rod up, no, like that, yes, that's it, yes, that's...damn.' Between all the instructions and the excitement, the flattie chewed through the leader. Must've been a good 'un. So on with another SX40 (no more R2S's) and off we go again.

It's not long until another rod buckles and this time I sit her in my lap and hold the rod while she winds. This guy put up a feisty fight and Danielle squealed with excitement as we netted him. 40 cms he goes and he'll be perfect for dinner. We came in after this as the tide was almost bottoming out but she loved the whole experience and now it'll be trickier going out and deciding who stays at home.

To make it up to Lachlan, we snuck out a couple of days later and landed four between 38cms and 44cms and lost two that felt bigger. Naturally, when we got home, Danielle was there with hands on hips giving us the dirty look for not taking her. Hopefully, I'll have two fantastic fishing buddies for the rest of my life and I couldn't be luckier. I just hope they'll grace me with their company when they hit the teenage years.

A few days later I hit the Cooks River with Terry and landed a very nice surprise. I'll get that report up tomorrow as well as adding the session I had chasing kings in Botany Bay on poppers. Now that was exciting stuff. So until tomorrow then. happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,
Cid