[HB fishing in Woolooware Bay]

Hi Raiders,

After a couple of busy weekends with family functions and chores I decided that I needed to get the boat out and have a fish. The original plan was to head out on Saturday morning with Bassboy, however the weather thwarted us. As a consequence I headed out by myself early on Sunday morning for a dawn surface session amongst the oyster leases in Woolooware Bay. The morning started with perfect surface fishing weather with cloud cover, a slight wind and fish taking bait from the surface. Unfortunately it was mainly small bream and tailor chasing bait through the leases and in the first hour I caught two small tailor (the pencil lure was almost longer that the fish) and lost a couple of nice fish amongst the leases...fortunately the fish dropped the lures before the leader snapped.

As the sun broke through the clouds there was no further interest in my surface offerings and I switched tactics cast HB lures into the deeper sections of the leases.

My third cast with a HB into the leases resulted in an aggressive strike and a solid run back into the lease. The run was short lived and I was surprised to see the culprit was a nice 58cm flattie, which had completely engulfed the lure.

This was to be the first of six flatties that aggressively attacked my HB amongst the leases. The next best fish was this 43cm flattie.

The bream finally showed up as the tide turned and over a 40 minute period I was able to pull five bream out of the leases including two healthy 28cm fish.

Overall a good morning session and the aggressive strikes on the hard bodies were great fun, however I was somewhat disappointed that the surface bite did not materialize.

[Lure selection]

Cheers basscatcher , helps alot !

how much ft of water do you usally target bream and flathead in ?

It depends on the time of year and I mainly fish Botany Bay and Georges River. As we approach Autumn I target both flatties and bream along the edges, sandflats and dropoffs ranging from 1ft - 10ft of water. If the fish are in deeper water (ie such holes deeper than 12ft) I mainly use blades (TT blades and MF40s).

[Lure selection]

I would suggest starting with small soft plastics as this is a good way to transition from bait to lure fishing. My most consistent performing SPs for bream and flatties are the 80mm Squidgy Wriggler (colour: bloodworm) and 80mm Squidgy flickbait (colour: evil minnow). These are usually matched with the lightest jigheads that the wind, current and depth will allow. Additionally I use 6lb braid with 8 - 10lb leader so I can feel the fish hitting the lure.

I hope this helps, cheers Paul

[Nice easy day in the Georges]

As I sit in my office I am very jealous of your weekday exploits.....nice one Stewy, great to see the EPs still about. cheers Paul

[Qld - 10/02/11 - Upgrade Bass!]

Great wild bass mate and good onya for releasing them. Obviously the recent flooding hasn't effected the bass fishery too much.

[top water session botany bay]

Pete - what a cracker of a session . You are certainly doing well in the new boat. Congratulations on your first kingy on a popper , I am yet to achieve that goal. I hope the top water bite is still on tommorrow morning, it should be a good overcast day with some showers keeping many boats off the water .

[Eight Day trip to Lake Glenbawn]

Nice trip fellas Glenbawn is a tough place to fish in the height of summer and better to concentrate your efforts around early to mid November when the water temp is a little cooler and the bass bite is always HOT at that time of year.

Cheers Stewy

Thanks Stewy.....I would agree with timing, however November is always a busy time at work for me so I have to make do with Dec/Jan trips. I found Lake St Clair fished best in late September and October, with a really hot surface bite on Balmy November evenings. I will have to take a long weedend in late October this year to give either St Clair or Glenbawn another crack and hopefully I will be able to have a Barra trip to Monduran in early December.

cheers Paul

[Eight Day trip to Lake Glenbawn]

On Saturday morning we persisted with targeting the weedbeds for nothing and then tried trolling the flooded creeks for a couple of missed strikes. Despite these misses we found a couple of more new weedbeds worth a try during the arvo session.

Saturday arvo was mixed with both ecstasy and agony……. in very windy conditions I caught eight nice bass in four hours – seven via Jackal and one via Spinnerbait. During this session Bassboy caught a 32cm bass and then lost his only Jackal lure to a large Bass amongst the weeds (sad face)…..to say he was upset to lose a $27 lure was an understatement. His disappointment was reinforced by the fact he did not catch any further fish during this session.

On Sunday we decided to forgo the morning session and focus on the arvo bite. Bassboy had purchased a replacement Jackal from the local kiosk and was looking forward to catching up to me. It was another windy afternoon and we tried a couple of new weedbanks for donut. We returned to old faithful and worked hard for a 35cm Bass and a 30cm Bass by Bassboy and a couple of dropped fish for me. During this session Bassboy tested his morale by snagging his new Jackal on a sunken fence, but fortunately we were able to recover his lure.

Monday morning brought very low barometric pressure (960) and wind…..it was a tough day at the office for another morning donut. By afternoon the barometric pressure had increased very slightly to 966 but the wind remained strong. We worked a number of different weedbeds for moderate success for bassboy and I had a donut with two fish being dropped at the boat whilst we were trying to take photos.

Tuesday dawned as another windy day as we prepared for our last day fishing. We decided to shelter from the wind by working the wooded creek lines for another donut but at least we enjoyed the scenery.

As Tuesday afternoon was our last fishing session we hit old faithfull again for a slow session. We worked hard again for four bass (three for Bassboy and one for me).

Overall the eight days of fishing were very enjoyable in some trying conditions. Whilst the Bass were hard work they were in excellent condition and very aggressive during the short bite periods. Additionally, I was able to give my i-Pilot for the Minn Kota a real workout and I would not be without it. The go to lures for the trip were the Jackal TN40s and Bassman Spinnerbaits. We are certainly looking forward to our next trip to Lake Glenbawn.

Cheers Paul

[Eight Day trip to Lake Glenbawn]

Hi Raiders,

Be prepared for a long one………January is generally the time of year that I try to get a good fishing trip in and this year I was due to re-visit Lake Monduran near Bundaberg to chase some of those big Barra. As it became evident early this month that the weather situation in SE QLD was getting worse rather than better myself and Bassboy decided to look at alternate options. It is quite fortunate that we made this decision as our original plan would have had us driving through Toowoomba on the day of the big flood. Our alternate plan was to fish Lake Glenbawn for the first time.

We departed Sydney am Tuesday 11 January for an eight day trip to Glenbawn. We immediately set up camp and were surprised to learn that the water at the camping area is unfit for consumption and we would need to purchase drinking water for the remainder of our stay …….a lesson for any fishraiders planning to stay at Lake Glenbawn.

Our first session was that afternoon after setting up camp and we were very surprised by the size of the Dam and the amount of water (87% capacity). That first session had us fish the afternoon along some weeded banks and an evening surface session. There were some good signs with Bassboy catching this nice 35cm Bass on a Jitterbug during our evening surface session and a number of missed strikes.

Wednesday’s plan was to explore deeper into the dam as the reports indicated that the fish were holding further up the dam due to the fishing pressure over the Christmas/New Years period. We fished for five hours in the morning for a donut….we must have cast over 500 hundred times, tried every type of lure in our tackle box and cast at sunken weedbeds, exposed points, timbered areas, lay down timber and steep drop offs for nothing, not even a strike. This morning session was typical for the remainder of the trip with nothing caught during the mornings, except for our last day. Our afternoon session did not occur due to a storm blowing through the area, which really tested our camp setup.

On Thursday morning we headed even further up the dam and found some excellent horizontal snags and expansive weedbeds on exposed points. These locations drew a blank and we eventually found a school of Bass suspended at 30ft in 42 ft of water. We tried every trick in the book to draw a strike, including blades, vibes, spinnerbaits and some bream SP techniques. We had a couple of subtle taps on our soft plastics but the hooks did not stick. We noted that the fish were schooled within 100m of an expansive weedbed and marked the location for a return visit in the afternoon session.

Thursday arvo - Bassboy was sick so I headed out by myself. I headed immediately out to the previously marked weedbed. The weedbed was in 15ft of water and the weed was up to 10ft deep. I engaged the i-pilot on my Minn Kota to hold just short of the edge of the weed bed and on my second cast the spinnerbait was monstered by a nice fish. After an aggressive fight I was able to land this well conditioned 36cm Bass.

I used the i-Pilot to continue to work around the edge of the weedbed and then on top of the weedbed for a great session. In three hours I caught another three bass including a 2 x 40cm models and a 28cm model and lost another two at the side of the boat. The bass went off the bite just before last light……it was an excellent session in very windy conditions and the lures of choice were spinnerbaits and Jackals.

Friday morning we searched for more weedbeds and fallen timber for another donut. We found the school of Bass in the same sunken creekbed but they weren’t interested in anything we threw at them. During the afternoon session we headed back to the scene of the crime from the previous arvo. Bassboy and I then commenced another memorable session with extremely calm conditions and a great Bass bite…..this time the Jackal lures were the only successful lure and five fish succumbed to their hooks.

……to be continued

[Minn Kota ipilot gps]

Hi Hamerz - firstly the Minn Kota website has a pretty good description of the functionality of the i-Pilot. You can fit the i-pilot to your minn kota riptide, I have just done so successfully. You will need to remove your control box at the top of your motor and can do so with very basic tools. Our sponsors will provide a very competitive price of just over $700 for the i-Pilot kit.

The i-pilot has many advanced functions including the ability to spotlock (ie use the GPS function on the i-Pilot to maintain your position like an anchor, very useful when you find a school of fish or a snag you want fish on), you can save a particular track (ie a part of the bank you fish) and move along at the speed you desire via the cruise control function and it has an advanced auto-pilot function.

I have just finished a very successful 8 day trip to Lake Glenbawn where the i-Pilot was very extremely useful in the blustery conditions (I will submit the report later this weekend).

cheers Paul

[Holiday Fishing]

Hi Pete - nice bream there mate . I am yet to see any surface action in Woolooware Bay but the last trip in the Georges produced some nice fish with both my Zappa and a popper. I haven't been out for a week due to work and preparing the gear for a trip to Glenbawn Dam to chase some bass (Barra trip to Monduran cancelled due to flooding ).

PS have you picked up your new boat yet?

[Quality not quantity]

Kel - great post mate and good on you for releasing the flattie . I am very envious of you to get such good weather....I seem to be working when all the good weather is about.

[Mid North Coast Bass]

Nice fish Mick...certainly nothing like a bit of Bass fishing . I have had to can my trip to Lake Monduran next week due to the flooding and will now go chasing Bass at Lake Glenbawn for 8 days.....I hope I have the same level of success on the Bass that you have had.

[HB & surface action in the Georges River]

that ipilot looks crazy mate, but the ones that i looked up say there for freshwater is that the case???

Hi IVZ350 - You can purchase I-Pilots suitable for salt water. I purchased the I-Pilot kit for my Minn Kota Riptide SP, which is a bowmount Minn Kota suitable for saltwater. It is a fantastic bit of kit and would encourage anyone purchasing a Minn Kota to strongly consider buying the version with the I-Pilot already fitted. cheers Paul.

[Summer Whiting Madness!]

Great report Mick, an outstanding haul of whiting and nice estuary cod. I have seen some nice whiting cruising the flats in Wooloware Bay but they haven't been interested in my surface lures or SPs.

The weather has been testing all of us and it doesn't look like abating. cheers Paul.

[HB & surface action in the Georges River]

My lovely wife bought me the I-Pilot kit for my Minn Kota for Christmas. After spending an afternoon fitting it to the Minn Kota I decided to take it for a test run on Sunday morning. The Seabreeze forecast was for calm conditions early in the morning so my plan was to head into the bay to try some surface action for bonito and kingies. Unfortunately as I arrived at the boat ramp at 4:30am there was a strong gusting wind and a change of plan was necessary. I decided that a hard body and surface lure session was in order. This would also provide an excellent opportunity to give the I-Pilot a real test…..fortunately I had prepared the bream gear.

I headed into the Georges River and noticed bait being chased on the surface on the incoming tide. Using the ‘spot lock’ function on the I-Pilot to hold position I cast a popper into the shallows and was immediately rewarded by a number of subtle hits on the lure but no hook-up. After a couple of more casts and missed hits I changed to a pencil. This change resulted in a number of feisty 25cm tailor and a 28cm bream being boated….my first surface caught bream of 2011.

I then used the I-Pilot to work the entire bank and holding location when I found more bait. The advanced auto pilot function worked like a dream, allowing me to work the entire bank without drifting too close to the strike zone despite the running tide, gusting wind and the boat wash. The surface action continued for an hour with many missed strikes and a half dozen bream between 20 – 25cm; including this bream that has obviously had a run in with something toothy.

As the tide was turning I moved onto the flats to target the drains and drop offs using hard bodies. This provided another opportunity to really test the functionality of the I-Pilot. This strategy paid off with both bream and flatties consistently hitting my hard bodies. The bream were very aggressive striking the hard bodies, with the fish taking exciting long runs into the deeper water.

It was a great day out and a successful test of the I-Pilot. I am really excited about using the I-Pilot to improve my catch during future surface sessions.

[New Years King Fest.]

Great report Adam and congratulations on getting your mate onto his first Kingy . I am hoping to bust my Kingy cherry tommorrow morning.

[Fishing Botany 02/01/2011]

I'll be out there as well (Stessco Basstracker) and hope the winds remain as predictied, otherwise a bumpy ride for me

[Fish Certainly Know How To Wake Me Up]

Great report mate and congratulations on christening your homemade lure .....I wish my back yard backed onto water containing Bonitos

[A Week To Remember]

Thanks for sharing an excellent report and what a great result . Many of us dream of catching crocs of that size once or twice in a year, whereas you were catching them daily....what an amazing trip and fishery.

[Redneck Carpin]

[Georges River Eps]

Hi raiders,

Thanks for the kind words. The EPs are our no fail species at the moment, however I am looking forward to better weather so that we can get back amongst the surface action in the lower Georges River and Woolooware Bay

Very nice work indeed and braving the weekends is harder than the crappy weather today

That spot looks very familiar and I was going there today but Dogtooth said the water was very dirty above Como.

Cheers Stewy

Stewy - Fortunately there was only a small amount of boat traffic until about 10am, but then the hoards of jet-skis and ski boats arrived PS - the water was OK on Saturday, however I could imagine it was dirty on Monday morning.

You guys should change your names to Estuarypearchboy and Estuarypearchcatcher

You deffently know how to get and im still a ep virgin!!

Cheers

Pete

Pete - PM me and I can give you some hints to get onto some EPs.....they give you an alternate target if the wind is too strong to fish the bay on Friday arvos and there would less boat traffic about, therefore a good time to target them.

Nice work BC. It's a shame that we Fishraiders have to share the water with other boaters One of the reasons I'm so jealous of Swordfisherman is that he gets to fish through the week a lot so misses the worst of it.

Some nice looking fish and it must feel good to have your boat back under you.

Cheers, Slinky

Thanks Slinky - it is great to have the boat back.

[Georges River Eps]

Nice work boys, a few healthy looking ep's

Good to hear you back on the water again!

Hows the water looking on that run out tide, thinking about having a flick tomoz in the same sort of area for some jews....

Mick - the water was not too bad on Saturday morning and it was really warm. I reckon it might be a bit dirtier tomorrow morning...I'm sure you will let us know how you go.

[Towra 26/11/10]

Pete - congratulations on the new whiting PB and fishraider record . Those friday arvos are certainly working well for you.

[The Weather's Shockin But The Cooks Is Rockin !]

Love your work Stewy those breambos look nice and healthy. What brand and where do you get those small hooks with the hidden weights?

The good old smilin jack is my go to HB for impoundment bass, looks like I might have to transfer it to my bream tackle box .