paul.kenny

Welcome back Hodgey and what a great way to announce your return........congrats to Hodgey junior for his PB.

That was my experience but seeing that it was 4 years ago their warranty service may have improved.

Nice croc mate I always love seeing photos of big fish being caught within the confines of our biggest city.......it proves that our waterways are still healthy, especially compared to other major cities around the world.

Great yarn Slinky and bad luck not getting onto the big reds yourself........I am surprised that you allowed JH to boat those fish .

Nice fish there, especially this time of year. I feel your pain regarding the cold in Canberra, it snowed on me at work on Friday. .

Great to see both bass and trout coming out of the Nepean at this time of year. That 40cm bass must have given you a good fight.

My first electric was a watersnake bow mount and it served me well for a couple of years. It is an excellent fresh water motor but you will need to ensure you clean it really well after salt water use. I reckon the biggest difference between my old watersnake and my Minn Kota is the warranty service you get from Minn Kota. The support from watersnake was painful and frustrating, whereas Minn Kota have been brilliant. If you can wait a little longer and save more money I would strongly encourage you to wait and buy a Minn Kota. Cheers Basscatcher

Excellent EP there Nat, they are my favorite fish this time of the year. They are a powerful fish for their size and if you find an active school they provide a hot session during winter.

Hi Hrgh, I would recommend the Shimano Raider Travel Spin rod (2-4kg). Bassboy uses this as his finesse rod and casts light SPs and HBs with ease (using 3lb braid). He has caught everything from wild stream trout, impoundment bass and the odd bream from the racks (when the braid doesn't touch the leases ). We have both been very impressed with this extremely capable travel rod. Good luck with your move to Melbourne..........hope you love your AFL

Awesome video Roberta, thanks for sharing it with us.

What a healthy looking croc. Must have been heart in the mouth stuff as it took the long run. Good onya for releasing the big breeder

Thanks for your comments guys. It was an enjoyable weekend and we have continued to learn from each competition and broaden our knowledge and techniques.

Watching the weeks highlights due to the rest day. It is quite clear that Sky has built an outstanding all round team. Even before the mountains team BMC didn't look as sharp as Sky. Let's hope Cadel and his team has a plan to win back some time during the remainder of the Mountain stages.

Sounds like an excellent trip away Slinky. Well done on getting onto some decent trout in those difficult conditions, looks quite cold and wet.

Hi Raiders, Bassboy and I competed in our third BASSIN team competition on the weekend of 7 - 8 July. We travelled up to Lake St Clair in the Hunter Valley on Thursday to set up camp and prepare for the pre-fish day on Friday. Fortunately we were able to set up camp before the rain set in. Friday morning dawned cloudy but dry. We spent Friday searching and marking schooled fish and finding where they were feeding. The morning pre-fish was successful with Bassboy catching our biggest fish of the weekend....damn-it . This nice Bass was taken on a T-tail soft plastic that was hopped across the bottom amongst active fish in 18ft of water. Whilst working the schooled fish we notice a couple of big Bass were working the shallow weed and smacking stuff off the surface. Unfortunately they weren't interested in our surface lures, even our small bream surface lures. We caught a few more nice fish during the pre-fish. The successful technique was to cast towards the edge and hop the plastics through the active fish in 15 - 18ft of water. It rained again on Friday night as we all gathered for the pre-brief for the competition, it looked like we were in for a wet competition. Saturday morning dawned with clearing skies, but cold. With the other 32 boats competing we headed off for the first session at 7am. Bassboy and I arrived at our first location at 7:09am, a prominent weeded point in the Carrowbrook Arm……I was onto my first Bass on my third cast, unfortunately it was just undersized. We then experienced a short hot bite for the next 30min as I hopped a small blade (ZX35). I was able to get two legal sized Bass, whilst Bassboy was unable to get a fish to stick to his T Tail soft plastic. We persisted in this location for another 30min before moving to other locations that we had identified during the prefish, however we were unable to place any further legal fish into our livewell for the morning session. 2 out of a possible 4 was a respectable start and we ended the first session in 18th place. The afternoon session started at 1pm and we headed back out to our prominent point in the Carrowbrook Arm, once again identifying schooled fish in 18ft of water. We worked hard hopping blades and SPs through the school and working small ice-jigs for not even a touch. Frustrated at the locked jaw Bass we moved off to work other banks for a donut during the second session. It appeared that we weren’t the only team to get a donut, with many of the teams finding it hard to fill their livewells. Unfortunately our donut saw us slide down to 21st place and Bassboy frustrated that he had a second donut in a row. Saturday night was spent sitting around the camp fire strategizing as we enjoyed a couple of amber ales. We even sought advice from the leading teams, who were more than happy to provide advice. As a consequence, we decided to head back to our prominent point again as we knew the fish would be active first up in the morning. The third session on Sunday morning started with fog enveloping the lake and we all headed of at 7am slowly motoring through to our chosen fishing locations. Our decision to return to the prominent point paid off almost immediately as a 30cm Bass hit my blade within the first ten minutes. I then caught an undersized bass before they went off the bite again. This time we moved immediately and worked further along the bank, finding small schools of fish sitting in 20ft of water. As we found active fish we hopped blades and T Tail soft plastics and danced ice-jigs past their noses for no luck. In the last hour of the final session I changed technique, specifically the weight of my jighead (from 1/8 to 1/6) and a smaller T Tail (from 2.5 inches down to less than 2 inches) to slow roll the soft plastics across the bottom. I started to get more hits on the lure and finally caught a second legal fish for the live well. That was to be our last fish before the last session ended at 11am. We ended the competition in 22nd place, pretty respectable considering I was carrying a passenger (Bassboy ended the competition with a donut). Fortunately we won a lucky number prize which softened the blow for Bassboy. Overall it was a fantastic weekend. The Bassin competition is a well conducted and friendly competition and we will give it another crack next year.

Well done Battler and congratulations on cracking the Jewie SP code . Did you get most of the fish on the slack tide?

Great report Poddy, I could feel the cold . Going by that photo from day 2 your livewell must have been teeming with bream . How long does is take you to travel down to Mallacoota?

Great session there Poddy and good onya for sticking it out. I also spent Monday in the rain, although I was watching my daughter play a netball tournament.

Yep, that's what I looked like Saturday lunchtime after a tough morning of chucking lures for very little action .

Hey Johnny, welcome back.....its been a while since I have read a report from you and what a great sesh you had. It is the right time of the year for you to be chasing the Jewies again. How dirty is the water up your way? cheers Paul

Great work finding those Salmon and getting jnr poddy trapper onto a 60cm fish. It is a pity you didn't get them on the surface.

Nice haul of fish. The conditions look perfect, was that this morning?

Nice first snapper of a SP. It is one of the fish I am yet to catch on SP, although I have caught plenty of squire on blades.

Thanks Poddy, we are loving the Salmon bite as we can use surface lures again .